[Jay1b]

Hello

I've been using Kodi on my laptop for a while and I would like to use on my television via an external box. I primarily use Kodi for my home videos, pictures, music and for the PluralSight plugin. We're getting a NAS box soon, so it would be good to be able to stream directly from that to the TV.

I've seen the cheap boxes on Amazon that come with a remote keyboard for £30 and in theory something like that would be ideal (if it worked). I've got young children so I want my personal photos and videos to be completely safe and I don't want anything dodgy, pretty much plain Kodi other than PluralSight and MixCloud plugins.

I would buy one that is vanilla as I can, but even still is possible to wipe these cheap boxes and completely reinstalled them? If so are they up to the task? Is there a guide somewhere I can follow to do this?

Alternatively does anyone have a link to a bargain budget one that would be up to the task please? The other thing is we've still got a CRT TV (don't ask) so ideally I would an AV port.

Thanks

Jay

[bry]

take a look at the raspberryPi3 + the Flirc. that will probably be most supported, best bang for your buck. heck maybe even the PiZero

[Jay1b]

Thanks. I expect you get a lot more for the stats, but the stats imply it would be a lot less powerful. The time I add the case, power supply and the Pi I think it would come to about £60.

[wrxtasy]

@Jay1b

If you had a HDMI LCD/LED TV....not many are going to be able to helpwith the combo of cheap hardware and CRT TV's anymore.

Three solutions for you:
Either:

a) buy a cheap AMLogic S905 Android Box, do some DIY work to wipe the Android OS and install LibreELEC Kodi. This will then boot straight into Kodi.
This is the DIY guide for that:
https://forum.libreelec.tv/forum-38.html

b) buy a WeTek Hub and boot straight into LibreELEC Kodi once you do a simple Flash of a microSDHC card.

OR
c) buy a Xiaomi Mi Box, & download SPMC (a Kodi version) from the Play Store

Why ?
Well because they have the simplest Graphic User Interfaces and remote control interactions.

The Xiaomi Mi Box because its more versatile, Android OS wise and runs a very family friendly Android TV OS:
https://www.android.com/tv/

What all those cheap Android Box Sellers fail to mention to you is that their Included Infra Red Remotes will not actually work properly with Android Apps and you need to purchase a seperate Wireless Air Mouse remote control to use Android (touchscreen) Apps properly. Its not kids or family friendly going down this cheap Android Box route. I cannot stress how much of a PITA this Air Mouse nonsense will be.

Android TV OS gets rid of all that rubbish, and you use Apps specifically designed for use on a TV with a simple wireless remote.
The Mi Box also comes with Chromecasting baked in which can be very usefull.
I have a MINIX A2 Lite Keyboard Remote in the mail I'm about to test with the Mi Box I have.

http://minix.com.hk/en/products/neo-a2-lite

And in the UK, and on Sale now for the Black Friday Weekend:
https://www.thesolutionshop.co.uk/product/mi-box/

[nickr]

The reason rpi was suggested is because it has an analogue tv (composite) tv output. Pretty rare these days so you may just have to stump up to get one.

[wrxtasy]

Yes and that is very likely the cheapest, very capable Kodi LibreELEC box getting about for CRT TV connection.