Mini M8S TV Box Review - Amlogic S905, 2GB Ram, Android 5.1

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RedSkulll

Senior Member
Nov 12, 2012
61
16
Cambridge
The Mini M8S TV Box is a new budget box running Android 5.1 with the Amlogic S905 and 2GB of Ram.
Review:


Mod Edit: Link leading to affiliate sales links removed
 
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bvjens31

Senior Member
Feb 4, 2012
63
7
Des Moines Area
The Mini M8S is very intriguing. SD card, Bluetooth, and 2 GB RAM. Just need to find it from a reputable retailer online, since I'm probably going to stay away from Gearbest. Would like to know if this box can be wiped and installed with a vanilla Android OS. Would like to start from scratch and not be running any of their pre-installed junk.

Also kind of a bummer this doesn't do 5G wifi. I would think that all the newer boxes would include it. It's got everything else I'm looking for in a budget Kodi box.
 
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fireman_vt

Member
Jun 26, 2009
48
11
Veliko Tarnovo
Quote:
By Brown Apr-04/2016 12:04:38
Question:
Is this unlocked i.e rooted? I came across many apps that say not supported by this device in the play store. Is this where I should or could side load them by merely downloading the .apk myself ?
Reply::
Hello Brown,
Thank you for your inquiry,it is unlocked but not rooted.You can download the app in the media center like kodi.Have a nice day.

:(
 

fireman_vt

Member
Jun 26, 2009
48
11
Veliko Tarnovo
Hello, I also I got one. Well done, compact, without lags. The device is root. Only small usb ports and little available RAM. I personally use a Nova launcher and combined small keyboard with touch.
Best Regards.
(Google translate)
 

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vantsas

Member
Jul 19, 2013
18
2
Hi to all. Does anyone know how to reflash the rom in case we need to do so? The device is rooted. A bad apk may cause harm. Where can we find the rom to reflash if this happens?
 

Tjay2365

New member
Apr 21, 2011
1
0
I've also got e of these but is giving me problems with failed updates and random reboots. Could do with reflashing to see if this solves the problem but I have no idea as to where to get the files from for this device. Anyone know?

Or is there a different firmware I can try?

Cheers
 

tcpip6

Member
Jan 31, 2016
7
5
This box is very nice, here are some details:

There is a small hole underneath for the reset button; you can use a toothpick to hold the button while you insert the power. This will give you access to recovery.

Looking at traffic flow I can see it connects to fota4.adups.cn to determine if there is a new update and downloads the updates from: hwfotadown.mayitek.com
Here is the latest patch as of this writing:
http://hwfotadown.mayitek.com/ota/r...04011829-LMY47V-2016041117331460428050687.zip

At this time I am unable to find a full firmware IMG file that I could use with the "USB Burning Tool" (The ultimate recovery, if things go bad)
 

r0c0

Senior Member
Jul 21, 2007
97
23
For me there is no OTA update (says i have the latest), device comes with firmware from 28 of March, It is working fine though.
 

vantsas

Member
Jul 19, 2013
18
2
I installed Selinux mode changer to make Selinux permissive and after reboot the device was unresponsive. I tried the reset procedure as described by tpcip6 above and after a factory restore the device restored the rom perfectly. All apps were there despite the fact that i had uninstalled a couple of them. I was surprised. How could this happen? Is there a hidden recovery partition or something? Anyway i was happy that the box was fully functional again.
 

pratikp16

Senior Member
Oct 28, 2010
135
16
For me there is no OTA update (says i have the latest), device comes with firmware from 28 of March, It is working fine though.

I'm getting the same problem. Other people have mentioned that there's an update by my OTA is saying it's up to date even though i have the March version. Even the screenshots from @fireman_vt show an April update.

Thanks to @tcpip6 i've downloaded the new update.

Also, i'm having an issue with Kodi and SPMC where any 5.1 file i play with passthrough enabled causes audio drops every few seconds (i'm using HDMI). Hopefully the updated can help with this issue.
 
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r0c0

Senior Member
Jul 21, 2007
97
23
I'm getting the same problem. Other people have mentioned that there's an update by my OTA is saying it's up to date even though i have the March version. Even the screenshots from @fireman_vt show an April update.

Thanks to @tcpip6 i've downloaded the new update.

Also, i'm having an issue with Kodi and SPMC where any 5.1 file i play with passthrough enabled causes audio drops every few seconds (i'm using HDMI). Hopefully the updated can help with this issue.

Did you manually applied the update and did it work?
 

r0c0

Senior Member
Jul 21, 2007
97
23
I am still at work so haven't had a chance. I hope it's as simple as booting into recovery and flashing? Will try an OTA just before in case.

Dont think you need recovery, just copy the file to root of sdcard and then in the update app choose offline.
Maybe they removed the update because of issues like the disappearing of google play store?
 
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  • 7
    I unbricked my box again, finally. The nand was all messed up and I used a bootable microsd with aml_autoscript file to scrub it. Then I flashed the full image with Vadiator fix using a bootable microsd prepared with u-boot.bin.sd.bin (868.864 bytes). OTA update then worked and updated the system to 105L03. WiFi flies now like an aeroplane! 46 Mbps download and 46 Mbps upload speed on the Internet and some 10 m away from the router. Thank you again Vadiator! This box is now a real value with your fix!

    For those who want to boost the WiFi speed, without the USB cable method with driver problems and transfer errors, here's a faster way to flash the .img files to your box.

    NOTE: Although this is an usual Amlogic method for so many boxes, it is not ment for the normal user. If you don't know exactly what a boot, rom, flash, brick, unbrick means, please don't try it or you may render your box unusable. Also there may be different revisions and clones of Mini M8S out in the market using different flash, wifi or other chips so it may not work for all. Also it may void your warranty.

    1. Get the attached View attachment 3754515 containing all the needed tools (Amlogic bootcard maker, u-boot.bin.sd.bin 868.864 bytes and aml_sdc_burn.ini file).
    2. Get a clean microsd card and insert it into the reader on your pc. Open Amlogic bootcardmaker.exe, select your card, check yes to partition and format, chose u-boot.bin.sd.bin and click Make. Format your card when prompted. In must end with a Success box.
    Note that you must use u-boot.bin.sd.bin with the size of 868.864 bytes (provided in attached the tools package). Bootloader.img from the Mini M8S OTA archive renamed to u-boot.bin does not boot.
    3. On the prepared microsd card, copy aml_sdc_burn.ini. Rename miniM8S_104L3_Fix_WiFi_SDwrite_by_vadiator.img (https://yadi.sk/d/3JKuyWGoreotx) to aml_upgrade_package.img and copy it on the microsd, too. You must end with 2 files on the card:
    - aml_sdc_burn.ini
    - aml_upgrade_package.img
    4. Insert the microsd in the Mini M8S and power on while holding the reset button pressed with a paperclip or toothpick. When the upgrade will start by showing the green robot and progress bar, release the reset button and don't touch anything until it finishes and restarts.
    5. Now you have a 104L03 system with full wifi speed. Launch OTA and update to 105L03 to have the latest system.
    6. Enjoy!

    Note 2:
    If the update finishes successfully, after reboot wait some minutes for the box to finish reinstalling apps (black screen) and start up. Do not unplug or restart immediately, first start takes longer.
    If the box still won't start to Android, try to reflash something else on it like OpenElec to refresh the NAND (delete all files on the bootable microsd and copy OpenELEC-Amlogic.MiniMX.arm64-7.0-devel-20160120113810-r21920-gff430a0-update.zip recovery. img and the proper factory_update_param.aml). Boot from the card, let it finish flashing and after OpenElec starts up, try again to flash the wifi fixed image as described first. The OpenElec image is not fully usable on Mini M8S, I just used it to refresh the NAND.

    Note 3: The aml_sdc_burn.ini contains values for the type of flash format, like in the USB Burning Tool:
    0 – Do not erase flash
    1 – Normal erase
    3 – Erase all
    4 – Force erase all
    If you want to change values use Notepad++ or DOS Edit to preserve format, don't edit in Windows Notepad.
    4
    This box is very nice, here are some details:

    There is a small hole underneath for the reset button; you can use a toothpick to hold the button while you insert the power. This will give you access to recovery.

    Looking at traffic flow I can see it connects to fota4.adups.cn to determine if there is a new update and downloads the updates from: hwfotadown.mayitek.com
    Here is the latest patch as of this writing:
    http://hwfotadown.mayitek.com/ota/r...04011829-LMY47V-2016041117331460428050687.zip

    At this time I am unable to find a full firmware IMG file that I could use with the "USB Burning Tool" (The ultimate recovery, if things go bad)
    3
    Just to confirm so that people don't flash the wrong firmware to the wrong box.
    This thread is for the Mini M8S
    MAbUhO4.jpg


    Not any of these boxes
    U4GkLIj.jpg

    qLoCYly.jpg

    V7M4k5W.jpg
    3
    FIX issue with WIFI

    Hi from Russia)) :)
    Today build a rom, based on 104L03.
    Fix a trubl with low speed 8273BS wifi chip....
    Modul 8723bs.ko from box MK06 and edit DTB tables in kernel with needly req.
    Now speed wifi >>>>> and work idealy)
    also edit permission for write application on SDcard.

    posted in 4pda
    4pda.ru_forum_index.php?showtopic=741134&st=280
    firmware
    h t t p s:__yadi.sk_d_3JKuyWGoreotx

    i'nt placed links
    2
    yes, my 1tb drive works fine, don't know what the limit is.

    ____________________________________________________________________________________________

    Here is the rom image download and instructions: http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=741134&st=120#entry49295536

    Hi,

    Does it connect to an external portable hdd?

    It works on my USB 2TB NTFS drive too. I think it should be good up to 4TB.

    I am pleasantly surprised to discover that it plays a 32GB blue-ray rip mkv file with MX player very well and in full 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio thru my Onkyo receiver!

    Another link to get the factory image file is: http://chinagadgetsreviews.com/down...lipop-5-1-stock-firmware-mini-m8s-tv-box.html