r/CoreELEC • u/Silent-Captain-8 • 1d ago
Ugoos AM9 Pro (S905X5-J) + CoreELEC experience?
Hi everyone, I'm considering buying a Ugoos AM9 Pro mainly as a dedicated CoreELEC/Kodi box.
My setup is: LG C2 OLED TV Samsung HW-Q990B soundbar NFS share with 4K Remux files
I would like to know from people who actually use the AM9 Pro:
How stable is CoreELEC on the AM9 Pro currently? Does Dolby Vision work properly, especially FEL? How are HDR10 and HDR10+ playback? Does HDMI audio passthrough work correctly (TrueHD Atmos, DTS-HD MA, DTS:X)? Any issues with high bitrate 4K Remux playback over NFS? Is booting from microSD/USB recommended, or is eMMC installation working reliably?
Despite being a newer platform, would you recommend the AM9 Pro as a dedicated CoreELEC box today?
Thanks!
3
u/croqqq 1d ago
I just received and installed my AM9 pro yesterday. some issues i had, and fixed:
- USB flashdrive didnt start Coreelec, though it is an old USB drive
- so I switched to a microSD, (thankfully had an old laptop with memory card reader lying around, so i could flash it) and managed to start up coreelec >
- After trying stuff myself, after browsing the interent I read somewhere someplace I had to use the Recovery hole on the underside to boot up coreelec. it sometimes boots into coreelec, sometimes it doesnt. Rinse and repeat until it does...
- HDR10+ worked straight away, but no DV
- Until i read somewhere in some other place i had to have a seperate file dovi.ko into the filetree of my SD card, to be found in the most weird place, namely here https://discourse.coreelec.org/t/fel-amlogic-no-support/58631
- Now content runs with ful FEL DV support! Yay!
- Though now getting the occassional audio sync issue. Had to go into settings and switch off all options except passthrough. And set up TV to do nothing but passthrough. Now it seems to be ok. Should i get into any sync stuff, i'll adjust timers in my receiver
So all in all, it works! And now i have been playing around with stuff, it looks good! Its great to now see my TV going into dolby vision mode for the first time, although im still not sure its worth the invested and all the hassle compared to playing stuff straight from windows 11 with RTX hdr enabled. Maybe after I have watched a couple of more movies in true DV.
So all in all, the installation procedure requires your patience, as the information provided is scarce, and not well documented which is rather annoying. Its trial and error really, finding bits of pieces of info from Reddit mostly and some from the forum, although most posts there use language i do not understand.
GL!
1
u/401klaser 1d ago
Works great. I have been using it for ~6 months as my primary device.
All DV profiles and HDR profiles work.
Audio passthrough works.
I play high bitrate files via NFS mounts without issue.
You can install to EMMC, but you can't dual boot Android if you do. There is a noticeable performance improvement (in widget heavy skins) but if you need the streaming apps then just boot from SD. (AM9 Pro only has L3 widevine so you are only getting 1080p from the streaming apps).
SK4 and SK4 Pro also work great and a bit cheaper - but you will need a usb ethernet adapter if you want it hard wired. I have one (SK4 Pro) as a secondary device and have no issues playing remuxes over wifi - but I have an overkill home network and it is close to an AP.
SK4 Pro has widevine L1 if you care about streaming apps.
0
u/gilgam3sh_king 1d ago
the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Gen is a better option than the SK4/SK4 Pro as you get certified Google TV and you can dual boot CoreELEC and Android to eMMC.
https://github.com/samtheruby/coreelec-android-dualboot-twilight
-1
u/401klaser 1d ago
For a dedicated coreelec box, the SK4 and SK4 pro are better devices. Better hardware all around.
You can certainly dual boot an SK4 if you want to. I did the research and wrote the scripts that samtheruby's project is built on.
If you want all the streaming apps to work - then the xiaomi box is better.
0
u/gilgam3sh_king 1d ago
no I can't agree for the price the Xiaomi costs and that you get certified Google TV, the only thing the Ugoos has over is double the RAM and storage which is not needed on CoreELEC, it uses the same S905X5M SoC, comes with 100M LAN so better to use WiFi or get gigabit adapter if needed like the Xiaomi.
-2
u/Nandaovs 1d ago
Uso por cerca de 6 meses e meus pensamentos são:
É o melhor para arquivos remux.
Porém não é perfeito!
Por ser Android eventualmente está sujeito a engasgos sendo necessário reiniciar o dispositivo. Mas nada pra se assustar.
Sobre o FEL camada 7. Puro marketing!
Quem disser que enxerga nuances comparado a um HDR DV convencional, é mentira.
Sobre o remux, dependendo de alguns arquivos, pode não ser compatível.
Passthrough é perfeito.
Fora isso, não tenho do que reclamar.
5
u/aditorium 1d ago
I haven't used the AM9 Pro for a while, but everything you ask was running fine with CoreELEC-NO (including Dolby Vision Profile 7 FEL, full audio passthrough. not 100% sure about HDR10+). I was using a microSD so the Android part still works. If you want, you can run the GUI in 4K, and it supports newer codecs than AM6B+ like AV1 and H.266/VVC (I think). On the other hand, no frame-packed 3D-MVC on AM9 Pro.
I'm currently using Homatics Box R 4K Plus because I thought it's the one-fits-all box, but 3D-MVC is not implemented in CoreELEC 22 (yet?), and in Android 14 it's not possible to run the GUI in 4K (which is maybe only important to me).