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I have the P6L 256 Unlimited which has 32GBs of RAM and 256 GBs of storage, and for me the fact it’s a 64Bit OS is huge. In short it’s a streaming beast. I don’t have the Formuler Z12 to be able to make an honest comparison. I know that Troy will eventually provide us all with his full and honest evaluation and review of the Z12 Ultra. I should mention that my Buzz P6L is double the price of the Z12 Ultra. Good morning @MikeN appreciate your honest and helpful comments. Have a buffer free day my friend.

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I don’t know a ton about these higher end boxes but doesn’t only 4GB RAM seem low for a brand new refresh of a great product in this price range or is RAM overrated?

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I am by no means an expert on the minimum RAM needed. I do think that for the average user 4GBs of RAM is enough to do simple streaming. I have 32GBs as you know, but still have the occasional buffering as I can’t be responsible for, or improve, the source stream. I do notice the snappy response when doing things like switching VPN servers to see if the route to the source servers is causing the buffering. So I do think for most 4 is plenty but for the more advanced user doing more with their streamer 8GBs and up is just icing on the cake.

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Thanks. I’m not “advanced” but do love “icing” :joy: !

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Ah, Ok, thanks for pointing that out!

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If you are just streaming 32bit OS if fine and 64bit OS will not improve streaming in any way but will improve gaming emulation and you can access more RAM for resource intensive games or apps of a similar nature that need more than 4gb of RAM. Thats if you have more than 4gb of RAM

Streaming VOD and iptv apps are lightweight and don’t use much RAM even when streaming large remux files. If you had a large Kodi build with lots of widgets then some lower end devices may struggle and more RAM would help but you would be better with a mini pc running CE than running Kodi on android in that scenario.

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Although it really is a very cool looking device, I’d suggest those looking at The Formuler Z12 pause for a moment and consider some things before forking out the money for one of these. 1) It has the same older RealTek processor as the Z11, (no improvement). 2) It does not have AI or processor upscaling for media sources under 4K resolution, 3) No support for some audio codecs, 4) 32 bit processing only, not enabled for 64 bit. In this thread, a few of us have discussed some other devices that are better in terms of specifications, video and audio capabilities for less money. The Z11 probably has more bang for the dollar if you really want to get a Formuler device.

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Avid is quite right. Sorry if I hinted at the fact that the 64 bit OS would improve streaming, that’s a misunderstanding of what I said and I should have been more clear. While it won’t improve streaming the apps that you use to access that streaming certainly are improved.

32-bit system can address up to 4 GB of RAM, while a 64-bit system can address much more. This means that 64-bit systems can handle more memory-intensive applications and provide better performance.

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A 32bit OS can access more than 4gb of RAM using LPAE, that’s if you have more then 4gb or RAM but a single 32bit OS app can still only access 4gb or RAM max.

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There are a lot better devices out there than the z12 ultra, the formuler boxes have always been a bit too high priced.

Ugoos has a brilliant lineup of devices with decent amlogic cpu’s, even the new ugoos x5m pro will beat the z12 hands down on performance (no dolby vision tho) and that can be purchased for around £70.00

If aosp android is needed I highly recommend the ugoos range, starting from the top spec, sk1(s928x 8gb ram), am8 pro(s928x 8gb ram), am9(s905x5 4gb ram, no dv), x5m pro(s905x5m 4gb ram, no dv) and x4q extra(old cpu s905x4 4gb ram )

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I owned the Z10 back in the day, I think that’s what it was. IMO the only reason to buy Formuler is for their IPTV app and I like TiviMate better so too high of price.

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For IPTV - MYTVOnline app is awesome.

I have setup many boxes from Z7+5G to Z11 pro max for friends / family after they have seen it, many switching from other devices using different IPTV apps.

Final thoughts from Troy’s original review of Z11 pro Max-

If you’re a big TiviMate user, I’m not sure that I would purchase this device. Like I mentioned earlier, this system is built around the MYTVOnline3 IPTV app and is one of the main reasons IPTV users would be interested in it. Both TiviMate and MYTVOnline3 are excellent IPTV apps and it comes down to personal preference on what you like the best.

I’m a big TiviMate user and I have it installed on all of my devices. But, after using MYTVOnline3 for the past few weeks, I’ve gotten familiar with it and like it just as much as TiviMate if not a bit more. As with everything in life, it takes getting used to before forming an opinion.

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The more I look at the Ugoos line, the more I like them. They seem to have a configuration for every price point. My current boxes all work fine so I’ll watch into the Fall to see if we see any kind of a deal at Black Friday, Cyber Monday or towards Christmas.

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I will be receiving my Ugoos AM 9 tomorrow and will release a First Impressions video for Patrons soon after that.

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Great choice, I have Buzz X5 Special Edition, Formuler Z11 Pro Max and Firecube. None of them come close to my Ugoos SK1 and am looking forward for the AM9 Pro as soon as it’s released. :+1:

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It’s more the hardware specs that I am referring to, I don’t think it is value for money at that price.

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@Anth I am tending to agree with you.

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$240 @ Ama…store, just checked.:grin:

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Amazon now has it for 230.00 USA bucks, but from all the specs I looked at it’s a waste of money for me. I have all I want loaded in to my Z11 Pro Max & can’t even half fill it’s 32G capacity. The CPU&GPU are identical in both of them, & the very small amount of tinker toy extras are not worth the extra money in my book. If there were a MOL4 & faster CPU/GPU & extra ram I would have considered it, but the 128G of storage is a waste to me as I would never use it. I do have the Z11 Pro also with the 16G of storage & 2G of ram & wish I would have stuck with the Pro Max. It only has a little over 400 meg of the 2G of ram usable even if you force stop everything in the box & clear out all the cash. More ram would be far more important to me to have in the Z12 Ultra than anything else, at least 6 or 8G of that, but it’s isn’t even faster speed 4G of ram, same as the Z11. It is a definate NO for me!

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I totally agree with you Mike as I have the Z11 Pro Max & at first I used TiviMate, but the more I began using the MOL3 the more I care less about the TiviMate app. I do have both on my box, but hardly ever use the TiviMate app anymore. One huge plus of the MOL3 app is the ability to load ALL of your playlists in to it and merely scroll over to the left to get to the one you wish to surf through. TiviMate is horrible to load more than 2 playlists & have to scroll through all of it to find what you want. The gameday is awesome also & is slowly but steadily improving. I would love to see more color choices in the MOL3 app as the selection is very limited compared to TiviMate. In my honest opinion once you use MOL3 enough, your hooked!

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