[clarkss12]

Cube 3 supports 4K & all HDR formats with Netflix, Prime, D+, etc. I use Prime occasionally & SmartTube quite a bit.

Does it also support all of the HD audio codecs??  
You convinced me to purchase the Cube 2 (for Dolby Vision Profile 7 with FEL) and I have no idea why I did that.  That will be the ONLY media player that I will NEVER take out of the box. 

[signde]

Cube 3 supports 4K & all HDR formats with Netflix, Prime, D+, etc. I use Prime occasionally & SmartTube quite a bit.

Does it also support all of the HD audio codecs??  
You convinced me to purchase the Cube 2 (for Dolby Vision Profile 7 with FEL) and I have no idea why I did that.  That will be the ONLY media player that I will NEVER take out of the box. 

The Cube 2 will support less codecs in Fire OS than the Cube 3. Namely DTS-HD/X will be missing. Of course in CoreElec with the Cube 2 it will passthrough everything, just like its cousin the AM6B+.

The Cube 3 will play all audio codecs in Fire OS in Kodi v21, including passing through TrueHD and DTS-HD/X.  Outside of Kodi many apps (Plex, Jellyfin, etc) will only send DTS-HD through as DTS Core.

The sticky part with the Cube 3 is that while it will also output DD+ and DD, it is technically not passthrough. We know this because Alexa works when playing back those audio formats - works as in plays back over your AVR/soundbar. This is the forced transcoding I was referring to earlier.  There is a very long back forth about this in the AFTV related threads on avsforum.

[clarkss12]

Cube 3 supports 4K & all HDR formats with Netflix, Prime, D+, etc. I use Prime occasionally & SmartTube quite a bit.

Does it also support all of the HD audio codecs??  
You convinced me to purchase the Cube 2 (for Dolby Vision Profile 7 with FEL) and I have no idea why I did that.  That will be the ONLY media player that I will NEVER take out of the box. 

The Cube 2 will support less codecs in Fire OS than the Cube 3. Namely DTS-HD/X will be missing. Of course in CoreElec with the Cube 2 it will passthrough everything, just like its cousin the AM6B+.

The Cube 3 will play all audio codecs in Fire OS in Kodi v21, including passing through TrueHD and DTS-HD/X.  Outside of Kodi many apps (Plex, Jellyfin, etc) will only send DTS-HD through as DTS Core.

The sticky part with the Cube 3 is that while it will also output DD+ and DD, it is technically not passthrough. We know this because Alexa works when playing back those audio formats - works as in plays back over your AVR/soundbar. This is the forced transcoding I was referring to earlier.  There is a very long back forth about this in the AFTV related threads on avsforum.

Thank you for that information.

[hdmkv]

Do you use any streaming apps?? If you do, does the Fire TV Cube 3 play everything??

its one of the most expensive and capable streaming boxes. Honestly for most people who just want streaming its overkill.

Cube 3 was just $100 recently on Amazon, and $56 for a refurb on Woot. We should see similar prices for Black Friday soon.

[ashlar]

This is Alder Lake and ARC video chips - they are the future. 100 Gigabyte Dolby Vision awaits the fate of 3D video. Who needs 3D TVs and 3D media players now?

I bet that it won't be relevant for the next five years, if ever.

[ashlar]

this was posted by Portisch CoreELEC Team

 
I hope you all know Blu-ray become obsolete and this is the cause Dolby Laboratories do not advertise/support P7 FEL anymore?

https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/best-de.../52405/339

seems the race is already lost for mel/fel, it's only a matter of time before that goes the way of 3D

And yet we still have vinyl for music... I would be careful in considering physical media dead. It might not be as relevant (it already isn't) but as a substantial niche? Curious about it.

[izprtxqkft]

And yet we still have vinyl for music... I would be careful in considering physical media dead. It might not be as relevant (it already isn't) but as a substantial niche? Curious about it.

only select platforms deliver video quality higher than 20Mbps when physical media is tackling 100Mbps
the only one i know for certain is Disney+

and streaming platforms consistently use adaptive streaming where when they can get away with it will only deliver 1080p 4-8Mbps without any user method to see it you never know it happens

Movies Anywhere is about as close to defeating physical media as anything BUT if you've ever downloaded something for offline viewing to your portable device you will see a complete movie size less than 3GB on average
- which puts it right into the ~8-10Mbps range

the popularity of streaming is convenience and the increase graph of how much they made could easily be their increase in subscription price over those years rather than an actual increase in subscriber base

let's not forget everyone was stuck inside during covid so that drove these up much higher and people rarely remember to cancel things

just my take on it
for example: saying intel is more popular simply because they made more money after increasing prices while decreasing overhead doesn't actually mean intel is more popular (even though i think it might actually be more popular)

-----

and i do still buy vinyl because it's my preference

-----

for 1 movie "Deadpool & Wolverine has grossed over $636 million domestically and over $1.3 billion worldwide so far" - source https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=35448

[MediaPi]

this was posted by Portisch CoreELEC Team

 
I hope you all know Blu-ray become obsolete and this is the cause Dolby Laboratories do not advertise/support P7 FEL anymore?

https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/best-de.../52405/339

seems the race is already lost for mel/fel, it's only a matter of time before that goes the way of 3D

And yet we still have vinyl for music... I would be careful in considering physical media dead. It might not be as relevant (it already isn't) but as a substantial niche? Curious about it.

I don't think new stuff gets recorded on vinyl, why compare to vinyl when you should be comparing to 3d, 3d is dead because no demand, no demand means no money means companies go where the money is. CoreELEC's biggest diffrentiator right now is FEL, yet the CoreELEC team themselves are telling you that FEL won't matter longer term

[izprtxqkft]

in fact new music is being released on new vinyl https://missmayimusic.com/products/curse...-pre-order

[Facakente]

Hi there,

I’m thinking of purchasing the AM6B Plus, but as a GZ950 owner, I’m not sure if I’ll get TV-led Dolby Vision (DV) or only player-led DV. I’ve checked some forums, but I couldn’t find a clear answer. Does anyone here know more about this?

Thanks!

[hdmkv]

You should get TV-led w/any DV-capable TV like yours.

[wizziwig]

Fire TV Cube 3. If gaming is also a need, then Shield is better. Main downside to Cube 3 is Amazon's cluttered ad-filled user interface.

------------------------------

Okay, taking another one for the team ! Ordered a S928X-J (not -K) box to test.

So, think I'm done testing 'untested' boxes for a while . The X96 X10, while not as bad as the Kinhank G1, has different problems even if it does some things well.
 

Did my testing below only with CoreELEC. Started running it off a mSD card, then did install to internal to run off the box's internal flash drive.

The Good:

• Snappy, rather powerful box, as expected being powered by AMLogic's S928X SoC
  
• CE runs fast using mSD card, but even faster when installed to internal flash storage
  
• About 1/2 the price at $100 or less shipped compared to Ugoos' AM8/Pro or SK1 (but, maybe there's a good reason for this; see 'Bad' & 'Ugly' below)
  
• I had ordered the 4GB/32GB variant before there were reports in CE forum that only the 8GB/64GB 'Pro' version was equipped w/the 'J' SoC that supported Dolby Vision. Obviously untrue because mine does! And, this means that the base 4GB/32GB variant is also equipped w/the 'J' Dolby Vision chip
  
• DV quality looks excellent (when those videos eventually play; see 'Ugly' below)
  

The Bad:

• Ethernet quality is sub-par. Found it odd the 400Mbps Jellyfish bitrate test clip stuttered. Did an iperf test between it & my NAS, and voila, found speeds caps out at about 475Mbps. However, using a USB3.0 Ethernet adapter, I got gigabit speeds
  
• DV MEL only as we know, no FEL (but, see 'Hope' below)
  

The Ugly: (see video clip below)

• DV videos take crazy long to play, and others (SDR, HDR) are slow-ish to start playing compared to Ugoos AM6B+ or even a generic S905X4 box
  
• Some HDR videos exhibited nasty artifacts
  

The Hope:

• As S928X devices are still new, keeping my X96 X10 to see if there are improvements ahead on the CE side
  
• As I haven't tested the pricier S928X-J boxes, quite likely they perform better w/CE than X96 X10
  
• There is word FEL support is coming soon to S928X-J devices
  

Isn't one of the biggest selling points of the S928X that is supports full HDMI 2.1 48 Gbps bandwidth?  Do you or anyone else have it connected to an HDMI 2.1 TV and can confirm if it supports 8k@60 or 4k@120 output?  Thanks.

[MediaPi]

heads up 11/11 sale on aliexpress has started

the AM6B+ is going for $134.16 (pre tax)
I got a code, not sure if it's UK specific, using code AEUK1110 
I get $12 off
so it's
$122.16 (pre tax), cheapest I've seen I think
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10050062...qFY4y&mp=1
gold star seller

If you buy the AM6B+ and add the kinhank G1 which is on sale for $44.57, you can use the code 11UK20
to get both for $148.73 (pre tax)
you basically get the G1 for free BUT it's from official Kinhank store. so I wouldn't bother since they probably updated the firmware, still you basically paying $34.57 for a G1, man I wish they didn't
look bootloader, I think this box would have been legendary.
Not sure what codes their are out their for none UK residents
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10050063...JnXxf&mp=1

[MediaPi]

someone on reddit informed me

Be aware, on the Homatics Box R 4k Plus Homatics is stating they won't update boxes in the future that were not bought directly through them.

It's on their telegram account. Have a look yourself. I challenged what they wanted to do and got banned

seems you have to ask the company for update then send them the serial number?
anyone know anything about this?

[rebootedman]

heads up 11/11 sale on aliexpress has started

the AM6B+ is going for $134.16 (pre tax)
I got a code, not sure if it's UK specific, using code AEUK1110 
I get $12 off
so it's
$122.16 (pre tax), cheapest I've seen I think
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10050062...qFY4y&mp=1
gold star seller

If you buy the AM6B+ and add the kinhank G1 which is on sale for $44.57, you can use the code 11UK20
to get both for $148.73 (pre tax)
you basically get the G1 for free BUT it's from official Kinhank store. so I wouldn't bother since they probably updated the firmware, still you basically paying $34.57 for a G1, man I wish they didn't
look bootloader, I think this box would have been legendary.
Not sure what codes their are out their for none UK residents
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10050063...JnXxf&mp=1

thanks for that link was actually on the same page, I did order the AM6B+ from an aliexpress seller called New technology world store for £92 and they 'claimed' it was sent to the wrong address. Got the refund but little less then I paid. Anyhow avoid New technology world store.

From my understanding off this thread and also AVSforums link on AM6B+, its still sounding like the AM6B+ with CE is solid, stable and performing the best which is what I need.