Which Android media player should I buy?

CurioCT — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 23:55:19 +0800

So I have decided it is about time I replace my Hi-media 300a media player. So I have started looking around. I have mostly been looking at the Himedia q10, the minix and the droid box range.

My existing player is predominantly used to play movies and tv series (downloaded) from a computer behind my TV via a LAN cable. Though it does have some limited wifi functionality. It also has an internal 2.5" sata drive which ideally I would like to reuse (although I do not mind if it needs reformatting and the data recopying)

I also like the portability of my existing unit and the ability to use both RGB/SCART and HDMI as TV inputs. This is extremely useful when travelling hotel tv's etc.

I am intimately familiar with android to the point of power user / minor developer (kernel rebuilds etc mostly in the samsung environment) so I am delighted there are android media player boxes out there but I am struggling a little to determine which might be best for me. I think both the droid box models and Himedia q10 model look good but I have a few questions.

So I made a list of requirements some of which seem ubiquitous others a little more tricky.

The device must be rooted with full access for me. This is a deal breaker I could not have a non rooted android device. I see that droidbox supplies rooted firmwares and I have seen solutions claiming root support for the Q10. can the q10 pre-]supplied this way?. Does root break OTA updating, like with samsung phones or is OTA still available on the rooted firmware?

Ideally I would like a box that internally houses my 2.5" sata drive. From what I see I don't think either of the Droid box one's do? Is there anything in development that will? This isn't necessarily a problem as a I could use a USB caddy. however I noticed some forums at least one droidbox seems to have a power issue with USB connected devices. I do not want to carry separate power supplies for the drive as well. The drives I use tend to be the small form factor ones with single USB connections (typically seagate). So I would like to know some things in this regard.

How do these box treat the USB device? (i.e. is it similar to OTG on the phones/tablets or something else? (here I am specifically thinking about using Link2sd with the external HD to extend the app storage capacity of the box, with an ext4 partition. Presumably if I cant make it work this way I can still use an SD card with this app?) I guess I am talking predominantly mount points here? I would be interested to know how the Q10 handles the internal drive especially in the android file system. Can it be set up as an SMB fileshare to copy files directly from a windows computer? Will there be any problem with multi-homing i.e. internal wired lan with windows filesharing and wifi for Internet access?

I am also interested in Bluetooth support, I notice this is not available (at least on some boxes at the moment) I am interested in this in terms of supporting the six-axis controller app that allows you to connect ps3 controllers to android phone. Is bluetooth dongle support still in plan? if so any idea of timescales? not looking for something to pin you down to just a ball park here, if not are the kernel sources for this device available? ADB interfaces/download mode etc? The reason I am looking for this for game emulator support (bit of a sucker for snes super mario kart but dragging the snes out everytime I want to play is a pain. ) so an emulator with a ps3 controller would be ideal. Yes I have read the forum and do realise other options exist if I cant get this to work.

Finally my expectation when seeing android was available in a media player format was that app support via Google Play would be pretty much the same as most tablets / modern phones. i.e. most app's will work even if you may have to side load the odd one. Is this a realistic expectation? only I was discussing the Hi-media q10-II with a re-seller who steered me towards minix devices commenting that app support on the himedia device was not that great?

Also will the media player play all formats of video including the new 3d ones? and dvd ISO files etc etc?

and finally
I am also interested in live premier league stream, but since there are many flash based sites that cater for this I am assuming this will not be a problem, plus arent there plugin's and things for XBMC?

So guys and girls I realise this is a bit of a ramble, but I am very serious about buying something so any help or insights on these matters you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

can someone also PM with a price to ship a rooted (or at least have a link for rooted firmware) q10 with supported bluetooth dongle to the UK? and do you support payment by paypal?

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by CurioCT

Which Android media player should I buy?