Topic: MINIX NEO U1 Review

[biggus_dickus]

I've been a content owner of a MINIX NEO X7 thus far, pero since dumadami na ang aking 4k/1080p HEVC videos, I haven't really been using the X7 that much lately since nde niya kaya i-play un HEVC videos. So lately, I've been checking out the Nvidia Shield TV since it's (at the time) the only one that has HDMI 2.0 that could play 4k@60 Hz.  The only thing keeping me from buying it was the high price tag of 18995 (18,500 cash)! Esep esep muna.

Until... Tada!  I saw the MINIX NEO U1 yesterday at Vmall.

After seeing and reading about this unit for the 1st time yesterday, I went ahead and bought one kanina. :-D  It only cost me 5995!   Thanks to BTI (Brilliant Technologies Inc) Vmall.

My quick review:

Yes, this is true 4K.  You can switch the resolution to "4k2k-60" (duh).  There's also a setting to auto switch to "defualts" (sic), which weirdly is set to 1280x720@50hz.  Oh well.

Build Quality - Very Good.  If you're familiar with the MINIX line, you know they make top notch boxes from quality materials.  Nuff said. 

Speed/Performance - Suprisingly very good as well. It only took about 12-15 seconds to boot.  Compared to the X7, this is leaps and bounds better.  Apps were very snappy.  Almost no lag.  Youtube is finally usable now without much buffering. 

KODI usage - You need to download the latest v16 beta5 to watch 4k/HEVC content.  The default was v16 Alpha4.  Don't even bother with Isengard 15.2.  I downloaded it and the playback was all weird.  My files would play on the top most corner of the screen, and you can't resize it to fill the screen.  After downloading Jarvis Beta 5, everything was much better.  My 4K Jessica Jones episodes and other 1080p HEVC 10-bit videos played without any issues.  I'm pretty sure this is hardware accelerated.

MX Player Pro - My HVEC files would default to SW decoding which made everything choppy, even though I set it to try HW+ decoding first before falling back to HW decoding.  Anyway, after setting the videos to play using HW+ or HW decoding manually, then all of them played without a hitch.

Some weird things i noticed:

-  I know this is based on Android TV OS and not plain Android, but the UI is a hybrid of the 2.  The Settings menu is from Android TV, but everything else looks like Lollipop.  On Android TV, the Play Store is limited to certain Video apps and Games, but here, the Play Store is the full version.  Not that I'm complaining ;-)

-  The device is not rooted, and if you root it, you will lose the ability to receive OTA updates, which is kind of a bummer since I primarily root to get rid of ads.

-  There aren't too many bloatware included, and most of it are actually useful, but I just prefer to use the apps I like.  I was able to delete most of the unwanted apps, except for about 4-5 "system" apps.

-  Lastly, I strongly recommend that you get the MINIX remote control (sold separately) which has a gyroscope and keyboard.  It will make things immensely better.  And immediately do a system/firmware update.  There were already 2 system updates that I had to install.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this unit!   My only goal was to be able to play 4K@60hz, and not bother with other things like game streaming, so this definitely met my criteria!  And only for P5,995!

This is an impressive device, especially given its price.  It's very usable out of the box with very little tweaking needed.  I only expect things to get even better as we receive newer firmware updates and optimized software.


 

[onepaks]

I've been a content owner of a MINIX NEO X7 thus far, pero since dumadami na ang aking 4k/1080p HEVC videos, I haven't really been using the X7 that much lately since nde niya kaya i-play un HEVC videos. So lately, I've been checking out the Nvidia Shield TV since it's (at the time) the only one that has HDMI 2.0 that could play 4k@60 Hz.  The only thing keeping me from buying it was the high price tag of 18995 (18,500 cash)! Esep esep muna.

Until... Tada!  I saw the MINIX NEO U1 yesterday at Vmall.

After seeing and reading about this unit for the 1st time yesterday, I went ahead and bought one kanina. :-D  It only cost me 5995!   Thanks to BTI (Brilliant Technologies Inc) Vmall.

My quick review:

Yes, this is true 4K.  You can switch the resolution to "4k2k-60" (duh).  There's also a setting to auto switch to "defualts" (sic), which weirdly is set to 1280x720@50hz.  Oh well.

Build Quality - Very Good.  If you're familiar with the MINIX line, you know they make top notch boxes from quality materials.  Nuff said. 

Speed/Performance - Suprisingly very good as well. It only took about 12-15 seconds to boot.  Compared to the X7, this is leaps and bounds better.  Apps were very snappy.  Almost no lag.  Youtube is finally usable now without much buffering. 

KODI usage - You need to download the latest v16 beta5 to watch 4k/HEVC content.  The default was v16 Alpha4.  Don't even bother with Isengard 15.2.  I downloaded it and the playback was all weird.  My files would play on the top most corner of the screen, and you can't resize it to fill the screen.  After downloading Jarvis Beta 5, everything was much better.  My 4K Jessica Jones episodes and other 1080p HEVC 10-bit videos played without any issues.  I'm pretty sure this is hardware accelerated.

MX Player Pro - My HVEC files would default to SW decoding which made everything choppy, even though I set it to try HW+ decoding first before falling back to HW decoding.  Anyway, after setting the videos to play using HW+ or HW decoding manually, then all of them played without a hitch.

Some weird things i noticed:

-  I know this is based on Android TV OS and not plain Android, but the UI is a hybrid of the 2.  The Settings menu is from Android TV, but everything else looks like Lollipop.  On Android TV, the Play Store is limited to certain Video apps and Games, but here, the Play Store is the full version.  Not that I'm complaining ;-)

-  The device is not rooted, and if you root it, you will lose the ability to receive OTA updates, which is kind of a bummer since I primarily root to get rid of ads.

-  There aren't too many bloatware included, and most of it are actually useful, but I just prefer to use the apps I like.  I was able to delete most of the unwanted apps, except for about 4-5 "system" apps.

-  Lastly, I strongly recommend that you get the MINIX remote control (sold separately) which has a gyroscope and keyboard.  It will make things immensely better.  And immediately do a system/firmware update.  There were already 2 system updates that I had to install.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this unit!   My only goal was to be able to play 4K@60hz, and not bother with other things like game streaming, so this definitely met my criteria!  And only for P5,995!

This is an impressive device, especially given its price.  It's very usable out of the box with very little tweaking needed.  I only expect things to get even better as we receive newer firmware updates and optimized software.

Hi sir,

Got this from the same store. Same reason as yours. I want to play my 4k/60hz. And this does the job

First time kodi and Android user. Mostly IOS device ako.  How do I download Jarvis beta 5 and install it to kodi? I don't even know if it's Jarvis beta 4 that's installed. But so far isa lang ang not playing from my 4k videos

Thanks

[flashDB]

get kodi via google playstore. or download the apk from the website, copy it in your minix then tap/click to install - im assuming they have a built in app to install apks...

[Tempter]

Sir,

Does this play AC3 or DTS? And bitstream also?

[biggus_dickus]

Sir,

Does this play AC3 or DTS? And bitstream also?

Yes and yes.  I think the only thing it doesn't play is DTS-MA.  I believe DTS-HD plays as well.

[Tempter]

Yes and yes.  I think the only thing it doesn't play is DTS-MA.  I believe DTS-HD plays as well.

Thanks you sir.

[onepaks]

I've been a content owner of a MINIX NEO X7 thus far, pero since dumadami na ang aking 4k/1080p HEVC videos, I haven't really been using the X7 that much lately since nde niya kaya i-play un HEVC videos. So lately, I've been checking out the Nvidia Shield TV since it's (at the time) the only one that has HDMI 2.0 that could play 4k@60 Hz.  The only thing keeping me from buying it was the high price tag of 18995 (18,500 cash)! Esep esep muna.

Until... Tada!  I saw the MINIX NEO U1 yesterday at Vmall.

After seeing and reading about this unit for the 1st time yesterday, I went ahead and bought one kanina. :-D  It only cost me 5995!   Thanks to BTI (Brilliant Technologies Inc) Vmall.

My quick review:

Yes, this is true 4K.  You can switch the resolution to "4k2k-60" (duh).  There's also a setting to auto switch to "defualts" (sic), which weirdly is set to 1280x720@50hz.  Oh well.

Build Quality - Very Good.  If you're familiar with the MINIX line, you know they make top notch boxes from quality materials.  Nuff said. 

Speed/Performance - Suprisingly very good as well. It only took about 12-15 seconds to boot.  Compared to the X7, this is leaps and bounds better.  Apps were very snappy.  Almost no lag.  Youtube is finally usable now without much buffering. 

KODI usage - You need to download the latest v16 beta5 to watch 4k/HEVC content.  The default was v16 Alpha4.  Don't even bother with Isengard 15.2.  I downloaded it and the playback was all weird.  My files would play on the top most corner of the screen, and you can't resize it to fill the screen.  After downloading Jarvis Beta 5, everything was much better.  My 4K Jessica Jones episodes and other 1080p HEVC 10-bit videos played without any issues.  I'm pretty sure this is hardware accelerated.

MX Player Pro - My HVEC files would default to SW decoding which made everything choppy, even though I set it to try HW+ decoding first before falling back to HW decoding.  Anyway, after setting the videos to play using HW+ or HW decoding manually, then all of them played without a hitch.

Some weird things i noticed:

-  I know this is based on Android TV OS and not plain Android, but the UI is a hybrid of the 2.  The Settings menu is from Android TV, but everything else looks like Lollipop.  On Android TV, the Play Store is limited to certain Video apps and Games, but here, the Play Store is the full version.  Not that I'm complaining ;-)

-  The device is not rooted, and if you root it, you will lose the ability to receive OTA updates, which is kind of a bummer since I primarily root to get rid of ads.

-  There aren't too many bloatware included, and most of it are actually useful, but I just prefer to use the apps I like.  I was able to delete most of the unwanted apps, except for about 4-5 "system" apps.

-  Lastly, I strongly recommend that you get the MINIX remote control (sold separately) which has a gyroscope and keyboard.  It will make things immensely better.  And immediately do a system/firmware update.  There were already 2 system updates that I had to install.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this unit!   My only goal was to be able to play 4K@60hz, and not bother with other things like game streaming, so this definitely met my criteria!  And only for P5,995!

This is an impressive device, especially given its price.  It's very usable out of the box with very little tweaking needed.  I only expect things to get even better as we receive newer firmware updates and optimized software.

I had this problem this morning



I decided to erase entire library. Scanned it  again and movies began playing again but when I turned off my minix and took out the external hard drive and put it back again same problem

Am I missing something

[flashDB]

via kodi?

try this: http://www.htpcbeginner.com/add-media-sources-to-kodi/

[biggus_dickus]

via kodi?

try this: http://www.htpcbeginner.com/add-media-sources-to-kodi/

I had this problem this morning



I decided to erase entire library. Scanned it  again and movies began playing again but when I turned off my minix and took out the external hard drive and put it back again same problem

Am I missing something

Guys, one very BIG and ANNOYING thing that you need to understand with Android OS in general, is the way it handles USB drives:

It assigns USB handles dynamically, depending on which port it detects first.  For example, you have 2 USB drives A and B, and then you connect A to USB port 1.  It will detect that as usbdisk0.  If you connect USB Drive B to port 2, it will detect that as usbdisk1.  After that, you create your library using this configuration.

The problem is that when you reboot, it may not necessarily detect the drives in the order you originally specified.  It may detect USB B as usbdisk0 instead of usbdisk1 and vice versa.  This then f**ks up your library because Kodi is expecting that the movie is in /storage/usbdisk0/NameOfMovie etc.  If you only have 1 USB drive, then that's fine because it will always detect it as usbdisk0.  But if you have multiple drives, it's very hard to predict what the order will be.

What I do then, is to just connect 1 drive first and then connect the other drive/s later. A bit of a PITA.

[onepaks]

Guys, one very BIG and ANNOYING thing that you need to understand with Android OS in general, is the way it handles USB drives:

It assigns USB handles dynamically, depending on which port it detects first.  For example, you have 2 USB drives A and B, and then you connect A to USB port 1.  It will detect that as usbdisk0.  If you connect USB Drive B to port 2, it will detect that as usbdisk1.  After that, you create your library using this configuration.

The problem is that when you reboot, it may not necessarily detect the drives in the order you originally specified.  It may detect USB B as usbdisk0 instead of usbdisk1 and vice versa.  This then f**ks up your library because Kodi is expecting that the movie is in /storage/usbdisk0/NameOfMovie etc.  If you only have 1 USB drive, then that's fine because it will always detect it as usbdisk0.  But if you have multiple drives, it's very hard to predict what the order will be.

What I do then, is to just connect 1 drive first and then connect the other drive/s later. A bit of a PITA.

Ok so is this what I should do.

When I want to remove my usb, I need to take out the other. Then make sure that I insert first the usb that has the udisk0 first then plug the second one so it will read as udisk02? I need to remember first what kodi scanned the media on udisk01 and what it scanned as udisk 02.

Am I right?

So now I have to delete every thing again and repeat the process?

[biggus_dickus]

Ok so is this what I should do.

When I want to remove my usb, I need to take out the other. Then make sure that I insert first the usb that has the udisk0 first then plug the second one so it will read as udisk02? I need to remember first what kodi scanned the media on udisk01 and what it scanned as udisk 02.

Am I right?

So now I have to delete every thing again and repeat the process?

Not sure if you need to delete everything again and repeat as I'm not sure what your current setup is.  But yes, you will need to remember the order.  It's not as important to ALWAYS plug USB A in port 1.  You can connect it in whatever USB port you want, so as long as the order is correct.  So if you decide to make your USB A to always be in usbdisk0, then you need to plug it first, then USB B next, and so on etc. 

[onepaks]

Not sure if you need to delete everything again and repeat as I'm not sure what your current setup is.  But yes, you will need to remember the order.  It's not as important to ALWAYS plug USB A in port 1.  You can connect it in whatever USB port you want, so as long as the order is correct.  So if you decide to make your USB A to always be in usbdisk0, then you need to plug it first, then USB B next, and so on etc.

Ok will try it

Thanks

[biggus_dickus]

Ok so is this what I should do.

When I want to remove my usb, I need to take out the other.

Not really.  Just remove what you want to remove.  The other assignments will remain as is until you reboot or remove them as well.  So if you have USB A as usbdisk0 and USB B as usbdisk1, you can remove USB A, but USB B will still be recognized as usbdisk1.  But if you connect a different drive USB C, then it may be detected as usbdisk0 because that assignment is now available.

[uvax]

Has anyone tried the U1 with a Mediasonic Probox or equivalent loaded with 4TB drives? The minix website says that it supports only up to 2.5TB drives but there have been others who say they have tried it with 3TB drives.

[biggus_dickus]

Has anyone tried the U1 with a Mediasonic Probox or equivalent loaded with 4TB drives? The minix website says that it supports only up to 2.5TB drives but there have been others who say they have tried it with 3TB drives.

I currently use WD My Book 3 TB with no issues.  Not sure about 4 TB though.  I don't think there should be any.

[flashDB]

if it's more than that i suggest you share it on the network via windows share/samba or something similar...

[uvax]

I don't really want to have to turn on my desktop just to watch. Especially since my main pc is in a room on another floor.

[SiCkBoY]

Thanks for the review! You put in lots of useful information in there. 

I don't think it's for me though.  Nakaka worry yun part na "YouTube is finally usable now" because YouTube is very basic and it puts into question the baseline of your review.  I suppose it's really good for viewing ultra HD content--it's the everything else that worries me.

[biggus_dickus]

Thanks for the review! You put in lots of useful information in there. 

I don't think it's for me though.  Nakaka worry yun part na "YouTube is finally usable now" because YouTube is very basic and it puts into question the baseline of your review.  I suppose it's really good for viewing ultra HD content--it's the everything else that worries me.

What i meant with "Youtube is finally usable now" is my experience with the U1 compared with the X7.  In the X7, for some reason, Youtube would keep on buffering, even though na preread na nya un next parts ng video.  Weird di ba?  Pano magiging "Loading" when kita mo na nakagray na un parts ng slider?  With the U1, i noticed ba once it loads, bihira na ulit un loading as long as you have consistent bandwidth, which tells me mas ok un OS/app combination ngayon.

[SiCkBoY]

What i meant with "Youtube is finally usable now" is my experience with the U1 compared with the X7.  In the X7, for some reason, Youtube would keep on buffering, even though na preread na nya un next parts ng video.  Weird di ba?  Pano magiging "Loading" when kita mo na nakagray na un parts ng slider?  With the U1, i noticed ba once it loads, bihira na ulit un loading as long as you have consistent bandwidth, which tells me mas ok un OS/app combination ngayon.

Yep. That's how exactly I understood it.

[flashDB]

how's the updates so far? i tested one yesterday and it's a lot faster than minix x7. im still hesitant on getting one until i compare it with shield - twice a much also 16GB model and 3x with 500GB

[reynold]

Has anyone of you tried if the Minix U1 can passthrough Dolby Atmos? Thanks

[uvax]

Has anyone of you tried if the Minix U1 can passthrough Dolby Atmos? Thanks

It's been tested by other users.

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=250284&pid=2175410#pid2175410

[Audio] DD5.1 (640Kbps) = pass
[Audio] DD+ 5.1 = pass
[Audio] DD+ 7.1 = pass
[Audio] TrueHD 5.1 = pass
[Audio] TrueHD 7.1 = pass
[Audio] ATMOS = pass (to TrueHD 7.1 as my AVR doesn't support ATMOS, but confirmed by users w/ATMOS AVR's)
[Audio] DTS (1.5Mbps) = pass
[Audio] DTS HRA 5.1 = pass
[Audio] DTS HRA 7.1 = pass
[Audio] DTS-HD MA 5.1 = pass
[Audio] DTS-HD MA 7.1 = pass
[Audio] DTS:X = pass (to MA 7.1 as my AVR doesn't support X, but confirmed by a user w/DTS:X AVR)
[Audio] AAC 5.1 = fail (passed as DD5.1)
[Audio] FLAC 5.1 = fail (passed as DD5.1)
[Audio] LPCM 5.1 = fail (passed as DD5.1)
[Audio] LPCM 7.1 = fail (passed as DD5.1)
[Audio] 96 and 192kHz = my AVR only indicated 'Stereo', and front panel didn't show '96' or '192' as when testing with players that support it
[Video] 29.970 MPEG2 (VOB from a DVD rip) = stuttery playback (similar to WeTek Core); displayed at 60.00 by my projector
[Video] 29.970 MPEG2 1080i 4:2:0 = perfect playback (displayed at 60.00)
[Video] 29.970 MPEG2 1080i 4:2:2 = green pixellated mess, but audio fine (most media players can't play 4:2:2, in MPEG2 at least)
[Video] 59.940 MPEG2 720p = perfect playback (displayed at 60.00)
[Video] 23.976 1080p H.264 = perfect playback (displayed at proper 23.97)
[Video] 24.000 1080p H.264 = perfect playback (displayed at 24.00)
[Video] 29.970/60.000 1080p H.264 = perfect playback (displayed at 60.00)
[Video] 25.000/50.000 1080p H.264 = perfect playback (displayed at 50.00)
[Video] 23.976 1080p VC-1 = judder in playback, which is surprising as S812 WeTek Core has no issues with this
[Video] 29.970 1080i VC-1 = judder in playback, similar to S812 WeTek Core, but Core handles it a little better. Again, surprising as I'd have expected S905 to be better than S812 at this
[Video] 4K HEVC 50.000 10bit EAC3 7.1 = No audio (slight pops/crackles), with artifacts in video (h/w issue fixed by AML w/S905-H revision C; U1 is revision B)

[reynold]

^^^ Thanks for the info bro..  may i know the store in greenhills where you bought it?

[uvax]

^^^ Thanks for the info bro..  may i know the store in greenhills where you bought it?

Actually I bought mine at Villman. Try calling up a Villman branch near you to check if they have it in stock.

[reynold]

ok will do,  thanks

[paolorenzo]

http://www.lazada.com.ph/minix-neo-u1-media-hub-for-android-black-2882937.html

[flashDB]

parang mahal pa ata yan... recently got one for 5.5k sa villman trinoma. not for myself.

[joogeman]

how's the updates so far? i tested one yesterday and it's a lot faster than minix x7. im still hesitant on getting one until i compare it with shield - twice a much also 16GB model and 3x with 500GB

where did you test it.. im leaning towards this over the apple tv due the ability to play movies from my HD

[flashDB]

i bought one for my aunt - tons of improvement compared to x7 and planning to sell x7 and change it with this pero i want sana yun shield...