[agrande]

Currently I am using Kodi on my 2012 MBP and connecting to my tv via hdmi. This works great but i am sick of having to pull my laptop out everytime I want to watch a movie that is stored on my Buffalo LS210 or if I want to watch something from an addon channel. I would also like the option to use the product for other native channels that come with the hardware

What options do I have?

apple tv or laptop and streaming xbmc from my ipad/MPB to the apple tv. <-- not a huge fan of this idea
Amazon fire tv - looks like i can set up xbmc directly on this
Roku - this isnt an option but i like that is has lots of channels to use and could use another media server other than Kodi
mac mini - price is a turn off, but it would be the same setup as i am currently using but free up my laptop

What are some other box type options? Are there other android boxes pwerful enough to use to run Kodi from directly and also play movies stored on my Buffalo NAS?

[shabuboy]

AFTV + Kodi if you will be streaming from your NAS and the internet (Netflix, Hulu, etc)
Chromebox + Openelec, same as above + live TV internet streaming that requires flash
Roku is actually an option without Kodi, if you can manage to run Plex server on a PC/NAS

I recently got the AFTV, so far so good (rooted, Kodi, Llama, SU, Chrome, etc). I only have 720p movies for the most part. The remote is awesome. However, today got this box (was $139.99), so chances are I will return the AFTV. Could not pass on such sale even when I paid $79 for the AFTV.

Setback of the AFTV, at least for me even though I was aware of it before hand...
- No flash support
- Internet browsing is a bit not up to part
- no 3.5mm stereo connector (only S/PDIF / optical). I know I know, still living on the dark ages...

[agrande]

How difficult is the rooting of the fire tv? I havent looked much into the fire tv. Any issues with streaming movies from an external drive? Most, but not all, of my movies on my NAS are SD.

That other box you linked too looks good, sold out at that price though. darn. Any other good boxes around that work well?

my goal is to find a smallish box that I can install Kodi on, stream movies from my NAS drive, be able to stream videos from other kodi addon channels occasionally. if the box has built in channels, then even better as it will be easier for my wife and kids to use when want to watch something on netflix, hulu etc.

[wrxtasy]

I would like to help but I will not until you update you country in your user details.

Why new users ask ?
Its because video is recorded at different refresh rates worldwide and not all media boxes can autoswitch refresh rates to sync to the TV as video starts playback. This gives the best display experience when a media box can do this.

The Amazon Fire TV stick would be the best value for networked streaming using Kodi and Netflix, Hulu etc. at this time.
Its a powerful little stick.

[shabuboy]

How difficult is the rooting of the fire tv? I havent looked much into the fire tv. Any issues with streaming movies from an external drive? Most, but not all, of my movies on my NAS are SD.

Not easy, but not too hard. Using Amazon FireTV Utility App is even easier. However, it all depends what version you get. Gosh did I read a lot before even buying it!
All my videos are on my WD My Book Live NAS, not a problem at all playing them

Do your research, start here...
Kodi Wiki for it: http://kodi.wiki/view/Amazon_Fire_TV
Root and other info here: http://www.aftvnews.com/start/
Also search youtube for videos

But bottom line, if you just want to run Kodi/XMBC, no need to root, just sideload the app.
Root needed for USB external drives and some other tweaks, which at this point, I am not even doing.

[agrande]

Location updated.

I'll have to do some more research in the fire tv and the fire stick. I haven't looked much into those two productst. We do have prime so at least we get some added benefit there, but who knows how long that will last with Amazon raising the price of it each year.

If rooting or sideloading compares to jailbreaking iOS devices then I won't have a problem. I can follow directions and I'm not intimidated by electronics. Watch videos and read.

If I can find a price similar to that box from newegg I might do that route. Time to do more research

[shabuboy]

I sent you a PM, but should let others know as well, price went down to $139 again.

How do I know? I use this site, http://www.notifyprice.com. Recommended when tracking prices.

[agrande]

I think I'm going to get an aftv. Small and powerful plus once set up easy for my wife and kids to use or access other apps/channels

[wrxtasy]

Merry Xmas,

Good move for an all in one integrated Kodi / Netflix / Amazon media box the AFTV. Nice included remote as well.

[petehouk]

AFTV + Kodi if you will be streaming from your NAS and the internet (Netflix, Hulu, etc)
Chromebox + Openelec, same as above + live TV internet streaming that requires flash
Roku is actually an option without Kodi, if you can manage to run Plex server on a PC/NAS

I recently got the AFTV, so far so good (rooted, Kodi, Llama, SU, Chrome, etc). I only have 720p movies for the most part. The remote is awesome. However, today got this box (was $139.99), so chances are I will return the AFTV. Could not pass on such sale even when I paid $79 for the AFTV.

Setback of the AFTV, at least for me even though I was aware of it before hand...
- No flash support
- Internet browsing is a bit not up to part
- no 3.5mm stereo connector (only S/PDIF / optical). I know I know, still living on the dark ages...

Using the Zotac box appeals to me so that I wouldn't have to mess around re-purposing a set top box. But the PC that you linked to was only a Celeron. Doesn't the Wiki page say that Kodi needs a x86? I think it also says that it needs a 2GHz or greater processor.

What happens if I use a box like this that doesn't meet the hardware requirements? I am assuming that video is what requires the powerful hardware. So can I use a PC like this Zotac and settle for less than 1080p display? (I have a small TV and I am not discriminating viewer of movies. Buffering or stopping/starting would annoy me, but the difference between 480 or 1080 is lost on me.)

I listen to my music collection pretty frequently though. Even with the less-than-ideal specs on this Zotac I should get good audio, right?

[wrxtasy]

The Zotac BI320 and the Chromebox run x86 Dual Core Intel Celerons with very capable Haswell microarchitecture.
The integrated GPU is very good and that is primarily what Kodi needs for all that video codec decoding.
Both will run Kodi very very well with that quick SSD, even up to resolutions of 2160p@24/30Hz ie 4K.

http://kodi.wiki/view/ASUS_Chromebox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Int...d_Celerons

This Zotac box is very good value and has the same guts as a Chromebox + extra bits and will run Win 8.1 and Kodi well. The other advantage with this Zotac is you can interchange the powercord cheaply for a local compatible power socket.
Highly recommended:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid1867041

[noggin]

Using the Zotac box appeals to me so that I wouldn't have to mess around re-purposing a set top box. But the PC that you linked to was only a Celeron. Doesn't the Wiki page say that Kodi needs a x86? I think it also says that it needs a 2GHz or greater processor.

Celeron IS x86 architecture. The current Haswell 2955U/2957U Celerons (as used in the current Chromeboxes and the Zotac) are a great fit for Kodi. The Haswell Celeron is a dual-core x86 CPU with a pretty powerful Intel HD graphics GPU on the same chip. (The GPU is significantly better on the Haswell Celerons than the Baytrail N2820/N2830 Celerons by the way)

Depending on the price in your territory, the Chromebox (which comes with 2GB RAM and a 16GB SSD - more than enough for OpenElec) could well be a VERY good value purchase.

If you are in North America and don't have a TV with 24p capabilities OR you don't have an AV amp with HD Audio OR don't watch Live TV then the major benefits (auto frame rate switching, HD Audio bit streaming and high quality de-interlacing) over the AFTV and other Android solutions may not be so significant.

I'm in Europe, watch through an AV amp and use my Kodi install for SD and HDTV viewing of native interlaced content - so things like the FireTV are of no real interest to me. The Chromebox (brought back after a US visit) is the best value little Kodi box I've seen so far. (The Zotac similarly)

What happens if I use a box like this that doesn't meet the hardware requirements? I am assuming that video is what requires the powerful hardware. So can I use a PC like this Zotac and settle for less than 1080p display? (I have a small TV and I am not discriminating viewer of movies. Buffering or stopping/starting would annoy me, but the difference between 480 or 1080 is lost on me.)

Don't worry - it more than meets the hardware requirements for Kodi. 1080p playback is fine, and the trickier 1080i (interlaced content is more difficult to handle than progressive) is also handled very well now that the Haswell hardware deinterlacing has become accessible. (Apart from interlaced VC-1 which is an issue - but that is common across intel GPUs, as well as other platforms)

I listen to my music collection pretty frequently though. Even with the less-than-ideal specs on this Zotac I should get good audio, right?

The Zotac doesn't have less-than-ideal specs.

[petehouk]

The Zotac doesn't have less-than-ideal specs.

Well OK. I guess I should go get one right now. Though it would be nice for the price to go back to $130 first.

What about the 2GHz thing? Not so important?

[wrxtasy]

The only reason at the moment you would get hardware with a high GHz CPU is if you bought a media box that does not support hardware decoding of HEVC/H265 video. None of the Intel CPU based boxes do currently. Kodi currently on these machines will decode H265 using software only, and then only at lower bitrates as it will run out of CPU resources.

As an example Openelec - Kodi runs fine on a 256MB - 700Mhz Raspberry Pi, it has very capable Broadcom Graphics.
Its the GPU thats of primary importance when running a media streamer.

Kodi is not a computational CPU resource hog.

Another example, my 2006 2Ghz Core2Duo Macbook (Intel GMA 950 (945G)), runs Kodi just fine as well. It does 1080p H264/AVC software decoding of video with room to spare. 1080i deinterlacing as well.

If your coming from a Windows O.S. world and run Office, Word and floating point CPU intensive games then yes Ghz is important. But in the Linux world - Openelec, Ubuntu, these O.S. have a very low system footprint.

Fast RAM, a SSD and 2Ghz with powerful Haswell graphics make these Chromeboxes (+Z BI320) very snappy and capable Kodi media boxes.



http://kodi.wiki/view/Supported_hardware