H96 MAX X2 Amlogic S905X2 Android 8.1 4/32GB Dual Band WiFi Fast LAN BT

[romcrazy]

I just got this box recently in 2/16 GB version. What is the best firmware for it? I see most of the people like HK1 Pro here, while people on Russian 4pda forum like X96Max port.

Is HK1 suitable also for 2 GB RAM variants? What is better there than in stock ROM - is it worth upgrading? Does it have OTA updates?

Yes it has OTA updates. What is better than stock? Depends on your taste. I like oranges. You might hate them. I hate guavas. You might like them. Since all firmwares are free, you can try oranges and guavas and see what works for you.

[soldiaz]

Guess it shall all be bout performance and speed / wifi stability...

[Appdata]

A port of XTMOD Android TV 4 (previous version 3) now available.

https://yadi.sk/d/49NfDuCx1u66QQ

[rahzel]

Xannytech is going to update his non-ATV rom soon, hopefully sergej can port that, too. Not a fan of ATV roms personally.

[Appdata]

I don't care for ATV either, but the video in Kodi & VLC plays good in this one without having to install AFR.

[romcrazy]

I don't care for ATV either, but the video in Kodi & VLC plays good in this one without having to install AFR.

Are you people 4k guys? Because for me 1080p has worked absolutely fine in kodi and mxplayer on every firmware i tried. And I never needed to know what AFR is. I see people complaining about stuttering frame skipping and all other issues, I never faced any. Atleast for video playback and streaming, my box is gold. I was a bit disappoined when I installed GTA VC though, it works sure, but every few seconds frame pauses for 2-3 seconds. Maybe its a firmware issue, I have only tried this game on people firmware.

[Appdata]

Are you people 4k guys? Because for me 1080p has worked absolutely fine in kodi and mxplayer on every firmware i tried. And I never needed to know what AFR is. I see people complaining about stuttering frame skipping and all other issues, I never faced any. Atleast for video playback and streaming, my box is gold. I was a bit disappoined when I installed GTA VC though, it works sure, but every few seconds frame pauses for 2-3 seconds. Maybe its a firmware issue, I have only tried this game on people firmware.

No, mostly 1080p for me, the stutter in the video is not bad but enough to bug the snot outta me, if you look close you'll see the jutter, I'm just too finicky when it comes to my local video.

[romcrazy]

No, mostly 1080p for me, the stutter in the video is not bad but enough to bug the snot outta me, if you look close you'll see the jutter, I'm just too finicky when it comes to my local video.

Maybe its there for you I am not saying its not. But its not there for me, and I am a crazy paranoid person. I had one issue about weak wifi and I solved that too permanently. Maybe I just got a good box with no video issues atleast. And its good for retro gaming also. Got a nice little wireless controller and nostalgic roms to play. Now I am looking for good Playstation emulator to play tekken, I remember seeing it on arcade when I a teen, I can now play what I could not back then.

[Appdata]

Maybe its there for you I am not saying its not. But its not there for me, and I am a crazy paranoid person. I had one issue about weak wifi and I solved that too permanently. Maybe I just got a good box with no video issues atleast. And its good for retro gaming also. Got a nice little wireless controller and nostalgic roms to play. Now I am looking for good Playstation emulator to play tekken, I remember seeing it on arcade when I a teen, I can now play what I could not back then.

I just found out something, I used a different HDMI cable on the ATV rom, so I put the HK1 rom back on it with the same cable, and now it plays smooth. OK, so my video problems seemed to have been with the HDMI.

[romcrazy]

I just found out something, I used a different HDMI cable on the ATV rom, so I put the HK1 rom back on it with the same cable, and now it plays smooth. OK, so my video problems seemed to have been with the HDMI.

Good for you, but there are people who find stutters and frame skips, maybe they too should inspect their HDMI cables. Dont you use cable which came with box? I dont.

[Appdata]

Good for you, but there are people who find stutters and frame skips, maybe they too should inspect their HDMI cables. Dont you use cable which came with box? I dont.

No I don't use them, but all hdmi cables seem to be kinda fragile, doesn't take much for them to screw up.

[rahzel]

I was under the impression that since HDMI is digital, in most cases, if it works... it works. You may run into issues if you're using high resolutions/bitrates that require high bandwidth and you're using an older low quality cable. But for 1080p, I would think any cable would do (assuming the cable actually sends a signal). But hey, if a new cable did indeed fix your problems then that's great and maybe I'm wrong.

My issue seems to be software related. Whenever I play 60fps videos in the mobile youtube app (the play store version) I get very bad stutters randomly. Sometimes I can go minutes with no stutters, other times I get stutters every 20-30 seconds. This does not happen with the android TV version of youtube, or playing 60fps videos with VLC. So whatever decoder the mobile youtube app uses must be having issues with 60fps videos, at least on my boxes (I have two, purchased from amazon).

[romcrazy]

I was under the impression that since HDMI is digital, in most cases, if it works... it works. You may run into issues if you're using high resolutions/bitrates that require high bandwidth and you're using an older low quality cable. But for 1080p, I would think any cable would do (assuming the cable actually sends a signal). But hey, if a new cable did indeed fix your problems then that's great and maybe I'm wrong.

My issue seems to be software related. Whenever I play 60fps videos in the mobile youtube app (the play store version) I get very bad stutters randomly. Sometimes I can go minutes with no stutters, other times I get stutters every 20-30 seconds. This does not happen with the android TV version of youtube, or playing 60fps videos with VLC. So whatever decoder the mobile youtube app uses must be having issues with 60fps videos, at least on my boxes (I have two, purchased from amazon).

This on h96 max x2? which firmware? or every firmware? have you tried other cable?

[rahzel]

This on h96 max x2? which firmware? or every firmware? have you tried other cable?

Yes (4GB/32GB version to be exact).

It happens on all firmwares I've tried (stock, X96 port, people's firmware and HK1). I've also installed the T95X2 port but that firmware doesn't even support 1080/60 in the mobile version of youtube, so I didn't really give that one much time.

I've only tried two cables, but they were both admittedly cheap ones. I was a firm believer that cables don't make a difference, as long as it sends the signal without any artifacts. Plus my issue is so specific that it seems software related. But I suppose I can try my higher quality cables.

[romcrazy]

Yes (4GB/32GB version to be exact).

It happens on all firmwares I've tried (stock, X96 port, people's firmware and HK1). I've also installed the T95X2 port but that firmware doesn't even support 1080/60 in the mobile version of youtube, so I didn't really give that one much time.

I've only tried two cables, but they were both admittedly cheap ones. I was a firm believer that cables don't make a difference, as long as it sends the signal without any artifacts. Plus my issue is so specific that it seems software related. But I suppose I can try my higher quality cables.

You should and report back too. Sadly I have 2 extra cables which I dont use and one 5 meter cable for pc to tv hdmi, which is used very less.