DroiX Christmas Sale - Give the gift of Tech

David-Hill

New Member
Jan 30, 2016
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Good evening group

I am a newcomer to this technology (although not too shabby with techy stuff)

I recently bought a M8S Set Top Tv Box, which was cheap (49 quid), which turned up promptly & worked flawlessly after the usual setting up. Nice smooth HD playback of all the good stuff to be found on Rockcrusher. This was my first step into this arena, so I thought I would buy a product which seems to have a reputation for quality & support, so I bought the DroidBOX T8-S Plus OpenELEC model for double the price of the M8S.

I spent an hour setting the Droidbox unit up (getting quite familiar with the operating system now) & I noticed straight away that the playback of the same content that I had previously been happy with on the cheap unit, was now dreadful on the Droidbox device.

I messaged product support, who directed me toward a YouTube solution, which mentioned that screen setup is crucial for smooth performance.

YouTube video here ..

After addressing the screen setup, I did notice some improvement, but still it was not as smooth as the cheaper M8 box. Unfortunately the cheap M8 box developed a fault (it kept re-booting over & over) & I sent it back & now I only have the Droidbox unit.

To be honest it is barely watchable.

I have booted directly into Openelec Kodi & if anything the playback is worse, even though the resources are clearly less stressed.

Have I got a faulty unit, or am I missing something daft (quite possible :) )

Any suggestions?

Sorry for the long post.
 

erdie

New Member
Dec 22, 2015
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I find the playback is jerky on my openelec, mainly on SD video, HD seems to play fine. Kodi in Android plays a lot better. I may use the Android Kodi for my local content only and nothing else and then use openelec to run wookie and apps.
 

David-Hill

New Member
Jan 30, 2016
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Thanks erdie for the prompt reply.

I haven't really messed about with media on my hard drive, so I can't comment on video playback performance in that regard.

My issue is purely with the HD content to be found on the tvaddons stuff (I use Rockcrusher mostly)

The same content played as smooth as a blue-ray on the cheaper device (which died unfortunately) but the Droidbox seems to stutter.

My broadband isn't really an issue as it rarely drops bellow 30 Mbps.

I tried it several times, switching between each box & each time the cheap unit worked perfectly.

I hope I can sort this, because I have just ordered another Droidbox device :-\
 

erdie

New Member
Dec 22, 2015
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I think that there is only one acceleration option in openelec as opposed to three in android Koei, and it doesn't seem to work.
 

thereaper123

Member
Feb 14, 2015
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Just as a little test try going into kodi settings/video/playback go across to the right to 'adjust display refresh rate' and set it to 'always' then go down to 'sync playback to display' and tick it. Try and play what was juddery before and see if any improvement
 

David-Hill

New Member
Jan 30, 2016
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Thank you for the suggestions. I have tried them all, but with no noticeable improvement. It is like watching a movie on an old under powered laptop. Can anyone confirm that my case is not the norm? I have to say that I am real disappointed.

One thing that is bugging me, is the method of setting the screen up, which is different on my system to that which the guy demonstrates in the YouTube video.

Here are the screenshots from the video, which addresses the jerky playback concern..

screenset1.PNG


screenset2.PNG


screenset3.PNG


When I click on the settings icon from the main screen, I am presented with the menus seen in the following images. ..

screenset4.PNG
screenset5.PNG


Am I being a dumb ass? (brutal honesty is okay :) )
 

David-Hill

New Member
Jan 30, 2016
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oh in case anyone is wondering why my video examples have been pulled, it is because I got a copywrite warning email from YouTube.

They are on the ball aren't they!
 

Nigelar

Well-Known Member
Feb 26, 2015
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That looks a bit like the Lollipop android settings screen. There is also a separate settings option which I think is loaded by the firmware and is customised for these boxes - it looks like the one in the video. I would normally get to this (at least on a t8) by pressing the "cogs" icon on the android home page which is usually also customised by the firmware.
Of course different versions of android, machines and firmware may lead to your screens being different.
 

David-Hill

New Member
Jan 30, 2016
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Thanks Nigelar for your response.

Yes that is how I am accessing this settings menu, via the "cog" icon on the home screen, so maybe it is just a difference in the build / software versions? Who knows?

The cheap M8S box did have that same "front end" settings layout, as seen in the video.

It will be interesting to see how my next Droidbox behaves (should arrive tomorrow).
 

David-Hill

New Member
Jan 30, 2016
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I recieved my new DroidBOX T8-S OpenELEC unit yesterday & I set it up exactly the same as I did the previous unit (DroidBOX T8-S Plus OpenELEC) & this new one is working perfect. The same content on the same network just works great as it should.

I will contact customer support to see what they want to do about the original unit that has been giving me greif.

Incidentally I also bought the air mouse supplied by Droidbox (DroidBOX VIPRemote ) & I have to say that it is the best interface device I have tried (& I have tried a few now). Very impressed with both of these latest purchaces.

Just to be clear, this is the unit that is giving me trouble...

DroidBOX T8-S Plus OpenELEC - https://droidbox.co.uk/droidbox-t8s-plus-dualboot-android-openelec-4k-amlogic-s812.html

The most recent unit, which works great is this one . . .

DroidBOX T8-S OpenELEC - https://droidbox.co.uk/droidbox-t8s-dualboot-android-openelec-4k-amlogic-s802.html

This is the remote that I am very pleased with . . .

DroidBOX VIPRemote - https://droidbox.co.uk/droidbox-tm-vipremote.html
 

Flish

New Member
Apr 22, 2016
1
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This may help some users,found that i was experiencing "Jerky video playback" on some iptv apps.This being on Kodi Jarvis 16.1 on T8S.Plus.I installed Kodi Jarvis 16.0 and the problem has been alleviated.
 
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thefunk

New Member
Sep 29, 2016
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I have been looking at the T8-S Plus OpenElec but now not sure after your experiences.
You say you changed to the T8-S OpenElec, strangely I acnnot see that listed on the website?
 

David Savage

Well-Known Member
Aug 3, 2014
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Somewhere over the rainbow
Openelec is a version of kodi on the box, you basically shut down android and switch to this. The benefits to this is there are no background apps running to slow it down. Some people say they don't notice any difference...but you can also set two different builds up if you wanted.

Hope this helps.
 

thefunk

New Member
Sep 29, 2016
12
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David, thanks for reply, what I was trying to say was that there is no TS-8 box listed for sale, only TS-8 PLUS