[DrGrafix]

My ATV1 is still working pretty good since I switched to a NAS drive. Other than a minor annoyance of not being able to FF or FR the media, the system hasn't frozen in over a year. Still using a USB stick to boot... try to remember to reboot every week or so. And it has the Crystal HD card so performance in general is very good.

But... I'm thinking of setting up a 2nd system in the Playroom for the grandkids to stream movies, and wondered whether I should go with an ATV2 or maybe something totally different like the Amazon Fire. Is that a good idea, and are there "versions" of the Fire that should be sought or avoided?

[wrxtasy]

I would not recommend the ATV2, its too low powered for Kodi, with memory limitations and far too expensive these days.
Bite the bullet and install Crystalbuntu to the hard drive of the ATV1 too.
Its fully reversible and will add a new lease of life to the very capable slick little Apple slugger.
http://www.crystalbuntu.com/

The $39 Amazon Fire TV Stick looks to be a bargain to run Kodi now because:
Amazon have just updated the firmware that looks to have fixed the 720p/1080p Picture Quality issues users were having.

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid1864649

Comes with a Bluetooth remote and good dual band WIFI. A game controller can be added for the kids.
The stick will be very popular for Xmas now the PQ issue has been sorted.

http://kodi.wiki/view/Amazon_Fire_TV
http://www.aftvnews.com/

The Amazon Fire TV is a solid choice for Kodi as well. A bit quicker than the Stick and a few more features.
Be aware that Amazon is pushing firmware updates that may brick rooted AFTV devices if not setup correctly to block updates.
Edit: problem firmware pulled by Amazon
http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-fire-tvs-...-bricking/

Info for Amazon Fire TV below....
!!
!!
V

[noggin]

If you're in the US - you've got to look at the Chromebox.

[DrGrafix]

I would not recommend the ATV2, its too low powered for Kodi, with memory limitations and far too expensive these days.
Bite the bullet and install Crystalbuntu to the hard drive of the ATV1 too.
Its fully reversible and will add a new lease of life to the very capable slick little Apple slugger.
http://www.crystalbuntu.com/

Are you saying that my ATV1 would perform _better_ if I used the internal 40 GB HDD than the USB stick?

The $39 Amazon Fire TV Stick looks to be a bargain to run Kodi now because:
Amazon have just updated the firmware that looks to have fixed the 720p/1080p Picture Quality issues users were having.

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid1864649

Comes with a Bluetooth remote and good dual band WIFI. A game controller can be added for the kids.
The stick will be very popular for Xmas now the PQ issue has been sorted.

http://kodi.wiki/view/Amazon_Fire_TV
http://www.aftvnews.com/

The Amazon Fire TV is a solid choice for Kodi as well. A bit quicker than the Stick and a few more features.
Be aware that Amazon is pushing firmware updates that may brick rooted AFTV devices if not setup correctly to block updates.
Edit: problem firmware pulled by Amazon
http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-fire-tvs-...-bricking/

Info for Amazon Fire TV below....
!!
!!
V

Don't know about the stick, but the Box seems to be a real bargain and I'm guessing you can uncheck or somehow block firmware updates if thats a concern? Or search for an older one for sale?

If you're in the US - you've got to look at the Chromebox.

Yeah... but thats quite a bit more expensive way to go and its not my primary... its just for the kids.

[wrxtasy]

Are you saying that my ATV1 would perform _better_ if I used the internal 40 GB HDD than the USB stick?

Thats exactly what I'm saying, the XBMC interface is very quick from the HDD, everything speeds up nicely !
I even run a TvHeadend - Live TV server as well as XBMC on mine. Works well.

Don't know about the stick, but the Box seems to be a real bargain and I'm guessing you can uncheck or somehow block firmware updates if thats a concern? Or search for an older one for sale?

The Stick is the real bargain if its just for the Kids. (it will be on sale again soon I bet)

From AFTV News:

....but for the time being, it’s best to continue following my advice of not updating unrootable Fire TVs if you are hoping to root in the future. Or, at least do not update past (firmware) 51.1.4.0.....

Just to be clear you can still get Kodi on to an Amazon Fire TV via a process called sideloading even if the firmware has been updated to make it un-rootable.
Its USB connected HDD's that will not work without rooting.
Your NAS will have no such issues.

[DrGrafix]

Once my New Year's 18 guests leave, maybe I'll give re-configuring XBMC on the HDD a try. The current "playroom" TV is a 32" CRT and unfortunately it doesn't have a HDMI port so I'm limited to whatever would hook up to component, video/audio, or SVHS. Forgot to mention that earlier. For sure a flat screen is in the future cards, but not right now. Christmas has blown the budget big time LOL.

[shabuboy]

If it is for the kids, on a budget and just need to play movies from NAS. Go for The AFTV. Last time I checked it was $79. Plus you will have netflix, hulu, pandora, etc, etc. Best way to describe AFTV would be: Roku with Kodi.

As mentioned earlier, no need to root if all you just need is to run xbmc, you have to sideload and run it, that is it.

[DrGrafix]

When you say "Roku with Kodi" are you saying its capable of streaming from the NAS drive without any mods? But if I go ATV2 (or something else?) I can set up a dedicated USB drive with the kids movies? Forgive me but I'm not 100% sure about "rooting" and "side loading" so I'll have to read up on that.

My guests are gone and I'll have to refresh my memory on how to install KODI on the 40 Gig internal HDD. Here's a somewhat unrelated question though. I have the Crystal card in my ATV1, so AirPlay can't function. If I take the card out and put the wifi card back in I gain AirPlay but I lose the ability to play 1080p right? Would I be able to use AirPlay if the USB port had a BlueTooth or wifi dongle in it?