[pyrex27]

I was very inclined to buy the Shield TV but I'm starting to fear that it's support might be dropped in the future. Meanwhile, I noticed that an Intel Braswell N3700 mini PC is available for more or less the same price (here https://www.asus.com/Mini-PCs/VivoMini-U...fications/).

So my question is, who is the king of the 200€ Kodi machine? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

EDIT; Just noticed Braswell doesn't support 10bit HEVC and Shield TV does it's been decided already

Thanks in advance.

[fritsch]

Not only the hw specs are relevant but the current implementation. Playback quality / color / postprocessing wise the Braswell smokes the Shield in the pipe. Same for HD Audio passthrough and sync.

Buy a cheap RaspberryPi and when the new Broxton Nucs are available go for these.

[deaded]

You would get a higher quality picture from the Broxton NUC than you would from the Shield?

[Koying]

OTOH, if you want to enter the 21st century with voice search, voice recognition, Netflix, (not retro) gaming, ... go Shield

But yeah, if you want a plain Kodi, a NUC is surely the way to go...

[wesk05]

OTOH, if you want to enter the 21st century with voice search, voice recognition, Netflix, (not retro) gaming, ... go Shield
But yeah, if you want a plain Kodi, a NUC is surely the way to go...

You mean Netflix 4K and HDR10 (in ~6 months). Something the NUCs can't even dream of

[Koying]

Actually, scratch that.
If you want a plain Kodi, RPI is surely the most cost-efficient solution, if you can live with its (limited) limitations

[pyrex27]

I would go for RPI if it (fully) supported 1080p HEVC (preferably 10bit). I would go for ODROID if it (fully) supported HD Audio decoding.

It's a bit of a shame that I need a cannon (Shield) to support both these requirements

[b0mb]

I´m very pleased with my NUC with N3700 CPU.

Especially EGL is a thing i don´t want to miss in the future!

[Karnis]

Buy yourself an Asrock Beebox, slap 2 GB of RAM & a 120 GB SSD HD drive in it, load Matt Devo's v15.2 -6.0.398 EGL build on it, and enjoy fantastic 1080p picture quality, full HD passthru (yes, Atmos) & HW decoded 8-bit HEVC. Built in IR receiver makes it an excellent set top box experience.

[deaded]

Ok, wow, I'm going to have to re-think getting my third Shield. I don't care much about the voice search. I do plan on getting an 80" 4K TV with HDR so I'm going to want to be able to appreciate that but I really want the best quality output (I might not be able to tell the difference on my 50" LCD but will definitely be able to tell on a 4K screen almost twice the size). I don't mind waiting for the Broxton NUC but if this is the one you're talking about...
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/n...5pgyh.html
It does not seem to do 4K. I say that because it's video stats say that the HDMI output is 1.4b. Am I misunderstanding?

-----edit-----
Oh, that's not the new Broxton box. I see. And now I have the question, should I use it with windows 10 or OpenELEC?

[noggin]

Oh, that's not the new Broxton box. I see. And now I have the question, should I use it with windows 10 or OpenELEC?

If you want 3D or DRM-ed services like Netflix ,then Windows 10. If you just want a lightweight player for 2D content, OpenElec.

However HDR is still early days. There are at least two standards likely to hit the market, though it appears many TVs are likely to support both.

UHD Blu-ray supports two HDR formats that both use SMPE ST-2084 - Dolby Vision and HDR 10. (AIUI Dolby Vision has some interesting requirements that make it very proprietary at many points in the production chain, and aren't a great mix for live TV production)

The BBC and NHK are working on their Hybrid Log Gamma System - which allows SDR and HDR displays to display the same signal (SDR displays lose the benefit of the HDR signal in a graceful manner) which has already demonstrated compatibility for multi camera live production that will be required for sport, entertainment etc.

HDR content may appear without DRM initially on TV platforms - where simulcasting SDR and HDR won't be an option, and in some cases 1080/50p HDR (not UHD) may start appearing. Germany is about to start transitioning from SD MPEG2 576/50i to HD H265/HEVC 1080/50p - and is leaving the door open for HDR I believe (as long as it is SDR compatible?)

Also throw Rec 2020 (replacing 709 and 601) and you have some interesting times we live in.

[deaded]

Thanks noggin. What I really want is the highest quality output I can get for 4K and I will definitely want both Amazon Prime and Netflix since they are doing HDR right now in the US. It looks like there is no clear path. I imagine whatever TV I get will have both Prime and Netflix so maybe OpenOLEC but I do want the ability to do 3D. Tough choice right now. I wonder if the Broxton box will be able to do 3D, or maybe it's a limitation of OpenOLEC? I'll wait and see for the time being. I love/hate being an early adopter.

[wrxtasy]

You are between a Rock and a Hard Place. Yes HDR content is Netflix and Prime, just use a compatible 4K HDR 10bit TV.
4K 10bit HEVC HDR needs UHD Bluray and the protection methods will need to be cracked before you can even rip any 4K HEVC for home use.

You are probably better getting an i series NUC, it does not have to be the latest if you want 3D. Keep an eye on the Windows Hardware thread for a compatible box. You can boot straight into Kodi with an easy to use launcher these days too.

I would personally do 3D on the Cheap and get a RPi3 just for Frame Packed 3D, then you are not limited by the other devices you can choose from.

Recent optimisations with ffmpeg and HEVC decoding means that at least low/medium 1080p 10bit HEVC can be Software decoded with certain NUC's and even the Chromebox these days. 4K 10bit HEVC will struggle on lower powered devices using Software decoding.

[noggin]

Thanks noggin. What I really want is the highest quality output I can get for 4K and I will definitely want both Amazon Prime and Netflix since they are doing HDR right now in the US.

My guess is that the nVidia Shield may support whatever flavour of HDR Netflix uses, and assuming your TV does too then Netflix may well deliver HDR on the Shield. At the moment i suspect the only other route to HDR Netflix will be Smart TV apps in your HDR TV.
My next guess that Amazon Prime HDR will only be available on the Fire TV 2 with 4K output as an external player solution (if any external solution works), with most HDR sets using an internal Amazon Prime app.

I wouldn't base any Kodi platform decisions on HDR support currently, though if you have a Shield I think you're probably in a good place for HDR support of some sort (even if not in Kodi).

I very much doubt Kodi will support Dolby Vision content in the short-term, as I believe it is a proprietary solution with licensing fees.

It looks like there is no clear path. I imagine whatever TV I get will have both Prime and Netflix so maybe OpenOLEC but I do want the ability to do 3D. Tough choice right now. I wonder if the Broxton box will be able to do 3D, or maybe it's a limitation of OpenOLEC? I'll wait and see for the time being. I love/hate being an early adopter.

The only OpenElec platform with 3D MVC decode and Frame Packed HD 3D output is the Raspberry Pi. This is the only Linux platform with Full HD 3D playback support currently implemented. To get 3D MVC decode and Frame Packed output on Intel platforms (with compatible processors) you can now use Windows 8.1 or 10 with the newer 3D MVC-friendly builds of Kodi (and no longer need external Blu-ray playback software).

[wesk05]

My guess is that the nVidia Shield may support whatever flavour of HDR Netflix uses, and assuming your TV does too then Netflix may well deliver HDR on the Shield. At the moment i suspect the only other route to HDR Netflix will be Smart TV apps in your HDR TV.
My next guess that Amazon Prime HDR will only be available on the Fire TV 2 with 4K output as an external player solution (if any external solution works), with most HDR sets using an internal Amazon Prime app.

Netflix will have both Dolby Vision and HDR10. Right now, they only have Dolby Vision and it is supported only on Vizio Reference/ 2016 P-series UHD TVs. Netflix will include HDR10 within 3 months and I guess the SHIELD may be upgraded to support HDR10 within 6 months. Amazon Prime UHD is HDR10 and is supported on Samsung and Sony UHD TV apps. Amazon FireTV 2 will never have HDR10, it is HDMI 1.4.