[Endeavour79]

Hi Kodi Experts,

I'm currently running a Zotac AD12+ (AMD platform) and I am actually very happy with it.
Unfortunately I can hear the cooling fan is about to die. So there will be a replacement due very soon.
I lost sight on the market with all this new hardware coming up. Some platforms are Android based, some Linux or OSX.

What's your recommendation for an ideally near silent Compact Media Box to run Kodi (ideally on Ubuntu) that supports hardware decoding, HEVC.x256 and True-HD Audio.
I am happy to spend a few $$$ more for a compact one-fits-all box.

Thank you for your time and recommendations!

Cheers
Alex

[MediaPi]

START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Sep 2016)

[Endeavour79]

START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Sep 2016)

Thanks. I did read this article and it basically says the HiMediaQ10Pro boxes are the best. However I don't want to run Android, prefer native Ubuntu. Not sure of that's possible on those boxes. And, I don't like Air Mice, it's a major PITA.

[nickr]

Chromebox (wiki)

[Endeavour79]

Is the Samsung Series 3 any good?
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners...0M22-A02US

[wrxtasy]

START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Sep 2016)

Thanks. I did read this article and it basically says the HiMediaQ10Pro boxes are the best. However I don't want to run Android, prefer native Ubuntu. Not sure of that's possible on those boxes. And, I don't like Air Mice, it's a major PITA.

No that thread does not say the HiMedia Q10Pro boxes are the best, particularly when they:

a) have no Netflix Approval and 1080/2160p DRM protected video streaming keys for other video streaming Apps
b) have microstutters still for 24p 3D video playback, the Q10's major selling point.
c) use of an Air mouse is needed for Android Apps
d) the Imprex picture processing engine cannot be turned fully Off, which messes with video output an Infuriates the Kodi video purists.

Every Kodi box in that thread has some issue or another, users just need to work out what features are most important to them.

---

For reliability Software decoding up to 10bit 2160p HEVC on a Ubuntu Intel machine, you really should be looking at an Intel i3 minimum. But beware you need HDMI 2.0 in an Intel Box if you want to play 2160p HEVC at a refresh rate over 30fps.

This is where the remote control Apps friendly nVIDIA Shield comes in running Android TV which means no messing about with Air Mice. It hardware decodes everything and has HDMI 2.0.

I personally use a eMMC equipped ODROID C2, which also virtually plays anything I throw at it. It runs a minimal Arch Linux OS - LibreELEC Kodi. And you can use whatever IR remote control you want with it.

[Matt Devo]

Is the Samsung Series 3 any good?
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners...0M22-A02US

nickr linked you to the Chromebox wiki - give it a look. It specifically recommends against that model due to its age / lackluster GPU

[Endeavour79]

First of all, thank you for all the responses. This gives me some direction for starters!

I noticed many people recommending the NVIDIA Shield for hardware decoding. Currently I have a nice concert of Sonar, CP and Newsreader running on my Ubuntu Kodi Box. hence me asking for a similar set-up. I researched and people are claiming to run Ubuntu on their Shield device. Did anyone try this here? Would this be a set-up that makes sense at all or would you recommend against it?

[Ned Scott]

Why Ubuntu and not LibreELEC/OpenELEC/OSMC/etc?

[Endeavour79]

Any will do, Ubuntu is what I am used to. But any of those distros should work.

[Ned Scott]

In that case, maybe look at some of the ARM-based boxes. As an example, the WeTek Hub or ODROID-C2 are excellent and 100% silent, and have very good LibreELEC support.

(full disclosure, I work for WeTek).

The Shield TV is the king of ARM boxes, but I don't know how stable their Linux-based distros are. That being said, Shield TV is an excellent Kodi device even if it is running Android.

[Endeavour79]

I just did a bit of reading on Shield TV. Would be my favourite option hardware performance wise. However I am still not convinced that it's possible to compile/run CP, Sonar and Newsreader on it. Don't want to pair another RasberryPi and Shield TV just to get this sorted.
Did anyone install a Media Centre set-up like this on Shield TV before? Any input?

[nickr]

Shield TV runs android. I don't think CP, Sonar etc run on android do they? There may be android equivalent apps but I wouldn't be using android for that.

[Endeavour79]

Good morning from down under. Thanks again for everyone taking the time to respond, sharing your knowledge with me.
Summarising my learnings, the best hardware decoding platform would be Shield TV, running Android.
However it would be unpractical to impossible to run Kodi, CP, Sickbeard/Sobar and Newsreader together, fully automated. For such an approach I'd need to put a Pi next to it running the services on example Ubuntu.
There are Chromebox that would run Ubuntu but lack hardware decoding and HDMI2.0.
There is currently no mini-pc like the Zotac Nano AD12 box I'm currently using, that's supports 4K, HEVC.265 hardware decoding, IR remote and runs Linux. Correct?

On the positive side, I spent yesterday evening to disassemble my Zotac AD12 down to cooler. I took the fan off, cleaned and re-greased it. I also replaced the stone hard thermal paste. I managed to nearly eliminate the fan noise (will last a few month longer I hope) and as side effect also reduce the average system temperature by approx. 10degrees Celsius.
The box will hopefully last a few month and by then I hope there's a new full 4K HDMI2.0 ready box on the market.


Thanks again!

[noggin]

There is currently no mini-pc like the Zotac Nano AD12 box I'm currently using, that's supports 4K, HEVC.265 hardware decoding, IR remote and runs Linux. Correct?

Incorrect.

There are AMLogic S905 series devices like the ODroid C2, Wetek Hub and forthcoming Wetek Play 2 which have :

* HEVC / H265 hardware decode for 8 and 10 bit video up to 2160/60p - though some S905 variants may exhibit disturbances on some DVB-type streams (Wetek Hub and Play 2 shouldn't)
* 2160/60p HDMI 2.0 output
* IR remote receiver (C2 has an option IR remote, Hub comes bundled as does Play 2)
* Linux - I run LibreElec on my C2 and my Hub, but have run ODrobian (the ODroid flavour of Debian) on my C2
* Are all fanless so totally silent
(They also have decent deinterlacing and hardware acceleration of MPEG2 and H264 8-bit content)

I'm playing 2160/60p HEVC 10 bit stuff on them with no major problems, and watching it over an HDMI 2.0 connection on my Sony UHD TV.

The Hub (and Play 2 I believe) will also dual boot into Android, and is Netflix approved, so will give you access to 1080p Netflix HD content, as well as other official streaming sources that wouldn't be available directly within Kodi.

Whether they wil do all the other stuff you want is a different matter. Can't comment on that as I don't source my content that way. However I run a separate media server based on an unRAID x86 box that handles all my file storage requirements, and can also run applications to do what you wish I think. I think achieving silent handling of this element of your requirements could be more of a challenge - but I house my server in a separate room (actually a large storage cupboard) so it doesn't have to be truly silent.