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

  • Funny thing, H96 Po+ @Android (at least custom ATV from freaktab) can suspend (red LED) and wake up from CEC while LE powers it down completely. Any tips how to "fix" it under LE?

  • Hi,

    I own X92 (q201, S912, 3G/32G, 2.4/5GHz Wlan, 1Gbit Lan, about 80$) and it works perfectly.

    LibreElec on SD with Kodi 17.6 and Android 7.1.2 on intern, with latest Kodi 18 nightlies - all run without any problem

    It is a rather big box with very good cooling so no problem there...

  • Hi,

    I own X92 (q201, S912, 3G/32G, 2.4/5GHz Wlan, 1Gbit Lan, about 80$) and it works perfectly.

    LibreElec on SD with Kodi 17.6 and Android 7.1.2 on intern, with latest Kodi 18 nightlies - all run without any problem

    It is a rather big box with very good cooling so no problem there...

    Thank you Sholander, great info. I will give this a look for sure.

  • Hi Tim,

    I have the Vorke Z6 box coming. Can you tell me which dtb.img did you use? And does the front LCD work properly under LE? Thank you.

    Tim


  • I have the Vorke Z6 box coming. Can you tell me which dtb.img did you use? And does the front LCD work properly under LE? Thank you.

    LCD woks with 8.90.3 - but I don´t use is - unstable pre alpha

    I´m using version 8.2.2.3 - stable - LCD is not working -> I taped the display

    The dtb is the standard dtb gxm_q200_3g.dtb

    There is a new 8.90 Version [8.90.4] LibreELEC 9.0 Alpha for S905/S912 devices

    It´s a hard work to get remote working - I stay at 8.2.2.3 for a long time

  • There is a new 8.90 Version [8.90.4] LibreELEC 9.0 Alpha for S905/S912 devices

    It´s a hard work to get remote working - I stay at 8.2.2.3 for a long time

    Thanks Tim. The remote does not work out of box with 8.90s, but does with 8.2.2.3? Or for both did you have to tinker with the remote.config file? If the latter, any way to see your file?

    EDIT -- ok, i see what you mean with the new remote work to be done for 8.90.4.

    Edited once, last by sabre6 (February 14, 2018 at 1:27 PM).

    • I want to buy :
      • a stable S905X box, cheap but not flaky
      • from reliable seller, perhaps geekbuying(?)
      • with 802.11 ac, BT4.0, 2GB ram, 16GB emmc
      • Android with few security issues,
      • kszaq's build of LibreELEC
      • booted from SD card,
      • using internal memory for data,
      • maybe SD card for data,
      • maybe install an Android TV ROM ?
    • this is the claim by the vendor for "MXQ Pro+" at $37.
    • Any advice ? (noob...)
    • P.S. : the word "f e m a l e" is censored ?

    General

    • Model: MXQ Pro+
    • Operating System:
      • Android 7.1.2

    Hardware

    • CPU: Amlogic S905X Quad-core Cortex A53
    • GPU: Penta-Core ARM Mali-450
    • RAM: 2GB DDR3
    • ROM: 16GB EMMC Flash
    • WiFi: 2.4G & 5G
    • Bluetooth: BT4.0
    • Camera: N/A
    • File System:
      • FAT16/FAT32/NTFS
    • Interfaces Radio
      • WiFi: 2.4G IEEE 802.11 b/g/n & 5G IEEE 802.11 ac
      • Bluetooth: BT4.0
    • Interfaces Electrical
      • Interfaces:
        • 4*USB2 (support U DISK and USB HDD)
        • 1*HDMI2.0 (4K*2K @ 60Hz)
        • 1*10/100M
        • 1*SDHC
        • 1*AV
        • 1*DC 5V @ 2A
        • 1*SPDIF
    • InterConnects Mechanical
      • InterConnects :
        • 4*USB A "f e m a l e"
        • 1*HDMI2.0
        • 1*RJ45
        • 1*SD
        • 1*AV
        • 1*DC
        • 1*SPDIF

    Media

    • Video :
      • Codec :
        • HD MPEG1/2/4,H.265,4K-HD,
        • HD AVC/VC-1,RM/RMVB,Xvid/DivX3/4/5/6
        • RealVideo8/9/10
        • 4K@60 Hz video decoding 10-bit HEVC and AVS+ codec support
        • H.264 up to 4K 30 Hz
      • Container :
        • Avi/Rm/Rmvb/Ts/Vob/Mkv/Mov/ISO/wmv/asf/flv/dat/mpg/mpeg
      • Subtitle :
        • SRT/SMI/SUB/SSA/IDX+USB
      • 3D :
        • Hardware 3D graphics acceleration
    • Audio :
      • Codec :
        • MP3/WMA/AAC/WAV/OGG/AC3/DDP/TrueHD/DTS/DTS/HD/FLAC/APE
    • Picture :
      • HD JPEG/BMP/GIF/PNG/TIFF

    Edited 2 times, last by geerEbustAzonAli40: trim (IEC958) (coaxial with RCA , NOT fibre optic with TOSLINK) (February 19, 2018 at 9:20 AM).

  • Just a warning - Geekbuying are NOT reputable sellers IMHO.

    Over on the Australian Whirlpool forums for example, users are still being sold MECOOL M8S Pro+ S905X devices with well known bad batches of eMMC flash storage. And this is even after the user went to the trouble of specifically asking Geekbuying to make sure they were not being sold a box from the broken batch.

    Geekbuying simply do not care it seems - they just move boxes.

    • I want to buy :
      • a stable S905X box, cheap but not flaky
      • from reliable seller, perhaps geekbuying(?)
      • with 802.11 ac, BT4.0, 2GB ram, 16GB emmc
      • Android with few security issues,
      • kszaq's build of LibreELEC
      • booted from SD card,
      • using internal memory for data,
      • maybe SD card for data,
      • maybe install an Android TV ROM ?
    • this is the claim by the vendor for "MXQ Pro+" at $37.
    • Any advice ? (noob...)
    • P.S. : the word "f e m a l e" is censored ?

    About 2 years ago, I bought an MXQ Pro (S905) from a Chinese ebay seller under $15. The device kept rebooting. So, I complained to the seller asking for a partial refund. S/he decided to give me a full refund. Anyway, the device still runs on LE 8.2.3.1 and never crashes.

    About two months ago, I bought a Mecool KM8 P TV Box Amlogic S912 with 1/8 GB RAM/eMMC storage under $29 from AliExpress and it too has been running on LE 8.2.2.3 sans any problem. For both my devices, they all boot LE off an external USB memory stick. As such, I can't check if their internal eMMC storage is defective or not.

    Anyway, you can find a Mecool KM8 P TV Box Amlogic S912 with 1/8 GB RAM/eMMC storage under $40 (which is a bit higher than $37) from GearBest, AliExpress, and/or GeekBuying. I just checked GearBest and it has a Mecool KM8 P TV Box Amlogic S912 with 1/8 GB RAM/eMMC storage $34.56 (less than $37).

    Edited once, last by Habibie (February 19, 2018 at 1:55 PM).

  • GearBest looks affiliate-kick-back-0verpriced , AliExpress seems sorta like eBay. I find it difficult to measure reputation , when surveying vendors for TV Boxes. any "other usual places" to investigate ?

    http://freaktab.com/forum, forum.kodi.tv, forum.libreelec.tv all talk about kodi on TV Boxes, any others ?

    thanks in advance

    I bought a Mecool from Banggood with the faulty chip, they offered a new replacement or a full refund. I took the refund and they refunded me in full, can't ask for better service than that.

  • I got a Mecool M8S PRO W. I am more than happy with the performance of the machine and LibreElec. I even managed to play a 4K H265 movie with no problems at all.

    The only disadvantage is the fact that i cannot "reboot to internal". In another topic they told me that the internal memory is not supported, and that's why the command "reboottointernal" or "reboottonand" is not factional. If someone has a different opinion or a solution, please tell me.

  • I "solved" similar problem on another box (X92) by installing "script.advanced_power_menu-1.0.1"

    From that addon if I choose "Reboot to LibreElec" it normally reboots to LibreElec on SD card. Choosing "Reboot to Android" from the addon, at first nothing happens, but if I then choose the option "Reboot to LibreElec" - then my box reboots to Android :)


    Maybe it works for you...

  • I bought a Mecool from Banggood with the faulty chip, they offered a new replacement or a full refund. I took the refund and they refunded me in full, can't ask for better service than that.

    That's great unless you had to shell out for the S/H cost back to the seller.

  • Hi,

    I am looking to get a new TV box that supports 4K HDR LE Kodi, if possible that always works stable in dual boot mode with android.

    I previously had a H96 Pro + 3GB/32GB but the box was unstable. I managed to flash it with new android fw 7.1.2 and also with LE 8.2.2.3. . Booting into android almost never happened, and when it happen the box would freeze after a few minutes. Booting into LE works, but it would freeze up after a minute or something. So I tried all sorts of things to get the box working, but I guess it was just a faulty box and I have returned it and got a refund.

    So I am looking for a new box that can run smoothly. I read in previous comments that the KM8 Pro or Mecool M8S pro L are recommended. However, to connect my surround system to the box I would need an SPDIF interface and both of these boxes don't have that. Can someone recommend a box that will run as good and reliable as KM8 Pro or Mecool M8S, but with SPDIF interface. And also confirm that the box actually performs well (no freezing issues). One box that got my attention was the Vorke Z6 or Vorke Z1, does anybody have a good experience with these boxes? (what is btw the difference, between the 2 of them the specs look similar), because for the Vorke Z6 I read on freaktab that it has a heating issues as well that causes the box to freeze. Thanks!

  • ... because for the Vorke Z6 I read on freaktab that it has a heating issues as well that causes the box to freeze.

    Do You want to watch Videos, or just read and read and read .... :?:

    My vorke Z6 has no heating issue using stable version LE 8.2.2.3 running 24/7

    Display works using pre alpha LE 8.9 but this version isn´t stable yet.