Himedia H8 - First Impressions

I recently bought a HiMedia H8 64bit Octa-Core and want to share my first impressions. This short review is based on firmware version 1.0.7:

Audio & Video

  • I mostly use 720p MKV files from an SMB share via WLAN and have no problems with video and audio quality. Dolby digital works fine. One time I noticed some lip-sync issues with Kodi but I now mostly use Mizuu + MXPlayer and I am quite happy with it. I have not tested any 3D content. EDIT: The lip-sync issue sometimes happens on MXPlayer and Netflix as well. I could not figure out when unfortunately.
  • The box works in general fine for Netflix or Spotify streaming. Be aware that you will not get Dolby Digital with Netflix for Android. It is not supported.

Android & the box in general

  • I am using the normal Google Now launcher. The problem I see here with the current firmware version (1.0.7) is that you don't have a navigation bar on the bottom or a status/notification bar on top. Especially the notification bar would be useful if you run the box for different purposes (e.g. with Tasker...)
  • "OK Google" is not directly supported, because there is no built in microphone. I checked with the support team, apparently it should work with a USB webcam (with an integrated mic). I have not yet tested this myself.
  • Be aware that the box has only 2 USB ports. So if you connect a wireless keyboard (I use for instance a  Logitech K400) and you connect a webcam you are done.
  • You can switch the box on and off via the remote control. It really shuts the box down, meaning that booting takes some 10 seconds. In my previous Android box (CR11S), the "standby mode" just "switched off the HDMI port" which was quite convenient if you wanted to run some scheduled Tasker tasks.

Firmware

  • You need to be aware that it is still an early firmware version (currently 1.0.7) and my impression is that it takes Himedia relatively long to provide updated versions.
  • As far as I know there is no rooted version of the firmware out there. For me it is not a big issue, the only think I liked about a rooted Android box is that you can run AFWall+ to set iptables to avoid Google DNS if you want to use services like SmartDNSProxy for the latest version of the Netflix app.
All in all I am quite happy with it, but I am looking forward to seeing some improvements in future firmware versions.

Further information:

  • Go to the Futeko Forum to find more information and recent discussions
  • The official firmware updates are announced on the Himedia Support website and can also be downloaded from here.


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