Recommendations on Android TV Box: HD Audio passthrough, Wifi ac, 4K HDR - Android Stick & Console AMLogic based Computers

Hi, I was just looking to see if there were any boxes that would be worth purchasing. I'm not looking to get an Nvidia Shield as it's too expensive. Just seeing if there's a relatively cheap/inexpensive box that meets my requirements. I'm going to be using Plex as my main source of movie watching, streaming 4K HDR videos with direct stream to the TV box. I don't care if I need a custom rom to achieve it (may even prefer that). I need HD audio out (Dolby TrueHD Atmos and DTS:X) passthrough to my receiver. I won't be able to use an ethernet cable so fast 5Gz wifi speeds is a must (I have gigabit internet at home). And obviously it needs to be able to smoothly play 4K HDR movies. Are there any boxes, amlogic processor types, custom roms that would be able to meet these expectations or is an Nvidia Shield the only answer? Thanks in advance.

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TV Out?

What resolution / color depth etc does the TV out give? Does it work properly with an AT&T Tilt 2 (I hear there are carrier restrictions).
Can it stream movies decently (SD card or online streaming, if bandwidth allows)? Where's a good place to get one?
Thanks
I've been using the tv out feature a lot on my tilt2. Works great! can watch movies using core player, play snes using morphgear, I even bought a little 7" tv for my car, and will be testing some different nav programs. sorry i don't know specs, but i would imagine its 800x680 like the phone. I used to use my laptop to play movies on the tv, and surprisingly the tilt2 does a better job. definately a worthy 12 $ investment! also, dont buy from china unless you want to wait 2 months!
TV out isn't a resolution in the sense of a computer screen (pixels). It is NTSC composite video, with a 4:3 aspect ratio and 525 scan lines, some of which are used for VBI and thus not on the screen. Which is fine for images/video and such but unsuitable for web browsing or anything with lots of small details.
Given the above, if your video file is not too high res for the TP2 to play in general, it should have no trouble showing it via TV out.
As for online, I have streamed using 3G both Youtube and Slingbox, and used TV out to display it on my Pioneer AVH-4000 in my car with no problems (other than the flicker that is discussed elsewhere).
Don't know about AT&T limitations since I have Verizon. Got my cable via Amazon.
ok, so no HD... I wonder, is it NTSC/PAL selectable for travelling?
The flicker issue in regards to the phone+cable, or the Pioneer unit?
Thanks
dzr said:
ok, so no HD... I wonder, is it NTSC/PAL selectable for travelling?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine gives me the option to choose which one when I plug in the TV out cable.
So, how does it look on a widescreen HD TV (21")? Does it stretch, or is that up to the TV?
I've been using it on a 42" TV to show photos and it looks fine, no lag etc and it goes portrait mode.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-AV-AUDIO-VI...wItemQQptZPDA_Accessories?hash=item45ee3e8640
might be what you looking for
I got this one from boxwave. It's great because it also has an adaptor so you can charge the mobile at the same time as using TV-out, and it's only $19.
http://www.boxwave.com/products/htctouchproavcable/sprint-touch-pro2-av-cable_3687.htm

[Q] Is x264 1080p playback over HDMI smooth?

I'm considering buying a Galaxy Tab 10.1 however if I'm buying one I want to be able to connect it to the TV (a 46" Samsung* 1080p LCD) and play 1080p x264 (most likely in mkv container) smooth. I've been looking for information but couldn't find consistance, some say it's laggy and some say that it works fine. Also does it output true 24p?
So I'm asking here, does it work today and is it pretty much flawless or should I wait a little longer and buy a Tegra 3 tablet?
*Not an actual Samsung branded TV but it's a "designer brand" TV and they use Samsung hardware, not that it would really be relevant in this case.
Hultner said:
I'm considering buying a Galaxy Tab 10.1 however if I'm buying one I want to be able to connect it to the TV (a 46" Samsung* 1080p LCD) and play 1080p x264 (most likely in mkv container) smooth. I've been looking for information but couldn't find consistance, some say it's laggy and some say that it works fine. Also does it output true 24p?
So I'm asking here, does it work today and is it pretty much flawless or should I wait a little longer and buy a Tegra 3 tablet?
*Not an actual Samsung branded TV but it's a "designer brand" TV and they use Samsung hardware, not that it would really be relevant in this case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Tegra2 doesn't do 1080p well, and if you want "flawless" you're getting a bit ahead of the tech. I don't know how Tegra3 fares; I've heard it's better, but not flawless. I've never seen it myself, though. I'd suggest just getting a dedicated media streamer (Roku or ?) or a PS3 for that purpose.
slack04 said:
Nope. Tegra2 doesn't do 1080p well, and if you want "flawless" you're getting a bit ahead of the tech. I don't know how Tegra3 fares; I've heard it's better, but not flawless. I've never seen it myself, though. I'd suggest just getting a dedicated media streamer (Roku or ?) or a PS3 for that purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've already got an Sandy Bridge HTPC for stationary media playback. To be perfectly honest I would probably not use it that much on my own tv but when I'm over at friends, etc.
Does it do 720p well at least? Thinking mainly of h.264 TV-Shows like the ones you can buy in iTunes and such but probably one and another x264 in matroska container as well. Now I'm not thinking much of playback over HDMI but rather on the screen (which is 1280x800 so 720p would be perfect for that screen). Would be nice to be able to put some movies in 720p on a bunch i 32GB MicroSD cards to watch on flights, train-rides and such (I frequently travel 3-6 hours and watching movies on the cell phone is horrible, laptop works if there's a table and proper space but I feel that a tabelt would be better for the purpose).
If it at least does 720p well I'll probably buy one and have until there are tablets which can handle 1080p flawlessly.
Hultner said:
I've already got an Sandy Bridge HTPC for stationary media playback. To be perfectly honest I would probably not use it that much on my own tv but when I'm over at friends, etc.
Does it do 720p well at least? Thinking mainly of h.264 TV-Shows like the ones you can buy in iTunes and such but probably one and another x264 in matroska container as well. Now I'm not thinking much of playback over HDMI but rather on the screen (which is 1280x800 so 720p would be perfect for that screen). Would be nice to be able to put some movies in 720p on a bunch i 32GB MicroSD cards to watch on flights, train-rides and such (I frequently travel 3-6 hours and watching movies on the cell phone is horrible, laptop works if there's a table and proper space but I feel that a tabelt would be better for the purpose).
If it at least does 720p well I'll probably buy one and have until there are tablets which can handle 1080p flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it does 720p flawlessly ye
Pratez said:
it does 720p flawlessly ye
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the information.
The decision is pretty hard, I previously had an iPad but hated it for several reasons. Some of them being that the screen is 4:3 & only 1024x768, your stuck with the Safari Browser which got the Safari css-sprite bug, Mail.app is useless in comparison to the Gmail app for android, especially if you're a apps user with several addresses and I get past all those with the Galaxy Tab however there are still some of the things that I didn't like which precist such as not being able to use it to watch 1080p movies on a FullHD-TV over HDMI, 10" is kinda big, it's not much smaller then my 13" MacBook Pro (8" would probably be more suitable for me), it's hard on the eyes as an e-reader and can't truly replace an E-Ink device, the usefulness of an tablet is kinda limited since an laptop is a better choice in many cases and the cellphone in most others.
I have to do some thinking (I will most likely end up buying one anyway and replace it with a smaller but specwise beefier device when "premium" 7-8" tablets who handles flawless 1080p starts popping up).
What about you who own this tablet, do you think it's worth buying one today? Is it the best tablet?
I've been looking some one the Asus Transformer Prime as well which is about the same price here but with Tegra 3, better battery life, better connectivity, keyboard dock with extra battery included. However I don't quite like that device as much, frankly the entire semi-ultrabook thing seems a bit silly especially since I've already got my 13" MacBook Pro for all the needs the keyboard-dock would fill, it doesn't look quite as good, it's wifi only (wtf!). It's a great product for all those who doesn't own a Ultrabook or similar notebook (maybe not a notebook at all) and need that but it could never replace a notebook, I already feel that the MacBook Air and Ultrabooks are to limited to replace my MacBook Pro so to replace it with a Tegra 3 semi-ultrabook would be unrealistic. Still if the Transformer Prime looked like the Galaxy Tab and had 3G it would seem like a wise choice (even if you'd throw away the keyboard dock).
If you are in the business for HD videos, go for an Archos G9. (Which will most likely get official ICS way before the GTab101, btw =/ )
They have 250gb!! models and provides flawless 1080p playback for almost any video format known to man and has a native micro HDMI port.
The 3G dongle should work with AT&T.
There's even 2 USB-Host ports!!; one full-size, one microUSB that needs a microUSB male/USB female standard adapter.
Support for USB keyboards, mice, wired LAN adapter, Hard drives.. name it.
If you're into videos more than games, it is THE way to go.
Some try to push tablets in a direction they really aren't suited to go and for some of us it's hard to relate to that. It seems that you have a firm grasp of the limitations and how they affect you though. If it doesn't fit you it just doesn't fit you.
To me it doesn't make much sense to put a lot of emphasis on playback of 1080p encoded video on a Galaxy Tab 10.1 since it is limited in storage space and isn't designed (AFAIK) to do USB host at the same time as HDMI out. Just copying a 2GB file onto this thing takes much longer than it would onto a USB powered external HDD so why would I load it up with a bunch of files when I could have those on a 500GB USB HDD and play them off of a Roku or something.
I do understand though that most who ask simply have a sizable library of 1080p rips already and for those folks I say tread carefully because chances are those files won't play back properly.
I love my tablet though, and carry it around nearly everywhere I go. For web browsing, scheduling, email and basic media consumption this thing is fantastic. I have a few of my son's current favorite movies on it just in case he needs a distraction (720p rips off of bluray) and I have a collection of my favorite TV shows from EZTV that I follow. Mizuu is fantastic at gathering movie and TV show data and presenting everything in an XBMC like interface.
Mizuu seems fantastic, but how can I make it find the stock I have on my NAS, for example?
Would that be possible? Using a CIFS manager, for example..
Thanks for the EZTV tip too; (who said it was tricky to find good Honeycomb apps?)
wewewi999 said:
Mizuu seems fantastic, but how can I make it find the stock I have on my NAS, for example?
Would that be possible? Using a CIFS manager, for example..
Thanks for the EZTV tip too; (who said it was tricky to find good Honeycomb apps?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://mizuu.tv/suggestion/support-for-network-storage-devices/#comments
Havent tried it myself but apparently possible.
Hultner said:
I've already got an Sandy Bridge HTPC for stationary media playback. To be perfectly honest I would probably not use it that much on my own tv but when I'm over at friends, etc.
Does it do 720p well at least? Thinking mainly of h.264 TV-Shows like the ones you can buy in iTunes and such but probably one and another x264 in matroska container as well. Now I'm not thinking much of playback over HDMI but rather on the screen (which is 1280x800 so 720p would be perfect for that screen). Would be nice to be able to put some movies in 720p on a bunch i 32GB MicroSD cards to watch on flights, train-rides and such (I frequently travel 3-6 hours and watching movies on the cell phone is horrible, laptop works if there's a table and proper space but I feel that a tabelt would be better for the purpose).
If it at least does 720p well I'll probably buy one and have until there are tablets which can handle 1080p flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if anyone else pointed this out, but the GT10 doesn't have an SD slot (or microsd). There is a dongle for USB-host, probably would take a flash drive (or microsd in a USB reader) but as far as I'm concerned it sort of ruins the whole purpose of a tablet to have things hanging off of it (just my opinion). If you need more storage you should stream wirelessly (I never put media on the tab; google music, grooveshark, netflix, and allshare FTW!). Otherwise, go with something that has a bigger HDD or built-in SD reader (or just put up with either lower-res or less movies). The Archos isn't a bad suggestion for your purposes. As far as I understand, that thing is made for media. Of course, it's not as nice as the GT10 as a tablet (none of them are, including the transformer prime), but if you just want something for movies on an airplane, might make more sense.
Oh I didn't realise that it doesn't have an SD-Slot, thanks for pointing it out. That's kinda a dealbreaker for me. It's not a big deal normally as I stream most my media via Plex and music via Spotify but streaming is worthless both on trains and airplanes, even if they sometimes do got WIFI the speed is always closer to dial-up then broadband and useless for media streaming, even surfing the web is usually horrible.

Bought a TV Box, without Bluetooth and with poor 4k, bad luck.

find a cheap TV box, beelink, yet it doesn't work fine, play 4k movie with lag while it claims it support smooth 4k display.

Full 1080p video output instead of only 720p mirroring from Fire HD 6? Any idea how?

I have a rooted Fire HD 6 running Android 5.0. The tablet is mounted bedside as home automation control panel. Furthermore I'd like to use it as Plex Player to drive the video projector above my bed
I've purchased a MicroUSB SlimPort-to-HDMI adapter and AV basically works. The problem is that I only can mirror the tablets screen, which means the video output is only 1,280 by 800 pixels with a huge black frame surrounding it.
The Fire HD 6 hardware is capable of decoding full 1080p @ 60fps and the Slimport adapter supports 1080p as well.
Does anyone know how to squeeze full 1080p, so 1,920 by 1,280 out the MicroUSB port? I wouldn’t mind if the internal display would be shut off to do so (actual I'd prefer it). Is there a hack or app to adjust the Video output types and resolutions?

Probably a little Off Topic...Amazon prime video 720p, 1080p downloads

Just bought a HD6 and it looks like it will only download in 720p
Is this the case for all Amazon HD tablets. Or do any download in 1080p
I am looking for the latter along with hdmi out (slimport or standard)
This is so i can watch them on my tv as there is no way to transfer videos from the tablet
Thanks

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