Streaming internet live TV, movie, drama, etc. to Android TV box with Togic and music video, MTV, etc. with Rainbow

If you have a China made Android TV box such as HiMedia and you are located outside China, you will probably experience that the live TV, movie, drama, show, etc. often don't stream smoothly even though you have a high speed broadband Internet.

One of the way to overcome this with HiMedia Q-series Android TV box is to manually pick to use the server in Hong Kong (default is automatically picked, and all other servers are located inside China).

I found that the 3rd party app called Togic liveTV (泰捷视频) works well internationally too. It also has a location setting which we need to set to Hong Kong - Hong Kong. It will then help us to choose the best streaming source, and most of the time, I am able to watch HD programme or HD movie with Togic without any lag in transmission.

Togic is actively maintained. The app has frequent new version update, and its video sources are updated on daily basis. You can always find the latest episode of TV show or drama in Togic. The movies are quite up-to-date too.

If you like to watch music video or sing KTV, you will probably find that most music video app produced in China does not work well outside China. You will even get error message when trying to watch the music video, stating that the video cannot be played at your region due to copyright problem.

However, there is one called Rainbow (彩虹音乐) which works well internationally. They claim that their music videos are licensed by original copyright holders.

The above are 2 of my favourite apps in my HiMedia Q5II dual-core Android TV box.

If you have come across with other good apps for Android TV box, feel free to share with me.

Upgraded my HiMedia Q5II Android TV box firmware to Mango Hi Q v1.0.5

My HiMedia Q5II Android TV box comes with firmware v1.0.2 (released in early September 2013). Subsequent to that, they have released firmware v1.0.3 in October 2013 and v1.0.4 in December 2013. Both of them were found buggy with numerous complaints from users.

In January 2014, HiMedia has worked together with Mango TV (芒果 TV) to come out with Mango Hi Q (芒果嗨Q) firmware v1.0.5 which is pretty good.

You can download the Mango Hi Q firmware for HiMedia Q-series dual core Android TV boxes here.

Make sure you download the firmware that matches with the model number of your HiMedia Q-series dual core Android TV box. If the label on your box has the wording of "eMMC" (which is the newer version sold to the market since November 2013 onwards), download the firmware for EMMC version. Otherwise, download the firmware for non-EMMC version.

The firmware upgrade file for my non-EMMC HiMedia Q5II Android TV box is update_dualcore_Q5.zip. I put it in a USB drive, plug the USB drive into one of the USB port of the TV box, and tried to flash it into the box by using a pin to press its "reset" button and boot up the box. The upgrade failed. Apparently this is due to the firmware that pre-installed in my box is English version instead of Chinese version.

I then renamed the file in my USB drive to become update_dualcore_Q5_en.zip, and tried again. This time, the upgrade is successful, and I got Mango Hi Q v1.0.5 in my box.

The default language of Mango H Q user interface is Chinese. You can set it to English by going to Settings (the right most tab at the bottom of above screen), look for Language and Input Method (the icon is a square box with an "A" at the center), change the Language ("语言") to English.

After you installed Mango Hi Q firmware, you will notice the following are missing:

• HiTV
• LiveTV
• HiStore
• Google Play Store
• Web browser

You can restore back HiTV, LiveTV by download and install this APK into your TV box:

http://down.hinavi.net/apk/HiTV_mvc.apk

Alternatively, you can download and install the Jailbreak APK into your TV box, and run it once: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1eQDWWT0

After that, you can remove the Jailbreak APK.

You can also restore back the built-in web browser through the pre-installed WiFi Analyzer app. Just go to Online Help in WiFi Analyzer once, and the web browser will be back.

As for the missing HiStore and Google Play Store, I use 7PO Market (奇珀市场) as alternative.

Windows XP end of life on April 2014

Microsoft has once again announced that they will terminate the technical support for Windows XP, with a firmed date on 8 April 2014.

This means that they will no longer release new bug fixes and security patches for Windows XP after the deadline. Technical assistances for Windows XP will also be ceased. They will also stop providing Microsoft Security Essentials for download on Windows XP on that date.

Anyhow, Microsoft will continue to provide updates to anti-malware signatures and engine for existing Microsoft Security Essentials running on Windows XP until 14 July 2015. This security support deadline also applies to System Center Endpoint Protection, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint Protection and Windows Intune running on Windows XP for enterprise users.

On 13 July 2010, Microsoft ended their support to Windows 2000, which was once widely used in enterprise as well as in banks' ATM machines, retailers' Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, etc. Since then, Windows XP has replaced Windows 2000 to become the de-facto standard for embedded operating system of those ATM machines, POS systems, etc.

The ATM machines, POS systems, etc. that use the stripped-down version of Windows XP known as Windows XP Embedded will still get support from Microsoft until 12 January 2016, two more years to go before the embedded OS reaches its end of life.

According to NetMarketShare website, Windows XP is still the world's 2nd mostly used desktop operation system in the world to date, commanding a market share of more than 28%. The top desktop operation system is Windows 7 with more than 47% market share.

If you still have any computer running on Windows XP, you can still continue to use it after 8 April 2014, but any new security vulnerability would not be fixed by Microsoft. There will still be 3rd party security and antivirus software continue to provide protection to your Windows XP computer.

If you plan for an upgrade, the most popular Windows 7 is a good choice and its end of life date is set to 14 January 2020, 6 more years to go. Of course, you can also consider the latest Windows 8 which received a lot of criticisms.

Alternatively, you might want to switch over to the Apple's world using Mac OS X as operating system. Apple iMac and MacBook has regained popularity upon the success of iPhone and iPad over the past few years.

For PC users, you can also switch over to Linux operating system. Ubuntu Desktop is a famous one and it is free. Ubuntu has a shorter end of life than Windows, whereby its Long Term Support (LTS) versions receive support from Canonical for 5 years only. However, you can always upgrade your PC to the latest version of Ubuntu for free.

For manufacturers and vendors of ATM machines, POS systems, they are most likely switching over to Linux or Android operating system, and say bye-bye to Microsoft. Android has gained its popularity as embedded system, particularly in TV boxes, car navigation systems, etc.