Stock firmware on these generic boxes is often bloated or buggy. A clean firmware update can:
Finding the "best" firmware involves balancing stability with modern features, as these boxes are often sold with outdated or bloated software.
Hard to get internal NAND storage recognized natively. You will likely need to run the OS from a high-quality micro SD card.
Removes resource-heavy, pre-installed background apps.
A high-quality cable (for Android ROMs) or a high-speed Micro SD card (for Linux/EmuELEC). The firmware image file ( .img ). Allwinner USB Drivers installed on your PC.
If your primary goal is watching video content, streaming, or running standard Android applications, a modified Android Open Source Project (AOSP) image or a port is ideal.