Android on Switch - Is it possible to use it with the dock and display on the TV?

Android on Switch - Is it possible to use it with the dock and display on the TV? - Nintendo Switch Questions & Answers

Hi - I own a Nintendo Switch since 2 years and haven't powered it on since 2 years - I used it onl a couple of hours and always forget to sell it.
Now I was excited that Android got ported to Nintendo Switch - I wanted to turn it into a Nvidia Shield TV since it has the same tegra chip. I watched some Youtube Reviews and the big bummer is that ityou get some lag because it runs from the slower sdcard and not the fast emmc chip.
No big deal.
But nobody talked about it being docked and useable on the TV screen. Is it even possible?
I would love to run Kodi on the LineageOS and watch some IPTV - My FireTV 4KS Stick is too slow for Kodi.
Would Switch be able to display different refrehs rates 24hz, 50hz, 59.98hz?
Thanks for your Answers

the switch will dock to TV in android its perfect for kodi, and terrarium tv clones I even got netflix running on it, it runs as a pretty decent android box you can mount to TV and use joy cons wireless to control kodi, I didnt have a 4K firestick but I had one before and never again, Im guessing youd get much better performance from a switch since its pretty much the same hardware as a nvidia shield but dont expect it to run as good as a shield the android is pretty buggy for the things I do like gaming but lightweight apps like TV apks all are usable.

i have tried to run kodi with my switch in docked mode but i'm disappointed with the performance. all android + kodi animations lag and are not smooth and it doesnt support framerate switching when docked to the tv.
also sometimes the resolution is very pixelated

uigger said:
i have tried to run kodi with my switch in docked mode but i'm disappointed with the performance. all android + kodi animations lag and are not smooth and it doesnt support framerate switching when docked to the tv.
also sometimes the resolution is very pixelated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try to OC by increasing the performance profile, it should help, I would not use the highest setting though because it uses higher clocks than normal docked and may be bad for the SoC and battery.
The MicroSD card used also matters a lot more than you would think, Android was unusably slow for me until I bought a new SanDisk Ultra A1 rated (100MB/s read) and now it's fast. It's about 10 times more responsive with the balanced performance profile than it was before.
Some people also said it runs faster with the pico gapps package than the larger ones. I used micro, it only has a few more apps than pico so performance between the two should be similar.
The X1 is much slower than modern smartphone/tablet hardware, and newer apps are designed with newer hardware in mind, so if you want the UI to be as smooth as a modern flagship smartphone, that is not going to happen. But it runs pretty well if you have a good MicroSD card I think.
Glitchy TV output is a known issue, the workaround is to undock and dock again until it works correctly. It will hopefully be fixed in a future release but the devs are working on Pie now so there won't be a new release until that is ready, and they may even wait until Android 10.

Related

TF101 general criticism

First at all, after almost 2 months of exhaustively daily use I got some conclusions about it.
I do have an Ipad 2 to compare with so I'm going to try to be objective here and realistic as well, i will refer to ipad 2 device as the "competition":
Pros
1. Hardware design, a big praising for asus attention to details.
2. Asus docking station is amazing, although I no longer use it.
3. ICS upgrade???
4. Open android ecosystem makes the TF101 stand out.
5. Very good software included with the TF101
6. Asus Mycloud service
7. 1 Gb RAM, sdhc expansion slot and by far better USB flash drives support than competition, this is actual a big advantage comparing to apple 2, where you have to spend big bucks to get units as kingston widrive and seagate goflex satellite drives(Bought them both)if you want to get additional storage and those are only useful if you have a fast internet connection(I have 24Mpbs at home w/ uverse).
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
Conclusion: I still prefer the form factor, usability and resolution from my tf101 against my expensive ipad 2 64. But seriously google needs to catch up with apple OS and release some universal API for video/gaming and force manufacturers to adopt it. It reminds me of early 1994 when every graphic card manufacturer from that time(S3, ATI, rendition, matrox, nvidia, 3Dfx) were pushing their own 3D API solution for gaming. it wasn't until the release of direct x 8.0 when things started to change. After the Best buy fiasco with my prime preorder I think will wait a few months until ICS becomes mature and new tegra 3 apps/games are released if any.

"I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour"
i watch 2 movies today 3 hours and serf the web for 1 hour and my battery is in 53%
transformer has an excellent battery...but if your cpu is 1,5 what you expect????
" Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible" i use opera,a great browser
"Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback" video 720p is great with mx video player
"Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow" ics is comming!!!

jrsalda said:
First at all, after almost 2 months of exhaustively daily use I got some conclusions about it.
I do have an Ipad 2 to compare with so I'm going to try to be objective here and realistic as well, i will refer to ipad 2 device as the "competition":
Pros
1. Hardware design, a big praising for asus attention to details.
2. Asus docking station is amazing, although I no longer use it.
3. ICS upgrade???
4. Open android ecosystem makes the TF101 stand out.
5. Very good software included with the TF101
6. Asus Mycloud service
7. 1 Gb RAM, sdhc expansion slot and by far better USB flash drives support than competition, this is actual a big advantage comparing to apple 2, where you have to spend big bucks to get units as kingston widrive and seagate goflex satellite drives(Bought them both)if you want to get additional storage and those are only useful if you have a fast internet connection(I have 24Mpbs at home w/ uverse).
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
Conclusion: I still prefer the form factor, usability and resolution from my tf101 against my expensive ipad 2 64. But seriously google needs to catch up with apple OS and release some universal API for video/gaming and force manufacturers to adopt it. It reminds me of early 1994 when every graphic card manufacturer from that time(S3, ATI, rendition, matrox, nvidia, 3Dfx) were pushing their own 3D API solution for gaming. it wasn't until the release of direct x 8.0 when things started to change. After the Best buy fiasco with my prime preorder I think will wait a few months until ICS becomes mature and new tegra 3 apps/games are released if any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool story bro

So, after an hour of playing the same game on the I pad, what is the battery at on the I pad?

same game,(plants vs zombies) ($6.99 from apple store vs $1.99 from android market), another big plus here for tf101, android apps are considerably cheaper, but after 90 minutes of playing, ipad 2 is only 92%, tf101 is almost 50%(without the dock of course, revolver ROM, Oc'd to 1.2 Ghz/312 cpu/gpu).

Don't see any of the points you mentioned with my Transformer or they are so small hat they can't be called a real issue imho. Plus I'm really interested in the ICS update which will make the whole thing better (but for me the performance is more than acceptable and also web browsing is absolutely smooth).

@OP I have had my tablet and dock for 4 months going on 5 (September, October, Novemeber, December, January) and share only one of your criticisms: Quality Control. That's just because of the issues I've read here, both by nit picking pricks and about serious issues, and expect the Prime to have more of the former. I have had no serious issues with my B50.
I use this thing excessively every day and it's arguably the best $500+$150 I've ever spent, that doesn't get me to and from work or go in the kitchen for helping food eventually reach my tummy.
I also think you should just sell yours on eBay and save up for the next model of iPad, you will enjoy it a lot more, but odds are there is nothing that WILL make you satisified and happy. At least not that will be produced in your life time.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

jrsalda said:
same game,(plants vs zombies) ($6.99 from apple store vs $1.99 from android market), another big plus here for tf101, android apps are considerably cheaper, but after 90 minutes of playing, ipad 2 is only 92%, tf101 is almost 50%(without the dock of course, revolver ROM, Oc'd to 1.2 Ghz/312 cpu/gpu).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm. You may have a battery problem. I have played many an hour of Plants vs Aliens, I would say I usually get 15% drain per hour. I'm running stock...
I would also recommend trying BS Player for your MKVs. It works really well with my MP4s. Agreed, that the Tegra 2 video decoding is underwhelming.
The browser issue is annoying, I've found FireFox to be the best. No Flash and the tab key doesn't work (I can verify they fixed tab in the latest Aurora release). I'm hoping ICS and the release of Chrome for Android will resolve it. Crossing fingers...
I generally have to agree that the Tegra 2 was not up to the Honeycomb challenge. It was passable, but not exceptional. If you look around, you can pick up a Transformer for $299-349 on sale, which is a value. If you want something that surpasses an iPad, buy a Prime (if you can find one).
Even Google admits Honeycomb was rushed. Further it's like 3-5% of their install base (based on the market numbers), so they probably aren't paying that much attention to it. Gingerbread is now king. ICS is their new flagship product, I suspect it will be better.

jrsalda said:
Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
Conclusion: I still prefer the form factor, usability and resolution from my tf101 against my expensive ipad 2 64. But seriously google needs to catch up with apple OS and release some universal API for video/gaming and force manufacturers to adopt it. It reminds me of early 1994 when every graphic card manufacturer from that time(S3, ATI, rendition, matrox, nvidia, 3Dfx) were pushing their own 3D API solution for gaming. it wasn't until the release of direct x 8.0 when things started to change. After the Best buy fiasco with my prime preorder I think will wait a few months until ICS becomes mature and new tegra 3 apps/games are released if any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cons 1) had nopt quality control issues with my asus kit, you might want to check out the quality control issues compared to the ipad.
2) honeycomb interface is fast once you overclock- i see no performance difference to the ipad in this respect
3)video production can be fixed with OC and a decent player eg MX or Dice- both can play anything very well.
4) your view on price is skewed because you havent factored in the price of the external HD's for your ipad and the fact that the dock adds much more value than any combination of ipad peripherals eg how much would an extrnal hd and battery cost for the ipad compared to the dock, how much for an extra keyboard eh?
5)seriously, any of those browsers are better than an ipad browser that doesnt do flash and so doesnt actually show the internet as its supposed to be. i find Dolphin HD works well on my transformer with few perforamce issues.
6 &7) i agree, the transformer is much better after rooting etc but then so it the ipad, your battery issues are conderning though as i find the battery life while playing games on my transformer to be equal with apple stuff i have owned in the past.
i dont crave for any closed API system like you suggest where people are forced to make decisions and the choice provided is just a monetised illusion, been there and done that with apple im afraid..
at the end of the day its a personal choice but the fact that the ipad is such a closed system( no usb port ffs!!) is the exact reason i dont want anything to do with it.

I agree with the browser point.
I have 5 browsers installed and I use different ones for different sites.
The stock browser crashes too damn much as well.
I haven't used the ipad to know how good/ bad their browsers are.

iPad2 Camera resolution 750kp
Asus Transformer 5MP
Asus Transformer 30% screen resolution than iPad2.
Transformer: More ports, more slots, non-restrictive OS.
MOD EDIT: EVIDENTLY YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH SOMEONE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT

This largely conflicts with my experience. When I first cracked open the box to my TF101 and fired it up... I was shocked at how much it crashed and lagged. Then I updated it. Then it was solid. I soon after rooted and installed the latest revolver rom.
I didn't overclock and I get amazing battery life. All weekend I watched about 8 episodes of TV shows (about 20 min each), surfed the net for probably an hour, played some games... all while wifi was connected for hours. My battery at the end of the weekend? 27%, from 100% on the friday.
I've used an iPad and the iPad _really_ does feel like a giant iPhone to me (I used to own one). Android on a tablet feels completely different to me and I love it.

So, just wondering, does the ipad play all types of video files, or are they converted by itunes to play on the ipad? --- sincere question.

Cons:
1.Quality Control, mine came with a loose power button(defective), a brand new sealed unit with a hardware issue(unbelievable) as a geek I spend lots of money buying gadgets, laptops and computer parts, I've never seen something like this specially coming from a $400 device.
2. Honeycomb interface is laggy and overall slow. I'll wait for ICS but android fragmentation market doesn't look good for the time being.
3. Video reproduction on tf101 is overall disappointing, the inability to reproduce simple 720p mkv and avi videos smoothly is a big drawback. I tried all the mayor software video player from market with no success. either tegra 2 has a poor video decoder functions or tegra 2 is simply a SoC underpowered.
4. Price, at $400 anybody would expect to get a better device, maybe is honeycomb to blame for. in contrast at $500 the ipad2 just works, even as a closed ecosystem and even after rooting, the ipad 2 simply delivers acceptable web browsing, video and music reproduction.
5. Web browsing on tf101(honeycomb) is terrible , despite the broad selection of browsers, most of them are useless, I have to keep at least 5 different ones to handle my different sites(ridiculous). Some of them will work fine with certain websites, some of will simply show the mobile version instead regular version ignoring custom browser settings.
6. General functionality became acceptable just after rooting the device, installing latest revolver rom and OC'd to 1.4Ghz(downgrade to 1.2Ghz later due instability issues)
7. Battery management feature still light years behind the infamous apple 2, I have to charge it on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day and my battery drops to almost 60% after playing plants vs zombies for 1 hour(just to mention an example).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.Quality control has always been a little up and down with ASUS. I have owned a Laptop/Netbook/Tablet from them with no problems but searching through their forums see tons of people with issues. Again no problems here.
2. ICS is definately coming to the TF101 one way or another. ASUS guaranteed it and even if they back down we already have a couple ports in the process of being made. But, to your actual point, I have seen very little lag in the Honeycomb interface and have had an iPad 2 side by side with the TF101 and couldn't tell the difference (I work in IT and would be able to tell if one was "Slower" than the other). You may have a bad app/setup causing this but don't blame the OS as stock it runs buttery smooth and rooting it should add to it's speed.
3. Again, never noticed any playback issues watching all different kinds of videos from different locations. I would check for a bad app or maybe you set something up wrong. The Tegra2 processor (Albeit old) still holds its own.
4. $400 is a steal for a device of this quality/specs. Looking at the specs of the iPad 2 vs the Transformer they are much of the same. Of course the TF101 has a better res screen, can capture 1080p video vs the iPad2's 720p, ability to add USB ports to the TF101.... I could go on. Also, noticing a reacurring theme of you blaming the OS, for the TF's shortcomings. Should have named this thread iOS vs Honeycomb.....
5. Again, web browsing corresponds to the OS not the device itself. But at least on android you have the ability to have multiple browsers (With flash support) compared to iOS. I would like to see you put some examples of websites that requires you to have these browsers on the TF.
6. Another OS issue.
7. Another bad app most likely.
Please come back with more valid points. As of right now you hate android not the tablet.
(6. If the device didn't work on stock the way you wanted it to then why didn't you return it? Personally the second I booted it up it blew me away with it's speed / functionality even coming from CM on my phone, and obviously it was still running stock non rooted.)

Quality control is the only issue I have had so far..first TF101 had light bleed, second one does too, just not as pronounced and I can ignore it, and the first dock I got squealed annoyingly when charging the TF, other than that, it seems to work a dream, and the dock-laptop hybrid blows any ipad out of the water- two full size USB ports and an SD card reader? Plus a multi-touch mouse/full keyboard!!?? Hands down- ipad can suck it lol speed and hardware aside, I'll take the TF for the dock alone any day (I mean the TF has to function of course! But as I have seen it is comparable in speed to ipad2, plus OC and UV kernals YAY)
BTW, I had over 36hours on a full charge, dock included, before I had to charge the TF again, and I decided to charge at 15%. so I could have had another hour+ if I had let it sleep..honestly, don't see how someone can play a game on the TF for a solid hour, but I watched 4+ hours of news last night via WiFi on autobright and it didn't drag my battery below 50% even..and I don't think it was on a full charge when I started..I should really test it out more thoroughly, but so far it's the best battery life of any device I have seen ANYWHERE.

miketoasty said:
vs the iPad2's 720p,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
720p from a 0.7MP camera.. (and 0.3MP front facing)... That's going to look REALLY crappy unless you are wearing your supplied Apple Rose Tinted Glasses.
My Nokia 6300 from 4 years ago has nearly 3x that resolution, and it's considered obsolete by now.
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ipad-ipad2-tablet-ios,news-10393.html

I agree with the OPs criticisms pretty much 100 percent. Although my time with Android has been fun, unless the usability, speed, and stability blow me away compared to Honeycomb I will probably look to switching to a Windows 8 tablet or whatever iPad is available down the line instead of purchasing another Android tablet.

Reproduction of regular videos from youtube on the tf101 are fine, I'm talking about matroska mkv and AVI videos(720p) here, those can be played fine on my nettop devices with single core atom and dual core atom with broadcom decoder cards, I paid for those nettops ($189 and $289 respectively).
in comparison the ipad 2 can play those videos(w/ Cinexplayer, XBMC and even the discontinued VLC for ipad 2)absolutely perfect, I can play my mkv and avi 720p movies on the ipad 2 without any drop frames, getting consistent 30fps without any sync issues as I have them randomly on my tf101 all the time(below 25fps and out of sync audio/video issues). I have tried the mx video player pro on the tf101, still doesn't work smoothly enough, getting there but have to constantly be switching audio/video modes, and most of the time have to select the fast mode on 720p playing which has a highly noticeable lower quality detail, and sometimes don't get any sound, have to switch to another audio codec to make it work. It's worth to mention mx video player pro application looks very promising.
Again, I guess tegra 2 is an underpowered SoC.
I'll explain just one single issue here: Just for the record, I encode my own videos, have several years of experience working with video editing at professional level, I take my blu-rays movies and tv series(blu-ray) and encode them using a state of the art video PC workstation, I use the x264 codec and utilize open source and proprietary libraries(H.264/MPEG-4 AVC) for the encoding. Result is a 100% perfectly encoded mkv and avi file in 720p resolution that can be played smoothly on my slowest nettop device w/single core atom CPU at 1.0 Ghz and of course on the Ipad 2 as well, I mentioned the word "of course" just because the ipad 2 is a dual core device running at 900 Mhz with a monster Dual GPU. My nettops have ubuntu linux for netbook and windows 7 starter operating systems.
I don't even want to mention the hdmi to TV output limitation(for videos) on tf101, it's completely laggy and simply slow and unplayable, I have 2 LCD tv's at home, 47" and 70" screen size at 60hz and 240hz respectively, my ipad 2 and my nettops can handle it thru hdmi at 720p and even at 1080p on both tv's. My Oc'd tf101 cannot handle properly my movies, any movie not even a 360p youtube video on my tv's. I found out, my tf101 can handle an acceptable output experience on my Asus 24" LCD monitor , as long as you don't play videos.
tf101 has serious issues for video reproduction, you can blame honeycomb or asus, I'm encourage to accept this fact as a current limitation on tegra 2 devices, will see how it does perform on ICS, not having hopes for it either. I'm starting to believe tegra 2 SoC is a poor chip for video reproduction. I'm not going to tolerate that, video reproduction is suppose to be perfect(like watching a regular bluray or dvd movie at home), no more no less.

Well, guess I'm done here since you still haven't admitted that it may possibly be what you have running on your device or any number of other issues. Again, video's run fine on my device and I am able to game using MiniHDMI - HDMI on my 52" TV using an emulator. Lag would be extremely noticeable here and like I have said, I have seen.... none.

[Q] coming from a prime, have a question on an acer.

I currently have the Asus prime and love the tablet, but it doesn't work for my needs as a multimedia device on the go. With the blue tooth and streaming video/audio issue, my main purpose of it is no longer functional. I could careless about the gps.
I was looking at the Acer 500 tablet. I know it would be a tegra2 compared to the tegera3 and there is the 510 model just released. After the mess that is happening with the prime I'm hesitant to try another brand spanking new model right out of the gates. I don't mind yesterdays technology if it's proven to work and tweaked already. Plus it should be a bit cheaper.
So my question is, how do you owners of the Acer brand of tablets like your devices? Particularly the media abilities of it. I use youtube, stream tv shows, stream cartoons, and internet radio. Being able to use my blue tooth headset is my sore spot and is what I'm looking to rectify with a different tablet.
I do some gaming but not much on the android platform has really taken me yet. If these Acer models play Order and Chaos then it would be a boon.
Thanks for any suggestions or advice.

THere are video limitations with 1080p . mosy 720 will play fine. Streaming for me works well,of course some of the roms are better then others.I will not make comments on any of them. I would say read the forums of those roms.Order and Chaos does actually run very well on my A500. as with most other android games. I can also say my Bluetooth motorola hd 9 headset works flawless.
Good Luck .

Its OK
I have an a500, video and audio streamig works fine, same goes for bluetooth, I hate how the browser auto closes when it runs out of memory specially when watching heavy loaded web sites (I mean heavy Flash content).
I am on stock 3.2.1 rom, no root.
I love the big usb port as I can connect almost anything, I have a USB hub and can connect 4 things at the same time (memory, keyboard, mouse and gamepad).
Sound is good, not top best but is ok.
No good 1080p playback as Erica already said.
No GPS issues unless you go for custom roms.
Planned to update to ICS by the end of the month.

I like my A500 but I would never go from a Prime to an A500.
I don't have any issues with my device per say. I run netflix, crunchyroll, etc. on there and I use plex as well as tversity so 1080p videos and anything out of the scope of compatibility for my tablet from my library aren't an issue for me. Like you, I use it for multimedia purposes and I am satisfied.
My unwanted 2c is you just wait for a patch that makes you LOVE your Prime. It took several software revisions before Acer got it right with Honeycomb on the A500 and Tegra3 as well as ICS is brand spanking new so I'd give it a bit more time. I stuck with the A500 because I liked it and I found the USB port useful but as I said, I would not go from a Prime to an A500 for the mere fact that the Prime is technically speaking, a newer device with better/faster hardware and a better screen....even if you THINK you don't care about Tegra3 vs. Tegra2, once Asus gets the software refined, overall it will be better than the A500. If it's a case where you have some disposable dollars and are thinking of getting the A500 in the interim, go ahead; but if you're going to swap/exchange the Prime and then buy an A500 I would heartily advise against it.
Good Luck to you, whatever you decide.

As for me, here is what I can say about the A500 :
- for the videos, I'm used to ripping my DVDs and blu-rays so I can read them on the tablet. My favorite format is MP4. Nothing special to say about DVDs, but as for the Blu-rays 720p main profile works fine (high profile does not), just as 1080p low profile (both main and high profile won't be readable with a comforable frame rate). It's also a matter of bit rate : for 720p main profile, 3500 Kbps is almost perfect, 4000 Kbps is fine 90% of the time but it can get really laggy for some minutes at times. For 1080p low profile, 5500 Kbps was fine, haven't tested anything else yet because anyway good 1080p compressed movies weighs like 8GB and with FAT32 you're supposed to be limited to 4GB. No noticeable quality differences with the tablet screen anyway, and very little on a large TV screen given the compression, so to me 720p main profile remains the best choice.
- Sound is surprisingly good but mic really (and I mean really) sucks. Barely usable.
- Screen isn't as accurate as on other tablets. It makes no differences at all for a normal use but if you intend to handwrite it is still possible but not perfect.
- Battery life is fine for me, but it lasts less than others. Like 6 to 8 hours in video, the same for a standard use (internet, reading,...).
- The screen is good, but again not as good as the Asus's screens or iPads and Galaxy tabs ones.
- The USB port is a huge feature for me, it works just fine with my NTFS external hard disk, with all my USB keys, with all my USB PC controllers (that are already set the right way !), with my keyboard, my mouse, and my USB hub so I can use my keyboard and mouse at the same time on the tablet !
- With Honeycomb, internet browsing is a little bit too slow and lacks smoothness for me with the default browser (I'm used to great smoothness and speed with my SGS 2), so I chose to use Dolphin Mini, which is fine. Hope the ICS update will fix that though.
In conclusion it's a good device but for 2011, you're likely to be disappointed coming from a Transformer Prime. Better wait for the A510 or the A700 to my mind.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm going to hold on to the prime for another 2 weeks or so and see how the 510 is holding up. It's always the customers that find the little quirks which are not noticed by the manufactures in their testing phases.
Thanks again!

sureeee
fsured said:
I currently have the Asus prime and love the tablet, but it doesn't work for my needs as a multimedia device on the go. With the blue tooth and streaming video/audio issue, my main purpose of it is no longer functional. I could careless about the gps.
I was looking at the Acer 500 tablet. I know it would be a tegra2 compared to the tegera3 and there is the 510 model just released. After the mess that is happening with the prime I'm hesitant to try another brand spanking new model right out of the gates. I don't mind yesterdays technology if it's proven to work and tweaked already. Plus it should be a bit cheaper.
So my question is, how do you owners of the Acer brand of tablets like your devices? Particularly the media abilities of it. I use youtube, stream tv shows, stream cartoons, and internet radio. Being able to use my blue tooth headset is my sore spot and is what I'm looking to rectify with a different tablet.
I do some gaming but not much on the android platform has really taken me yet. If these Acer models play Order and Chaos then it would be a boon.
Thanks for any suggestions or advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i really love my tab
it supports all my needs
but on a500 you have to use external 3g modem (i dont use 3g on my tab)
if 3g is important i would rather a501
but the other things about it is really good
i use it for media too. i even dont use my pc since ive got it
and about the 1080p video playback
hardware codecs are kinda laggy but i use software decoders and its ok

Nook HD+ review with CM 10.1

First of all, Very and Leap- you two rock something fierce!
I did a review before of the HD+ with 2.1. I gave it a good review, but three things slowly eroded my opinion after time and I returned it.
1- Intermittent stutter that seemed to correlate with on the fly data loads and library sync. This stood out with games.
2- Games loading slow and some REAL sloooooow
3- Accumulative lag. Over a few days, the device got real slow and cache cleaning and restarts were hit and miss to fix it.
Best Buy had it on sale for $20 less this time ($180), so based on folks opinion of CM 10.1, I thought I would test it out again- due to the price and sweet display.
Where 2.1 was a big improvement over 2.0, the improvement from 2.1 to CM 10.1 is fluken' huge!
1- The intermittent stutter is gone along with library sync is gone.
2- Games load a LOT faster. I would not have thought the stock rom would be what was slowing it down, but I tested fresh installs two times with the same sloooow results with 2.1.
3- So far, the accumulated lag has not showed up.
4- Overall device is faster
I also added the "full screen" app to get rid of the navigation bar when I want. More just to test it out, but nice to have an iPad like full display view
Jeepers, it is wild how it is so easy to flash the device with 10.1 and equally wild to have the results of 10.1 with this hardware for the price. Superb so far
Of course, with anything in life comes the negatives:
1- exFAT worked with 2.1, but does not with CM 10.1. I had to transfer, format and recopy back to the sd card with FAT32. I wish there was a simple install fix using the boot card like the unknown sources fix for stock 2.1.
2- Buggy Blitz does not work. I love that game Ditto for Shine Runner. Same company.
3- I have had one instance so far where the device had charged and there was a flashing green light. The device would not wake up with neither home or power button. I had to hold the power down for a while and repeat that a few times. It would get stuck on the spinning boot-up ring. It would freeze up after after "several" seconds. Seems to be working now, but this never happened with stock 2.1 and used the device for a month. Fluke?
4- Quake 3 keeps expecting to see "sdcard" rather than "sdcard0". Touch Quake 1, 2 and Quake Arena mods work fine though. These are examples of games that loaded SLOW with stock 2.1, but are near instant with CM 10.1.
5- The CM 10.1 launcher was jittery and slow. I tried to get used to it, but went back to Nova, which is smooth and fast.
Folks, Nook HD+ plus CM 10.1 equals insane value for the price!

rushless said:
1- exFAT worked with 2.1, but does not with CM 10.1. I had to transfer, format and recopy back to the sd card with FAT32. I wish there was a simple install fix using the boot card like the unknown sources fix for stock 2.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there's 3rd party zip you can flash that restores it somewhat..
I also plan to look into this eventually and use texera fat module from the stock rom.
2- Buggy Blitz does not work. I love that game
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That seems to be their bug related to new sgx drivers. Same crash happens on Kindle fire, for example. Nothing I can presently do about it.
3- I have had one instance so far where the device had charged and there was a flashing green light. The device would not wake up with neither home or power button. I had to hold the power down for a while and repeat that a few times. It would get stuck on the spinning boot-up ring. It would freeze up after after "several" seconds. Seems to be working now, but this never happened with stock 2.1 and used the device for a month. Fluke?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sore about not waking up - never saw that. But rare boot problems will be fixed in next release. (esp. those that produce garbage on screen).
Folks, Nook HD+ plus CM 10.1 equals insane value for the price!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still no camera, so it cannot serve as full TP replacement

No problem on the games not working, since works on my Excite 7.7 and S3!
Exfat and NTFS would be nice, down the road!
Thanks!

I think B&N could have done much better with this hardware if they hired someone like verygreen in the first place...
I still don't think this is a very good gaming device, though, especially for 3D.
But the screen is amazing and got me really spoiled. Now I look at Nexus 7 and feel the display is too cheap and low in quality. Comparing it with the TP in my opinion is a bit of an apple to orange comparison as it is mainly a media consumption device while TP's display quality is even worse than Nexus 7.
Someone was complaining the Nook being slow and laggy vs a $499 Galaxy Note 10.1 with 2GB ram, quad core and much lower resolution. That is just unfair. But I guess people are entitled to their opinions.
Honestly I would not have bought this without seeing the CM10 and CM10.1 ports in progress. B&N really owes verygreen a commission. I like this combo so much that I hardly touch my Nexus 7 now.
BTW, donation sent.

View92612 said:
Comparing it with the TP in my opinion is a bit of an apple to orange comparison as it is mainly a media consumption device while TP's display quality is even worse than Nexus 7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I somewhat agree here, in reality I distributed Touchpads to my relative and they use them for things like Skype.
Nook, having no camera, cannot replace them and would be useless for such purposes.

I agree that the Nook has deficiencies (proprietary ports are a downer). When it comes to cheap toys we pick our poison, eg Nexus w/ no SD slot. If I want a cam or HDMI, there are a flood of cheap 7" tabs that have both, but none of them has a really great 1080p screen in an IMO perfect size and weight for one-handed use. I don't see any tablet with comparable display quality under $400.
Display quality aside, as a reader my preference is for a 4:3 aspect, since I use the tab mostly in portrait mode. But outside of the iPads, most Android tabs hewed to 16:10, which makes the display smaller than their diagonal size would indicate. The HD+ is the only one to eschew the norm in going with 3:2. That's actually better than 4:3, because the present Android UI takes off a couple slices at top and bottom, so the remaining space comes out pretty close to 4:3.
Using the dpi calculator here,
http://members.ping.de/~sven/dpi.html
The 9" HD+ screen has a portrait width of 4.99". The 8.9" KF HD's is 4.72", or 0.27" smaller and not just 0.1" shorter diagonal. For tablet display size, every fraction of an inch is a big deal when you're squeezing a whole web page into portrait.
Some other display portrait widths, which I view as the tablet's true size measurement:
Code:
iPad Mini 4.71"
Nexus 7 3.71"
Galaxy Note 8 4.24"
Nexus 10 5.3"
iPad 5.82"

Oh yeah, e.mote: Thanks for the "dummies" thread!
True on the lack of camera, but I got it for books, comics (more than books) and games (mainly emulators). There are a few games that my Excite 7.7 plays smoother, but most play the same and game emulators like MAME and N64 are faster on the Nook HD+. Also, CM 10.1 closed the gap on the 3D games that are smoother on the Excite 7.7. GTA is a good example. It plays smooth now, where with 2.1, it did not. Asphalt 7 though is an example that plays smoother on the Excite. Asphalt 7 though is now very playable on the Nook HD+. The TF700 also struggles with some 3D games, BTW.
For game emulators. this thing rocks. $180 for a great display and plays emulators better than any other Android I have used- including the S4 and its quad Qualcomm. Bluetooth game pads work fine and no response lag noted so far and fits the iCade
Sad that we get the stock firmware we get when folks here do a better job for user experience. I appreciate the Nook was designed to be mainly a reader, but their premise was also part of their undoing and the convention of poor stock firmware goes way beyond the Nook.

>Thanks for the "dummies" thread!
I actually wrote that for myself, since I have a stack of HD+'s here that I'm retrofitting to pass along to the family. Credit where it is due, it's all a rehash of what leapinlar has written, but just a bit more digestible. And of course to verygreen that made this all possible.
Glad to hear Nook is good for games. I'm not a gamer, but other peeps in the household would be appreciative. Any good guides for emulators you can point to? How about some strategy/tactical games? I liked Call of Cthulhu and Rebuild.
BTW, little known factoid: The Nook's serial # is printed on the inside of the SD slot's rubber flap. I found that out when returning a HD+ for uneven backlighting.
>I appreciate the Nook was designed to be mainly a reader, but their premise was also part of their undoing and the convention of poor stock firmware goes way beyond the Nook.
I view it as a good-thing-bad-thing situation. If B&N had made a great Android tab, it wouldn't be holding a firesale to clear out the Nooks, and we wouldn't be here yakking away. So yes, I'm kinda glad the HD's didn't sell well (until now).

Very ironic.
As far as emulator guides, there is a very good one over at Phandroid forums. It is in the Android game forum.
This tablet is an old school gaming, comic reading, web and Flash slinging bargain.

rushless said:
Very ironic.
As far as emulator guides, there is a very good one over at Phandroid forums. It is in the Android game forum.
This tablet is an old school gaming, comic reading, web and Flash slinging bargain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree. What controller do you use for the emu, though?
I found it extremely difficult to trigger complex moves (in games that require those) using just touch control..... I'm sure it would not be an issue for games that do not require those.

I use a generic Android controller from Gamestop, two Nyko Android pads and iCade. All work fine.
I found another game that worked with 2.1 but not with CM. NBA 2013. Another of my favorites. What are the odds of that? It loads to the point of showing the team logos at start up and then crashes.
Also, most games like NFSMW that took a long time to load up with 2 .1 now load fast like other tablets. The only exception found so far is Asphalt 7. It still loads crazy slow. About two minutes or more per track. Should take about ten seconds. The London level just took over two minutes. Almost three.
The game plays good though. Much smoother (no stutter) than 2.1, but that is the case for all games so far. Odd how Asphalt 7 seems the only slow load hold out. I have tested a ton. A7 appears to be an anomaly.
CM 10.1 BTW also confirms to me the main stutter was not the gpu, but the stock rom. As per Anandtech, the 4470 is still a capable chipset.
I also compared A7 on the GS3. They appear to play very similarly as far as smoothness. GS3 might be a tad smoother, but does not stand out. The GS3 plays all of my games smooth, but the Nook smacks it down as far as MAME. 4470 appears to be a great emulator chipset.

I figured out why a few games do not work. Quake 3 need the files on the SD card and looks like NBA 2013 is trying to run the game from there too. It installs to internal, but installs a directory also in the SD with no files. I am going to move it to the SD and see what happens.
Update. Looks like ports like Quake 3 work fine, but commercial games do not work when moving the files.

Android tv box strictly for XBMC

Hello everyone,
I want to buy an android TV box and am planning to use it strictly for XBMC.
I have been reading quite a lot on these devices over the past weeks, but I would still like to get some advice.
The CS968 seems like a nice solution, but I think it does not support hardware acceleration at the moment (RK chipset).
Is it better to take a quad core without h/a to run xbmc or a dual core with supported h/a.
Which one would you recommend me? 720p streaming, maybe 1080 in the future and I just want a smooth XBMC experience and a good wifi signal offcourse.

This is the 1.000.000 USD question, which one to buy for media streaming and use of XBMC.
This is mostly due to 2 things, first is that these boxes are still not 1080p approved (you will need to experiment with several kernels that claim to have this output), and second is related to their power. They cannot play 1080p content, not even 720p content without the H/W acceleration.
What does this mean in practice? Well first is that even if you have a flawless version of Android (stable and 1080p content on it), you still need XBMC (in this case) to be able to H/W decode the content, or else you are unable to use it properly for any HD content.
The good news is that XBMC is about to release a stable version with the promised H/W acceleration, however its not out yet.
Now for the options: If you want good streaming, you need a reliable network connection, and unless your router is just next to the Android TV stick, you'll need a wired connection. This is not normally a problem, just be sure to get a true 100Mbit USB adapter (if it is not already built in), as some of them are only 10Mbit which is a bit slow for HD.
I myself bought a Tronsmart T428, as it has both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi module. However the available ROM's are not that many and I still can't use it as a daily driver for my media needs.
Another thing that you might consider is how to control it. A good remote will make or break the deal, as it's not easy to navigate android without the touch input. I sometimes us a mouse and keyboard (and it works quite well), but for HTPC purposes it's not the best. I also have a Mele F10 which is not bad, but the new version is well worth the extra (Mele F10 pro).
Good luck with your quest. If I were you I would wait a little bit until the new XBMC stable version gets out (12.3) and then see what others are using.
Hope it was helpful.

Lewy20041 is doing great work on these relatively cheap devices.
Take a look at the link below and if you haven't already head over to the FreakTab forums.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2494284

rayill said:
Hello everyone,
I want to buy an android TV box and am planning to use it strictly for XBMC.
I have been reading quite a lot on these devices over the past weeks, but I would still like to get some advice.
The CS968 seems like a nice solution, but I think it does not support hardware acceleration at the moment (RK chipset).
Is it better to take a quad core without h/a to run xbmc or a dual core with supported h/a.
Which one would you recommend me? 720p streaming, maybe 1080 in the future and I just want a smooth XBMC experience and a good wifi signal offcourse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are talking about XBMC and let alone other things, the Matricom GBox MX2 is a fantastic Android TV Box, at least for me. It has HWA out of the box and I am able to play 1080p very smoothly.
There is a review online you can watch:
hxxp://liliputing.com/2013/05/g-box-midnight-mx2-tv-dual-core-tv-box-is-made-for-android-xbmc.html
Having said that, the GBox MX2 doesn't have the best specs in comparison with other Android TV Boxes out there but if you are looking for a smooth XBMC experience, this is the box for you (IMO). (Or... look for a MX2 clone).

dookie23 said:
If you are talking about XBMC and let alone other things, the Matricom GBox MX2 is a fantastic Android TV Box, at least for me. It has HWA out of the box and I am able to play 1080p very smoothly.
There is a review online you can watch:
hxxp://liliputing.com/2013/05/g-box-midnight-mx2-tv-dual-core-tv-box-is-made-for-android-xbmc.html
Having said that, the GBox MX2 doesn't have the best specs in comparison with other Android TV Boxes out there but if you are looking for a smooth XBMC experience, this is the box for you (IMO). (Or... look for a MX2 clone).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a couple of Android boxes. The ones based on rockchips are not the best in XBMC as there is no hardware decoding. There are some builds out there that that have been hacked to make a callout to play media in MX player. My rockchip box sit in the cupboard. I have a couple that have the Amlogic M3(single core ATV510b) that can run Android XBMC but there is also a linux-xbmc distro for it. Great for a pure XBMC experiance. It will run 1080p no prob. Ive also got a ATV520(M6 dual core) but only runs android. Both can do hardware decoding in XBMC and play 1080p. Both are great little boxs.
I would rather a dual or even a single that has h/a than a quad that cant do h/a. A friend got a quad rockchip and it cant play 1080p. he hates it. Cant play crap in XBMC. It needs hardware
the gBox uses the same chip as the ATV520. There is also the ATV1200 has the same hardware as the ATV520 but more connections and external aerial. imports if you going to wifi.
hope this helps.
cheers

rayill said:
Hello everyone, I want to buy an android TV box and am planning to use it strictly for XBMC.
I have been reading quite a lot on these devices over the past weeks, but I would still like to get some advice.
The CS968 seems like a nice solution, but I think it does not support hardware acceleration at the moment (RK chipset).
Is it better to take a quad core without h/a to run xbmc or a dual core with supported h/a.
Which one would you recommend me? 720p streaming, maybe 1080 in the future and I just want a smooth XBMC experience and a good wifi signal offcourse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at these, and possibly go for the device with the highest # cores, highest android version (4.2.2+), highest RAM (2GB+), and one or two external antennae. The devices with Android 4.2.x + can be setup for multiple users {see this post}. Analog video/audio out is a plus, especially for direct hookup to speakers or old television. Some have quad-core Rockchip, which xbmc should support as of version 13 (Gotham) as mentioned in xbmc wiki, but not necessarily. NOTE: Some do not have bluetooth whatsoever (and probably no support for USB bluetooth dongle) such as the Ugoos UT1 box :
Ugoos boxes and sticks:
UM2 stick and UM1 box look good.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2424451
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2373469
http://blog.geekbuying.com/?s=ugoos
http://www.apad.tv/apadforum/forumdisplay.php?64-Ugoos-Android-Mini-PC-and-TV-Box-Tech-Support
I think most Ugoos' are around $100 USD or less with stock parts/accessories on Amazon.com as of this writing.
MINIX boxes:
NEO X7 looks good. Quad core CPU and GPU!
http://www.minix.com.hk/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2440708
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2439433
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2494284
MINIX X7 should be $120 USD or more, but the other models might be okay too.
Satechi tv box seems good too.
on Amazon
Matricom Gbox .
Midnight MX2 looks good. These can do OTA update.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2002758
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1835588
http://matricom.net/
Mele boxes
Some can do OTA updates.
http://en.mele.cn/ (English)
http://mele.cn/products/3.htm (Chinese)
http://forum.mele.cn:81/viewforum.php?f=14
MyGica (Geniatech) boxes and sticks.
Their latest ATV1800 is awesome! All should do OTA update.
http://www.geniatech.com/pa/android-tv.asp
http://www.mygica.com/products.asp
... and the list goes on and on wow
- Measy
- Unuiga
- Jesurun
- ...
Also: native Linux on these boxes:
RK3188 based: link to thread
AML8726 based: link to thread
but you gotta do loads of research to make'em work!
I tested XBMC "gotham 13 alpha 10" monthly release {see post here} on my phone and it works quite well, even playing 1080p movies with 2 or 3 gigs file sizes.
*I say all that above, but honestly, I am just listing devices for others to see. Since you may want to connect a wired/wireless USB-based mouse and/or keyboard and want to play tons of 1080p videos and do many different things over time, then I think a small laptop or netbook with HDMI and hardware-acceleration running linux or windowz and XBMC desktop version will be much much better. Albeit the higher price, this kind of laptop can handle more and do more, thus more usable & valuable, especially under constant/heavy usage. Note that the $99 devices may be like $0.99 food = looks good, but tastes bad and is unhealthy for you.

rayill said:
Hello everyone,
I want to buy an android TV box and am planning to use it strictly for XBMC.
I have been reading quite a lot on these devices over the past weeks, but I would still like to get some advice.
The CS968 seems like a nice solution, but I think it does not support hardware acceleration at the moment (RK chipset).
Is it better to take a quad core without h/a to run xbmc or a dual core with supported h/a.
Which one would you recommend me? 720p streaming, maybe 1080 in the future and I just want a smooth XBMC experience and a good wifi signal offcourse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The team ATV xbmchub are recommending ouya
Everything I have read indicates a very capable device, if you want arm
It uses a modified version of xbmc (stock version still a bit iffy on android) that's apparently very good

I used a MyGica ATV120 and found that works nicely for XBMC and video was super smooth.
Sent from my CM11 Samsung Galaxy S4

Any boxes that have a linux build.
Sumvision Cyclone Nano
Gbox MX2
pivos xios
generic MX G18REF based boxes - these can be found on ebay for under £50
These boxes are all... pretty much the same thing, the use AML8726 and the same gpu, and under their linux builds have hardware decoding.
The build I use on my generic MX box is MX Linux from croniccorey
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2418029
The ui closely matches the desktop experience and video does match it.
I've tested it with 55Mbps mkvs and it's played them fine.
Ofcourse the problem with linux builds is... bugs, the builds for all these mx devies, even from sumvision and pivos, have some bugs but they run XBMC much better than it will run under ever the most powerful android device

And all Geniatech ATV400/ATV520/ATV1200/ATV3200
wason92 said:
Any boxes that have a linux build.
Sumvision Cyclone Nano
Gbox MX2
pivos xios
generic MX G18REF based boxes - these can be found on ebay for under £50
These boxes are all... pretty much the same thing, the use AML8726 and the same gpu, and under their linux builds have hardware decoding.
The build I use on my generic MX box is MX Linux from croniccorey
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2418029
The ui closely matches the desktop experience and video does match it.
I've tested it with 55Mbps mkvs and it's played them fine.
Ofcourse the problem with linux builds is... bugs, the builds for all these mx devies, even from sumvision and pivos, have some bugs but they run XBMC much better than it will run under ever the most powerful android device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are all based on Aml8726-MX

Android and XBMX
Tried a lot out and found this OTT TV Box to work great with hardware decoding and XBMC. It comes rooted based on the Amlogic 8726 chip. Has integrated camera and mic for video chat. The XBMC version comes fully loaded so you just plug and play, even 2 skins are pre-set. Believe me I've spent nights with boxes and sticks and always something did not work. Audio and video out of sync and so on. I think everybody went through those issue. Give it a try it has great Wifi connectivity due to the external antenna and comes with a simple remote, looks pretty cool as well. I think it's fairly priced and the support is great. This is my personal experience.
wwwdotamazondotcom/gp/aw/d/B00IXQTFDQ

Ive just bought the Justop K10A and it is amazing. You can control it as well with a proprietry rockchip app using your android phone or tablet.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

How does those TV box go with the newest version XBMC 14.1 ?

Tronfy said:
How does those TV box go with the newest version XBMC 14.1 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
14.2

Best Android Tv Box
Got this as a Christmas gift from my aunt. I can watch movies in Full HD now. This android TV box is awesome. This is fast and runs full hd without any issues. I am very happy to have it. A must need device if you love to watch movies.

What is the name of your android box?
Sam787 said:
Got this as a Christmas gift from my aunt. I can watch movies in Full HD now. This android TV box is awesome. This is fast and runs full hd without any issues. I am very happy to have it. A must need device if you love to watch movies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You did not mention any name or brand for your android tv box??

Really satisfied from my new Android box TV
I recently bought My Matrix TV and if you are interested in anything ask me. I have been using it intensively for the last two months and I can answer any questions related to it. It is the first Android Box TV that I own and after I bought it it my only source of streaming media.

NVIDIA SHIELD CONSOLE? Android TV SuperComputer Cloud Gaming? WOW

EDIT: Can everyone who visits this thread please take the time to do a official request for adding the SHIELD Console forums? Just visit the below thread and put in your request please. Thanks
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1660354
ORIGINAL POST:
Is this a new device coming out this Summer? I don't even see a section at XDA for it, or any mention of it here in these Shield threads, yet its based on Android TV and the Tegra X1, with the below specs. I'm in the market for a Android TV, so this interests me.
http://shield.nvidia.com/
http://shield.nvidia.com/console
Specifications:
Processor NVIDIA® Tegra® X1 processor
256-core Maxwell™ GPU with 3GB RAM
Video Features 4K Ultra-HD ready with 4K playback and capture up to 60 fps (VP9, H265, H264)
Audio 7.1 and 5.1 surround sound pass through over HDMI
High-resolution audio playback up to 24-bit/192 kHz over HDMI and USB
High-resolution audio up-sample to 24-bit/192 kHz over USB
Storage* 16 GB
Wireless 802.11ac 2x2 MIMO 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 4.1/BLE
Interfaces Gigabit Ethernet
HDMI 2.0
Two USB 3.0 (Type A)
Micro-USB 2.0
MicroSD slot
IR Receiver (compatible with Logitech Harmony)
Software Updates SHIELD software upgrades directly from NVIDIA
Gaming Features NVIDIA GRID™ game streaming service
NVIDIA Share
NVIDIA GameStream™
Power 40 W power adapter
Weight and Size Weight: 23 oz / 654 g
Height: 5.1 in / 130 mm
Width: 8.3 in / 210 mm
Depth: 1.0 in / 25 mm
Operating System Android TV™, Google Cast™ Ready
Included Apps = PLEX

It is a new android TV console made by Nvidia. The Cpu/GPU is the latest tegra X1 that is insanely fast! Much faster than Snapdragon 810 and Exynos 7.
Release date is in may and will cost 199$

Just saw some games that will be released like Metal Gear rising? will those be on the cloud or it will run natively on the shield it self? if its only on the cloud the this is not a console its just a streaming device that requires very fast internet which not all countries have specially here in the Philippines

RollWii said:
Just saw some games that will be released like Metal Gear rising? will those be on the cloud or it will run natively on the shield it self? if its only on the cloud the this is not a console its just a streaming device that requires very fast internet which not all countries have specially here in the Philippines
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Games like Crysis 3 will run natively on it (not in the cloud).
(Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

Correct, there are a few big-name games being modded/re-written to run natively on the platform. Of them, "Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel" , "Doom 3: BFG Edition" , and "Crysis 3". They demoed all of these. Doom3 and Crysis looked like they ran pretty well. Borderlands ran like a slug and obviously needed a lot more optimization.
That being said, they were really pushing the GRID services heavily, and a number of the announced launch titles were actually GRID games (AKA, PC games virtualized in a server center and streamed to your natively like OnLive or Gaikai/PS-Now, but with the improvements that nVidia has learned from the virtualization and distributed/parallel computing sectors). Anybody who has a current SHIELD device (portable or Tablet) and is within the USA should try it on their current devices at least a few times before it goes subscription model. It is currently in beta and free for all Shield devices, but the servers are in the USA, and the lag times may be unacceptable for some games if you are overseas or just have a laggy connection in general. It will officially come out of beta at the time when the Shield Console goes on sale, which will end the year-plus free ride so far.

ryocoon said:
Correct, there are a few big-name games being modded/re-written to run natively on the platform. Of them, "Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel" , "Doom 3: BFG Edition" , and "Crysis 3". They demoed all of these. Doom3 and Crysis looked like they ran pretty well. Borderlands ran like a slug and obviously needed a lot more optimization.
That being said, they were really pushing the GRID services heavily, and a number of the announced launch titles were actually GRID games (AKA, PC games virtualized in a server center and streamed to your natively like OnLive or Gaikai/PS-Now, but with the improvements that nVidia has learned from the virtualization and distributed/parallel computing sectors). Anybody who has a current SHIELD device (portable or Tablet) and is within the USA should try it on their current devices at least a few times before it goes subscription model. It is currently in beta and free for all Shield devices, but the servers are in the USA, and the lag times may be unacceptable for some games if you are overseas or just have a laggy connection in general. It will officially come out of beta at the time when the Shield Console goes on sale, which will end the year-plus free ride so far.
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I'm more interested what it will eventually do for media myself. And it MUST be rootable for me to even consider it as an option. The specs, at least for the Android world are nothing short of brilliant. However, again I want media apps mainly, such as Kodi, Plex, Netflix playback and casting to be flawless. For now the Nexus Player still turns me on more even with it being wifi only. However, If the NVIDIA Console becomes rootable with FULL custom Android ROM's I am going to change my mind in a heartbeat though, haha.

Considering that all of the nVidia devices to date have been extremely easy to unlock and root, I'm going to say that, yeah, it is mostly likely going to be root-able. Whether it can handle Kodi/Plex/Netflix/Etc at 4K is up to those developers. I know NetFlix has 4K content, but I'm not sure how they differentiate and enable it to be honest.
I have the Nexus Player, and I honestly feel a bit like a chump for getting it and so soon this device is announced. I can always use it in another room or something though.
The big rub with Android TV so far is that the default UI, the LeanBack Launcher, will not display some apps unless they declare themselves as leanback capable (which includes some XML, an art asset or two for different shape/size icons, navigation by controller/keys, and search-ability in some cases). This is a problem I've run into on my Nexus Player. Now, nVidia may snub the LeanBack launcher and may integrate some LeanBack function into their nVidia Hub (like on the Shield Tablet and Shield Portable) which recognizes dozens of media apps, games, and some other things and has a launcher in its own UI. However, if apps make themselves noted for LeanBack, they show up fine on the normal AndroidTV interface. What is better, if they include search, then you can voice search for titles in media apps, and if it includes some sort of rating or recommendation feature (like Hulu or YouTube) they can integrate that and you can get recommendations of what to watch directly in your launcher UI on the top row. Less important for games, maybe important for Game discovery, but definitely an interesting thing for the media watchers amongst us. I doubt recommendation would work on something like Plex, and KODI is its own UI entirely, skipping LeanBack or even nVidia hub (to be honest, I've never been a fan of XBMC's UI, and Kodi hasn't won me over yet either... too fidgety and I can't trust a 'normal' person to be able to understand and operate it). Like I stated above, the machine has the horsepower, but it will be up to app developers to show up with a "flawless" app that will work on it well.
Casting works pretty damn well on my Nexus Player, so I bet with MIMO capable AC spec WiFi, and also ethernet inclusion, you will get pretty damn good casting from Chromecast apps, as that is built into AndroidTV's OS.
Mind you a lot of this is based upon speculation on specs, existing hardware, and my knowledge of the AndroidTV OS and how it functions. Your mileage may vary, terms and conditions subject to actual reality upon device launch.

Yeah chances are my mileage will most likely vary, unless for some odd reason I am forced to run the stock Android TV experience. Since 2010 I have not ran anything stock, so not even sure what that is like, and pretty sure I don't want to know, lol. I was thinking about a full rom flashed on it immediately out of the box, installing Nova Launcher, my Planets live wallpaper, throwing up all the streaming apps onto the home screen, and hoping it just works like it did for the Nexus Player user on Youtube. I want to setup my own media streamer home page and experience. 4K would be future proof, but I have no plans to get rid of the 1080p TV that this device will be attached to, not before it naturally dies on me. I still like the Nexus Player as it will fit right in with all my other Nexus devices. I just need to see more development work taking place on it.

SkOrPn said:
Yeah chances are my mileage will most likely vary, unless for some odd reason I am forced to run the stock Android TV experience. Since 2010 I have not ran anything stock, so not even sure what that is like, and pretty sure I don't want to know, lol. I was thinking about a full rom flashed on it immediately out of the box, installing Nova Launcher, my Planets live wallpaper, throwing up all the streaming apps onto the home screen, and hoping it just works like it did for the Nexus Player user on Youtube. I want to setup my own media streamer home page and experience. 4K would be future proof, but I have no plans to get rid of the 1080p TV that this device will be attached to, not before it naturally dies on me. I still like the Nexus Player as it will fit right in with all my other Nexus devices. I just need to see more development work taking place on it.
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I'm still waiting for this device. Hopefully it's better than the garbage that the Razer Forge TV was. The mods and such at the nVidia forums still say it's coming out in may. The Forge didn't release with Netflix, and there might be a chance the same will happen with the Nvidia Shield Android TV, but I'd be ok with Nvidia as they're going to have 4k display support for netflix.
https://forums.geforce.com/default/...blet/nvidia-shield-tv-console-release-date/2/

I just got an email from NVIDIA saying its almost here. It starts out saying the wait is over, but then goes on to say its still not available and that they are giving away one Shield Console everyday until it is available to the public. I hate emails that start off telling you the wait is over but then asks you to wait some more, lol...

Its out!
Although only can see USA and Canada
$199.99 for 16GB
$299.99 for 500GB
http://shield.nvidia.com/android-tv

I'm not personally too interested in the gaming aspects but that amount of GPU power will prove very, very interesting. My main hope is that somebody can produce a minimal linux install for HTPC with Kodi and mpv builds, or perhaps just a release of Debian.
This device is the perfect low-cost HTPC. It should have more than sufficient CPU power for 10-bit h.264 and h.265 decode as well as sufficient compute power on the GPU side for EWA-type resamplers for chroma and image. I'm given to understand the X1 has full desktop opengl compatibility so it ought to be fully compatible with mpv (though I'm unsure of the state of the ARM builds).
The denver CPU should be more than enough to handle metadata crawling and the likes via Kodi in a non-sluggish fashion too. Christ, this device needs more videophile attention...

Just ordered mine on Amazon. It'll be here Sunday.
XDA needs a forum for it. This old shield handheld forum is for a completely different device.

Just ordered mine from Amazon US to be delivered to the UK next week by expedited delivery. What an absolute beast of a machine.

skrowl said:
Just ordered mine on Amazon. It'll be here Sunday.
XDA needs a forum for it. This old shield handheld forum is for a completely different device.
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me too!
returning my fire tv to them for a full refund, and getting this
this will be great to stream my pc to the tv so i can play games like witcher 3 in full 4k 50" vs 1080p 24"
and all the other stuff it does

Full review
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9289/the-nvidia-shield-android-tv-review

Shield Console Rooting Experience Thus Far...
Got mine this afternoon and after futzing a bit, tried to root it. It came with developer mode already enabled, one hassle for me is that rebooting to fastboot makes the screen blank so I had to fly blind to oem unlock. So, I've got an unlocked system at the moment, but Super SU is still not working because their is no su on the device. Anyone make it any further than me? I also went ahead and cracked it open to see if there were obvious serial port connection points. Looks like there's a nice spot for a laptop hard drive that is probably populated in the Pro model.
I'm going to look into building my own kernel + ramdisk to try and get the necessary tools in place so SuperSU can work, but I'm a bit worried that the screen isn't going to work and so I'll essentially be flying blind through the whole process.

ericvh said:
Looks like there's a nice spot for a laptop hard drive that is probably populated in the Pro model.
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Does that that mean there is an internal SATA connector or not?

A.N.Droid said:
Does that that mean there is an internal SATA connector or not?
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Yeah no SATA connector but there is an option in the settings to install all apps to an external hdd or micro sd card anyways
PS. Anyone know if this will be getting a dedicated XDA Forum? I'll probably be picking one up soon

A.N.Droid said:
Does that that mean there is an internal SATA connector or not?
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Hard to tell for sure, looks like there might be solder points for it, but no header. I've got the 500GB on order, will post the diffs when it arrives.

Database Users

welcome