TV Box confusion (RK3288 vs. Amlogic S812 vs. Allwinner A80)

[pirecrompir]

Yes, I know, much has been written about this, I read all the threads here and elsewhere, but still can't make up my mind.

First I wanted to buy an S812 box, heard the graphics were not so good, then I thought the Allwinner A80 was the perfect solution, then I heard that support was supposed to be very bad, then I decided for RK 3288, but video play seems not to be perfect.

I will mainly use the TV box to stream MKV and MP4 videos from my WD My Book World NAS (both connected through ethernet to my router) to my HD (720p) TV, but I'm planning to buy a new UHD TV soon, so 4K video play is important. Occasionally, I will play some games, but mainly my 4-year-old son will, so graphics capability is not unimportant.

I am deciding between Rk3288 (UBOX R89 or Rikomagic MK902II), S812 (Rikomagic MK12) and Allwinner A80 (Rikomagic MK80). Is video play with RK3288 really so bad and inferior to S812? Why exactly is Allwinner such a bad option? On paper it seems very good. Is S812's video play superiority worth the inferior graphics?

I am really confused and will be very grateful for all your suggestions!

Thanks!

[bloodgnome]

Well to make it short:

Allwinner A80 = Chip from Cheating Chinese Allwinner Liars...fakes Antutu Score (over 50.000...in reality 36000). Bad XBMC support. Should be avoided at any cost

Amlogic 812 = Great speed for Multimedia. Also Great support for XBMC. Consumes a little more power than the others and gets hot. GPU Chip for Gaming is not the newest/fastest (Mali 450)

Rockchip RK3288 = Fastest Gaming GPU (Mali 760). Lowest Power Consumption and little heat. Good XBMC Support BUT Firmwares still weak...Videostutters with every second box (Nagrace seems the best for now, Beelink stutters...i have one)

So in your Case Amlogic 812 would be the right choice....or RK3288 from HPC/Nagrace I don't know which PCB Rikomagic uses but i guess its from Beelink/Nexton (So for now not so great = stutters).

[pirecrompir]

Thanks for the reply!

Apart from your obvious hatred towards Allwinner and their Antutu score faking (which is completely irrelevant to me), could you please elaborate a little, why the A80 should be avoided at any cost? Is it the bad video play? Bad graphics? Bad support? How does its graphics compare with rk3288 and s812? Also its video play? I understand you're mad at them for cheating, but this has nothing to do with the quality of the chip and the box. I would like to hear your unbiased opinion. Do you expect the firmware for the rk3288 will get better so the video play won't be a problem anymore? Is Nagrace HPH available in Europe? I couldn't find it anywhere. It's also quite expensive, not to mention the added import tax and customs duty when ordered from China.

Thanks again

[prahjister]

I have an rk3288 r89. Wasser latest ROM with latest spmc. (And i am a stock software guy) No stutter up to 1080. My 4k test files aren't perfect in spmc. But the other then test files I have no 4k content. I have no opinion of other processors. Every thing else seems to work. Cam w mic. Gamepad. Its just an opinion but I believe that they all put out there stuff a little early. I was an early adopter of r89. I will wait in the future.

[clarkss12]

I have an rk3288 r89. Wasser latest ROM with latest spmc. (And i am a stock software guy) No stutter up to 1080. My 4k test files aren't perfect in spmc. But the other then test files I have no 4k content. I have no opinion of other processors. Every thing else seems to work. Cam w mic. Gamepad. Its just an opinion but I believe that they all put out there stuff a little early. I was an early adopter of r89. I will wait in the future.

I agree with prahjister about the stock firmware on the R89, they got about 90% complete then moved on. My Tronsmart Vega S89H is far superior in audio/video performance to my R89.

I have no idea about the new Allwinner box, but I have a CS918S with the Allwinner A31 CPU and it is far superior to the RK3188 Boxes that I have.

[prahjister]

they are probably working on lolipop and wasser will get us by until then. dont get me wrong i unerstand it is hard to get everything working with all the different brands of perephials....i just kinda come to expect the basics. The stuttering freezing thing was frustrating. I dont know the technicalities of it. All these chips have been out for a while now i believe. R89 is great now imho couple with wasser. I have a simple setup. BOX Cam hardwired ethernet and rockcandy controller. I dont have passthrough or cec.

[clarkss12]

they are probably working on lolipop and wasser will get us by until then. dont get me wrong i unerstand it is hard to get everything working with all the different brands of perephials....i just kinda come to expect the basics. The stuttering freezing thing was frustrating. I dont know the technicalities of it. All these chips have been out for a while now i believe. R89 is great now imho couple with wasser. I have a simple setup. BOX Cam hardwired ethernet and rockcandy controller. I dont have passthrough or cec.

Their lack of passthrough is a big failure on their part. I have pushed it aside.

[pirecrompir]

Thank you for your input!

If I understand correctly, AC3 and DTS(-HD) passthrough to an AV reciever through optical connection doesn't work with an RK3288 box??

Thanks

[Biomecanoid]

Passthru audio works on my eBluetimes QPRO RK3288 but ONLY with a specific firmware which is not the latest available. Newer firmwares are actually worse than same old ones. Problems that were solved in older firmwares re-appear on newer ones.

So i am sticking to the rom that works with no intention of upgrading.

[RISCy Dude]

Some have reported good results using the Open Hour Chameleon firmware. Someone ported it to the R89. It can be found under the R89 section.
I am not having much difficulty with the 2.0.8 F/W from Ugoos on my UT3. I have not had a lot of time with it yet though.
A new Rockchip SoC, the RK3688, features a different GPU(PowerVR) than Rockchip has used lately(Mali). You might want to see where it goes.
Quite a few folks have had some issues with the Allwinner A80 when it comes to game compatibility and controller usability. Maybe some app compatibility probs too, I cannot recall.
Then again, Amlogic will also be releasing a new SoC too, S912 maybe?
If you are spending around $200, you may want to checkout the nVidea Shield. Many say it is the king, a little too early to tell yet, but it seems promising.
BTW But for the fan and case, Ugoos and Nagrace use identical hardware in their RK3288 boxes.
Have fun.

[Kimer]

Well to make it short:

Allwinner A80 = Chip from Cheating Chinese Allwinner Liars...fakes Antutu Score (over 50.000...in reality 36000). Bad XBMC support. Should be avoided at any cost

Amlogic 812 = Great speed for Multimedia. Also Great support for XBMC. Consumes a little more power than the others and gets hot. GPU Chip for Gaming is not the newest/fastest (Mali 450)

Rockchip RK3288 = Fastest Gaming GPU (Mali 760). Lowest Power Consumption and little heat. Good XBMC Support BUT Firmwares still weak...Videostutters with every second box (Nagrace seems the best for now, Beelink stutters...i have one)

So in your Case Amlogic 812 would be the right choice....or RK3288 from HPC/Nagrace I don't know which PCB Rikomagic uses but i guess its from Beelink/Nexton (So for now not so great = stutters).

Thank u sir, your words are quite enlightening , and i have bough t a tronfy smart TV box, installed with Amlogic S812 , kodi, upgrade version of xbmc runs better, and as you said, for picture and video enjoyment, Amlogic s812 is a better choice.

[davimin]

Hi everyone

I’ve been looking at a Android TV box and have been researching the various boxes:

. Tronsmart Draco AW Telos (Allwinner A80) 4G/32G
. Minix Neo X8-H Plus (Amlogic S812) 2G/16G
. Xmedex Xtreme Plus (RK 3288) 4G/32G

The discussion has been interesting. I currently have a Roku XD box but now looking at Android boxes. The box is mainly used for streaming video from Netflix, Hulu Plus and Kodi/XMBC channels. The kids might want to play some games on the big screen but they are happy with the tabs.

The box needs to stream to a 55 inch Full HD TV. Is more RAM better or is a box with say 1GB ram and 8 GB emmc storage enough. I’ve been reading that bigger is better but is it really? Is a Vidon box ok for my needs or will it buffering and video stutter be enough to curse…

Xmedex is an Australian company that has a Youtube of its device, which seems good when compared against the Minix (but then again how many times did they take it before they got it right).

What TV box would you get without going overboard.

Cheers

[clarkss12]

Hi everyone

I’ve been looking at a Android TV box and have been researching the various boxes:

. Tronsmart Draco AW Telos (Allwinner A80) 4G/32G
. Minix Neo X8-H Plus (Amlogic S812) 2G/16G
. Xmedex Xtreme Plus (RK 3288) 4G/32G

The discussion has been interesting. I currently have a Roku XD box but now looking at Android boxes. The box is mainly used for streaming video from Netflix, Hulu Plus and Kodi/XMBC channels. The kids might want to play some games on the big screen but they are happy with the tabs.

The box needs to stream to a 55 inch Full HD TV. Is more RAM better or is a box with say 1GB ram and 8 GB emmc storage enough. I’ve been reading that bigger is better but is it really? Is a Vidon box ok for my needs or will it buffering and video stutter be enough to curse…

Xmedex is an Australian company that has a Youtube of its device, which seems good when compared against the Minix (but then again how many times did they take it before they got it right).

What TV box would you get without going overboard.

Cheers

There is no Netflix HD from these Android boxes.

[mo123]

Hi everyone

I’ve been looking at a Android TV box and have been researching the various boxes:

. Tronsmart Draco AW Telos (Allwinner A80) 4G/32G
. Minix Neo X8-H Plus (Amlogic S812) 2G/16G
. Xmedex Xtreme Plus (RK 3288) 4G/32G

The discussion has been interesting. I currently have a Roku XD box but now looking at Android boxes. The box is mainly used for streaming video from Netflix, Hulu Plus and Kodi/XMBC channels. The kids might want to play some games on the big screen but they are happy with the tabs.

The box needs to stream to a 55 inch Full HD TV. Is more RAM better or is a box with say 1GB ram and 8 GB emmc storage enough. I’ve been reading that bigger is better but is it really? Is a Vidon box ok for my needs or will it buffering and video stutter be enough to curse…

Xmedex is an Australian company that has a Youtube of its device, which seems good when compared against the Minix (but then again how many times did they take it before they got it right).

What TV box would you get without going overboard.

Cheers

The Xmedex Xtreme Plus, it has the highest specs and I use the same device but a different brand.
Will also get Linux browser VPU support, then you can run Netflix in 1080p in a browser and fullscreen it in a few weeks.
The Tronsmart Draco AW Telos have very bad support, please avoid.
The X8-H Plus is also good.

[AnotherOne]

The Xmedex Xtreme Plus, it has the highest specs and I use the same device but a different brand.
Will also get Linux browser VPU support, then you can run Netflix in 1080p in a browser and fullscreen it in a few weeks.
The Tronsmart Draco AW Telos have very bad support, please avoid.
The X8-H Plus is also good.

What's "same device but a different brand" that you are using? I've looked around but there are several device with similar chipsets. Thanks