Online streaming stuttering, regular video playback questions, general advice

d411

d411

New member
Hi guys,

I have this device, Neo-x8-H (click link for the settings)

My brother gave it to me some months back as he wasn't using it anymore. I never gave it much use to be honest and in large part because I always had trouble having a good experience with live streaming and even with playing videos.

I finally decided to invest some time in figuring out what could be done to improve my experience since based on what I had heard, others had a good experience with it.

I have major issues with streaming live video. I am talking about official apps that run well/better that I have tested on pretty basic smartphones with inferior specs. Just yesterday I tested with the official dazn app (premium sports streaming) and running on an old smartphone, the quality was HD. On my Minix, the quality was the lowest. Basically... every single app that I have tried... the quality has been bad. All official apps that work with other devices.

The video is always stuttering.

I have tried googling around in the past before and never had much success with my many tries changing the options on the android settings.

Besides the online streaming, i also have many questions about playing regular video files. I have tried VLC and MXPlayer especially. And i never manage to open a video with HW/HW+. When i have that set to open, the file never does. I have to open with SW and then pick the option with MXplayer to switch to HW+. Unfortunately, my frustrations dont end there... and often i have audio out of sync issues on various videos.

For these reasons, i never really invested much into watching content with the Minix. But I thought I'd give it a try at figuring out what to do to improve things or troubleshoot what's causing some issues with my system... since on the multiple searches in the past, i generally got the idea that most had good experiences with their neo x8h. What are the ideal settings or what can be changed?

Thank you in advanced for possible feedback.

P.S: I have been trying and failing to upgrade the android OS to this version https://theminixforum.com/index.php...x8-h-plus-android-5-1-1-lollipop-rom-1-0.110/ but like some others, i have ran into a major wall when attempting to have the device recognised by the USB burner tool. AmI on the right path and would an update such as this improve things with this device?
 
Hello.
X8h and X8h plus are different devices.
Be sure what device you have before upgrading firmware.
 
notrui2 said:
Hello.
X8h and X8h plus are different devices.
Be sure what device you have before upgrading firmware.
Click to expand...
Hi notrui,
thanks for the reply. That's correct and I would be attempting to upgrade to this version: Minix_x8h_finless_LollipopROM1

The question in this case is, on my current set up https://i.ibb.co/7RxkRs5/Screenshot-2019-09-04-08-45-16.png, things should play much better (online streaming, video playback). So I am trying to understand what settings can be changed to improve the experience.

As I mentioned, I am talking about official streaming apps that work much better in devices that have worse specs. So it's strange. If anyone can help me guide through it.

Like I said, I have tried apps such as MxPlayer and VLC. Tried every setting inside them --- I still get trouble playing videos (some stutter, others get audio out of synch). MxPlayer works the best but I can never open a video in HW+. I have to open in SW and then manually pick HW+.

For online streaming, I have tried different streaming apps, none played smoothly.

I have tried to check and uncheck various options on the android settings, but it didn't change. And like I said, running the very same apps, same versions on a phone, it works normally, with smooth playback... so this is really strange.
 
@d411

ethernet or wifi connection, ?
only have one selected in minix settings depending on what connection you have
if wifi then have you got the antenna connected correctly?

what download speeds are you getting, post your results from speedtest.net

i wouldnt expect changing firmware to lollipop would make any differnece unless the app explicitly requires lollipop
 
pusb87 said:
@d411

ethernet or wifi connection, ?
only have one selected in minix settings depending on what connection you have
if wifi then have you got the antenna connected correctly?

what download speeds are you getting, post your results from speedtest.net

i wouldnt expect changing firmware to lollipop would make any differnece unless the app explicitly requires lollipop
Click to expand...

really? since i new this device was a bit old, i immediately imagined that upgrading firmware would improve it. Dont tell me i have been on my knees trying to get the pc to recognise the minix and it would have been for nothing :/

So, the internet connection/speed is not the problem. I have used the wireless and the ethernet cable [i ran a speed test --- speed is the same as i get on the pc]. The streaming issues are the same either with cable or wireless. Running the SAME apps on an old smartphone, the streaming is fluid and good picture quality --- i cast it to a large tv and it works fine. Yet on the minix, it stutters and really is not possible to watch --- this is what intrigues me so much, because devices with worse specs play the same apps or videos better. It's really strange and i havent managed to fix it.

Is there anything that one can change in the settings somewhere? I have looked so many times at these options: https://i.ibb.co/44kmNYP/Screenshot4.png And think i may have tried a variation of all of them, didnt seem to alter anything.

Do you have any idea of what settings impact streaming and playback of video? Or what i may have set up incorrectly. perhaps there is a way to get some logs that may display the source of the issues.

Also as I mentioned above (not sure if its unrelated), just playing regular files. Video files... I feel like it's a challenge. One basic question i have had for a long time: how do you open videos and they'll play right away with hardware acceleration and fluidity? In my case, mx player seems to be the best player i have used and yet i still have to often open a file 2 or 3 times before it starts and then... i manually pick hw+ and unfortunately in some cases the audio goes out of synch and the videos aren't necessarily 1080p or anythig.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.
 
Last edited:
d411 said:
really? since i new this device was a bit old, i immediately imagined that upgrading firmware would improve it. Dont tell me i have been on my knees trying to get the pc to recognise the minix and it would have been for nothing :/

So, the internet connection/speed is not the problem. I have used the wireless and the ethernet cable [i ran a speed test --- speed is the same as i get on the pc]. The streaming issues are the same either with cable or wireless. Running the SAME apps on an old smartphone, the streaming is fluid and good picture quality --- i cast it to a large tv and it works fine. Yet on the minix, it stutters and really is not possible to watch --- this is what intrigues me so much, because devices with worse specs play the same apps or videos better. It's really strange and i havent managed to fix it.

Is there anything that one can change in the settings somewhere? I have looked so many times at these options: https://i.ibb.co/44kmNYP/Screenshot4.png And think i may have tried a variation of all of them, didnt seem to alter anything.

Do you have any idea of what settings impact streaming and playback of video? Or what i may have set up incorrectly. perhaps there is a way to get some logs that may display the source of the issues.

Also as I mentioned above (not sure if its unrelated), just playing regular files. Video files... I feel like it's a challenge. One basic question i have had for a long time: how do you open videos and they'll play right away with hardware acceleration and fluidity? In my case, mx player seems to be the best player i have used and yet i still have to often open a file 2 or 3 times before it starts and then... i manually pick hw+ and unfortunately in some cases the audio goes out of synch and the videos aren't necessarily 1080p or anythig.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.
Click to expand...
Upgrading firmware to lollipop does not improve your connection.
What you can do is this:
1- first restart both devices , router and minix
2- if that dont work try first a router factory reset.
You may also later do a minix factory reset also but dont forget always do a backup first.
Test first with rj45 and later with wifi.

Maybe you changed many things and that above is the recommended procedure.

Kodi is for me the best media player you can have.
Kodi 17 and later only works with lollipop and newest firmware.
 
Streaming videos (movies/tv shows, etc...) from internet is always slower that streaming from local (NAS for example).
And over time it puts the device slower.
 
@d411

comments more or less as @notrui2 but if you factory reset your router you will have to set up any config you have done again

if you have been changing settings in developer options then i would propose that you factory reset your x8h

as for video files the x8h is a bit limited on what it can handle , check here >> https://kodi.wiki/view/Android_hardware

what is the source of your video files and how are they encoded

agree that Kodi is the best media player but if you want to go to Kodi 17 and later you will need to upgrade your firmware to lollipop. Check the freaktab forum regarding the finless ROM for any reported issues.

You can still use earlier Kodi 16.1 >> https://mirrors.kodi.tv/releases/android/arm/old/
1567611144250.png

no reason why your x8h shouldnt still be very capable overall


you may also want to check out FTMC >> https://forum.freaktab.com/forum/tv...cussions/xbmc-talk/575588-ftmc-jarvis-16-2-31
 
Thanks guys for the replies.

This box, despite being old, wasn't used very much. I didn't mess around with it either when I got it. My usage has always been pretty basic. I connected a usb device and i played videos. That is it.

Of course, if my online streaming experience had been better, i would have tried to have a different usage.

I have not tried Kodi on it. Like I said, i have issues streaming from the actual apps from tv providers and premium services. Over time have tried with say eurosport player, now tv, dazn, my tv provider app............. and everytime... bad experience streaming. the same apps (same versions) worked well with an old smartphone that has these specs:
  • Quad core 1,3 Ghz
  • 1GB RAM*
Like... it even casts to the smart tv and plays good quality video. The very same apps on the minix stutter, dont play high bitrate or are watchable.

By the way, I dont blame the box. Based on my various searches in the past, i got the impression that there werent that many results pointing to the same issues i had ---- which is why i struggled so much figuring out what caused it and whether there were settings that could be changed that improved things.

I linked to a screenshot from the settings https://i.ibb.co/44kmNYP/Screenshot4.png what do these look like for you? how do you have things set up?

Like I said above, i actually barely touched the box... so its not even the case of messing about with it.

Thanks for the feedback. If i ever get it to stream well, perhaps i even look into kodi lol (true story... i have not used kodi much ---> but at times i used it on the pc and a few addons work nicely... AGAIN... if this worked on minix for me, i would have used it a lot more).
 
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