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G-Box Midnight Android 4 TV Box - Opinions?

post #1 of 24
12/29/12 at 9:52am
Thread Starter 
http://www.amazon.com/G-Box-Midnight-Android-Box-Streaming/dp/B009BWC3J4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356756359&sr=8-1&keywords=g-box

Product Features

Android 4 Desktop PC on your HD TV!
Full XBMC Hardware Decoding Support for 1080p High Definition Playback!
Powerful A9-MIII Neon Cortex CPU & Mali400 Graphics Processor
4GB Storage / 1GB DDR3 Ram - Plenty of space for all of your apps!
Fully Hackable - System comes Pre-Rooted and ready for anything you can think of!

Does anyone have experience with this box? How well does it stream/play media?
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post #2 of 24
12/31/12 at 4:22am
Ive got one. Plays 1080p MKV no problem. Theres an XBMC custom build thats on their site as the one off Google Play doesnt play 1080 or even 720p, its a little buggy but its still in beta phase. MX Player is a good player, Ive found only a few movies Ive tried to watch and I couldnt because it says the audio codec is not supported (DTS), some will still have audio while some others wont.
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post #3 of 24
12/31/12 at 5:40am
Not sure why you'd buy this over the Pivos XIOS which is the official Android box that actually has XBMC team members working on it, this G-Box is just a random guy selling his version and taking what Pivos release.

Your supporting XBMC development when getting the XIOS DS as some of the XBMC team working on it are Pivos employees.
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post #4 of 24
1/1/13 at 7:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alx330 View Post

Not sure why you'd buy this over the Pivos XIOS which is the official Android box that actually has XBMC team members working on it, this G-Box is just a random guy selling his version and taking what Pivos release.
Your supporting XBMC development when getting the XIOS DS as some of the XBMC team working on it are Pivos employees.

Mine actually came from DX. I played with an MK802 first and liked it so I saw they had this other box that had a wired LAN and a remote shipped to my door for $84. Mine doesnt actually say G-Box on it but you open it up and its all the same inside. Takes the firmware no problem. Not sure if its a clone or just an unlabelled box in a generic no name box. If I had seen this Pivos, Id probably would've bought it as the local retailer here is a dealer which I just saw on their site, which they have for $109.
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post #5 of 24
1/4/13 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alx330 View Post

Not sure why you'd buy this over the Pivos XIOS which is the official Android box that actually has XBMC team members working on it, this G-Box is just a random guy selling his version and taking what Pivos release.
Your supporting XBMC development when getting the XIOS DS as some of the XBMC team working on it are Pivos employees.

I'm considering an Android set-top and I won't get the Pivos because it doesn't have SPDIF. G-Box has optical. edit: WAIT, No it doesn't ARG! (cry) Excuse my spaz.
Edited by randy909 - 1/4/13 at 11:37am
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post #6 of 24
1/7/13 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Not sure why you'd buy this over the Pivos XIOS which is the official Android box that actually has XBMC team members working on it, this G-Box is just a random guy selling his version and taking what Pivos release.

Your supporting XBMC development when getting the XIOS DS as some of the XBMC team working on it are Pivos employees.

maybe you should check out the community's support behind XBMC on the Midnight. there's a few developers working behind it. anyways pivos doesn't help any xbmc except for the one that works on their box. go ahead and try it on another box. I hear pivos has made their apk installation only work on pivos hardware now? haha. good support for the xbmc community pivos. not!! ive given my xios away since i got the midnight so it doesnt matter to me.
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post #7 of 24
1/8/13 at 10:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jltommy View Post

maybe you should check out the community's support behind XBMC on the Midnight. there's a few developers working behind it. anyways pivos doesn't help any xbmc except for the one that works on their box. go ahead and try it on another box. I hear pivos has made their apk installation only work on pivos hardware now? haha. good support for the xbmc community pivos. not!! ive given my xios away since i got the midnight so it doesnt matter to me.


You have no idea what your talking about.
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post #8 of 24
1/18/13 at 8:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by randy909 View Post

I'm considering an Android set-top and I won't get the Pivos because it doesn't have SPDIF. G-Box has optical. edit: WAIT, No it doesn't ARG! (cry) Excuse my spaz.
The G-Box Midnight has SPIDF audio out.

Why would that matter? Wouldn't the digital audio be carried with the video over the HDMI connection from the G-Box to your receiver? Or maybe your receiver doesn't have hdmi input?

Not trying to be a smarta~s. Just confused.
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post #9 of 24
1/19/13 at 9:10am
I recieved this g-box this Christmas. It is very fast for steaming, I purchased 1channel for 3 bucks at playstore. Best 3 bucks I have ever spent! All your shows and movies just a click away. I have used 1channel on my computer and this does a much better job and no ads! I play angry birds and other games right on my big screen. I think a wireless keyboard and mouse would be better than the remote that comes with it. I rate it a 4.5 out of 5 only because the remote is cheap and a joke to use as curser. This unit is always on sale at amazon or ebay. Hope this helps
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post #10 of 24
1/20/13 at 8:22am
yeah,i think so,ive given my xios away since i got the midnight so it doesnt matter to me. thank you 2.gif
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post #11 of 24
2/7/13 at 3:02pm
Which FW have you choose for what version as i have one coming and ive heard its the Rev2.
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post #12 of 24
2/11/13 at 11:25am
I'm sending my second G-box Midnight back to the seller for a refund. The first one had obvious problems including its inabilty to mount any USB drive or see a keyboard and mouse.

The second one seemed dandy at first but the other problem came back: after about 10 min. the whole screen flickered with a green tinge to it. After about 3 more minutes the screen went a solid green color even though audio was fine. After about 3-5 more min. of this it went back to normal.

If you caught it while it was still flickering you could see enough to go into settings and set output from 1080p to 720p and delay the inevitable. It only occurs on my Panasonic TC-P55ST50 I bought new off Amazon in November last year. I tried it on a friend's 55" Samsung LED TV from 2011 on my Asus computer monitor and even on my old CRT TV (with the adapter cable) in the basement. All others were fine.

I couldn't find any settings in the TV menu for HDMI that made a difference. It's not hdmi cables, not the port. My blu-ray player, cable box and even my old Seagate Theater+ don't have any issues.

I'm looking at other android boxes but can't shake the suspicion they are all rolling out of the same factory in China with the same chipsets. Can anybody verify they have a android streamer with an ST50 Panny plasma that play well together?
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post #13 of 24
2/12/13 at 4:51am
Hi,
I have recently bought a GBox midnight only to find that the video streaming via XBMC is very choppy when played even through an ethernet cable. ( I am running the latest Frodo) Can anybody recommend any settings that need changing? Also are there any hints and tips website regarding this box.

Thanks

mat
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post #14 of 24
2/12/13 at 6:59pm
After purchasing this unit, I'm a little confused and looking for some help. My 5.1 receiver is very old and only supports HDMI video without audio pass-through so I always use optical/coax for audio but this box does not have a output for that. The only audio output/input on the box looks a like a 3.5 jack but there are no cable included with my unit to hook anything up this with.

Do I have to purchase a cable for audio separate when I don't have a HDMI audio output ?
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post #15 of 24
2/14/13 at 9:25am
Hi,
the one that I bought had a 3.5 mm jack with a component cables on the other end. I am not sure of the quality that this would deliver through the setup your proposing:)
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post #16 of 24
2/18/13 at 5:20am
Dont know about this one obviously, but for me the addition of audio out lets me add reciever
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post #17 of 24
2/24/13 at 3:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bashy View Post

After purchasing this unit, I'm a little confused and looking for some help. My 5.1 receiver is very old and only supports HDMI video without audio pass-through so I always use optical/coax for audio but this box does not have a output for that. The only audio output/input on the box looks a like a 3.5 jack but there are no cable included with my unit to hook anything up this with

Do I have to purchase a cable for audio separate when I don't have a HDMI audio output ?
You might have to see if you can run the hdmi to the TV/monitor first and see if it has SPDIF output. I do it with my samsung TV to an old sony receiver [pre hdmi]. Nicest thing is that I am not changing the receiver source ever, it's set to TV always.
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post #18 of 24
3/5/13 at 12:52am
I just hooked up a gbox xD to my VT50 and am seeing the flicker as well. Thought it was something about passthrough on my receiver. But now I suspect is some ind of vertircal sync issue over htmi with these plasmas from panasonic. Guess I will just have to wait for the Ouya, or for the ATV3 to be jailbroken. Seems like these cheap android boxes are just that.
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post #19 of 24
3/11/13 at 6:21am
Mine is mint no problems since I updated the firmware which gets rid of the task bar on the bottom and also installed midnight version of xbmc it doesn't play 1080 but 720 is good enough for me go http://androidtvbox.us for all you need and also installation instructions
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post #20 of 24
3/15/13 at 6:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by VespaRider View Post

I'm sending my second G-box Midnight back to the seller for a refund. The first one had obvious problems including its inabilty to mount any USB drive or see a keyboard and mouse.

The second one seemed dandy at first but the other problem came back: after about 10 min. the whole screen flickered with a green tinge to it. After about 3 more minutes the screen went a solid green color even though audio was fine. After about 3-5 more min. of this it went back to normal.

If you caught it while it was still flickering you could see enough to go into settings and set output from 1080p to 720p and delay the inevitable. It only occurs on my Panasonic TC-P55ST50 I bought new off Amazon in November last year. I tried it on a friend's 55" Samsung LED TV from 2011 on my Asus computer monitor and even on my old CRT TV (with the adapter cable) in the basement. All others were fine.

I couldn't find any settings in the TV menu for HDMI that made a difference. It's not hdmi cables, not the port. My blu-ray player, cable box and even my old Seagate Theater+ don't have any issues.

I'm looking at other android boxes but can't shake the suspicion they are all rolling out of the same factory in China with the same chipsets. Can anybody verify they have a android streamer with an ST50 Panny plasma that play well together?

Were you ever able to find a solution for this issue? I have the 65ST50 and I am having the same problem. At first I thought it was the rom I was using but I have flashed the linux only xbmc version and it still happens. Everything will be fine and then all of the sudden I get green flickers and then a solid green screen. Sometimes if the xbmc screen saver kicks in it will correct the issue. I am really hoping we can put our heads together and find a solution for this issue. I finally got the midnight box to output and play 1080p and it is running beautifully except for the green flickers.

I have the 2.2 version of the midnight box. It seems to run fairly cool and has not gotten nearly as hot as my Sony Google TV box. I have the HDMI from the midnight box feeding into my Pioneer Elite receiver. Has anyone tried connecting directly to the panasonic tv? I might try this tonight to see if it helps. I can also post a picture for those that are not having the issue but may be able to help with ideas to get it resolved.
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post #21 of 24
3/16/13 at 6:54am
Update,

To get rid of the green flickering, at least until it happens again, you just need to hit the aspect ratio button on your ST50 remote. As soon as you hit that or the internet button, it will correct itself. The only issue is the green flickering will still come back and you will need to do this every time it starts to flicker. I'm not sure what this means but I am still hopeful that we can find a true fix.
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post #22 of 24
4/3/13 at 9:06am
I see a few posts here talking about 1080p output, and, going into the settings and changing between 720 and 1080. I got my brand new, latest version G-Box (running XBMC 12 Android though) yesterday and have been trying to find out how to get it output 1080.

The only setting I can find seems to be fixed at 720 even though it has the up/down arrows indicating it "should" be selectable. I have also ticked the box above this setting whic gives the option of "Auto output to best TV res".

I have the lates Samsung 7000 series TV which can certainly receive and output 1080p, however, I beleive the G-Box is outputting only 720.

Any comments?
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post #23 of 24
4/4/13 at 4:52pm
try this link:

http://androidtvbox.us/topic/maximum-resolution-of-hdmi-output/
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post #24 of 24
4/4/13 at 5:05pm
Corey,

I sent my 2nd Midnight back for good. I started looking for another streamer and will probably get one next month. For now the old wheezy Seagate Theater+ keeps ticking. I still like the idea of an android box. Perhaps I'll rethink it when the OUYA ( http://www.amazon.com/OUYA-Console/dp/B0050SZD18/ref=sr_tr_sr_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365120008&sr=8-1&keywords=ouya ) or something like it comes out in June. I would think a streamer with a Tegra 3 proc. would handle 1080p without a problem.

I ran my Midnight directly into the TV. I never did try it routing it to my receiver and then to the TV. My receiver is sort of old (Yamaha RX-V1700) and wanted to use it for the CATV box and something else that doesn't have to be 100% perfect.
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