[DEEPfrom1]

I am eager to purchase one of the two.

I will be using the device to watch movies, shows etc as well as netflix. I am also looking for a machine to use with torrents. I have lately been using my i5 macbook pro and VLC to play everything. Which works fine, I just prefer to have my MBP for work/writing those kinds of things. Plus it is annoying to always have to plug it into the hdmi, keyboard, mouse and power to use in clamshell mode.

I've been reading for days now and have narrowed it down to the Ouya or the Odroid-u2.


Ouya Pro's:
-Cheaper $99 free shipping. (odroid is 119 + cables/Cords with shipping)
-Includeds all cables and power cable
-Ready to go out of the box

Odroid Pro's:
-2gb ram
-Possbily faster?

How will I make a decision?!

Either device will run an external hard drive for files, XBMC,Netflix, Utorrent, browser, wireless logitech keyboard and mouse.

Thats really it


Thanks!

[Ned Scott]

ODROID U2 will be much faster, but the OUYA is certainly not slow.

Basically, it comes down to this: Do you like to tinker, or are you looking for something that will (mostly) work out of the box? If you like to tinker, I would say roll the dice and get the ODROID U2. It's an awesome little bugger, and you can over clock the crap out of it and really do some crazy stuff for an ARM processor. It also has some more ports and connectors, IIRC.

At the same time, the OUYA is not bad at all, and is also somewhat-tinker friendly, but has less tinker options since it's not considered a development board like the ODROID is.

Both will make an excellent XBMC box, and both will fulfill all your requirements.

[DEEPfrom1]

Will each device be sufficient for uTorrent needs?

[Budwyzer]

Will each device be sufficient for uTorrent needs?

See uTorrent forums for that, ya criminal.

[teaguecl]

Will each device be sufficient for uTorrent needs?

uTorrent is a Windows only application. I'm pretty sure you won't be able to run Windows apps on either platform. Technically there is a uTorrent Linux client, but in my experience it's been pretty much unusable - crashes a lot, corrupts the downloads, and hasn't been updated in years.

[Budwyzer]

Will each device be sufficient for uTorrent needs?

uTorrent is a Windows only application. I'm pretty sure you won't be able to run Windows apps on either platform. Technically there is a uTorrent Linux client, but in my experience it's been pretty much unusable - crashes a lot, corrupts the downloads, and hasn't been updated in years.

Well, techinically since these devices are on Android OS.

Here's the link of torrent apps.

[ciquta]

Will each device be sufficient for uTorrent needs?

it's much more than enough for Transmission or RuTorrent, which are much more better than uTorrent

i use succesfully ruTorrent on a single-core Allwinner soc with 1ghz cpu

[DEEPfrom1]

Will each device be sufficient for uTorrent needs?

See uTorrent forums for that, ya criminal.

I went for a full Intel build, whoops!

[rushingjs]

Does anybody know if the ODroid has the AC3/DTS/DTSHD passthrough figured out, or if it is powerful enough to software decode it? (I would assume the first two would be able to be software decoded.

[noggin]

I don't think any of the ARM-based Android (and in some cases minimal Linux) devices do Dolby True HD or DTS HD pass through. (Technically quite a few of the SoCs support it - enabling it is tricky - and it's pretty nailed down through licensing)

Many of the Android-based devices only do PCM 2.0 output (so no 5.1 - and DD/DTS have to be decoded).

Some of the Linux based stuff (Pivos I think, Cubox 1st gen and Raspberry Pi spring to mind) will do DTS/DD pass-through via HDMI (and I think the Cubox also supports this on its internal Toslink output)

Another thing to make sure is that if 50Hz output is an issue for you (i.e. you're in Europe and watch European DVDs or TV recordings) that your box will output 50Hz. Last time I checked the hardkernel team were struggling to get 50Hz HDMI output in Android or Linux on the Odroids. This isn't a problem on Pivos, Cubox or Raspberry Pi.

Think 50Hz can be more of a problem with Android. (I've seen some boxes that appear to offer 50Hz output - but when you enable it you still get 60Hz...)

[rushingjs]

Thanks Noggin,

I am using raspberry Pi's right now and I get AC3 passthrough (and decoding), and DD/DTS passthrough just fine. Looking to upgrade from Raspberry Pi and repurpose those for other home automation projects, as even overclocked to 1Ghz, they don't quite get the WAF that I need in the household I have lots of media and use xbmc as a PVR client, and as it can handle everything I throw at it, even on the lightest skins it still is a bit too sluggish for the money I'm willing to spend.

No worries on the 50hz for me, I live in the states. Without at least AC3 passthrough I can't justify pulling the trigger. Hopefully the android/DTS licensing roadblock will change, but I don't have any insight on that. I have heard good things about running linux on the jynx box, I wonder if that will do any passthrough. Running android has the perks of netflix and HULU that as far as I know you can't get on a linux platform.

I appreciate your response!