DInobot 4k - Quick Review

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  • s-l1600.jpg


    I have this little box a short while, but due to some initial teething problems, it was probably unfair to give it a mini review any earlier.
    But the latest flash I did seems to have fixed a lot of the issues.

    http://images.mynonpublic.com/openatv/6.2/index.php?open=dinobot4k


    First things first, I have no technical knowledge of these boxes, I am just a user that hammers these sat boxes to death with all my work for skins and plugins.
    So this is more an hands on review of how the general public would probably use it rather than a technical guide.


    Firstly it all came nicely and securely packaged.
    In the box is your satellite box. Remote. 2 Wifi Antennas, hdmi cable, power adapter and a RF Femal Socket to F type adpater for use with Dual DVB-T2 / C tuner.

    No manual at all, not even a piece of paper telling you how to load android or enigma2.


    bccc208f1696d5f2f6.png


    But the first problem I noticed, it had a european 2 plug and not a UK plug. (and I didn't have an adapter). Luckily my other sat box power unit powered it no problem.
    So before I jumped in and set the box up I did some reading of other peoples reviews to see what if I was going to expect any problems.
    A few other reviews mentioned that the infrared sensors were misaligned inside, and the heat sinks were a bit shoddily put on. So I took the lid off, and there was absolutely no problems at all with my box. One thing I did notice when take the top off though, is how loose the front panel is. You can literally pull it off with no pressure what so ever. The clips to hold it in place are not very tight at all.


    First impressions, was wow this is so small for such a powerful box. Its only 20cm x 11cm. Which worried me. And second was my god that remote control is big. Its the longest remote control I own.
    I wiil start with the remote, because to be honest I really dislike it. But it can easily be replaced.

    rc.png


    Most of the main buttons are on there, usb is the equivalent of a filemenu button, the mouse button is the equivalent of a portal button. It is missing an audio button though.

    Its supposedly got a learning mode to, but no matter what I tried (without instructions), I couldn't get it to learn anything.

    Now my main gripes with the remote. Its size. I have large hands and still found it far to big. It just isn't comfortable to hold.

    It is a ridiculous idea to put the 4 coloured buttons right at the bottom of the remote. The buttons you are pretty much going to use on every screen. The are so difficult to reach when holding a remote normally.

    The remote buttons also are very rigid. They click noisily every time you press a button. This is no good in the quiet of the night. Click, click, click. grrrr. I also don't think the remote is very sensitive, you pretty much have to point it directly at your box for it to work.


    On first load of the box, I was totally confused. I was presented with a black screen and nothing else. I presume its original setting was not compatible with my tv settings.

    Quick google and I found out you have to press red button to load android, and blue button to load enigma2. Once I did this, my tv then got in sync with the box.


    The box is rapid in loading up. It literally loads in seconds. A gui reboot only takes about 5 seconds. Which is pretty impressive. And is a godsend for someone like me that could be rebooting my box 20 times an hour.

    I opted for an openatv build as its what I know, and you get the usual problem of half the setup screens being in German only (despite selecting English). Which is no problem for me as I have set up images hundreds of times, but for someone completely new to these boxes its going to confuse you. it's about time openatv addressed this issue.


    Setting everything up, adding/deleting plugins, doing a channel scan was all very quick. You don't have to wait for anything. This box is just so quick doing everything.

    Then I ran into my first hurdle. I usually have a combo of oscam and cccam on my box, but at the time of setting up there was no cccam available for these boxes. I believe this is now available.

    So with a little help from Master G he directed me to the oscam I needed.


    OSCam 11392 IPK For Arm Based Receivers Various Images


    Had a play around with box for a while using the metrix skin and I was mighty impressed with the enigma2 side of things.

    The tuners picked up all my satellite channels no problem, I tested the DVB T2 tuner and also had no problems with that.

    Tried a few test 4k channels and 4k iptv and all played fantastic.


    Then I installed all my skins which for those that don't know are quite graphic rich, with multi layers of graphics. But despite this all my graphics are compressed and my skin sizes are not large at all.

    This is when I initially ran into problems. There was an awful redraw problem going on. Scroll down a menu, it would flicker. It couldn't handle scrolling text without completely wiping out the background.

    So I tried a few other popular skins. Same problem. Reported it opena.tv. Nobody was really interested.

    I am not going to lie, at this point I thought this box is bad. If my crappy old zgemma s2 can handle skins no problem, what is wrong with the so called quad core box.
    I used my box for a month and to be honest I got used to the redraw problem. But then I crashed my box trying to do a software update. So last week I thought I would do a fresh install.


    Now reflashing these boxes is a challenge in itself. Because the box doesn't come with a manual. So again you have to rely on the internet to find out how to do this as there is no standby button to press like a lot of other boxes.

    You are meant to press the green button on your remote when the lcd displays shows menu on booting.

    Now the fun and games. This doesn't always work. You end up trying it multiple times in all the various usb ports until it finally kicks in. I have never done this on first attempt yet.

    Re-installed the latest openatv and hallelujah the screen redraw problem is pretty much fixed. (So they were listening). I now like this box again.


    As I rarely use the android side of things, I haven't tested this part much. But it has pretty much the latest android version, its is ultra responsive and basically blows a firestick out of the water.

    I did do a quick test with iptv using perfect player, and some android devices struggle with this, but again everything played flawlessly.

    I have also not had a single crash on the android side yet either. Which is reassuring.


    After using this box for a couple of months. Here are a few other little negatives.

    No standby button. Drives me nuts.

    No real standy mode. You press standby on your remote. The screen just freezes and goes half size. It doesn't really go into standby.

    Also there is no standby led on the box or display. So it is very unclear if your box is in standby or not.


    The LED front display does weird things. For example sometime the numbers tick instead of the ":" a 9 might constantly toggle to a 0.

    You can not change the brightess of the LED.

    In fact I think the LED part is totally broken on these boxes at the moment. Because if you read your debug logs in realtime it's throwing up errors constantly about the LED.


    So to summarize.


    Pros

    • Very Small and compact.
    • Wifi Range Good if using the built in wifi with antennas.
    • Tuners seem pretty good
    • Doesn't over heat.
    • Completely silent running.
    • Very very fast.
    • Enigma2 now seems stable with lots of the original problems being fixed. (with latest images)
    • Android is solid and up to date.


    Cons

    • Remote - I hate the remote
    • Front panel is a little flimsy.
    • LED hardware and software needs fixing
    • Lack of standby button
    • Lack of standby (as we know it)
    • Missing user manual
    • European plug


    Would I recommend this box. Last month I would have said no, wait a while its not quite there yet despite it already being out for a few months.

    This month after updating the box to the latest openatv build, I will say hell yeah. Its just a mega fast awesome box. It has its faults but overall I think with a few more software tweaks it will become a very stable popular box. I have literally rebooted this box constantly for over a month with the work I am doing, and I have had no problems at all with it as such, the only exception was a major crash after a software update. But most boxes are prone to that.


    ps. don't ask me any technical questions, I wouldn't have a clue. This is a review for the layman ;)

    ** A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected **

    Edited 6 times, last by KiddaC ().

  • Just a minor update to this review.


    When I got round to doing a full update of the software (First week in Sept 2018).

    Details here....

    Dinobot 4K Update - Including missing E2 afterwards ( Solved )


    This box is now working pretty much flawlessly.

    The slow redraw has been totally erradicated.

    The lack of standby I mention above, was actually a skin error and not a box error.

    There is still a potential problem with the LCD check keep repeating itself in the background, doesn't effect usage though.

    LED seems to behaving itself now as well.


    There was a batch of these being sold at £99 each on fleebay last week, so worth keeping your eye out for deals on there.


    :thumbup:

    ** A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected **

  • master G

    Added the Label Article
  • KiddaC

    Changed the title of the thread from “DInobot 4k - Mini Review” to “DInobot 4k - Quick Review”.

Dinobot 4K images

Download openatv, pure2, openhdf images | firmware for Dinobot 4K and Dinobot 4K SE, android, enigma2, satellite and cable linux hd receivers.

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