Best device for Coreelec in 2024

General
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Here is a summary of the leading contenders for best device in 2024:

S905X4-J Devices
Supports AV1, Dolby Vision including FEL, and 3D on CoreELEC -ng. However, they cannot decode 24fps VC-1 content. CoreELEC cannot be installed on the emmc. It must be run off an external device. However, the data partition can be stored on the emmc with HS400 enabled.

  1. Homatics Box R 4k Plus - certified device that supports Netflix and probably has the best support because it is made by SEI. It had no sdcard slot meaning than COREelec must occupy a USB port. The lack of an IR receiver makes it impossible to wake from sleep. Runs Android TV 12 with Android 14 rumored for the future.
  2. DuneHD Homatics Box R 4k Plus/Nokia 8010/RockTek G2 rebadged Homatics Box R 4k Plus, but with worse software support. Some of the varieties have an micro-sd slot or IR recceiver. Runs Android TV 12.
  3. Ugoos x4q Extra is not certified and does not support Netflix/Amazon/Hulu, etc, but has more internal storage space.

S922X-J Devices
Supports Dolby Vision including FEL and 3D on CoreELEC -ng. They can decode 24fps VC-1 content using a software decoding. Somewhat faster than S905X4-J devices, but more expensive and lack hardware support for AV1. CoreELEC can be installed on the emmc and HS400 enabled which greatly reduces boot time and speeds up the which greatly reduces boot time and speeds up the interface making it feel significantly faster than the S905X4.

  1. Ugoos AM6b+ - actually available for purchase. Does not support Netflix/Amazon/Hulu. Runs Android 9.
  2. Minx U22XJ Max - no longer for sale
  3. Amazon Fire TV 2nd gen Cube need to buy a sealed unit on ebay and unlock the bootloader. It has full DRM (Netflix, Widevine L1, Playready) support. However, it lacks a built-in Ethernet port and only has one Micro-USB 2.0 port.

S928X-J Devices
Supports AV1 and Dolby vision but no FEL support. Does not support 3D. Can run the GUI at native 4K.

  1. Choose from Ugoos AM8 (Pro), Tencent Aurora 5 X, X96 X10 Pro [the non-pro version does not support Dolby Vision], or Ugoos SK-1 based on your personal preferences.

Conclusion
The best device depends on whether you want one box for Certified Android and CoreELEC or the best dedicated CoreELEC box and a separate Android box.

If you want a box that can run premium Android applications and CoreELEC, then the best overall device is the Homatics Box R 4k Plus with its support for Dolby Vision including FEL and AV1 with a certified Android TV box. However, CoreELEC will run slower and may not be able to decode some older blu-ray movies.

If you want the best media box to only run CoreELEC, then the Ugoos AM6b+ is the best box with it’s faster processor and the ability to install COREelec to the emmc with HS400, but it runs an older version of Android and sacrifices support for certified apps including Netflix and AV1. However, only the Ugoos AM6b+ can fully replace a disc-based player.

Acknowledgements
Support for Dolby Vision would not have been possible without YadaYada who discovered suitable dovi.ko modules for the S905X4 and S922X, cpm who enabled Display-Led Dolby Vision and greatly improved Dolby Vision support, Portisch who enabled DTDL support and has worked tirelessly on this project, as well as the entire CoreELEC team.

Updated September 13, 2024.

24 Likes
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Sad to see the Amazon Fire TV 2nd gen Cube always getting excluded. It uses an s922z which is equivalent to the the s922x-j, does Dolby FEL etc. Also includes full DRM (Netflix, Widevine L1, Playready). Has good CoreELEC & EmuELEC support

It does require unlocking, but then you have FireOS with full Magisk control. All DRM streaming apps still working.

They can still be found on eBay new/sealed for $40-70 regularly.

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Agree, it’s my daily driver and hasn’t let me down. I’ll use it till s928x gets p7 fel + Netflix dv + av1 + 8k. I hope & belive this will happen in the next2 years maybe earlier :pray:.

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You’re right. I hesitated because of the complexity, but it’s good to list that as an option.

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If we weren’t up for a little complexity we’d all be using Shields + Plex app :smile:

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I’ll stick to my S922xj devices: ugoos am6b+ and minix u22 (non max). Don’t use Plex, just want a media player to access by smb the hard disk I have plugged to the router. As media players had Zidoos like the X9S, Z9X, Z9X Pro, oppo clones like the 9702 plus and the 9201, I’m better off with the S922xj. For streaming, I also have or had, all the Fire TV devices ever released, several Shields, Roku Ultras and many others like the Nokia 8010, Tivo 4K, etc. but nothing comes close to the Apple TV.

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Sad to see that no devices with a311d2 are making the list but it seems no device supports DV and those devices are now hard to get.

From my personal experience they are very fast and also benefit from extra memory for eye-candy skins on kodi .

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from signde
on State of Kodi Media Players: Best Options in 2024

" Also apparently the Kinhank G1 actually has a gigabit ethernet chip but the 100mb limitation is at a firmware level. The current firmware is from July 2023 so it seems updates for that box might be non existent."

and from the comment in the thread that was mentioned

“It does test out at only 10/100. However, the board has all of the hardware installed to support gigabit. It has 24 pin magnetics module (the XH part), not a 16 pin one that would be on a device that could only support 10/100. It also has the max linear gpy111 bridge chip, which supports gigabit. They wouldn’t spend all of this money on these parts without at least the intent to support gigabit ethernet. Here is a pic of the board, showing the parts mentioned.”

can team Coreelec create firmware for that part? what if we contacted Kinhank and asked if they could work on firmware, let them know after this breakthrough that sales will probably double. They could charge extra $2 per device and it will sell like hotcakes to the kodi community.

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CE investigated this topic on the Kinhank G1 box some month ago.
Indeed, it’s strange that they assemble HW PHY for gbit ethernet, but limit it by SW to 100M. We tried to get gbit running by changed dtb, but result was: No RX packets.
So we think they intended to have gbit, but have a buggy pcb layout. Therefore they had to limit the speed to 100M, to get sales running.
You may ask Kinhank directly about the reason, and if they intend to release a new box rev. with gbit. There is nothing CE can do here…

[EDIT] Kinhank never specified the Ethernet speed of the G1.
But maybe they already fixed the issue and released new rev. of the box, as some users could get Gbit running (on Ugoos X4 DTB)

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Yes
Kinhank has reported that upgrade to Android 12 is on the way.
Supposed fix for adaptive HDR…

Another broken promise…

With this breakthrough in CoreELEC NG FEL

They should release an OTA
Sales would more than double

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heard they aren’t good with communication on their online site. They have a big store in Aliexpress, and mostly the communication has been great. Maybe worth a try to see if they can put you through to someone who can help
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/5882445?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_1234832997.0

explain what the demand for such a revision would bring. tell them to charge $3 more for each board and they will still sell.

even without gig ethernet, it only costs $6 for usb 3 ethernet. the demand for this will be telling by the end of year. with such high numbers, they will listen.

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If I am not mistaken the Kinhank G1 only has USB2 ports, so you will never be really better on the wire than with Wifi on this box.

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yes you’re right, I forgot about that even though someone mentioned it

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Can run 300 to 450 Mb/s on TP Link Ethernet Adapter on Kinhank G1 USB 2.O Port.

Much faster than wifi.

You are correct RE : USB 2.0 limitations

Will never get 1000Mb/s

Need USB 3.0

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(the following has already now been picked up in the original post by @Astrotrain, thanks! no new information here any more)

Another interesting capability of devices is whether they can be turned on / woken up into CE using the remote control. I only know that this is so far not possible woth the Kinhank G1 (but I can still return the device, so I would like to know:)

When using the Homatics Box R 4k Plus under CE21.1.1, is it currently possible to turn it on using the remote control?

(if someone has this information for the other mentioned devices maybe it is worthwhile to add this information in the original post)

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the Kinhank supposedly does Wifi6 5G, which should be way faster than 450 Mbps, (total up to 9600 Mbps with the right equipment), for a single device around 850 -1500 Mbps (How fast is Wi-Fi 6? Here are our latest speed test results - CNET)
(I am well aware that Wifi is a shared medium and latency is worse than with ethernet so yes, I’d prefer 1Gbps ethernet). (As already reported even the internal 100Mbps NIc does not work for me with CE21.1.1, USB NIC does)

Have you actually measured the Wifi performance of this box and with what equipment?

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No have not tested
Would need a wifi6 router /other wifi6 compatible devices/PC

My equipment is older
Dual Band with 5ghz only

No issues with 100Mb/s ethernet that came with Kinhank G1

Have gone back to NE CoreELEC latest nightly.

Enjoyed testing NG and different device tree blobs with varying results/speeds from Max Linear ethernet transceiver

Very strange

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By going back to NE, are you losing the Dolby Vision (+FEL)? My understanding, you had to use NG to get that to work.

Quote from @Yada Yada > The s905x4 needs to be running CE-NG to use this dovi.ko for DV FEL playback. DV FEL is NOT supported in CE-NE.

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Yes, FEL only works in the- ng branch for now.

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so gig ehternet isn’t working for you? I thought it was?