Tronsmart TV Box Ara X5 in August with Cherry Trail Z8300 Windows 10

[bluesmanuk]

I was looking at the few MKV files that had the colour issues in Kodi today to see if there was any correlation in their construction that was common to them but could not find anything.

Installed Kodi 16.0 Jarvis Alpha just to see what the latest version looks like and the colour issues are gone, so it must have been an issue in the version of Kodi that I was using.

I also found that CPU usage was generally less than it is in 15, so I'm sticking with it.

One of the reviews that I have seen talked of issues after about an hour of playback but after 6 hours of almost continuous playback of various files it never skipped a beat.

Switching display modes using the Intel control panel causes Kodi to load up only showing half a screen interface until the box is rebooted.

If you are sitting a fair distance away from your screen then the Windows interface can be a little harder to read than in android but this is where the 'Metro' tiles interface now comes into it's own.

[clarkss12]

Keep those reviews coming. Thanks

[bluesmanuk]

Keep those reviews coming. Thanks

I will.

I'm in the process of creating some Youtube reviews too, which will show off what it can do.

If this had SPDIF optical and HDMI 2 ports then I think that I would ditch everything else that I have right now.

[clarkss12]

If I keep buying these boxes, I am going to have to refinance my home........arggggggggg.

[elim]

does anyone have wifi drivers for this? i cant get mine to work

[bluesmanuk]

does anyone have wifi drivers for this? i cant get mine to work

I'll see if I can backup the drivers from mine.

What are your symptoms?

Here you go, backed up up with Double Driver, which I have included in the zip file.

https://mega.nz/#!L8QQVTTJ!FwJUlcM85...CUSC-d7ht2b6qI

[bluesmanuk]

Continued use over the past few days has shown the X5 to be completely stable.

Kodi continues to breeze through anything that I throw at it.

It has worked well with every USB stick and external hard drive I have used up to 1Tb (don't have anything larger).

Bluetooth works OK and connected with my soundbar, headset and phone.

I can't determine what capacity of Microsd card it takes or whether it supports SDXC but it works well with a 32Gb Samsung SDHC class 10 card, although transfer speeds were not quite as expected.

Other than when I need optical audio out, where I shall use an Android box, this is going to be the device for day to day use for me, although if you have an HDMI passthrough receiver then that should work just fine.

Whilst VLC, Potplayer and Zoomplayer all struggled to play 4k content, it made me wonder about the one player that I had not given any thought to, the one built into Windows 10, which plays them very well.

No custom ROM's, no messing about, less tweaking to get things to work as advertised, no issues with services such as Netflix, Sky Go, Now TV, 4oD etc that can be problematic on rooted android boxes, virtually complete compatibility with anything that I plug in with drivers available pretty much anywhere.

There isn't really a downside if you want guaranteed stability, more or less complete functionality, easier access to wider support and a system that you have been familiar with for a very long time now.

My advice is that if it falls within your budget and the specs match what you want to do with it, then go for one.

A Tronsmart box that works out of the box.

I've never been able to say that before, so well done Tronsmart.

[elim]

I'll see if I can backup the drivers from mine.

What are your symptoms?

Here you go, backed up up with Double Driver, which I have included in the zip file.

https://mega.nz/#!L8QQVTTJ!FwJUlcM85...CUSC-d7ht2b6qI

Thanks for that basically the wifi driver was really slow only got 2mb from my 40mb connection so I unintalled it and tried another one. None of them one or installed properly your link fixed it

Still getting slow wifi speeds though and tried a wifi USB adapter and I never seem to get the full speed

[clarkss12]

Continued use over the past few days has shown the X5 to be completely stable.

Kodi continues to breeze through anything that I throw at it.

It has worked well with every USB stick and external hard drive I have used up to 1Tb (don't have anything larger).

Bluetooth works OK and connected with my soundbar, headset and phone.

I can't determine what capacity of Microsd card it takes or whether it supports SDXC but it works well with a 32Gb Samsung SDHC class 10 card, although transfer speeds were not quite as expected.

Other than when I need optical audio out, where I shall use an Android box, this is going to be the device for day to day use for me, although if you have an HDMI passthrough receiver then that should work just fine.

Whilst VLC, Potplayer and Zoomplayer all struggled to play 4k content, it made me wonder about the one player that I had not given any thought to, the one built into Windows 10, which plays them very well.

No custom ROM's, no messing about, less tweaking to get things to work as advertised, no issues with services such as Netflix, Sky Go, Now TV, 4oD etc that can be problematic on rooted android boxes, virtually complete compatibility with anything that I plug in with drivers available pretty much anywhere.

There isn't really a downside if you want guaranteed stability, more or less complete functionality, easier access to wider support and a system that you have been familiar with for a very long time now.

My advice is that if it falls within your budget and the specs match what you want to do with it, then go for one.

A Tronsmart box that works out of the box.

I've never been able to say that before, so well done Tronsmart.

Thanks again

I see where you have the Nvida Shield also, which of the two would you recommend?

[alwaysbless]

Continued use over the past few days has shown the X5 to be completely stable.

Kodi continues to breeze through anything that I throw at it.

It has worked well with every USB stick and external hard drive I have used up to 1Tb (don't have anything larger).

Bluetooth works OK and connected with my soundbar, headset and phone.

I can't determine what capacity of Microsd card it takes or whether it supports SDXC but it works well with a 32Gb Samsung SDHC class 10 card, although transfer speeds were not quite as expected.

Other than when I need optical audio out, where I shall use an Android box, this is going to be the device for day to day use for me, although if you have an HDMI passthrough receiver then that should work just fine.

Whilst VLC, Potplayer and Zoomplayer all struggled to play 4k content, it made me wonder about the one player that I had not given any thought to, the one built into Windows 10, which plays them very well.

No custom ROM's, no messing about, less tweaking to get things to work as advertised, no issues with services such as Netflix, Sky Go, Now TV, 4oD etc that can be problematic on rooted android boxes, virtually complete compatibility with anything that I plug in with drivers available pretty much anywhere.

There isn't really a downside if you want guaranteed stability, more or less complete functionality, easier access to wider support and a system that you have been familiar with for a very long time now.

My advice is that if it falls within your budget and the specs match what you want to do with it, then go for one.

A Tronsmart box that works out of the box.

I've never been able to say that before, so well done Tronsmart.

Tronsmart has actually stepped it up I feel like with their two latest releases. The r68 is better then I expected and this looks like its turning out to be a pretty good box as well. Ive had my x5 for a few days now but havent plugged it in yet so I need to get to that this weekend but thx for all the info

[bluesmanuk]

Thanks again

I see where you have the Nvida Shield also, which of the two would you recommend?

I don't have the Nvidia shield but it is one of the things I am going to bring up in my video reviews where I am going to talk about what platforms suit differing uses.

By the time the shield gets to the UK it will probably be in the region of £199, so twice the price of this.

[bluesmanuk]

Thanks for that basically the wifi driver was really slow only got 2mb from my 40mb connection so I unintalled it and tried another one. None of them one or installed properly your link fixed it

Still getting slow wifi speeds though and tried a wifi USB adapter and I never seem to get the full speed

I'm glad it worked.

I have also backed up the whole driver set just in case it is ever needed.

The WiFi performance for me is very good on the 5Ghz band.

[bluesmanuk]

Tronsmart has actually stepped it up I feel like with their two latest releases. The r68 is better then I expected and this looks like its turning out to be a pretty good box as well. Ive had my x5 for a few days now but havent plugged it in yet so I need to get to that this weekend but thx for all the info

With this one yes and being a Windows machine it needs rather less support from Tronsmart, so with more direct support resource available from Intel and further afield, any software based issues that may crop up should yield quicker resolutions.

[elim]

I'm glad it worked.

I have also backed up the whole driver set just in case it is ever needed.

The WiFi performance for me is very good on the 5Ghz band.

thanks also any idea on the correct intel hd graphics to update? the intel update utility fails for me. i have the preinstalled ones just wondering if theres any new updates.

[bluesmanuk]

thanks also any idea on the correct intel hd graphics to update? the intel update utility fails for me. i have the preinstalled ones just wondering if theres any new updates.

From what I have found, there are no updates as of yet and it is the utility that must be incorrectly identifying the SOC.

I asked Intel and they said that there are no updates yet and just to keep an eye on their website.

They also said that they will look at the issue of incorrect identification and see if the tool requires an update.