it is known playback via xbmc is not smooth, need to do something complicated.... was discussed in other thread.

using native player via file manager is easiest.

yes, subtitles is auto. to change font size, go to settings, display.

i tried but can't locate the posts but it's in one of these 2 threads:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2598907/+1240
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1849024/+800

gotta to share this...

courtesy of arslow, mash up 1.4.0 is even better!

i just checked pptv from histore - this app works well, incl hd stuff. some movies are in original canto audio, not mandarin dubbed.

take note this pptv also exist inisde hitv but does not work that well there - for me, at least.

vqq within hitv and this standalone pptv will give you stuuf to last you a couple of years watching!

xbmc is a major and good app.

i like to advice new q5ii owners to be careful when installing xbmc frodo 12.3, the lastest "stable" version.

this is after i had problems like can't exit and keep crashing. had to erase, reinstall twice to get it right.

i dunno how all of it works but here's wat i like to put down even for my own reference in future:

.. dwnld the right version from here:
http://xbmc.org/download/
..do not install xbmc if broadband access is weak - it will be slow and keeps crashing, won't complete nicely.
.. if u have old versions, best to remove all cache, settings, uninstall the whole thing to clean it up as there may be corrupted files.
..when you start or open xbmc for the 1st time, give it a couple of minutes to update on its own - you will see the messages; do not do anything until all has stopped
.. xbmc basic has mostly useless addons, so u need to get more.
.. get n install fusion first, then xfinity - it is impt not to get xfinity first as there will be error called "dependencies not met"
http://fusion.xbmchub.com
http://xfinity.xunitytalk.com
.. then get install mashup which is ithe most complete useful addon i know for xbmc, almost like a search engine.
http://install.mashupxbmc.com
.. do not rush it when installing from zip files or enabling addons - give it time to complete before u go to another task.

examples of where some addons are residing:
fusion - 1channel, dailyflix, icefilms, navi-x... best repos are in "most popular" and "movies-tv" folders
xfinity - i-watch-online, istream... install "the-one zip" repo
mashup - get mashup repo inside the repository

in mashup, go to settings, under home layout, tick off what u duwan, tick on what u like.. i esp like livestream-ilive where there are a hundred or so live tv channels incl cnn, bloomberg, foodnetwork, disney, jackie chan, stephen chow, sports, etc...
then complete under settings with fixing a nice skin with the addon icons u like, set video to stretch 4:3 to 16:9 if u wish, etc...

(i assume one wud have understood how addon installation on xbmc works; if not, gotta watch all those videos on utube...)

have fun!

btw, i just gave up astro, dun need it anymore thanks to the android!

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Feb 7 2014, 12:18 AM

one way is to install es file explorer (file manager does not show all folders/files) from playstore. then manually remove certain files like those in backup if you have already saved them on external drive.

for q5ii, there is only 1gb but after all the sys apps, user apps, etc., it takes up 500mb or so - still ok with 50% capacity since i dun think i will need many more big apps.

it is always good to remove dormant apps via settings that one hardly use - some are 5mb, some are 20mb.

as there is so much to watch, i have not tried all in hitv or histore. xbmx alone has kept me very busy.

just tried pps from histore - it's good, no lagging. this pps.... wa... thousands to watch. pps with pptv and vqq... will make u a junkie!

...

a word about the latest q5ii emmc...

emmc starts up much faster... like 5 secs, old one takes 15 secs. shutdown, both same 3 secs.

other than that, not much change, not that i noticed.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Feb 9 2014, 07:47 PM

if yr pps is standalone, then it shud have been installed from histore since it is not found in hitv. note histore is not playstore.

preinstalled hitv is a himedia made app putting 5 of these chinese channels in one app - youku, vqq, pptv, qiyi and one other.

i dunno if it has anything to do with the ip/dns settings but i can get only vqq within hitv to work well. youku and pptv doesn't work well.

good news is pptv can be found in histore, install standalone, works excellent, like pps from histore too. however, i found vqq in histore doesn't work well but that is ok since that one within hitv works very well.

there are >20 of them in histore, will not bother to check all since 3 good ones is more than enough for me!

xbmc is a good and big one to have. can be confusing but after a while you get used to it, will use only certain parts of it. for me, i don't use music and games but just the video part. and even for video, i stick to just a few fav addons, don't need the others (so many of them!). xbmc for me is mostly for live tv news and old hollywood movies/tv series.

yes, more pleasurable to playback files for major movies - highest grade and no risk of lagging, audio out of synch, etc.

my view is you need no bother with netflix and huluplus. i find netflix video quality poor, lower than what you can get at xbmc. huluplus is better but selection is limited. there is a way to go round it if u want but i dunno who's doing it anymore.

chinese stuff - if those in hitv/histore is insufficient, try cloudtv. the paid channels look good to me but these are live like astro, not on demand.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Feb 12 2014, 01:43 PM

tis one, easy...

activate it at settings->video. or activate by clicking on the subtitles icon (one of those on the bottom right) with the mouse while playing a show.

i dunno if people here go for chinese stuff but for me this is one reason for buying himedia.

xbmc does not offer good chinese stuff, so hitv and histore is the solution. the "bad" news is the stuff are mostly in mandarin, a minority in cantonese. almost all come with chinese subs, so that can be useful for those who are not fluent with spoken mandarin.

of all the newer stuff i have watched so far, i recommend these two. i do not know if you can get them elsewhere, but these come out good in sd or hd on himedia (q5ii):


天龍八部 2013, currently up to 42 episodes. i expect this to get to 80 episodes given each is only 25 min long. this 2013 version is not as good as the 2003 version but is still very watchable for wuxia and luis cha fans. best watched in vqq within hitv.


葉問 2013, 50 episodes, complete. 30% history, 70% fiction but backed by many well known martial artists incl ip man's two sons as consultants to this series. best watched in pptv within hitv.


enjoy!

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Feb 24 2014, 12:49 AM

good news for qe5ii owners finding lagging in xbmc 720p/1080p streaming.

one way (not sure if it is the only way) is to overwrite a file to change the cache size so that a bigger buffer is used.

very impt, first read and do what this page says:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-T...the_video_cache
save the file named advancedsettings.xml described in the article on a usb drive (sd1), plug into machine.
using es file explorer, find this file:
/sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/userdata
copy the xml file onto it; u will be asked to overwrite existing file, ok.

the xml file is this:

<advancedsettings>
<network>
<cachemembuffersize>104857600</cachemembuffersize>
</network>
</advancedsettings>

not sure if all default is the same but that new file modifies the cache size, increases it by 5 times. 100mb cache apparently requires 300mb ram which is ok for q5ii which has 1gb ram.

720p aac2.0 is now easy, 720p dd5.1 even dts 5.1 ok. 1080p dd5.1 seems to be a bit jerky still.

not responsible if the above will give you problems but it worked for me, so just sharing, ya?


another tip - the "grrrr" noise when streaming 720p/1080p... this seems to be the problem only with hdmi. if you connect the audio via coaxial/optical to avr, the audio is perfect - for both dolby and dts.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Feb 26 2014, 02:14 AM

actually, is 1.0.5 a beta version?

becos when i checked at system upgrade, it says my current firmware is the latest, no update...

think i'll wait for official release... dun wanna lose playstore n anything else!

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Feb 26 2014, 10:01 AM

the xml file i showed is supposedly good for xbmc v12.
i did that on frodo 12.3, worked good.

tis one is a different probem. been discussed elsewhere - u need to root it and do something else.
i never bothered as i dun use xbmc for playback, prefer to use media center/file manager.
or my other media player.

it has something to do with your broadband speed.
pc/laptops seem to handle xbmc a bit better but it also crashes on my pc sometimes, on 10mb speed.

xbmc is more sensitive to the connection stability and speed than other apps like cloudtv or hitv, in my experience.
it crashes whenever the data flow is unstable or too slow coming, won't wait long to buffer.

if u installed frodo 12.3 correctly, no need to reinstall anymore.
if using wireless, try wired, it works better.
if too many addons, disable or uninstall some of them as they tend to slow things down when there are updates.
try modifying the cache size (my earlier post) to incr buffer, will help - but this will require some work.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Feb 26 2014, 09:41 PM

hmm... getting curious...

can you tell us what broadband and speed r u on?

q5ii wired or wireless lan?

from the wiki article, it should work on any xbmc. only thing is use of hdd is only for frodo 13.x. frodo12.x can only use the ram method.

after a few days, i assure u the method works on q5ii for 720 aac2.0 very well. above that, no good.

u might get some idea here, same question:
https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/3148365

i tried xbmc gotham beta 13.0 on q5ii.

no good. tried with various advanced settings, no difference. nothing works.

reverted to frodo 12.3, happy.

before you try, pls copy userdata folder onto usb drive so that you can copy it back when reinstalling 12.3.

if not you will need to do everything all over again.



anyone with a better experience, kindly share here.

if u hv done the advancedsettings.xml correctly, 720 aac2.0 will be smooth. 720 dd5.1, dts5.1, 1080 will still lag - bad news.
that's my experience with 10mbps unifi.


where did you copy that image from? some other android box? if all that comes preinstalled and work well, it's very good.

to my knowledge, himedia q5ii comes with pps, pptv, vqq under preinstalled hitv.
1channel, icefilms, dailyflix and much more is obtainable with xbmc.
azdrama and tvb can be obtained via youtube.
qvod and the rest, no idea.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Mar 8 2014, 05:44 PM