Is upgrade worth it?

[MINIX]

Is upgrade worth it?

I just googled the rk3288 and it looks impressive. I wonder if Minix will develop a box with it. Even though I have some forum/political problems (don't ask me why)... I like the Minix hardware. It has served me well.

We developed months ago, first power up on early April (we were the 1st company got it up and working), but then RK collected all our boards back and refused to give us back for over a month. Don't forget the fact that we are their first launch partner! This really pissed me off. The boards are our properties.

The truth is, it could run, performance is high, lower than Tegra 4 but it's ok, not very stable, some OpenGL graphical artefacts (GPU driver? HW? ) but the biggest problem is SOFTWARE. They don't have a proper SDK up to this moment, which is very frustrating as we invested huge costs in that project. Looks like it wouldn't be READY FOR MARKET in 2-3 months (some companies just don't care about you and sell immature products but we can't). Also they have No clue to make their media decoder compatible with XBMC.

I know a few companies started promoting it and even claim it's ready for shipping just because they are not entitled/ not capable to work with Amlogic. I could say even if they could ship in one month, the products would look just terrible. Because the software is still like a baby, how to tweak without a proper and reliable SDK?

RK requested all partners to re-design the PMU part of the board on May so all projects basically went to hell and started over again. Testing has to be done all over again too after the re-design. We got their 1st production chips already by the way.

This chip might be "dead", because they have the giant INTEL mothership now, they don't really have to worry about it anymore. I'm not sure if they still care actually.

Just my 2 cents.

[MINIX]

Is upgrade worth it?

Yep, this "Minix" cannot handle critics and comparisons at all - seems to be China-like

I can handle critics, I handle hundreds of critics every day.

[pawnslinger]

I can handle critics, I handle hundreds of critics every day.

I appreciate your honesty and your products. I have owned a Minix product of some kind for more than a year. And the next piece of gear that I buy will more than likely be a Minix. But somehow, I have managed to make myself unwelcome in the MinixForum. And since my IP is banned there, I cannot even properly defend myself, as I don't even know why I was banned. My first reaction was to use a VPN to access the forum, but I soon tired of that.

I apologize for anything that I have said or written that has offended you or Minix. Thank you for your efforts and well built products. And your resistance to putting out floor scrapings, as some other manufacturers (that shall remain nameless) have done.

One suggestion, instead of permanently banning IP addresses, might it be possible to make the ban temporary the first time, say for a couple of weeks, explaining to the customer why the ban was enforced. So that they have a chance to reform and participate knowing better what the rules are. I have seen this done in other forums, and I think it worked quite well (as someone who has had such a temporary ban, once upon a time). Having learned my lesson in that forum, I stopped the offending behaviour... which was simply mentioning the name of a competitor (some folks don't like their competitors mentioned). As I said, I do not even know why I was banned from the MinixForum.

[titooo7]

@pawnslinger apparently you are not he only one who have been banned on their forum or its called douche bag but hard minix supporters for being critic.
I honestly don't know why you request to be "unbanned from that forum. You would gain access to the forum but at the cost of being extremely careful with what you write. Is it worth?

Few days ago I was having an endless discussion with Minix in their forum where they explained whythey banned tommix.
As I could see we got totally different points of view about how to do things and what respect or being critic means I thought it was time to forget about keep discussing so I requested him to delete the posts we both made in order to keep their thread clean...
Then he deleted some but not all the posts were we were arguing. When I asked why some posts of our dicussions are still there, he informed me that thats so users could have a "reference" (if i remember right that's the reason he gave me about why some post weren't deleted...)

I still haven't been banned. So they might have realised some of the mistakes that in my opinion they made when talking with critics customers and maybe they want to rectify that with patience and more tolerance and respect to critic users.
However I honestly doubt it (look how they let people insult tommix, who cant defend himself there anymore) so I don't have any intention to post there any more.
In all the forums were I write I always write with respect unless someone disrespect me previously (then I go as hard as I can) but I prefer to post here in freaktab because I know here is less likely I would be banned or called whatever for being critic with the product or current performance.

And now back on topic Unless you are a super geek, as I said I would wait to upgrade till all the features you want are working perfectly.
In my case I don't care about 4k, 3D and that kind of things so if they fix or I can fix the streaming issues within a week then I would keep the device. Otherwise I would sell it.

[Skylinebasser]

I can handle critics, I handle hundreds of critics every day.

Obviously not - otherwise you would react on the comments and proposals of several professional members here.
And please keep in mind that you have specialists here who are doing the work of the manufacturer or at least offer great support with regard to the firmware. Thx.

[no_spam_for_me]

We developed months ago, first power up on early April (we were the 1st company got it up and working), but then RK collected all our boards back and refused to give us back for over a month. Don't forget the fact that we are their first launch partner! This really pissed me off. The boards are our properties.

The truth is, it could run, performance is high, lower than Tegra 4 but it's ok, not very stable, some OpenGL graphical artefacts (GPU driver? HW? ) but the biggest problem is SOFTWARE. They don't have a proper SDK up to this moment, which is very frustrating as we invested huge costs in that project. Looks like it wouldn't be READY FOR MARKET in 2-3 months (some companies just don't care about you and sell immature products but we can't). Also they have No clue to make their media decoder compatible with XBMC.

I know a few companies started promoting it and even claim it's ready for shipping just because they are not entitled/ not capable to work with Amlogic. I could say even if they could ship in one month, the products would look just terrible. Because the software is still like a baby, how to tweak without a proper and reliable SDK?

RK requested all partners to re-design the PMU part of the board on May so all projects basically went to hell and started over again. Testing has to be done all over again too after the re-design. We got their 1st production chips already by the way.

This chip might be "dead", because they have the giant INTEL mothership now, they don't really have to worry about it anymore. I'm not sure if they still care actually.

Just my 2 cents.

It's like 'have more fun'... what a f** BS (and you really want to be 'the first launch partner' after this?)
BTW: http://newsroom.intel.com/community/...ns-for-tablets

[pawnslinger]

@pawnslinger apparently you are not he only one who have been banned on their forum or its called douche bag but hard minix supporters for being critic.

Actually, I don't think I requested to be "unbanned". I do not know why I was banned, so I really can't say whether it was fair or not. When I discovered my ban, I wasn't especially upset or angry, I was confused. As I still am confused.

Aside from the forum and what has happened to me there, Minix and its representatives have always impressed me as being willing to help... and produce good products. So I am willing to overlook their forum. And I am sure I will continue to buy their hardware.

I would like a media hub that would run the following programs, cleanly and easily: XBMC, Netflix, Hulu+ and Amazon Instant Video. So far, only the FireTV fits that bill, but I am put off by its closed 1 company ecosystem. I am willing to pay more for an open system. Minix's systems are the most open and best quality that I have found. I like that. At the moment, I have 3 media hubs, a Roku 3, a WDTV, and the Minix Neo X7. The Roku 3 offers the best coverage of the apps I want, but it won't run XBMC, so I am looking to replace it and the WDTV. I am probably not going to replace the X7 anytime soon. It runs XBMC and Netflix very well for me. I will use it in a spot where I don't need Hulu+ or Amazon. So I am in the market to buy 2 new units, but if they can't run the apps I need, then I must wait.

[titooo7]

Aside from the forum and what has happened to me there, Minix and its representatives have always impressed me as being willing to help... and produce good products. So I am willing to overlook their forum. And I am sure I will continue to buy their hardware.

I would like a media hub that would run the following programs, cleanly and easily: XBMC, Netflix, Hulu+ and Amazon Instant Video. So far, only the FireTV fits that bill, but I am put off by its closed 1 company ecosystem. I am willing to pay more for an open system. Minix's systems are the most open and best quality that I have found. I like that. At the moment, I have 3 media hubs, a Roku 3, a WDTV, and the Minix Neo X7. The Roku 3 offers the best coverage of the apps I want, but it won't run XBMC, so I am looking to replace it and the WDTV. I am probably not going to replace the X7 anytime soon. It runs XBMC and Netflix very well for me. I will use it in a spot where I don't need Hulu+ or Amazon. So I am in the market to buy 2 new units, but if they can't run the apps I need, then I must wait.

Indeed. Despite what happens in their forum they are famous for delivering good products and giving much more support than their chinise and OEM competitors. We can't deny that.
If I keep my Minix and I manage to have enough free time I will try to port Amazon Instant Video, although I'm not a customer of Amazon Prime, just for the challenge

[pawnslinger]

Indeed. Despite what happens in their forum they are famous for delivering good products and giving much more support than their chinise and OEM competitors. We can't deny that.
If I keep my Minix and I manage to have enough free time I will try to port Amazon Instant Video, although I'm not a customer of Amazon Prime, just for the challenge

Sir, if you can do that, you would truly be my hero! The biggest obstacle, I think, is that the Amazon Instant Video app is not in the Google Play Store (at least I couldn't find it). Lots of other Amazon apps, but the video app seems to be "closely held", i.e. only released to platforms that have a licensing agreement with Amazon. It is in the Roku store and in the iOS store, and it is on Android, because some phones have it. But it come pre-installed on those phones... so I think this is a big problem.

But perhaps it is available, and I just missed it. If you find it and start working on it, that would be wonderful. Thank you.

[tommix]

Me too was banned from that stupid forum just because i wrote that all reviews was done by minix and minix sponsored people so don't believe in those reviews as the real ones (at the time of writing there were no minix neo x8 available to people). Forum states they are not official minix forum but i can bet minix have their hands there

And whata bout topic - NO it DOESNT worth to upgrade to X8 from X7.

[zektor]

Upgrade from X7 to X8 is definitely worth it...it would be nonsense to think otherwise. As an owner of the X7 and X7 mini and now the X8-H, I can say that if you are looking for a performance bump you should definitely upgrade. I love the X7 (and X7 mini) and think they are very good devices, but the X8 spits out that extra performance that I needed. 1080P video is perfect (it was very good on the X7, but not seemless sometimes) and emulation (which is very important to me) is perfect on the X8. Everything from Atari 2600 to Mame to N64, PSX...all run perfectly. 3D games like Grand Theft Auto III, Shine Runner, Zen Pinball and others work flawlessly. Every upgrade is about performance gain. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise, or it would not be an "upgrade". The X8 certainly is a step up from the X7 in every respect. My next upgrade beyond this willl probably be a RK3288 device.

[pawnslinger]

Upgrade from X7 to X8 is definitely worth it...it would be nonsense to think otherwise. As an owner of the X7 and X7 mini and now the X8-H, I can say that if you are looking for a performance bump you should definitely upgrade. I love the X7 (and X7 mini) and think they are very good devices, but the X8 spits out that extra performance that I needed. 1080P video is perfect (it was very good on the X7, but not seemless sometimes) and emulation (which is very important to me) is perfect on the X8. Everything from Atari 2600 to Mame to N64, PSX...all run perfectly. 3D games like Grand Theft Auto III, Shine Runner, Zen Pinball and others work flawlessly. Every upgrade is about performance gain. Don't let anyone else tell you otherwise, or it would not be an "upgrade". The X8 certainly is a step up from the X7 in every respect. My next upgrade beyond this willl probably be a RK3288 device.

I am happy with the X7's performance. I need a player that will run Hulu+... I would also like Amazon Instant Video, but I doubt that is possible. I see Hulu in the X8-H advertizing shots on Geekbuying, but I am not sure. I am not willing to plunk down my money until I know for sure it WILL or WILLNOT run the Hulu+ content.

[titooo7]

I am happy with the X7's performance. I need a player that will run Hulu+... I would also like Amazon Instant Video, but I doubt that is possible. I see Hulu in the X8-H advertizing shots on Geekbuying, but I am not sure. I am not willing to plunk down my money until I know for sure it WILL or WILLNOT run the Hulu+ content.

Wise decision