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+--- Thread: Tell me what to buy (/showthread.php?tid=215634)
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Tell me what to buy - Nabukicks - 2015-01-20
So after being set on what I thought I needed to buy, I've done some more reading and research and now am not so sure. Figured it would be best for the pros to tell me what I need instead of guessing and being wrong.
What I want is Kodi to play movies in my dedicated home theater room. This means I'd like 1080p, 7.1 lossless audio, and 3d. I was planning on starting with storing the media on a 4tb WD Mycloud, but let me know if that wont work. I plan to have it wired with Ethernet and output via HDMI to my receiver. Control with iPad (iRule) would be a huge bonus, and highly preferred.
I have looked at Fire tv, chromebox, Nuk, Raspberry pi, and am lost with all the options and pros and cons. Could those of you with better knowledge and understanding help me out? I would really appreciate it! Thanks.
RE: Tell me what to buy - Matt Devo - 2015-01-20
based on your stated criteria, and assuming by 3D you mean Bluray 3D ISOs, then a NUC running Windows is your only option. If you mean recompressed HSBS/HTOB 3D material, then a ChromeBox will suffice. A Windows-based box with the same hardware as the ChromeBox, such as the HP Stream Mini or Zotac 320, would also work instead of the NUC. Neither an Android-based system like the AFTV nor a RPI will give you bitstream HD audio output, so those are out.
RE: Tell me what to buy - wrxtasy - 2015-01-20
I would say get something proven with proper refresh rate switching and video sync to the TV and that would be the:
1. Chromebox (no Optical out however) or
2. Zotac BI320 (Win. 8.1 edition) if you want internal 2.5" HDD storage and built in Optical Output. Netflix etc available under Win 8.1 here.
4. Raspberry Pi is perfectly capable when overclocked, its not slow when setup properly and using NFS which the WD MyCloud will allow you to do.
HDMI CEC control included so you will likely be able to control Kodi from your TV remote if you have a modernish TV.
3. Amazon Fire TV for an Integrated Kodi / Netflix experience from the one home page. Remote included. Cannot passthrough HD Audio (TrueHD and DTS-MA).
Does not do deinterlacing well at all. Does not refresh rate switch for proper video sync when watching 23.976fps movies.
All of them running Kodi can be controlled over WIFI with various compatible Apps, when Kodi's web server option is turned on.
WD MyCloud is a good NAS, I've even been considering one. Looks very easy to setup with excellent performance.
I would personally get either of the first two options and then also get a additional cheap Amazon Fire TV stick that comes with a remote control for Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. This way you get superior audio and picture quality when viewing movies and ripped Blurays without any of the compromises that Android and the Amazon Fire TV limit you to.
More info below:
!!
V
(2015-01-20, 05:43)Matt Devo Wrote: Neither an Android-based system like the AFTV nor a RPI will give you bitstream HD audio output, so those are out.Matt is correct, from the RPi Wiki:
Quote:Software DTS audio decode works well in recent builds. TrueHD audio is CPU intensive and may require overclocking.
These are the Audio outputs the RPi supports:
Quote:If your receiver/TV supports DTS or AC3 passthrough then enable these in audio settings and you will get 6 channel audio.
Multichannel PCM audio is supported over HDMI. Note: not all receivers support this and toslink/optical will not.
Enable by setting the speaker configuration to suitable value (e.g. 5.1 or 7.1).
If your recevier does not support multichannel PCM, then leave this at 2.0. You can still get multichannel audio through passthrough.
RE: Tell me what to buy - jknight2014 - 2015-01-20
ASRock Q1900DC-ITX is my first choice.
Similar hardware in a nice case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883211059&cm_re=j1900-_-83-211-059-_-Product
RE: Tell me what to buy - Matt Devo - 2015-01-20
(2015-01-20, 17:06)jknight2014 Wrote: ASRock Q1900DC-ITX is my first choice.
Similar hardware in a nice case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883211059&cm_re=j1900-_-83-211-059-_-Product
why would you pay that much for a barebones BayTrail Atom when a ChromeBox or a similar Haswell Celeron-based box is cheaper?
RE: Tell me what to buy - malcolmbarr - 2015-01-20
Nabukicks
Like Matt Devo stated, something that matters a lot here is whether you really need 3D ISO playback (I playback of the raw format from 3D Blu Ray). Kodi does not support that directly, so if you need that you have to look at solutions which try and inergrate that into Kodi (some Android based boxes are nearly there but not quite, or you need to run Kodi in windows and use an external player for 3D).
If you can give up on 3D ISO, I would recommend the Chromebox solution, like wrxtasy above. Your Ethernet 4tb storage will be fine, and the XBMC Ipad remote app works very nicely.
RE: Tell me what to buy - Nabukicks - 2015-01-20
Thanks for the advice. It would be for 3d blu ray ISO. I have 40+ 3d movies, but it sounds like the best route would be to just use an external player for those, and Kodi for all the regular blu ray and dvds. The chrome box seems nice. I wouldn't need optical out, as the hdmi into my receiver takes care of the audio as well.
Is there a pros/ cons to the chromebox vs the zotac? I've never used Chrome OS, so that's unfamiliar territory.
RE: Tell me what to buy - hdmkv - 2015-01-20
You can also go Mede8er X3D media player (absolute best 3D ISO playback, proper 23.976 and hd audio), but no Kodi. Or, there's VidOn Box with Kodi, 3D and HD audio, but no 23.976 and a couple other bugs.
RE: Tell me what to buy - calev - 2015-01-20
(2015-01-20, 20:57)Nabukicks Wrote: Thanks for the advice. It would be for 3d blu ray ISO. I have 40+ 3d movies, but it sounds like the best route would be to just use an external player for those, and Kodi for all the regular blu ray and dvds. The chrome box seems nice. I wouldn't need optical out, as the hdmi into my receiver takes care of the audio as well.
Is there a pros/ cons to the chromebox vs the zotac? I've never used Chrome OS, so that's unfamiliar territory.
You wouldn't use chromeos you would delete chromeos and use linux/windows to install xbmc.
Chromebox Pros
- Set top box look
- Comes with all hardware needed except for remote
- Cheap
- Some hackery is involved, but just removing a screw, rebooting in developer mode and running a script.
- Small HDD
- Wiki says it cannot play blurays through powerdvd, mabye a deal breaker for you.
- Probably cheaper unless you upgrade hdd
- No hackery involved
- Newegg has it assembled for 180$ still cheap
- Power dvd should work without problems
- These things last a long time. I had one for 2 years before giving it away, and its still running at four years old.
- Ugly
- Cheap plastic feel
- Windows with bing? I don't get anywhere near bing
RE: Tell me what to buy - Dojoroda - 2015-01-20
I went nuts and bought a flawless, mostly problem free Mac Mini with 16GB Ram, added a Logitech Smart Hub, and I have the Optical audio out running from the TV to a SS Receiver. I installed KODI on top of Yosemite, after having used XBMC for sometime. I have an external 2 TB for my own personal multimedia/music. Expensive? Probably. Overkill? I don't think so at all. I cut the cord, the kid's bought us an HDHOMERUN for Christmas, and I absolutely love the unified, spouse friendly interface. I run the Mimic skin these days, it's a "great for fan art" type skin, and offers much customization. My question to you is, what is your budget, what do you wish to accomplish, what are your needs? I wanted a viable replacement for serious cable addiction/withdraw. I have that now. I wouldn't go back unless it was free. With the $$$ I have saved in this last year +, all of the equipment has more than paid for itself. I would list the apps I use, but the forum doesn't allow mentioning those sorts of things...
RE: Tell me what to buy - jknight2014 - 2015-04-15
(2015-01-20, 18:46)Matt Devo Wrote:(2015-01-20, 17:06)jknight2014 Wrote: ASRock Q1900DC-ITX is my first choice.
Similar hardware in a nice case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883211059&cm_re=j1900-_-83-211-059-_-Product
why would you pay that much for a barebones BayTrail Atom when a ChromeBox or a similar Haswell Celeron-based box is cheaper?
Because its not a atom, its a quad core 1.99 ghz celeron. Its worth the price for the performance if your building a home server as well. I do everything on mine.
RE: Tell me what to buy - fishephant - 2015-04-17
The only Android based products to do 7.1 audio and 3D are those based on the HiSilicon chipsets. So mostly Himedia boxes eg Q5 / Q10 / M3 4k3d quad. They also do 7.1 audio and 3D in Kodi by replacing the Kodi player with the himedia player app.
RE: Tell me what to buy - hdmkv - 2015-04-17
There are several other choices.
RE: Tell me what to buy - Matt Devo - 2015-04-17
(2015-04-15, 19:54)jknight2014 Wrote:(2015-01-20, 18:46)Matt Devo Wrote: why would you pay that much for a barebones BayTrail Atom when a ChromeBox or a similar Haswell Celeron-based box is cheaper?
Because its not a atom, its a quad core 1.99 ghz celeron. Its worth the price for the performance if your building a home server as well. I do everything on mine.
it's a BayTrail-based SoC, which is part of the Atom family, regardless of Intel marketing some of them as Celerons (eg, N2830/N2930). From a Kodi perspective, it's drastically inferior to a Haswell-based Celeron (both CPU/GPU).
RE: Tell me what to buy - Dougie Fresh - 2015-04-17
(2015-01-20, 18:46)Matt Devo Wrote: it's a BayTrail-based SoC, which is part of the Atom family, regardless of Intel marketing some of them as Celerons (eg, N2830/N2930). From a Kodi perspective, it's drastically inferior to a Haswell-based Celeron (both CPU/GPU).
Which all looks to change again: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2015/02/26/intel-announces-atom-x/1