Android Streaming boxes - MMB, Magic Box, Carlinkit, etc

[superfordman]

Ya I'm not really holding my breath at all, as most of these boxes leave a lot to be desired, but I figured what the heck, if I don't like it just send it back. Plus its a good alternative right now to spending almost twice on a Naviks which is what a really want.

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[superfordman]

Success!!! I'd call this a win for sure with the MMB MAX
Plugged it in and it booted right up to full/expanded screen right away. Actually it's in the expanded mode all the time and there is no option I've found to not have it that way, so just an FYI. Works great so far overall, still a little laggy at times, but most of these boxes are, so I give it a solid 9/10 the hour I've used it so far.

 

[Wes1963]

Success!!! I'd call this a win for sure with the MMB MAX
Plugged it in and it booted right up to full/expanded screen right away. Actually it's in the expanded mode all the time and there is no option I've found to not have it that way, so just an FYI. Works great so far overall, still a little laggy at times, but most of these boxes are, so I give it a solid 9/10 the hour I've used it so far.

Did you have to turn off wireless Apple CarPlay?

 

[superfordman]

Did you have to turn off wireless Apple CarPlay?

Not sure what you mean, this is streaming box you plug in that just mimics carplay/AA in order to work

 

[Wes1963]

Not sure what you mean, this is streaming box you plug in that just mimics carplay/AA in order to work

I’m talking about wireless App projection. Isn’t that what connects CarPlay wirelessly?

 

[m_bt54]

On the few I tried there was a couple ways you could configure this device and your phone:

1. use the “MMB” box and your phone as two separate “phones”. In this configuration you continue to use your phone the same as you do today wired or wirelessly. You add the box as a second phone and switch between the two as needed.

2. connect the “MMB” box to your truck, then connect your phone wired or wirelessly to the “MMB” box. There will be an app on the MMB box to launch CarPlay/ AA.

Method 2 is slightly more convenient but a lot less dependable.

Keep in mind when you watch video on the MMB box, you are not mirroring your phone. You are running Android apps from the box itself.

 

[HammaMan]

On android there's an app that lets you load other apps on the phone that will allow you to do something similar while still retaining other features the phone offers while connected. Of course there's also the ability for dual phone connection to sync 4 (not sure how that works yet).

I really want a dedicated PC in the truck that's able to project onto the screen when desired though which looks like naviks is it. Plus the option to have the blinker cam blind spot view is quite nice. Not sure why 'blind spot blinker cam' isn't already natively built into sync 4. I guess it's ford's own admitted incompetent programming team.

The 2024 mustang has the new APIM and it's still called "sync 4". I'd hate to have to buy the whole car just to get one of them to play with.

 

[m_bt54]

Yea the Naviks works perfectly and I would never even think about going back to one of those android boxes. I’m using it as I type this!

I use a HDMI cable out of mine with a hdmi female to female adapter then a Chromecast w/ Google TV connected. This also gives me the option to connect my laptop for a second screen or anything else I want.

 

[HammaMan]

Yea the Naviks works perfectly and I would never even think about going back to one of those android boxes. I’m using it as I type this!

I use a HDMI cable out of mine with a hdmi female to female adapter then a Chromecast w/ Google TV connected. This also gives me the option to connect my laptop for a second screen or anything else I want.

Do you happen to know the screen's resolution by chance? It's hard to justify the navik's price for what it does. If they could figure out a way to allow a PC connection with touch screen control of it, that'd be a different story. I tried contacting them and never heard back.

 

[m_bt54]

720p and in my opinion it looks great. I mostly use it to watch live sports that are generally broadcast in 720p/1080i but I have no issues with the quality on Netflix or anything like that either. I am mostly using cellular internet from my phones hotspot so the 720p works better with spotty cell coverage as well.

I would definitely recommend setting whatever device you use to 720p so it’s not pulling data for 1080/4k then downscaling.

I connect a touchscreen Lenovo windows laptop almost daily. It works like any other second display but does not work for touchscreen.

 

[superfordman]

You don't want to connect Carplay/AA from your phone to the box at all, its not very nice and looks like crap, plus its defeating the purpose of using box for what it can do plus you can already do wireless projection to Sync4. Everyone uses a box to have a standalone system to play media while in motion pretty much.

For some reason the dual phone deal isn't working for me as of right now. I bet because its using CP/AA and that takes singular priority. You could have two bluetooth devices connected, but not one CP/AA and another bluetooth. Everytime I try to connect my phone to Sync it disconnects the box.

Overall I'll just have to see how it get along with it and use it. It's definitely nicer for longer drives but not something you use all the time IMO. I need to try to find a way to control it remotely, bluetooth remote or through my phone somehow, because using the screen works but isn't the easiest at times.

A Naviks is definitely something I've always wanted, and would even hook my laptop up to it if I wanted, or some type of streaming stick, but I played around with the HDMI out on my phone enough I think that would be the ticket most of the time. Plus then my phone would still be connected to bluetooth, I could see everything through the IPC cluster for it, then have the APIM on the Naviks just fine, that's not really an option right now with the MMB.

I dug the envelope packaging the MMB came in out of the trash today just in case, so its walking a fine line.

 

[Double-A]

720p and in my opinion it looks great. I mostly use it to watch live sports that are generally broadcast in 720p/1080i but I have no issues with the quality on Netflix or anything like that either. I am mostly using cellular internet from my phones hotspot so the 720p works better with spotty cell coverage as well.

I would definitely recommend setting whatever device you use to 720p so it’s not pulling data for 1080/4k then downscaling.

I connect a touchscreen Lenovo windows laptop almost daily. It works like any other second display but does not work for touchscreen.

Would u mind posting a pic of what it looks like hooked up to a laptop and what options it gives for resolutions in the Windows Display settings if you the chance? I'm curious if it's like 1280 x 720 stretched or cropped to 4:3 or if it's like 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 or something native like that

 

[m_bt54]

Sure. I’ll connect it up and share the info this afternoon

 

[scuba]

Success!!! I'd call this a win for sure with the MMB MAX
Plugged it in and it booted right up to full/expanded screen right away. Actually it's in the expanded mode all the time and there is no option I've found to not have it that way, so just an FYI. Works great so far overall, still a little laggy at times, but most of these boxes are, so I give it a solid 9/10 the hour I've used it so far.

Can you post a link to the MMB Max that you achieved fullscreen with?

I've tied 4 MMB models, with no luck on fullscreen, and have found other bugs as well. When I get time, I may start a summary table to provide others the benefit of my purchase/fail/return experiences.

Meanwhile, please let us know the exact one you got (they all seem to copy each other's names / amazon descriptions). Thx

 

[m_bt54]

Would u mind posting a pic of what it looks like hooked up to a laptop and what options it gives for resolutions in the Windows Display settings if you the chance? I'm curious if it's like 1280 x 720 stretched or cropped to 4:3 or if it's like 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 or something native like that

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