Is this an actual OTT M8S+ or Clone

[rock-star_79]

Im looking to buy an M8S+ box and came accross this one here. Is this a reliable site to purchase boxes? Also is this an actual or clone? Thanks in advance. :-)

[zebra14]

In my experience, the 3 OTT boxes that I own are clones. I have tried buying a few from Amazon from different suppliers of the same box, and they all came in OTT boxes, each time with different components inside. Even when I bought a newer version of the same box from the same seller on Amazon, the newer unit was supposed to be a S802, but in actuality is a S812. It's one of the BCM4335 clones. So basically your mileage may vary. You won't find out until you get it. At least that's been my experience.

[rock-star_79]

In my experience, the 3 OTT boxes that I own are clones. I have tried buying a few from Amazon from different suppliers of the same box, and they all came in OTT boxes, each time with different components inside. Even when I bought a newer version of the same box from the same seller on Amazon, the newer unit was supposed to be a S802, but in actuality is a S812. It's one of the BCM4335 clones. So basically your mileage may vary. You won't find out until you get it. At least that's been my experience.

Thanks for the reply. Its kind of what I figured which is why I looked at other sites rather than amazon. Ive heard good and bad things from geekbuying.com so I figured I'd ask to see if anyone had more info on their boxes. What was your experience with the clones you purchased from amazon? Good or Bad. Thanks again.

[redliquid]

Friend of mine bought one 4 months ago from: http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box-mini-pc/pp_226779.html . Looks like genuine. OpenELEC installed without any problems from amlinux website.

[zebra14]

Thanks for the reply. Its kind of what I figured which is why I looked at other sites rather than amazon. Ive heard good and bad things from geekbuying.com so I figured I'd ask to see if anyone had more info on their boxes. What was your experience with the clones you purchased from amazon? Good or Bad. Thanks again.

= = = =

So far so good with all purchases from Amazon. Beware of "Bros Unite" as they claim they have S802 when in fact they have S812 and use fake logo files to "counterfeit" a box to make it look like something that it's not. I did have a conversation with them and they said they'd attempt to correct that. I've had pretty good luck with Vensmile-TECH units sold by Ysmile. I also got a MXIII from Henscoqi with a S802 which is solidly made and well-supported by the aftermarket enthusiast market like the people that frequent this site.

[JustMe]

support the sponsors on this forum gearbest , geekbuying etc

[Rimtu]

Can anyone tell me if this is an real OTT m8s or clone, and what Openelec I should use with it... or what firmware I can put on it

[redliquid]

Can anyone tell me if this is an real OTT m8s or clone, and what Openelec I should use with it... or what firmware I can put on it

I'm 90% sure that this is clone. I had clone also and unfortunetly none of OpenELEC (up to version 6.0.0) images from amlinux.ru/image works. Can you give us pictures of entire silkscreen area, where S812_M8[...] is shown? At the bottom of PCB should be silkscreen and perhaps sticker too.

[Rimtu]

I'm 90% sure that this is clone. I had clone also and unfortunetly none of OpenELEC (up to version 6.0.0) images from amlinux.ru/image works. Can you give us pictures of entire silkscreen area, where S812_M8[...] is shown? At the bottom of PCB should be silkscreen and perhaps sticker too.

Here you go!

[redliquid]

Here you go!

I can't help you with this one, sorry. If you put openelec (from amlinux.ru) on this device, you will brick it with 95% of propability.

[Rimtu]

I can't help you with this one, sorry. If you put openelec (from amlinux.ru) on this device, you will brick it with 95% of propability.

Thanks anyway... I'll probably try Openelec eventualy, and I'll put my results here.

[zebra14]

Rimtu - first things first... try to find a TWRP recovery that will work for your unit. The reason you want this is that you may brick your box trying OpenELEC.

You basically have to try each one, one at a time, to find the one that works. Then you have to poke around the TWRP forum as there are a few more interspersed in the messages. As you may or may not know, you put the TWRP recovery .img file onto a Fat32 formatted SD card, make sure the file is named "recovery.img" and use the toothpick method of booting your media box. When you find the right one, you'll know, as it will launch and you'll see the blue TWRP screen.

Most the TWRP recovery images are here: http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-...mlogic-devices

There is also one (for a M8 clone S812 2G/8G with the 4335 wifi) which might work for yours here: http://www.freak-tab.de/abdul_pt/aml/TWRP_M8.img

Once you have a working recovery, you can then back up your current firmware to a SD card. Then you can start playing with other ROMs. It's wise to find a factory ROM .img file as well that you can use the Amlogic SUB Burning Tool in case you brick your box. The problem here is finding the right one if you don't have one from the manufacturer. You have to find a posting and then download a ROM and try it to see if it loads (and then runs) your media box. I bricked my M8 and thanks to RedLiquid above, I was able to download an .img that worked to get my S812 clone running again using the Amlogic USB Burning too.... and then once it was running, I was able to restore my image that I made with the TWRP previously. This put my M8 back the way it was when I last backed it up with TWRP.

I have not yet been able to unbrick a M8 unit using the SD method or shorting the pins. The above method worked for me - again, thanks to RedLiquid.

[Rimtu]

Lately I can't gent enough free time to play with this box.

Zebra, thank you for your adivce.

I was planing to root the device, and use Titanium backup to make backup. I prefer your method, as I'm used to TWRP, but I thought it's not supported by this device.

[buzzmarshall]

If you want to make sure its not a clone buy it from ENY themselves... other then that the best thing to do fi you want to NOT be left out in the cold by playing around with different software/firmware builds is to do a bit of learning and learn to either use adb or ssh on the box when you first get it (while its still running on the firmware it came with) and dump the running firmware to verify what actual hardware is in the box... clones are everywhere and other then crappy hardware on some clones others are fine but are hard to know what software works with them...

Knowing what hardware is actually running on the box when its new and working will help tell you what to look for in any other software builds you want to try... in the worst case box's usually get hung because the kernels got something way out of whack for the hardware your running and in the best case the box will boot but things like Ethernet or wifi or other things don't work which again because that software was built without the peripherals on your SoC or motherboard in your box...

OpenElec from amlinux is pretty straight forward to check as you can look at his git repository and see what he's putting in his builds....

As far as the M8S itself running on OpenElec it streams as good if not better then any of the 10+ box's that ive played with in the last couple of years...Currently its the only box I give to my friends that just want to stream using Kodi and have given up on the whole Android mess... Kodi running on Linux is better, faster and smoother then a Android version of Kodi that's been ripped apart to work within Gooogles framework and run all the Android crap in the background that chews up the boxes limited ram and resources...

pertaining to the original post... this looks like its a clone to me...

[chrisagr]

Hi
I have a M8S s812 2/8 gb . I was trying different firmwares and finally bricked it. No blue light nothing, can not get into recovery at all ,but my pc can see it in usb burning tool- it says connect success.
I required from seller firmware and he sent me but the usb burn tool wont proceed (parse burn image fail) so i need you to PLEASE advise me what method to use? sd card or usb burning tool and find me firmware
The plate inside the box writes M8 V8-9
Is it a clone? can i run openelec and if yes can you propose me a version
Thnks in advance