Beelink R89 --RK3288 Cortex-A17 Mali-T7 4Kx2K RGMII HDMI2.0 supported by ODM&developers

[no_spam_for_me]

1.) I didn't seen with my eyes any AmLogic device in my life ...
2.) But know that it will be forward thinking to buy player with H.265 decoder. Therefor you should look for AmLogic S812 devices rather than S802.

1.) I had two s802 devices and not bad about that I resold them
2.) BUT I don't think they will be able to fix the video playback problems of the s802 at the s812 because the s812 is nearly not more than a s802 + H.265 ...

[ICU]

Rk3288 is better CPU and GPU doubles and triples in performance.

I didn't seen with my eyes any AmLogic device in my life but I heard from Finless Bob that these have superior image quality than RockChip devices. If you are intersted in almost exclusive video playback and do not plan to use these generation of devices with 4k monitor (HDMI 2.0) then you should consider AmLogic as a better choise. RK3288 hase only performance advantage in CPU (Cortex A9 vs A17 about 50-60% performance increase) and GPU (Mali450MP8 vs Mali T-760MP4 - 2-3 time better) departament and not VPU (Video Procesing Unit) and HDMI 2.0 isn't throughly tested.


But know that it will be forward thinking to buy player with H.265 decoder. Therefor you should look for AmLogic S812 devices rather than S802.

[fossxplorer]

Yeah, but what about the VPU then? Gormar mentions it isn't tested enough...even the RTD1195 seems to have a strong VPU. What's the current downside of R89? @no_spam_for_me, link to the s802/812 issue u mention?
Edit, btw is the micro freezes of R89 fixed?
Edit2, my family needs a box to play back vidoes/xbmnavi-x smoothly to..
So will AM S812 be the best bet? I just ordered MXQ S85 since its cheap...will see how it behaves in 1 month time with free shipping

[no_spam_for_me]

...
@no_spam_for_me, link to the s802/812 issue u mention?
Edit, btw is the micro freezes of R89 fixed?
...

No, sorry, it's somewhere all over the sub-forum(s) for the s802 devices at different threads I read posts about it...
BTW: I have no micro freezes at rk3288 and don't understand why some (if I'm not wrong less the 5) have these problems...

[ICU]

I don't get micro freezes anymore since I switched from an air mouse to Logitech wireless optical. Video playback is flawless in kodi beta 2 with a advancedsetting.xml tweak.

No, sorry, it's somewhere all over the sub-forum(s) for the s802 devices at different threads I read posts about it...
BTW: I have no micro freezes at rk3288 and don't understand why some (if I'm not wrong less the 5) have these problems...

[Gormar]

Micro freezes

It may depend what you do on your box and how perceptive you are .
As far as I can tell there is almost no freezes when watching video without other background activity e.g. downloading.


But I have some problems when browsing web with Google Chrome and possibly other browsers. When mouse cursor stops from time to time for part of the second it is quite annoying. I had similar experience on my previous TV Box (Kingnovel R-K49) but only with connected game pad. When I figured it out there were only one "minor" problem with sponatouse reboots which was overcome with Wasser's KK ROM.


So far stability of this BOX is very good. And micro stutters significantly diminish when I set dpi in build.prop file rather than command line (wm density 160). I use monitor and default setting is too big for me.


On the other hand I have some suspicions that these micro stutters might have something to do with quite low I/O random write capabilities of build-in eMMC flash memeory chip. Androbench gives me only 60-65 4k IOPS (~0.24MiBps) from this FreeSee memory when old and not so good Toshiba NAND on my R-K49 gave 3 time more 170-180 (~0,72MiBps).

[bloodgnome]

AW: Beelink R89 --RK3288 Cortex-A17 Mali-T7 4Kx2K RGMII HDMI2.0 supported by ODM&developers

It may depend what you do on your box and how perceptive you are .
As far as I can tell there is almost no freezes when watching video without other background activity e.g. downloading.


But I have some problems when browsing web with Google Chrome and possibly other browsers. When mouse cursor stops from time to time for part of the second it is quite annoying. I had similar experience on my previous TV Box (Kingnovel R-K49) but only with connected game pad. When I figured it out there were only one "minor" problem with sponatouse reboots which was overcome with Wasser's KK ROM.


So far stability of this BOX is very good. And micro stutters significantly diminish when I set dpi in build.prop file rather than command line (wm density 160). I use monitor and default setting is too big for me.


On the other hand I have some suspicions that these micro stutters might have something to do with quite low I/O random write capabilities of build-in eMMC flash memeory chip. Androbench gives me only 60-65 4k IOPS (~0.24MiBps) from this FreeSee memory when old and not so good Toshiba NAND on my R-K49 gave 3 time more 170-180 (~0,72MiBps).

You might be on the right track there.

I testet my r89 and some other boxes plus the amazon fire tv.

Here are the results from androbench:

r89 / firetv:

seq. read
35,84 / 81,63

seq. write
10,12 / 13,41

random read
5,51 / 10,82

Random write
0,23 / 0,82

sql insert
33,65 / 98,0

sql update
37,71 / 103,34

sql delete
37,84 / 105,44

browser
345,5 / 119,0

So while i think amazon made lots of mistakes with their box, they did right with the memory and used very fast emmc.

Beelink/nexton might not be as bad as eny in the emmc department but they are far from great...oman please next time pick faster emmc.

im pretty sure this is (the only?) reason for the micro stutters I and many others expierience. Cause otherwise the box and rk3288 is awesome.

[fossxplorer]

Great job @gormar & @bloodgnome, most likely that's the cause of micro stutters reported on this box. Is there possibilities of using fast sd cars and use that as tmp dir for browser? @oman, i doubt it, but any chance of using faster emmc on next revision of the board? Who wouldn't pay $10 more to get a pretty good nand. Does Tronsmart rk3288 also have this issue?

[Gormar]

I'm not entirely sure if these micro freezes are associated with slow random writes memory device. I've got similar problem with my previous TV BOX (R-K49) and it was completly resolved by software. But in that design was used NAND memory and rknand cache module which could eliminate some issues with slow writes. I wish it is only incompatibility between Android InputManager or USB driver and some input hardware. I've got some "non standard" multimedia keyboard but I can test this device with another and I will do so soon.


Besides there is no strong correlation between writing operation and frequency of stutters. Downloading torrent file with quite good speed (3-4MB/s) doesn't clearly elevate the problem. Even when I do AndroBench test mouse stutters only once during third random write test but with astonishing probability. Maybe these writes must occure in specific location or overflow internal eMMC buffers/cache? And without ForeSee eMMC datasheet it is just pure speculation.

[fossxplorer]

Hmm, thank you for lots on insight info really!

Now i've decided not buy this device for now at least. Reasons are:
i've read many reviews of RK3288 based Android boxes and none of them could get Skype working with a webcam!
It's really a showstopper for me, as i'm looking to replace a pc with such a box. Skype video calling is a MUST for me.
Does anyone know about any Android boxes where Skype and hopefully Google Hangout video calling work?
And with a not too bad eMMC nand as well. I read Kingnovel's RK3288 box had the highest I/O for the eMMC according to cnx-software. But again, Skype video calling didn't work on that one neither!

Otherwise i might be forced to go over to Atom based Windows or Linux boxes, maybe Firefly board if that's any better.
But i'd much prefer Android since it's got apps for nearly everything and cool games too .

[no_spam_for_me]

... I read Kingnovel's RK3288 box had the highest I/O for the eMMC according to cnx-software. ...

I'm also not sure if this is really a relevant factor but if it's important for you, the HPH NT-V6 pcb seems to have the same results...

[bloodgnome]

AW: Beelink R89 --RK3288 Cortex-A17 Mali-T7 4Kx2K RGMII HDMI2.0 supported by ODM&developers

Great job @gormar & @bloodgnome, most likely that's the cause of micro stutters reported on this box. Is there possibilities of using fast sd cars and use that as tmp dir for browser? @oman, i doubt it, but any chance of using faster emmc on next revision of the board? Who wouldn't pay $10 more to get a pretty good nand. Does Tronsmart rk3288 also have this issue?

tronsmart uses the same nexton board design. plus cxs software testet the meta too and got not so good results... so i think yeah. same mediocre emmc

Sent from my THL 5000

[oman]

Hmm, thank you for lots on insight info really!

Now i've decided not buy this device for now at least. Reasons are:
i've read many reviews of RK3288 based Android boxes and none of them could get Skype working with a webcam!
It's really a showstopper for me, as i'm looking to replace a pc with such a box. Skype video calling is a MUST for me.
Does anyone know about any Android boxes where Skype and hopefully Google Hangout video calling work?
And with a not too bad eMMC nand as well. I read Kingnovel's RK3288 box had the highest I/O for the eMMC according to cnx-software. But again, Skype video calling didn't work on that one neither!

Otherwise i might be forced to go over to Atom based Windows or Linux boxes, maybe Firefly board if that's any better.
But i'd much prefer Android since it's got apps for nearly everything and cool games too .

1.Skype is working now in our internal Beta 111k4 ROM;

2. eMMC is not the point for video stutters ,you can do the test:Play the same video from eMMC and USB storage, can you tell the difference?

[bloodgnome]

1.Skype is working now in our internal Beta 111k4 ROM;

2. eMMC is not the point for video stutters ,you can do the test:Play the same video from eMMC and USB storage, can you tell the difference?

1. Yay

2. I downloaded one of the movies where I had micro-stuttering while streaming and it played fine from my harddisk. So if it's not the emmc then its the wifi drivers or something else streaming related (No, its not my internet as the movies play fine on my K-R42, MiniX, and FireTV).

Still the EMMC Values are not that great compared to other devices. Even the "cheap" Kingnovel RK3288 Devices have faster EMMC (CXS-Software Test). So picking faster/better EMMC shouldn't have a big impact on the costs while it would have been great for the customers...just saying.

[fossxplorer]

Yes, Nagrace HPH RK3288 boxes looks good and seem to have faster Samsung eMMC:
From CNX-SOFT:
"The Samsung eMMC found on the board has very good performance, reading at 55 MB/s, and writing at 18 MB/s "

But there were many other hiccups with XBMC and Skype etc, so not quite ready i assume.

I'm also not sure if this is really a relevant factor but if it's important for you, the HPH NT-V6 pcb seems to have the same results...