I bought the X8-H a few days ago and after using is for almost 1 week, I am quite satisfied. It is used to replace the Kaiboer M1073plus which was starting to fail. The M1073 would start to pixelate after an hour use. I had already replaced a few bloated caps a few months ago. Instead of repairing, I felt it is time to buy a new media player.
Basically, I was looking for a reasonably priced player that could play mp4 or mkv files off my Buffalo Linkstation NAS. The media player didn't have to host its own hard drive. I liked the way XBMC organized the video files on the NAS into a library complete with fan supplied images of the video files instead of seeing the files simply as a list. I also liked the ability to download subtitles and episode/movie info.
Before this, I had bought the Measy U2A Android dongle. I also bought an air mouse but that was very hard to use with Android media player. After I installed the latest XMBC Gotham release, it finally convinced me Android players are ready.
But the Measy U2A dongle couldn't play 1080p x264 encoded files. If it did that would have been enough. Before I bought the X8-H, I checked the reviews to make sure it played 1080p. Even Minix admitted that the X7 could not play 1080p on the XBMC but the X8-H could.
There are a few cons with using the X8-H. The free M1 remote controller has a built-in rechargeable battery. However, it uses the battery unusually fast. So far I had recharged it at least a couple of times already in one week use. I use the small remote more than the M1. I also enabled CEC to control the X8-H using the TV's remote. However if you shutdown the TV, this also shuts down the Minix player. You have to switch the Minix ON to bring it back to life. This can be disabled if you disable "one touch power off key" in the CEC sub menu.
