Latest Amlogic boxes vs Intel NUCs - Dont hate me.
#16
I have watched full movies and never witnessed any dropped frames or audio drop outs.
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#17
so where do I buy this M8 box? Does it come preinstalled with XBMC? Do Netflix, Hulu, etc work fine on it?
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#18
In these last few post does "Dolby + DTS" = Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 or Dolby True-HD and DTS Master Audio. It would be good to clarify since "HD passthrough" is generally taken to be the latter and not the former.
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#19
What's software passthru? If the signal is being processed in software then its not really being passed is it? Or maybe I'm confused.

On the freaktab forums they're saying Netflix doesn't do DD5.1 passtru on S802, and will only give HD streams if you used a hacked apk from XDA. Also what about DD+, which is at present being used in Netflix.
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#20
(2014-05-08, 22:54)ozkhan1 Wrote: so where do I buy this M8 box? Does it come preinstalled with XBMC? Do Netflix, Hulu, etc work fine on it?

http://www.amazon.com/Tronsmart-M8-Bluet...B00JDCO22I

Cheap as chips !

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tronsmart-Vega-S...t+vega+s89
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#21
(2014-05-08, 20:41)Timster Wrote:
(2014-05-08, 19:20)ozkhan1 Wrote: Its not the chip, its the OS you are using thats the issue. No native support on Android for HD Audio and 24P as he mentioned. So even if you get Intel NUC and put android on it, you will not get those features.

Right, gottit, thanks.

Makes you wonder why they don’t develop a version of XBMC (or whatever), to fully exploit the potential of the chipset ... rather than crippling it’s capabilities with Android.
Well let me ask you this question.

You're the maker of iOS (or any other mobile platform but I'm choosing Apple just to differentiate from Android so it's not confusing).
I tell you it costs $20,000 extra in coding hours to add HD Audio and 24P support.
I tell you that it'll bring in an additional $1,000 in sales. Do you do it?

Numbers are just arbitrary but the point is, Android is a mostly mobile computing OS. In what world do you need 7.1 HD Audio on your phone? So it's not a priority for them to ensure such a thing works.
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#22
(2014-05-09, 01:15)tential Wrote:
(2014-05-08, 20:41)Timster Wrote:
(2014-05-08, 19:20)ozkhan1 Wrote: Its not the chip, its the OS you are using thats the issue. No native support on Android for HD Audio and 24P as he mentioned. So even if you get Intel NUC and put android on it, you will not get those features.

Right, gottit, thanks.

Makes you wonder why they don’t develop a version of XBMC (or whatever), to fully exploit the potential of the chipset ... rather than crippling it’s capabilities with Android.
Well let me ask you this question.

You're the maker of iOS (or any other mobile platform but I'm choosing Apple just to differentiate from Android so it's not confusing).
I tell you it costs $20,000 extra in coding hours to add HD Audio and 24P support.
I tell you that it'll bring in an additional $1,000 in sales. Do you do it?

Numbers are just arbitrary but the point is, Android is a mostly mobile computing OS. In what world do you need 7.1 HD Audio on your phone? So it's not a priority for them to ensure such a thing works.

I get your point. But what I was really trying to suggest is that the hardware “chipset” may have the potential for better video performance, so why not use an OS that fully exploits it?
Gotta be better for sales and marketing, no?
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#23
If its done by software its not hd audio! It sounds like it will play a film with HD audio but does the HD audio get passed to a reviever as DTS-MA or Truehd
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#24
Smile 
(2014-05-09, 10:03)goujam Wrote: If its done by software its not hd audio! It sounds like it will play a film with HD audio but does the HD audio get passed to a reviever as DTS-MA or Truehd

Exactly Wink
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#25
People seem to be mixing up software decode and hardware decode with passthrough, there is no software vs hardware passthrough.

I have seen no reliable information on the audio capabilities of the new Amlogic SoC as the people who've done the reviews so far seem totally clueless on how audio is done, some don't even have a AVR.
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#26
(2014-05-09, 11:18)jjd-uk Wrote: People seem to be mixing up software decode and hardware decode with passthrough, there is no software vs hardware passthrough.

I have seen no reliable information on the audio capabilities of the new Amlogic SoC as the people who've done the reviews so far seem totally clueless on how audio is done, some don't even have a AVR.

Correct. The chip is not able to decode HD on its own ( it will downmix it ) and send that signal directly to a tv however it will passthru the signal to a capable AVR which will decode and play the format fine. I think a large part of the reason that most of these boxes offer passthru is due to the licencing agreements. This was the issue that Ouya had.. if you licence Dolby for instance you have to pay for each dolby format and I believe the agreement says you are not allowed to passthru any of the other formats not licenced.
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#27
OUYA and Amazon FTV can't pass hd audio (TrueHD and DTS-MA), so the question is can the standard (or I guess any edition) of the new M8 Amlogic S802 as advertised?
[H]i-[d]eft [M]edia [K]een [V]ideosaurus
My Family Room Theater
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#28
Yes, I don't want the chip to decode anything, just pass the signal unmolested. I'd imagine that's not hard to do, but there's no clear info.
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#29
(2014-05-09, 19:11)MrCrispy Wrote: Yes, I don't want the chip to decode anything, just pass the signal unmolested. I'd imagine that's not hard to do, but there's no clear info.

Harder than you think when HDMI is involved.
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#30
(2014-05-09, 16:40)Packetcrypt Wrote:
(2014-05-09, 11:18)jjd-uk Wrote: People seem to be mixing up software decode and hardware decode with passthrough, there is no software vs hardware passthrough.

I have seen no reliable information on the audio capabilities of the new Amlogic SoC as the people who've done the reviews so far seem totally clueless on how audio is done, some don't even have a AVR.

Correct. The chip is not able to decode HD on its own ( it will downmix it ) and send that signal directly to a tv however it will passthru the signal to a capable AVR which will decode and play the format fine. I think a large part of the reason that most of these boxes offer passthru is due to the licencing agreements. This was the issue that Ouya had.. if you licence Dolby for instance you have to pay for each dolby format and I believe the agreement says you are not allowed to passthru any of the other formats not licenced.

So if you decode any of the formats on chip, you can't passthru the others without licensing them? But if you don't decode anything, then everything can be passthru with no costs?
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