Buying advice needed: £35 M8S PRO or £29 M8S PRO W with voice control and Android TV OS? New to android boxes, mainly for streaming via Terrarium TV which people seem to say is best (rather than kodi) but also as a mini PC hopefully. I'm from London and it seems like there are some boxes which aren't available on UK sites for some reason, so was hoping this is the right place to get advice on the boxes I am looking at.
I am looking to stream content in 1080p (I'm happy with the resolution so don't plan on buying a new 4K tv just yet) and started off looking at cheap £15 boxes on **** which have 1GB of RAM thinking it would be good enough to stream 1080p. But since I am looking for the best value per £ I decided to look at boxes around the £45 mark:
- £46 SCISHION V99 - hero 64Bit Octa Core Android 5.1 (BT4.0 Dual WiFi) 4GB RAM+32GB TV Box EU, Octa Core,1.5GHz CPU RK3368, GPU PowerVR G6110, Processor ARM Cortex A53
- £45 H96 MAX - H2 TV Box RK3328 Android 7.1 (2.4G + 5G Wi-Fi BT 4.0 4K) 4G RAM+32GB UK PLUG, Quad Core CPU Cortex A53, GPU Mali-450, Processor RK3328.
- £40 T95Z Plus - Android 7.1 Octa Core 2GB RAM 16GB, CPU :S912 Octa-core @2.0GHzcortex-A53 GPU :Mali-T820MP3
- £46 MXR PRO 4K 4GB RAM + 32G 64Bit Android 7.1 Quad-core RK3328 2.0GHz Bluetooth Quad-core RK3328 64-bit Cortex A53 and Mali-450 GPU.
-£35 M8S PRO 2+16GB DDR4 Android 7.1, S912 Octa Core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU up to 2.0 GHz, ARM Mali-T820 GPU up to 750MHz
- I was also considering: £29 M8S PRO W (with voice control) Android 7.1 Smart TV Box Amlogic S-905W 2GB+16GB Mali-450 4K WIFI OTA, max up to 2.0Ghz, but the price has been varying a bit. What is the difference between this and the M8s Pro Plus? I would still consider it if it is better value though (and if it came back down in price a bit) due to it being up to 2.0Ghz? Is 2GB RAM enough to smoothly play 1080p? I also read that it runs 1080p Netflix but not out the box?
1) I am currently leaning towards £35 M8S PRO due to DDR4 and S912. Should I go for the better specs and octa core to futureproof? From what I've read no apps take advantage of octa core. Would it help with streaming 1080p?
Or should I go with M8S PRO W for voice control and Android TV OS? Help needed with pros and cons, as well as discussion on the GPU/CPU power comparisons? What are the considerations I have missed? Which boxes come with root permission? Is 16GB too small even if I only install Terrarium tv; does storage space slow down the app I'm using to stream?
2) The V99 only has Android 5.1, does that mean eventually all apps will stop being compatible, making the box obsolete? Is there no way whatsoever to upgrade to latest android? Does a lower version of Android mean less smooth buffering? And what is a ROM in terms of OS?
3) I am looking to use as a back up as a mini PC, would I be able to plug in a normal PC USB keyboard and mouse or am I restricted to wireless?
4) If that is the case, I was looking at this and again need advice if it these type of products work well: Black Wireless Keyboard 2.4G Touchpad Handheld Keyboard for PC Android TV UK
5) These type of small Chinese manufacturers are said to not release updates to firmware (as opposed to amazon fire, chromecast etc) but what does this mean practically speaking? How is this different to being able to update the android version for example?
6) I read somebody else saying stay away from RK chips, why is that? Lastly, which boxes have the Automatic Framerate Switch feature and how important is it?
7) What do you think of the merit of voice control added to remotes, is it worth the extra cost?? Does it only work in google search or does it work to search in all apps such as Terrarium tv?
8) Speaking of which, people seem to say terrarium tv is the best option, better and far more user friendly than Kodi for streaming? What are your thoughts?
9) And lastly how much of an impact does DDR4 RAM/storage have on streaming? Is it a big advantage?
I am looking to stream content in 1080p (I'm happy with the resolution so don't plan on buying a new 4K tv just yet) and started off looking at cheap £15 boxes on **** which have 1GB of RAM thinking it would be good enough to stream 1080p. But since I am looking for the best value per £ I decided to look at boxes around the £45 mark:
- £46 SCISHION V99 - hero 64Bit Octa Core Android 5.1 (BT4.0 Dual WiFi) 4GB RAM+32GB TV Box EU, Octa Core,1.5GHz CPU RK3368, GPU PowerVR G6110, Processor ARM Cortex A53
- £45 H96 MAX - H2 TV Box RK3328 Android 7.1 (2.4G + 5G Wi-Fi BT 4.0 4K) 4G RAM+32GB UK PLUG, Quad Core CPU Cortex A53, GPU Mali-450, Processor RK3328.
- £40 T95Z Plus - Android 7.1 Octa Core 2GB RAM 16GB, CPU :S912 Octa-core @2.0GHzcortex-A53 GPU :Mali-T820MP3
- £46 MXR PRO 4K 4GB RAM + 32G 64Bit Android 7.1 Quad-core RK3328 2.0GHz Bluetooth Quad-core RK3328 64-bit Cortex A53 and Mali-450 GPU.
-£35 M8S PRO 2+16GB DDR4 Android 7.1, S912 Octa Core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU up to 2.0 GHz, ARM Mali-T820 GPU up to 750MHz
- I was also considering: £29 M8S PRO W (with voice control) Android 7.1 Smart TV Box Amlogic S-905W 2GB+16GB Mali-450 4K WIFI OTA, max up to 2.0Ghz, but the price has been varying a bit. What is the difference between this and the M8s Pro Plus? I would still consider it if it is better value though (and if it came back down in price a bit) due to it being up to 2.0Ghz? Is 2GB RAM enough to smoothly play 1080p? I also read that it runs 1080p Netflix but not out the box?
1) I am currently leaning towards £35 M8S PRO due to DDR4 and S912. Should I go for the better specs and octa core to futureproof? From what I've read no apps take advantage of octa core. Would it help with streaming 1080p?
Or should I go with M8S PRO W for voice control and Android TV OS? Help needed with pros and cons, as well as discussion on the GPU/CPU power comparisons? What are the considerations I have missed? Which boxes come with root permission? Is 16GB too small even if I only install Terrarium tv; does storage space slow down the app I'm using to stream?
2) The V99 only has Android 5.1, does that mean eventually all apps will stop being compatible, making the box obsolete? Is there no way whatsoever to upgrade to latest android? Does a lower version of Android mean less smooth buffering? And what is a ROM in terms of OS?
3) I am looking to use as a back up as a mini PC, would I be able to plug in a normal PC USB keyboard and mouse or am I restricted to wireless?
4) If that is the case, I was looking at this and again need advice if it these type of products work well: Black Wireless Keyboard 2.4G Touchpad Handheld Keyboard for PC Android TV UK
5) These type of small Chinese manufacturers are said to not release updates to firmware (as opposed to amazon fire, chromecast etc) but what does this mean practically speaking? How is this different to being able to update the android version for example?
6) I read somebody else saying stay away from RK chips, why is that? Lastly, which boxes have the Automatic Framerate Switch feature and how important is it?
7) What do you think of the merit of voice control added to remotes, is it worth the extra cost?? Does it only work in google search or does it work to search in all apps such as Terrarium tv?
8) Speaking of which, people seem to say terrarium tv is the best option, better and far more user friendly than Kodi for streaming? What are your thoughts?
9) And lastly how much of an impact does DDR4 RAM/storage have on streaming? Is it a big advantage?