just updated from gotham 13.1 to 13.2.

straightforward, no problems.

seems smoother, less buffering.

also, noticed less and less dd/dts 5.1 now. mostly aac 2.0...




This post has been edited by AVFAN: Sep 26 2014, 01:52 PM

...

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Oct 14 2014, 02:31 AM

fyi... a fork of xbmc called spmc now available directly from googleplay.

http://spmc.semperpax.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?...rpax.spmc&hl=en
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/he...o-spmc-t2857291

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Oct 14 2014, 10:08 AM

i tried it briefly. don't seem to be any different.

but i did notice with this version, my android could accept hardware acceleration media-codec.

i also notice this spmc 13.3.2 is 20mb smaller than gotham 13.2, perhaps some redundant files removed...

lastly, this spmc will co-exist with xbmc, so it will take up quite a bit of space, unless u uninstall xbmc.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Oct 14 2014, 11:41 AM

like to explore a bit on this crackling sound thingy...

in my case...

1. in setting-systems-audio, default is passthru deactivated, dd/dts deactivated.
with that, only stereo sound, whether hdmi to tv to avr.

enable pass thru, activate dd and dts:
2. if hdmi connected to tv, digital audio to avr, the tv sound cracks but avr delivers normal dd/dts.
3. if hdmi connected to avr, avr to tv, no cracking.

i like 2. since i dun wish to power on avr as in case 3 all the time as many files are just 2.0 and few dd/dts these days. but this gives cracking sound when i want to play a file that is dd/dts. so, end up set to 1 normally.

this has been the case for a long time, frodo or gotham. spmc does not help, same result.

is there a way to set 2, but no cracking sound (other then turning tv vol to zero) like playback a file from usb?

can you or anyone shed some like on this? thanks.

that's what i noticed. icefilms, yify, daily flix all affected.
even tv series only hugefiles and secureload (which doesnt work) offer 720p.
so few dd/dts stuff.
at this rate, xbmc will become pretty meaningless.
who wants to spend 3 min to do captcha and then maybe get an sd show!
yep, warning from inventor/founder of www, sir tim berners lee.
gomens want control, corps want profits:
http://www.networkworld.com/article/268840...ns-privacy.html

so, long live torrents!

here, as i suspected, those guys aren't going away any time soon alto they announce they're quitting.
this one works with torrent, can play on vlc, marvellous.
been playing hide and seek, i think...
for mac, windows, linux, this one is good:
https://popcorntime.io/

where is the android version?

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Oct 14 2014, 06:19 PM

yep, thanks, got it.

the pc version is much better - selection of resolutions - 480p, 720p, 1080p.
can set default subs.
can stream to vlc player for better control.
only thing is no hd audio.
well, still betas...
still, if it survives, will give xbmc a run for the "money"!

pc or android, u get 720p or 1080p.
good stable streams.
new movies, old movies, plenty.
i think they r all bdrips 0.8-3gb, 2.0 audio with some 1.0.
for movies n tv series vod, it is easier to use and more reliable than xbmc.
my old android with small memory can only play 720p but a newer one with bigger memory can play 1080p, so it's good.
using much less xbmc now.

...

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Oct 26 2014, 01:37 AM

tq for sharing. consistent with my experience.

if u set up as type 2, surely won't get hd audio audio since avr input is digital audio, whether coaxial or toslink. using arc, tv wont handle hd audio. must use hdmi as direct input to avr for dtshdma or ddtruehd.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Oct 30 2014, 06:52 PM

bro, for himedia, gotham 13.1 or 13.2, u must do this:

xbmc->system->settings->video.
at bottom, set level to expert.
same page, video->acceleration-> turn off mediacodec.
keep libstagefright on (default).

this applies only to himedia boxes. i must have posted this a dozen times in this n other threads!

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Nov 2 2014, 01:23 AM

i tried spmc - it doesn't works as good, crashed twice when I tried it. maybe i missed some special settings. so i reverted to xbmc.
himedia q16ii... u mean q16 quadcore?
i have that model, xbmc 13.2 works fine, after turning off mediacodec acceleration.


himedia had issues with xbmc for older models and for old xbmc frodo versions.
current models, gotham versions work fine, but i do not know how well other brands/models work.
but why focus only on xbmc?
not interested in other apps like popcorn time, maybe chinese video apps?
english movies/tv series, xbmc hd videos have become less and less, popcorn time is good - lots of 1080/720!

some pointers 4 u...

.. what broadband speed u hv? ... 5mbps is probably the lowest to get good videos...
.. wud u be using astro-on-the-go?... newer androids 4.4 and above wont work, only 4.2 works - astro behind time...
.. better go for 16gb or 32gb emmc - big flash memories r required for newer and bigger apps. 4-8gb will be handicapped very quickly....

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Nov 3 2014, 11:31 PM

u mean beta 3.4? there is already 4.4?
beta 3.4 works fine for me, on old windows vista.

one possible explanation:
the 1080p videos are about 2gb each
assuming 2 hrs play, it needs to stream at average 555KBps for the cache.
which means if <5mbps broadband, may run into hanging and lagging.
i have experienced this on both pc and android.
so, turn off all other devices, see if any diff...
720p will be much smoother as they r all <1gb in size.
another explanation is the link is bad, broken... try other links.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Nov 4 2014, 10:54 AM

popcorn is great, the best eng (with some chinese, indian blockbusters) movies/tv series imo. but for 1080p, u need at least a few gb memory available, which is why i suggested 16-32 gb emmc.

if no read chinese, then u dun need in-house/built in china apps which comes with some androids.

unifi->maxis... tricky... i thought of that but never did. if u read the threads on this, the prime concern is maxis throttles speed at certain times of the day or night. consider upgrade to unifi10 for rm169 or rm179 during promo, will be good for android streaming.

astro... if u hv relative or fren wiling to share id/pw, it's a bonus... stable but mobile video quality. can be useful say during worldcup or euro cup, pay ad hoc to watch some live matches.

get a good one, dun stinge to buy cheap. lastly, buy from responsible seller who gives continuous support, updates, upgrades. this is impt becos androids are software driven, not like dvd player/astro that are hardware driven pretty fixed.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Nov 4 2014, 12:37 PM

most popcorn shows come in a few selections - 720p, 1080p, and variations for both. sometimes 5 choices. usually 800mb to 2gb. if u know torrent, u know how it works. they r all mp4 rips, 2.0 audio. and when you check the no. seeds and peers for each choice, u get an idea which one will work best. default proposed one is always the one with highest no. of seeds.

popcorn, the speed goes from 50KBps to 1000KBps for my unifi10. more seeds, higher speed, provided no other device in use. if something else is in use, the bandwidth will be shared (also depends on whether you do settings on router or not). so, if u hv several devices in use most of the time, 5mbps (625KBps) will be shared, may not stream 1080p well. roughly, 1080p say 2gb, 2 hrs video => 555KBps required. so, do upgrade to twice the speed!

don't get shortchanged when u upgrade from unifi5 to 10. the best one i know is that rm179 with megapack (or sportspack). u can negotiate but i think that depends on area, competiiton, agents and promo periods.


why popcorn and xbmc can't be intsalled on same device, this one u r thinking of?

popcorn time has many versions, diff apps for windows, mac, linus, android...

i m using windows and android versions, both good.

hehe... too many players? i hv 2 dvd players given away, 2 bd players used sparingly, 1 media player given away, 2 acryans still in use... and 3 android boxes!

after all the spending and time mucking with them, i can only suggest u 2 prime things:

1. buy a good androidtv box that will last u >2yrs, i.e. with latest chipsets, >16gb emmc, usb3.0, 4k/uhd-able. i kinda expect the next popcorn or pretzel to demand >5gb flash memory to get 1080p + dd/dts 5.1.

2. upgrade to unifi10, maybe 20. the day i find a need to go unifi20, i will not hesitate. for rm229-249 pm that covers phone, hypptv, pc browsing, torrenting, ipads and androidtv, that is not too bad. beats the crap out of paying >RM1xx for just that axtro. we r living in a stagnant income but high living cost environment, so... need to max benefit out of every precious rm.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Nov 5 2014, 07:42 PM

given the crap performance of cheap abnxcess and maxis fiber throttling at times, unlikely unifi will cut price or give great promos any time soon as they know a monopoly need not do that.

still, if you can get vip20 for 179+30=209 no hypptv packs, might be worth it. i dunno if anyone has got that... yet.

i wish too...
there r people who upgrade from vip5 to vip10 for as low as rm169, with hypptv pack.
so, my guess is at the right time n right place, might just get vip20 for another rm30 or 40.
ya, i m waiting...

this is typical of tm/unifi. everything depends on who u speak to, in consistencies all the time.

i went thru this kind of exercise a few months ago, had to call 5 times to get something sorted out. they will log the report, send u emial and then silence, you call again, someone else says somethign diff, log another report, silence again, repeat...

having been thru it, having read all that in the unifi/broadband threads, having spoken to several of my friends on unifi, this is what i found. but, again, may not apply to all, depends who in unifi u speak to, who u negotiate with. call it segmentation or discrimination, watever. tm/unifi style, no doubt. ..

.. some upgraders get rm179 with megapack; some rm169 w/o pack; worst case, some pay rm199, w/o pack.
.. yes, no new equipment supplied; but dun worry about modem - as long as u r unifi customer, u get lifetime warranty. if confirm kaput, report to get foc replacement within 48 hrs.
.. router - all new routers after signing contract get 1 yr warranty only. the router they supply is not very good. after upgrade, u r much better off buying and changing to a new router rm200 will get u one with stronger wifi, more stable ethernet, max the potential. rm300 gets u a dual 2.4/5ghz band which is useful for highrise congested with wifi users, less so for houses.
.. cancel to reapply to get new cheap modem and new hypptv box is not a good idea - if someone is waiting for a port, u gvie up, u may not get it back, so wait....