R-Box PRO Amlogic S912 Octa Core - 3G + 16G

[resansid]

Just noticed Geekbuying posted a ROM update for R-Box Pro 2GB and 3GB versions. I flashed it successfully using the USB tool on my 3GB device using a laptop.
Noticed that the Green flicker issue has been fixed.
Other improvements are the Dolby Digital from Kodi is now working good but the DTS still doesn't work.
Kodi 17 is now updated to Alpha 3 and overall it is working quite stable.
Also noticed the Sound settings have been changed and now there is another setting tab added in Sounds menu where you have an option for Line or RF for your digital sound output.
Not sure if the OTA update is working for this box yet, so there is no way keep your Apps and previous setup when you flash it manually.

[feelulive]

Just noticed Geekbuying posted a ROM update for R-Box Pro 2GB and 3GB versions. I flashed it successfully using the USB tool on my 3GB device using a laptop.
Noticed that the Green flicker issue has been fixed.
Other improvements are the Dolby Digital from Kodi is now working good but the DTS still doesn't work.
Kodi 17 is now updated to Alpha 3 and overall it is working quite stable.
Also noticed the Sound settings have been changed and now there is another setting tab added in Sounds menu where you have an option for Line or RF for your digital sound output.
Not sure if the OTA update is working for this box yet, so there is no way keep your Apps and previous setup when you flash it manually.

did u use kodi 16.1, kodi 17 still is not good for audio passthrough

[capvag]

Just noticed Geekbuying posted a ROM update for R-Box Pro 2GB and 3GB versions. I flashed it successfully using the USB tool on my 3GB device using a laptop.
Noticed that the Green flicker issue has been fixed.
Other improvements are the Dolby Digital from Kodi is now working good but the DTS still doesn't work.
Kodi 17 is now updated to Alpha 3 and overall it is working quite stable.
Also noticed the Sound settings have been changed and now there is another setting tab added in Sounds menu where you have an option for Line or RF for your digital sound output.
Not sure if the OTA update is working for this box yet, so there is no way keep your Apps and previous setup when you flash it manually.

I am not sure about Green flickering has been fixed, but i am sure they DROPPED UNDERCLOCKED the CPU frequency to 1500 mhz and 1000 mhz. Previous firmware cpu was at 2000 mhz.

1st. That is unacceptable for me,
2nd maybe thats the reason green flickering has improved?

[trotter]

I am not sure about Green flickering has been fixed, but i am sure they DROPPED UNDERCLOCKED the CPU frequency to 1500 mhz and 1000 mhz. Previous firmware cpu was at 2000 mhz.

1st. That is unacceptable for me,
2nd maybe thats the reason green flickering has improved?

The unit wasn't truly running at 2Ghz so that want be it.

[capvag]

Then advertisement is bad. That's confusing.

But also the box not only feels slower than before, but really is. Kernel has been compliled with different speeds at cpu and that makes it slower. The underclocked the cpu for sure.

[trotter]

Then advertisement is bad. That's confusing.

But also the box not only feels slower than before, but really is. Kernel has been compliled with different speeds at cpu and that makes it slower. The underclocked the cpu for sure.

Yeah amlogic basically scammed every one. Not really confusing any more if you just go by the new info tho. I can try to put it simpler for you tho.

The cpu doesn't do any extra processing passed 1.5Ghz, well not much.

So the cpu hasn't been underclocked, just set to the true speed.

[capvag]

Yes i understand what you mean, really. But as you said: not much x8 cores = There is a noticeable difference to me. It's not a placebo i think.

[trotter]

Yes i understand what you mean, really. But as you said: not much x8 cores = There is a noticeable difference to me. It's not a placebo i think.

There maybe other changes, but there is never much info. I'm slow my self mostly lol so a little speed change with the box would go on noticed on my part.
They don't share there code as openly as others do
I sent in my public key for there git and was told they only give accesses to business. I cant see why as it's not like they have any thing magical to steal

[Takwin]

This is the update from a few days ago, with the 2GB linked to the 3G image and visa versa? I burned that image using the SD tool and it updated fine but formatting a micro sd as internal storage is still broken (is there any fix?) and the box does seem a little slower and more unstable, it needs better cooling, I think.

[AlexOgol]

Hi guys,

is there any changelog regarding this new update?

I have rbox with original 20160902 firmware and wondering if I need to soldier or order this usb male to male cable or my issue can be solved in a different way.

Basically what I need to achieve is very simple configuration as of nowadays, I need Kodi (or SPMC) to play full-hd (not even 4k) files from QNap NAS (both R-Box and NAS are connected via gigabit ethernet).
Files are shared from QNap via NFS and Samba (theoretically, I may add something else)

With SPMC 16.1 and amlogic decoder disabled configuration is stable enough, my files are played, except with network speed/buffering issue.


I tried both NFS and Samba and looks like transfer speed is very bad with NFS (libnfs included to kodi) and much better with SMB. In fact, with SMB most of my files played well but 30 gig blueray image was doing constant buffering.
I tried to change advancedsettings.xml parameters like increasing buffer size and readbufferfactor etc. and it didn't helped much, it starts longer buffering from the beginning but less than in a minute buffer becomes empty.
Also, browsing samba folder (reading directory contents) is, I believe, slower than expected.


So once again the question is if any network performance was noticeably improved, or maybe some network-related issues were fixed?
And if not, what else can I try to change?
I would try build.prop modifications, since I not tried it yet, and I will try to mount NFS filesystem as OS-level mount with additional parameters, but I'm a bit skeptical for such tunes since Kodi on my other S812 box is playing this 30 gig file without any issues.

[Takwin]

The bootable SD method seems to work the best, I tried the USB Tool and kept getting error's (low power) on 2 different PS's and 2 different male to male usb's.

[trotter]

Hi guys,

is there any changelog regarding this new update?

I have rbox with original 20160902 firmware and wondering if I need to soldier or order this usb male to male cable or my issue can be solved in a different way.

Basically what I need to achieve is very simple configuration as of nowadays, I need Kodi (or SPMC) to play full-hd (not even 4k) files from QNap NAS (both R-Box and NAS are connected via gigabit ethernet).
Files are shared from QNap via NFS and Samba (theoretically, I may add something else)

With SPMC 16.1 and amlogic decoder disabled configuration is stable enough, my files are played, except with network speed/buffering issue.


I tried both NFS and Samba and looks like transfer speed is very bad with NFS (libnfs included to kodi) and much better with SMB. In fact, with SMB most of my files played well but 30 gig blueray image was doing constant buffering.
I tried to change advancedsettings.xml parameters like increasing buffer size and readbufferfactor etc. and it didn't helped much, it starts longer buffering from the beginning but less than in a minute buffer becomes empty.
Also, browsing samba folder (reading directory contents) is, I believe, slower than expected.


So once again the question is if any network performance was noticeably improved, or maybe some network-related issues were fixed?
And if not, what else can I try to change?
I would try build.prop modifications, since I not tried it yet, and I will try to mount NFS filesystem as OS-level mount with additional parameters, but I'm a bit skeptical for such tunes since Kodi on my other S812 box is playing this 30 gig file without any issues.

The outgoing of the unit seems to be so slow that it some times had a problem of making its reqs for the files/web pages. But once it did it would be quick at receiving them. So I did test with iPerf and it was manging about 800mb download but less than 1mb got returned Not tested with the update but I will soon. That's why I ended up making some changes to build.prop and it seems to help. But never ran the tests after. See my post a little back from here

edit done all ready To make sure I tested both as server and as client. Both logs are from my pc as copy and paste seems to be a problem to for the unit ffs

My pc as the client

Connecting to host 192.168.0.15, port 5201
[  4] local 192.168.0.16 port 52400 connected to 192.168.0.15 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr  Cwnd
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  60.6 MBytes   509 Mbits/sec    2    583 KBytes      
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec   112 MBytes   938 Mbits/sec    0    928 KBytes      
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec   111 MBytes   932 Mbits/sec    0    928 KBytes      
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec   111 MBytes   933 Mbits/sec    0   1.11 MBytes      
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec   110 MBytes   923 Mbits/sec    0   1.17 MBytes      
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec   111 MBytes   931 Mbits/sec    0   1.22 MBytes      
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec   111 MBytes   930 Mbits/sec    0   1.22 MBytes      
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec   111 MBytes   933 Mbits/sec    0   1.22 MBytes      
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec   111 MBytes   932 Mbits/sec    0   1.22 MBytes      
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec   111 MBytes   929 Mbits/sec    0   1.29 MBytes      
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.03 GBytes   889 Mbits/sec    2             sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.03 GBytes   886 Mbits/sec                  receiver

My pc as the server

Accepted connection from 192.168.0.15, port 43673
[  5] local 192.168.0.16 port 5201 connected to 192.168.0.15 port 43674
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec   158 KBytes  1.30 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec   133 KBytes  1.09 Mbits/sec                  
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  15.6 KBytes   127 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  9.90 KBytes  81.1 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  53.7 KBytes   440 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  9.90 KBytes  81.1 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  1.41 KBytes  11.6 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  60.8 KBytes   498 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  17.0 KBytes   139 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  11.3 KBytes  92.7 Kbits/sec                  
[  5]  10.00-10.03  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  5]   0.00-10.03  sec  0.00 Bytes  0.00 bits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.03  sec   471 KBytes   384 Kbits/sec                  receiver

As you can see it still has a problem with outgoing to the point that it can hinder it's abilty to make connections.

Both on a gigbit lan with about 4meters of cable in total and a router with plenty of power to handle it.

And just to show that my network is all good. Heres one of my pc to my server over 30 meters of cable and two routers.

Connecting to host 192.168.0.4, port 5201
[  4] local 192.168.0.16 port 36262 connected to 192.168.0.4 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr  Cwnd
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec   113 MBytes   952 Mbits/sec    0    372 KBytes      
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec   112 MBytes   936 Mbits/sec    0    411 KBytes      
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec   111 MBytes   935 Mbits/sec    0    431 KBytes      
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec   112 MBytes   936 Mbits/sec    0    452 KBytes      
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec   111 MBytes   934 Mbits/sec    0    452 KBytes      
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec   112 MBytes   936 Mbits/sec    0    475 KBytes      
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec   111 MBytes   935 Mbits/sec    0    498 KBytes      
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec   112 MBytes   936 Mbits/sec    0    525 KBytes      
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec   111 MBytes   935 Mbits/sec    0    525 KBytes      
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec   111 MBytes   935 Mbits/sec    0    525 KBytes      
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth       Retr
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.09 GBytes   937 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec  1.09 GBytes   934 Mbits/sec                  receiver

To get all info in this post and before some one asks. Yes I've tried changing Ethernet cables on the rbox :P

[capvag]

Anyone knows how to fix kodi closes itself and returns you to android home screen? also firmware bug ?
latest firmware october...

[AlexOgol]

I think first of all it's alpha version of kodi. Just go to play market and install latest stable. I would install even not kodi but spmc that is fork of kodi specifically targeted for Amlogic devices. In spmc, you need to disable Amlogic acceleration in Video settings or you'll get a lot of crashes.

Actually, I don't know if anything specifically to Amlogic was concentrated in this switch and maybe I returned to original kodi but anyway it's not making worse for sure... And developers on kodi forum looks like go with spmc on android devices

[capvag]

I think first of all it's alpha version of kodi. Just go to play market and install latest stable. I would install even not kodi but spmc that is fork of kodi specifically targeted for Amlogic devices. In spmc, you need to disable Amlogic acceleration in Video settings or you'll get a lot of crashes.

Actually, I don't know if anything specifically to Amlogic was concentrated in this switch and maybe I returned to original kodi but anyway it's not making worse for sure... And developers on kodi forum looks like go with spmc on android devices

thanks i ll try