Choosing a S905 / S905X / S905D / S905W / S912 box guide

Quote from joeh

What do you recommend?

What do You want ?

View Amazon prime video 4k - buy Amazon Fire TV or ATV 4k

Quote from wrxtasy

Yes it can be done. S912 boxes work well for 4K HDR with HD Audio. I suggest one with Gigabit LAN (1000M).

Be aware not all AMLogic Hardware is created equal. Dirt cheap means corners have to be cut both with hardware components, heatsinks, thermal management and remote controls. As an example take a look here at the MINIX U1 / U9 heatsink and thermal management vs generic AMLogic Boxes:

START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated December 2017)

The AML S912 boxes run the hottest of the AML family due to all the processing cores packaged into the SoC.

So with the U1/U9's massive heatsink, you find they run the coolest of the lot and consequently will be the most stable - but for that you have to pay $$

However poor quality heatsink bonding on cheap AML boxes can be improved a bit with a bit of simply DIY.

All you do is open up the device, carefully remove the heatsink and clean up the SoC and then follow these instructions to apply some proper thermal paste (using Cling Film wrap) to whatever the original heatsink was covering up:

How to Apply Thermal Paste - iFixit

You only need to apply tiny amounts, really no bigger than a match head in quantity. Be carfeful to not apply too much paste and have it spill over to nearby IC electrical components. Silver paste conducts electricity.

I simply bought a 1.5g $5 Syringe of 30% Silver - Thermal paste the SoC (CPU) temp dropped between 15 - 20 Degrees C on a S905 Box.

If you were buying any AMLogic box, the Wireless remotes to get would be something like the MINIX A2 lite or the $14 aftermarket Xiaomi Mi Box.

You will then have one responsive snappy setup.

The new MINIX A3 lite remote has annoying wake from sleep issues.

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Quote from wrxtasy

Yes it can be done. S912 boxes work well for 4K HDR with HD Audio. I suggest one with Gigabit LAN (1000M).

Be aware not all AMLogic Hardware is created equal. Dirt cheap means corners have to be cut both with hardware components, heatsinks, thermal management and remote controls. As an example take a look here at the MINIX U1 / U9 heatsink and thermal management vs generic AMLogic Boxes:

START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated December 2017)

The AML S912 boxes run the hottest of the AML family due to all the processing cores packaged into the SoC.

So with the U1/U9's massive heatsink, you find they run the coolest of the lot and consequently will be the most stable - but for that you have to pay $$

However poor quality heatsink bonding on cheap AML boxes can be improved a bit with a bit of simply DIY.

All you do is open up the device, carefully remove the heatsink and clean up the SoC and then follow these instructions to apply some proper thermal paste (using Cling Film wrap) to whatever the original heatsink was covering up:

How to Apply Thermal Paste - iFixit

You only need to apply tiny amounts, really no bigger than a match head in quantity. Be carfeful to not apply too much paste and have it spill over to nearby IC electrical components. Silver paste conducts electricity.

I simply bought a 1.5g $5 Syringe of 30% Silver - Thermal paste the SoC (CPU) temp dropped between 15 - 20 Degrees C on a S905 Box.

If you were buying any AMLogic box, the Wireless remotes to get would be something like the MINIX A2 lite or the $14 aftermarket Xiaomi Mi Box.

You will then have one responsive snappy setup.

The new MINIX A3 lite remote has annoying wake from sleep issues.

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wrxtasy, am I correct in thinking that you achieved a 15-20 Degrees C temperature drop by re-using the existing heatsink and replacing the thermal paste?

That being the case, why oh why don't the manufacturers use better quality thermal paste in the manufacturing process.

Would you recommend fitting a bigger heat sink when replacing the thermal paste?

Well I found the presentation of baylibre yesterday. In case you want to see it, talk about the mainline linux in amlogic SOCs: Linux Conf Australia 2018 - Kernel Miniconf - Mainline Linux on Amlog…

I have 2 Xgody TX3 PRO boxes, took them apart to verify they have amlogic 905w soc chip, 1 Gig RAM. I have tried both toothpick method & "reboot update" from the command line in android, neither will boot from the sd mem card or either USB slot. I'm using the default dtb that comes with the image distribution. Has anyone had luck getting this box to boot LE from a mem card or USB? Thanks.

Quote from wrxtasy

Yes it can be done. S912 boxes work well for 4K HDR with HD Audio. I suggest one with Gigabit LAN (1000M).

Many thanks!

I guess I couldn't wait long and took delivery of a MINIX NEO U9-H this evening. Now the goal it to run LE natively on the box, replacing Android (or whatever came with the box). Is this the guide to follow:

[HOWTO + FAQ] Install community builds on S905/S905D/S905W/S905X/S912 device

Also, how risky is it to flush the internal memory and running LE directly off the box?

-San

Quote from wrxtasy

Please read this about copying LE to internal eMMC and still retaining Android.

Install to internal to speed things up (Mecool M8S Pro+)

Thanks wrxtasy, for the info!

I already been to that page and booting off the SD card, keeping data in the internal memory. All works pretty much straight away but with one big problem - lip-sync. Asked about it here:

[8.2.3.1] LibreELEC 8.2 for S905/S905X

-San

Can you tell me, which unofficial builds can be used in sd card for Wetek play2 ?

This player from Sony can handle 4K, Netflix with only 100BASE-TX ethernet and W iFi IEEE802.11b/g/n.

Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray Disc Player - Black

Ultimate 4K HDR viewing experience with HDR10 and Dolby Vision* support for ground-breaking detail, colour and brightness.

Broad range of video and music content support, including Dolby Atmos and DTS: X soundtracks, DSD, FLAC, MP3

Access a world of (4K) Streaming Services through built-in Wi-Fi

Slim body for convenient placement in TV furniture

What is their OS ?

Chaps - can anyone please confirm if the Mecool M8S PRO L box can be powered on/off using IR whilst running LE?

Do all available IR buttons work as expected running LE on these Amlogic boxes? (I've had lots of issues with info/context menu buttons not being recognised in KODI running on android)

Only just reading about these amlogic boxes but I think I'll jump on the Mecool M8S PRO L....

Any help is appreciated!

I power mine off with the remote in LE...no problem.

Quote from TommyL

I power mine off with the remote in LE...no problem.

and can you power it on with the remote also?

Thanks for the reply

Quote from anonmaster

Actually I'm referring to this one which is 28.99 (1GB RAM/8GB ROM): Mecool KM8 P TV Box Amlogic S912 1GB 8GB 2GB 16GB Android 6.0 WiFi Octa Core 4K HD Smart Set Top Box Media Player KM8P PK X96-in Set-top Boxes from Consumer Electronics on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

I bought this KM8 P TV Box from the above link and just received it after 3 weeks of shipment. Anyway, I already prepared a USB boot disc using the dd utility as mentioned in the LE wiki - installation. When I inserted a tooth pick into the AV port, it just went in all the way, i.e. no reset button inside. I also booted into the Android OS, did a factory reset, and it just booted back into the Android OS. So, has anyone had some ideas how to proceed to install/boot LE on this device using a USB memory stick?

[HOWTO + FAQ] Install community builds on S905/S905D/S905W/S905X/S912 device