NEW - Beelink S82/S82H/M8/MXIII & Tronsmart S89/S89H - Finless 2.1 ROM

[Ichijoe]

Hi all, could anyone tell me if this would work on generic M8 box please? (I see M8 in title)
Like this one
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Origi...983927244.html

This "Version" is based on the 111k4 All-in-One Firmware... So as long as your M8 Box has the correct Hardware Amlogic S802 / Mali 450 + WiFi Chip RT-8188, AP-6xxx. Then yeah it should be safe to install even on MXIII 1G Devices. But, the stuff that broke for 1G Users on the Stock 111k4, is still just as broken here.
And, the Moon Men, are an acquired taste IMHO...

In short I'd say this was less so custom, and more of Lipstick meet Pig, but again that's just my opinion...

[djjinx1]

This "Version" is based on the 111k4 All-in-One Firmware... So as long as your M8 Box has the correct Hardware Amlogic S802 / Mali 450 + WiFi Chip RT-8188, AP-6xxx. Then yeah it should be safe to install even on MXIII 1G Devices. But, the stuff that broke for 1G Users on the Stock 111k4, is still just as broken here.
And, the Moon Men, are an acquired taste IMHO...

In short I'd say this was less so custom, and more of Lipstick meet Pig, but again that's just my opinion...

Thanks for the response, sooo many different versions!
I just want to know the best rom for M8 box lol, I want a TV style launcher preferably but those can be had from play store so colour me confused

[Ichijoe]

The Launcher in this ROM is the same MBOX Launcher, but skined with Moon Men. If its your thing?! The best advice is to look into getting TWRP Recovery either running, or installed first? In this way you make yourself a Nandroid Backup first, so in case something either goes wrong, or you decide that you don't care for the Moon Men either, you can easily recover yourself back to your current state.

Otherwise if you only need / care about XBMC / Kodi then OpenELEC would be worth considering, and is in some ways even better then Android. For example USB Bluetooth Dongles to at least transfer Files to the "Device". Sadly I haven't figured out how to get Files off the Box though, or how to install Retroarch on OpenELEC though, to even bother trying to pair up a Dualschock 3 this way. The only down side is you can't run Android Apps though.

[flukester]

The problem is with webm, WMV2 & (RealMedia Cooker), RMVB Formats under the "AnTuTu Video Test 3.0". Beseides the fact that I also have problems using my DVB>IPTV Solution under Live TV in XBMC/Kodi as well. I just use the linked App... to test any, given Firmware. If it fails to pass such standards set under 109/110-k4, then its gone. Such as pretty much every version released post 110k4.

Its worth noting I have a 1G Device... On your 2G Devices? YMMV....

Bud I tried this against my Tab 4 10.1 and I have no confidence in that utility you are using. I had issues when it came to the 2K and 4K. As the download takes forever, I'll try tonight and actually test against my 2GB device. My TV however is not a 4K device. So I'm not sure if I'm just wasting my time. I bought this thing to replace a PC and cut on power costs. I never bought it to drive 4K videos or hook it to a cable box. My main use is purely Kodi, Streaming and local media.

[Ichijoe]

Bud I tried this against my Tab 4 10.1 and I have no confidence in that utility you are using. I had issues when it came to the 2K and 4K. As the download takes forever, I'll try tonight and actually test against my 2GB device. My TV however is not a 4K device. So I'm not sure if I'm just wasting my time. I bought this thing to replace a PC and cut on power costs. I never bought it to drive 4K videos or hook it to a cable box. My main use is purely Kodi, Streaming and local media.

Out of like 30+ Tests only like 4 of those are in 4k or 2k, and unless you have an S8xx-H SoC those Tests are likely to lag anyway. The WebM, WMV2, and RMVB Tests were / are all in normal 1080p.

As to the aditonal download yeah it sucks a massive One!

[warlock09]

Hello guys here,just a quick update pls. For those who have used this rom by the master finless bob...on MXIII 2G/8G BOX PLS...any feedbacks pls..for those who have flashed this on their MXIII 2G/8G...THANKS IN advance

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[kelvcast]

I upgrade from 1.9 with the update app everything works great except the modded XBMC Oman included. The screen goes blank as if it freezes. I have to reboot to correct. I have also tried the SPMC version. The same. The official apk Kodi does work. Anyone have any ideas? I have the S89H version and am using the RCA cables

[Ichijoe]

I upgrade from 1.9 with the update app everything works great except the modded XBMC Oman included. The screen goes blank as if it freezes. I have to reboot to correct. I have also tried the SPMC version. The same. The official apk Kodi does work. Anyone have any ideas? I have the S89H version and am using the RCA cables

Its just a guess... But, sans OpenELEC, where you can alter the Display Resolution as needed. I think all the Android versions of ×bmc / Kodi, are locked to 1080p 60Hz. So perhaps the problem is that you just can't push a 1080p Signal through a Composite (i.e. RCA) Cable.

[MAS]

Mr Finless any chance you have time for 2.2 (112k4) please ? stock rom 112k4 won`t work with google ? probably because rom shows applecrappad (ipad) as device ?

[Ichijoe]

Another question.... Does this ROM have "media.amplayer.widevineenable=true" set in the build.prop.... If not might you give an explanation as to exactly WHY NOT?!

FYI: Widevine is the DRM'gt bit needed to get Google Play Movies.... And quite possibly Netflix HD?! (I'm sorry I have no way to test as I'm not a Netflix user!), working on these Devices.
Of all the Freebees I managed to snag from Google Play Movies last Christmas Only Shaun the Sheep: the Big Chase is actually in HD... And it shows! in comparison with the SD only stuff like The Fast, and the Furious, or Clash of the Titans. Which are SD ONLY.

This "Bug" had almost cost me 100€ as I went out, and picked up a Asus Nexus Player Puck, just to be able to use this Service. Thankfully my ancient assed TV is so damned old its apparently unable to send anything greater then 576p as default. Not having, (or at least easily), found a way to force 720p on that Device. it went back to the Shop again. So yes this is a pretty big deal for me. And as someone who's into Modding ROMs this One should have been obvious from the start!

....And, yet somehow its NOT.... Again I'd dearly love to ask you why?!

[john_k]

Hi Finless, thank you very much for the work you've done in tronsmart s89-h.

I have been using your 1.7 rom and everything worked well. Then I updated (after a long time) to 2.1. Now my xbmc video image is out of scale with the apk you provided (xbmc-armeabi-v7a-13.4.0) and even with spmc the problems persists. Mx player also displays double subtitles, I have to remove them from the video's folder and manually load it from somewhere else (except if I put software decode in video play).

I also installed 1.8 to see what happened and again the problem persists. I'm watching the videos in an analogue tv. What am I doing wrong?? Thank you.

[john_k]

And later I screwed everything...

With twrp I formatted the internal partition and I could not install any other rom. Also, I can't download stuff. Then I tried solve the problem with the usb recovery tool, getting errors in writting (same thing with sdcard instalation of stock firmware: unable to mount /sdcard invalid argument) so the tool ended up wiping the internal content and boot. Hardware only shows red light..

Someone heeeelp! ((

EDIT: Solved! "Brick" term search and found the solution here thank you for the instructions provided! Amlogic tools u_boot.bin, etc worked perfectly!

I went back to 1.7 and xbmc-armeabi-v7a-13.4.0 works with amcodec off in video settings. Otherwise, only sound and black screen.

I'm still to test if with this option, or other codecs off, the image oversize problem I was having in 2.1 still persists. This xbmc still crashes the box on launching, but I found that with kobi it works (with the screen issue, size).

[lawin1]

I went back to 1.7 and xbmc-armeabi-v7a-13.4.0 works with amcodec off in video settings. Otherwise, only sound and black screen.

I'm still to test if with this option, or other codecs off, the image oversize problem I was having in 2.1 still persists. This xbmc still crashes the box on launching, but I found that with kobi it works (with the screen issue, size).

Give a try to Kodi 14 alpha1: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/85e6f5d...rmeabi-v7a.apk or Kodi 14 alpha3: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/c671ee0...a3-armeabi.apk They both work with amcodec enabled and video in the center.

[Ichijoe]

Give a try to Kodi 14 alpha1: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/85e6f5d...rmeabi-v7a.apk or Kodi 14 alpha3: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/c671ee0...a3-armeabi.apk They both work with amcodec enabled and video in the center.

Why not just milk the Cow, at the source, and go with a full fat Kodi 14.2?
Which is working just fine under 109k4... Whats that you say? Why 109k4?! 'cause 111k4 onwards have to many bugs regarding the amcodec to be of any use to me, that's why.
But, it does work like a peach though!

*Just be sure to disable the disable the "Show notifications" under SuperSu, so you don't have to suffer though the never ending parade of permission changes every time you start it up!
Actually... This will be also quite true, in the instances described above... If you really want to follow this Cats "Advice" in the proper "Spirit", then get the Kodi 15 Alpha 2. Otherwise either go with Kodi 14.2, or SPMC 13.4 (Which is in the Play Store)

What exactly is giving you this "Black Screen"? The only time I ever had a "Black Screen" with Audio was when I wanted to use Google Play Movies...
Heck I almost believed that the MXIII would ever be capable of ever playing any DRM'gt infected sh--! Due to the lack of any available DRM being on the Machine.
Well that was a mistake! As it turns out the DRM... IS IN THERE! Its just not enabled!

To enable it you have to edit your build.prop File (/system/build.prop), from:

media.amplayer.widevineenable=false
to
media.amplayer.widevineenable=true

Sadly though this doesn't seem to help me much with Amazon Prime Videos though... OTOH Google Play Movies are now completely up, and running including HD, though I know of no way of knowing what HD is to Google, other then that the HD Flag had been set, and that it blows the snot out of the SD Stream.

[lawin1]

What exactly is giving you this "Black Screen"? The only time I ever had a "Black Screen" with Audio was when I wanted to use Google Play Movies...
Heck I almost believed that the MXIII would ever be capable of ever playing any DRM'gt infected sh--! Due to the lack of any available DRM being on the Machine.
Well that was a mistake! As it turns out the DRM... IS IN THERE! Its just not enabled!

To enable it you have to edit your build.prop File (/system/build.prop), from:

media.amplayer.widevineenable=false
to
media.amplayer.widevineenable=true

Sadly though this doesn't seem to help me much with Amazon Prime Videos though... OTOH Google Play Movies are now completely up, and running including HD, though I know of no way of knowing what HD is to Google, other then that the HD Flag had been set, and that it blows the snot out of the SD Stream.

@Ichijoe
congratulations, a nice discovery with widevineenable. You may look further with your investigations and compare, for example, MXIII build.prop with latest Minix Neo X8 build.prop (extract it from flashable zip format file). Minix developers are more attentive and scrupulous.

I'm also on 109k4, and the main reason I recommend 14 alpha1 because it works for me. I watch Live TV a lot with IPTV Simple addon and only 13.1, 13.2, 14 alpha1-3 works well. Any version above (including SPMC 13.4) has various shortfalls: Live TV preview window out of center, black screen and only audio, buffering, XBMC/Kodi freezing when zapping between SD and HD channels, etc. Haven't tested Kodi 15 alphas yet.