ME: XIOS DS Media Player $87.5 (Android ICS - Linux-XBMC)

[aasoror]

OK hold your horses guys, I can't make that much comments on GB as I am running ICS now (will release it shortly).

- I was never able to get smooth wifi playback for 1080p contents on any of my devices EVER, if you still want to go for it might want to get wifi analyzer and see if your wifi channel isn't that crowded.

- Make sure that whichever playback app you is using HW acceleration.

- I will make demos and benchmarks for ICS version shortly.

[Beradon]

- I was never able to get smooth wifi playback for 1080p contents on any of my devices EVER, if you still want to go for it might want to get wifi analyzer and see if your wifi channel isn't that crowded.

+1 WiFi streaming is more than likely a culprit for most video problems. Please do your tests over wired LAN.

- Make sure that whichever playback app you is using HW acceleration.

Agreed. Can someone try MXplayer from the Google Play store? Also install the appropriate codec pack for hardware accelerated playback.

[sbermunk]

Sorry, I should have specified that I was using a wired connection, not WiFi.
How can you even tell if your selected video player is using hardware acceleration, anyway? I tried all the players that came with the shipping firmware. ('MX player', is one of the preinstalled ones. I don't know if that is the specific one you are talking about Beradon, I will have to check.)
I have an Aios, which isn't perfect, but it runs pretty decently. Naturally it can't do Netflix (without something like Plex at least? but that sounds... messy), which was a primary reason I was interested in the Xios.
It's possible Plex might work better than direct-streaming, since if I understand correctly Plex re-encodes everything on the server end. What it encodes to, I have no idea however. I haven't played with Plex.
I didn't properly test any large video files since I was having such poor luck with playback, but I am pretty sure the 1080p/24 file that I had limited success with (play/pause/play/pause.....) was greater than 4GB (streamed off a windows share). I probably never accessed anything in it past the actual 4GB point, however.
I wasn't aware that codec packs of any kind existed on Android. When I get a chance I will check that out, thanks.

[dracula]

This is way overpriced. A comparable device, Mini X on dx is just 77.50...

[bylo]

A comparable device, Mini X on dx is just 77.50...

One problem is that there's quite a few Android 2.x media players for $70 to $80 on DX so choosing the "best" one is hardly easy or safe. A second problem is the hassles you'll have should what you get prove to be defective or, as the XOIS appears to be, not yet ready for prime time.

I need another media player. I was so hoping that the XIOS would be the answer. Now it seems we're destined to another multi-month wait while Pivos gets the bugs out of XIOS, just as we had to wait for Patriot to get the bugs (we hope) out of Alpine.

[aasoror]

This is way overpriced. A comparable device, Mini X on dx is just 77.50...

Isn't it based on the Mali200 ? there is reasons these boxes are dirt cheap.

I need another media player. I was so hoping that the XIOS would be the answer. Now it seems we're destined to another multi-month wait while Pivos gets the bugs out of XIOS, just as we had to wait for Patriot to get the bugs (we hope) out of Alpine.

ICS on the XIOS is going good so far, limitations now goes straight down to Android ..

[aasoror]

Sorry, I should have specified that I was using a wired connection, not WiFi.
How can you even tell if your selected video player is using hardware acceleration, anyway? I tried all the players that came with the shipping firmware. ('MX player', is one of the preinstalled ones. I don't know if that is the specific one you are talking about Beradon, I will have to check.)

There should settings to favour HW decoding (or enable/disable it) on each individual app.

[zero64]

Anybody know how good Youtube is on this thing? Will it do 720p or 1080p decently?

[dracula]

Isn't it based on the Mali200 ? there is reasons these boxes are dirt cheap.

I don't think it's Mali 200 based in any reasonable sense - Allwinner A10, Mali 400?
http://dx.com/p/mini-android-2-3-hd-...134679?item=10

[aasoror]

I don't think it's Mali 200 based in any reasonable sense - Allwinner A10, Mali 400?
http://dx.com/p/mini-android-2-3-hd-...134679?item=10

Sorry, you didn't provide a link in your OP so I looked for the comparable one with LAN port (as this one doens't have one) and it was a Mali200.

[aasoror]

For those interested, ICS is already out.

Once ICS is installed there was no issue running MKVs up to 1080p/11GB (over wired network).
After that size (will get quote media info of the files that did play in the morning), things gets pretty unstable. The majority of my rips past that size are ISOs which isn't supported any way.

YT HD is running without any issue, Flash HD is running fine in Dolphin browser (stick the preloaded 10.2).

Couple of inconveniences, video playback apps doesn't seem to respect scaling settings, you wouldn't notice this issue if you have a display with no over/under scanning, in which cases you can use a "screen size" setting to adjust the output to your screen size, that said, once video app loads it will automatically revert to the original scale.

Another minor is windowed playback (YT or flash in YT app or web browser), once the video starts, it automatically revert to full screen then "crops" (not minimizes) back to window size, if you would then click on the full screen button at any time you would get proper image.

As I pointed earlier there is currently no multichannel audio passthrough support (DTS/DD and their HD versions are stereo downmixed).

Some reported issues with the ICS NF app (pausing for buffering after 5 minutes of playback).

Wireless keyboard/mouse combo works fine with the box, but there is no way to turn the box off without the original IR remote (even the motion remote doesn't have a power button) unless you reach for power button the box itself.

ICS comes with the latest Google Play store, app visibility is on bar with all other android devices I have owned.

If you have further questions or test materials let me know,

For those running the GB firmware and complaining about long strart ups, just move as many apps as you can from main storage to external storage.

[VLeung]

The price for this Android media player is right.

But the biggest function missing is HDMI 1.4 support (i.e. 3D playing) ?!

The newer generation of Android player (similar price range) available in China should support 3D like the one below.
http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

Not sure why this player had left this out ?

[aasoror]

The price for this Android media player is right.

But the biggest function missing is HDMI 1.4 support (i.e. 3D playing) ?!

The newer generation of Android player (similar price range) available in China should support 3D like the one below.
http://www.aliexpress.com/product-fm...olesalers.html

Not sure why this player had left this out ?

But the thing is which Android app is compatible with 3D playback ?!
1186 realtek boxes (that had froyo on them) where running hybrid OS just to be able to pass 3D signal and read ISOs, not sure if that is currently possible based solely on Android.

[whiteGSR]

Sorry, I should have specified that I was using a wired connection, not WiFi.
How can you even tell if your selected video player is using hardware acceleration, anyway? I tried all the players that came with the shipping firmware. ('MX player', is one of the preinstalled ones. I don't know if that is the specific one you are talking about Beradon, I will have to check.)
I have an Aios, which isn't perfect, but it runs pretty decently. Naturally it can't do Netflix (without something like Plex at least? but that sounds... messy), which was a primary reason I was interested in the Xios.
It's possible Plex might work better than direct-streaming, since if I understand correctly Plex re-encodes everything on the server end. What it encodes to, I have no idea however. I haven't played with Plex.
I didn't properly test any large video files since I was having such poor luck with playback, but I am pretty sure the 1080p/24 file that I had limited success with (play/pause/play/pause.....) was greater than 4GB (streamed off a windows share). I probably never accessed anything in it past the actual 4GB point, however.
I wasn't aware that codec packs of any kind existed on Android. When I get a chance I will check that out, thanks.

try using "Dice" player, which should be a free download from the market (assuming gapps can be installed on this xios)

i use that on my OG Galaxy S phone and touchpad running android

[aasoror]

try using "Dice" player, which should be a free download from the market (assuming gapps can be installed on this xios)

i use that on my OG Galaxy S phone and touchpad running android

Dice is already one of the 55 apps that comes with the ICS upgrade on the XIOS. But I didn't find its results as good as "mobo player" (also included).