Please recite the problems with device that need to be fixed.
PLEASE NO NETFLIX ISSUES!!
I have a direct contact with the Xiaomi lead dev for AndroidTV. He has asked for a list of the current deficiencies relating to this device.
Kindly keep your replies brief and on point.
It is hoped these fixes can be incorporated into the upcoming Nougat release.
All valid concerns will be passed along.
-Adaptive refresh rate not working!
-Youtube 60fps freezes no matter the resolution
-Netflix framedrops
-the remote loosing connection randomly
-Adaptive refresh rate not working
Problem 1: Casting via Google play Movies, or Youtube (a purchased movie, purchased via google play movies)
When I first setup my Mi BOX, I made sure all apps were updated... There was an update for the GOOGLE CAST RECEIVER APP version 1.21.75534 - I updated to this version (which is the most recent available)
I then tried to cast a couple movies I had rented via GOOGLE PLAY. I first tried to CAST from the Play Movies app on my phone. After a minute or so of solid playback, the movie stopped playing and a Play movies screen appeared with the message: "We're having problems playing this video at the moment, please try again later. error Code 2"
This happened on different movies, always about a minute into the movie... restaring playback is possible, but the problem just happens a minute later.
I also have a regular chromecast device, and casting to the regular chromecast presents no problems - it works flawlessly. Its just the Mi Box with the issue.
In an effort to narrow down the problem. I uninstalled all updates for the GOOGLE CAST RECEIVER app.to the version that came installed on the Mi Box. version 1.17.46918..
I again attempted to cast a movie from Play Movies to the Mi BOX. with this older version of GOOGLE CAST RECEIVER APP --> I was able to watch an entire movie without experiencing the error message described above; however, every minute or so, there would be some kind of stutter or skipping...
I find it hard to believe that my gen 1 chromecast can perform better than this Mi BOX when casting a simple google play movie.
In addition to these casting tests with the Play Movies app. I performed similar tests casting from the youtube app. the same "purchased" (rented) GOOGLE PLAY Movies, using the youtube app. The sames result occurred in all cases.. although the error messages presented were slightly different, but no more informative...
PROBLEM 2: HOOPLADIGITAL APP downloadable here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hoopladigital.android
I am using the latest version 4.8 installed on my phone, ipad and other android devices. If I attempt to cast from my phone or ipad to my regular gen 1 chromecast, I have no issues. Hoopla splash screen appears, the loading circle status thing spins for a few seconds and then "ready to cast" is on the screen. I can then select a movie in the hoopla app on my phone, or ipad and the movie plays back great.
casting to the Mi BOX.... not so much. When I initiate a cast from my phone, the hoopla splash screen appears but, the spinning status thing keep spinning forever, and we never get to the point where it says ready to cast.
very strange indeed..
This does not involve casting. The PLEX android TV app. When I try to play videos (with AC3 Audio encoding), the video plays fine for about 15 seconds, then some kind of stutter happens. after that stutter.. the picture moves very quickly while the audio continues at the proper speed. and they are out of sync and the video is basically unwatchable.
cant figure out why this happens.
these are the 3 biggest problems I have experienced. The CAST is so flaky compared to a regular gen 1 chromecast...
I have not experienced too many problems with netflix.. but i havent spent a ton of time with it either.
If I notice any other issues in my testing I will post back..
I am quite tech savvy --> and am interested in helping to resolve these problems in any way I can.
Im not sure if its an issue with the apps I am uising, or with the mibox firmware, or some combination thereof.. Since all my chromecast issues were not occurring when using a regular gen 1 chromecast, it leads me to believe that the issue is related to some kind of firmware on the mibox and not the apps, since the apps clearly are able to function properly with chromecast.
The PLEX issue could either be an issue with the PLEX app, or with the MI BOX FIRMWARE< SYSTEM SOFTWARE..
I really hope all these issues are software related and get fixed via an update.. I find it hard to believe that these would be hardware issues that couldnt be resolved via software updates... Please let me know if you require furthur information.
Thanks!
EDIT: One final issue I ran into (but this is not as high priority as the others). I have a spare APPLE MAGIC MOUSE that is not being used. Shouldnt I be able to sync this to the MI BOX via bluetooth. I am able to sync it to my moto x play android phone.. but nothing happens when I try to sync it with the MI BOX. USB mouse works great.. no probelms there.. but I was surprised this bluetooth mouse wouldnt be detected... - Anyway this issue is not a high priority... just thought I would put it out there.
Can Xiaomi unlock the Mi Box bootloader? It's a big issue since you can't make system image backups. Please forward this message. I imagine a lot of customers would be grateful.
Not being able to root is a bit unfortunate. After all, Android and Android TV is all about customization.
Try the following two test clips, which should show uniform bands across all colours. Note that viewing this on an Intel graphics desktop browser and some other Android devices has the same issue but other players and Nvidia/AMD graphics do not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3eVY1fgGXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b3CUm8j4DE
Original correctly tagged file that shows the same problem (Misc Patterns -> A - Additional -> 3-Color Steps.mp4, 4-Color Clipping.mp4, and Basic Settings -> 1 - Black Clipping.mp4 among others).
bt.709 should be assumed for >720p content unless otherwise indicated by video tags. Tagged videos don't seem to be respected either, although I am not sure exactly where the problem lies but it happens with both VLC and Kodi/SPMC. Applications that use fully hardware accelerated video coding show severe colour clipping issues. VLC is an interesting test of this issue: Full Hardware Decoding always has the issue, Decode Only acceleration only has the issue if the video chroma output mode (Performance -> Force video chroma) is set to YUV. The flag appears to be exposed in MediaFormat and AOSP graphics.h but I haven't looked in detail. Not sure if the near black issues are due to this matrix or a different issue (look carefully - there is uneven crush and a green tint in several bands of the black level test). I have tested this on several different displays and HDMI black level settings so it definitely isn't a monitor calibration issue.
Note: See also Chromium bug 56411 . Also note the Youtube VP9 content might not include the tag information.
On a related note it would be really nice to be able to select between RGB full, RGB limited and YCbCr output to reduce banding from expanding video levels (16-235) to PC levels (0-255) and pass this bt.709 issue to the TV to handle instead. This issue might be due to a partially implemented RGB mode switch since I understand Amlogic defaults to YCbCr HDMI output by default? Some vendors have implemented a switch for this, see https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-1129.html for example.
Voice recognition appears to use the VOICE_RECOGNITION source which I think may be hardcoded to always use the Xiaomi BLE remote microphone in the audio HAL audio.c looking at related code in AOSP. This even applies when the Xiaomi remote is disconnected or even unpaired! Google voice search attempts to record silence with logcat full of warnings about not receiving audio frames from the BLE remote.
It would be really nice if other (e.g. USB) microphones were at least used as a fallback for voice input when the Xiaomi remote is not present. It might be possible to work around this with the audio policy configuration file.
I am using the MX3-M air mouse purchased from here , which has and works fine in audio capture apps, appears as a pcm device in /proc/asound and suupports mono 16-bit 8kHz recording.
As a software engineer with I'm happy to help debug these issues, post logs and even dive into AOSP code.
Its not a bug, but please tell them to send all their IR codes to Logitech (they only have partial) so we get better support using their universal remotes. Would love to be able to set fast forward and rewind. Maybe a dedicated Play and dedicated Pause button IR code would be nice too.
Casting video to the TV is extremely laggy. Router is running 802.11ac as is 1 foot from the Xiaomi.
Force to rgb option to solve pink/green screen on older sony/philips televisions caused by an erroneous AMLogic HDCP 2.2 implementation that doesn't default to HDCP 1.x when HDCP 2.2 handshaking fails as it should for Widewine DRM purposes.
http://www.howtogeek.com/208917/htg-explains-how-hdcp-breaks-your-hdtv-and-how-to-fix-it/
DTS and DTS-HD passthrough is not working at all with Kodi
External storage needs to be fixed. Also casting from YouTube seems inconsistent and unreliable
I would like the volume buttons to always control the system volume. When playing a source that has surround sound, the volume control stops working. I believe this was done intentionally, but I see it as a flaw as someone who only wants to use one remote.
Thank you for this opportunity Koshergoy but why "PLEASE NO NETFLIX ISSUES!!"
How is Netflix not a valid concern when the recent update still did not fix the issue?
I bought my MiBox because it's supposed to be able to play 4K at 60fps...except it doesn't work in YouTube, the single most important place to support it. It only goes up to 1080p60. The product site says it has 4k60 decoding....Where is it?
EDIT: Just would like to point out though that I haven't had the issues other people are having with lag and stuff, though I'm not on my HDCP 2.2 port but rather my MHL port if it matters.
Formatted external storage, but can't get large apps to install there. I believe I read this may be an Android bug that is fixed in Nougat.
Looking forward to the update!
SPDIF out working. The Mi box seems to get directives for audio capabilies from the HDMI connection. If the HDMI connection only allows PCM the SPDIF will not output digital sound.
Wi-Fi connection issues. Sometimes videos from Netflix or YouTube work fine. Other times, they're stuck loading. Restarting or reloading the app doesn't always work. Very inconsistent.
The box forces my Yamaha sound bar from another audio connection into the one for the Mi Box unless the Mi Box is asleep. ie - Watching Mi Box and switch over to watch tv from my cable box, the Mi Box will quickly take control of the audio source again.
The wifi seems quite slow compared to my laptop or my wife's iPhone. 300 Mbps down with the laptop, 94 with the iPhone, and only 50 with the Mi Box. I have the same issue with my Android smartphone as well, only 30-50 down. All are on 5 GHz.
Using an Android smart phone with the remote app to input text is pointless and frustrating. I must use the D-pad on the remote or remote app for any degree of accuracy.
My Canadian MDZ-16-AB purchased off of Amazon.ca had no batteries (minor issue) and a European AC adapter - had to buy a european-to-North America adapter for another $26 just to get started.
We need dualshock 4 support, I can't begin to imagine why Xiaomi removed it.
Chromecast is broke, mainly with an app called CTV Go,. YouTube, Plex and web browsers do work though. Uninstalling updates to revert to 1.17 was the last version I got working. After 699 1.20 minimum version seems forced.
Chromecast isn't available sometimes as the box falls fast asleep and the remote app and Chromecast can't see it. None of my other Chromecast devices have this issue.
When using a USB network adapter and turning off Wi-Fi, only unplugging the Ethernet cable or USB adapter will allow you to enable wifi again.
The power button and hdmi-cec. It's just really unpredictable. I don't understand why I need to hit circle/home 3 times. One wakes remote, second wakes mi box, third wakes TV. On remote power button press hdmi-cec disconnects but refuses to power down TV. Samsung LN46C650 LCD set specifically but believe most Samsung sets act this way.
I see no running app selector similar to the Nexus player. When circle is held on the Nexus, a screen pops up and allows you to refocus or close a running app. This may be a marshmallow limitation as Nexus is on 7.1.1.
Security update is dated October 2016 and it's now February. Nothing deal breaking.
Static IP settings regularly erased and generally don't take effect unless device is rebooted the instant 'settings saved' appears in network configuration.
A general notification that the mi box has an update ready to be applied would be a nice addition.
Bootloader unlocking would also be a nice addition, for instance when the updates broke my Chromecast I could have reverted until Xiaomi sorts the issue. Two updates in and still broke now.
edit: the usb network card DNS settings are being erased because the USB port was losing power and killing the network then re-enabling it as new each wake. temp fix is to enable USB debugging and set device to always on. no longer forgets DNS settings and the USB network card still works with debugging on (v750)! This also resolved the chromecast disappearing bug too but still having casting issues.
There is a bug I found with static wireless. When static wireless is setup and 'saved successfully' I always lose the network connection, then need to re-enter wifi password which resets the wifi so the DNS settings are lost.
HDMI-CEC option is no longer in settings & my box only has standby & reboot as options with power button. Why can't I just turn the box off. Everyone I come out of standby I have internet connection issues
my only issue is choppy playback of youtube 1080p 60fps...