[ZippyTheChicken]

I have an android box right now that I purchased back in 2015 which works ok for my h.264 videos off of my nas
however in that time I have continued to record way too many tv shows because I am
going to be canceling cable and I don't have the budget for Netflix or a Service.

Putting together my archive has been great but my drive is starting to fill up
so I have started converting the videos over to h.265 and the results are good.
I figure I will have at minimum 40% more space once they are converted.

Unfortunately my older Android Box doesn't decode the h.265 videos very well or good at all.

My desktop can but that does my TV no good.

I have been looking at newer generic boxes that support h.265 decoding
some of them also have more memory and storage which should be good.

However picking the correct CPU/GPU setup is difficult.

There is no way i can afford a nvida shield and I don't game anyway.

The Mi Box seems a bit under featured for the price.

another thing.. did I hear right that support for h265 hardware decoding code in future releases of Kodi won't be supported for android boxes?

I am sorry I am not elite enough to own a higher priced device but its not in my future.

anyway ... saw that and was a bit disappointed..

I hope someone can give me some real world suggestions

thanks a lot

MOD EDIT: A H265 decoding box is what is actually needed not encoding. Thread title changed.

[KoopaTroopa]

Just read this

You didn't specify what your budget is and honestly if the Mi Box is not good enough for you then I highly doubt you will find anything that is close to it

[wrxtasy]

The Mi Box seems a bit under featured for the price.

another thing.. did I hear right that support for h265 hardware decoding code in future releases of Kodi won't be supported for android boxes?

The S905x(x) Mi Box will easily handle up to 4K H265 (HEVC) HDR video. You get a very good Wireless Voice Remote and superior AC WiFi (200Mbps has been seen) compared to any Android Box in its price range. HD Audio passthrough in Android Kodi Krypton as well, which no other $69 Android device will give you.

Oh and then there is the easy to use Android TV OS vs touchscreen regular Android boxes.
No one has probable told you that you are going to need to purchase an additional Wireless Air Mouse Remote to control regular touchscreen Android Apps on those budget clone Android Boxes. Kodi use only should be fine however.

Don't fall into the Android Trap of just looking at tech specs on boxes. Firmware is critical, and ongoing support if you want something half decent to run Kodi without too many issues.

I suggest if on a very tight budget get a AMLogic S905(x) Android Box that can also run LibreELEC Kodi with some elbow grease and DIY. LibreELEC Kodi Krypton will be superior on any S905 device vs Android Kodi Krypton.

Oh and H265 Hardware decoding will not be disappearing, no matter what the device.

[ZippyTheChicken]

I did post replies to both of you but I guess a Mod ate them because they had an Ebay Link to a box


The problem I have is I am converting my archive of tv i recorded off my Ceton Tuner to h.265

I want to make sure that the device I buy will work well with Kodi...
or if not then I will have to find another product like plex

I don't understand why the Kodi Developers are not going to support h.265 in the future for these lower end devices which most people will want to use.. people like me on a budget

I will need to buy 2-3 of them so $40 to $60 is about as high as I can go. and even that is a lot I will probably have to sell my old stuff to cover the cost of the new stuff partly

Yes i have an android box now but it is older

I have a Rii Mini Keyboard for it and an airmouse that I don't use

The Mi only has one USB port and it does not have Wired Ethernet which I need because I want to keep my NAS off of my wifi.

It has much better specs than the Mi and costs about $60

Android 5.1 OS -- its an ok os version
Same as Mi Box--- CPU: Amlogic S905 Quad-Core Cortex-A53 2.0GHz
Same as Mi Box--- GPU: Penta-Core Mali-450 600MHz+
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- SDRAM: 3GBDDR3; FLASH: 32GBNAND FLASH
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- Expanded Storage: Supports SD / SDHC / MMC cards SD Card, up to 32GB
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- USB host: 4 High speed USB 2.0, support U DISK and USB HDD
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- Card Reader: SD / SDHC / MMC Cards
HDD File System: FAT16 / FAT32 / NTFS
Support Subtitle: SRT/SMI/SUB/SSA/IDX+USB
High Definition video output: SD/HD max.1920x1080 pixel
NOT AVAILABLE ON THE Mi Box -- LAN Ethernet:10/100M, standard RJ-45




Anyway h.265 is my question..

what do I have to have?

and what is the future of it with Kodi.. because Kodi is not an out of the box setup first shot and running in 5 minutes.. its a pain in the backside to get working right with a variety of plugins .. and I only use Legal Plugins.

anyway

not interested in the Mi Box .. thank you spending most of my reply trying to fend off salesmen for Mi is counter productive especially after my first post said I don't think the Mi is a good box for the money .. and Nvidia is way out of my price range.

thanks again to anyone who actually replies who doesnt work for the makers of the Mi Box

The Mi Box seems a bit under featured for the price.

another thing.. did I hear right that support for h265 hardware decoding code in future releases of Kodi won't be supported for android boxes?

The S905x(x) Mi Box will easily handle up to 4K H265 (HEVC) HDR video. You get a very good Wireless Voice Remote and superior AC WiFi (200Mbps has been seen) compared to any Android Box in its price range. HD Audio passthrough in Android Kodi Krypton as well, which no other $69 Android device will give you.

Oh and then there is the easy to use Android TV OS vs touchscreen regular Android boxes.
No one has probable told you that you are going to need to purchase an additional Wireless Air Mouse Remote to control regular touchscreen Android Apps on those budget clone Android Boxes. Kodi use only should be fine however.

Don't fall into the Android Trap of just looking at tech specs on boxes. Firmware is critical, and ongoing support if you want something half decent to run Kodi without too many issues.

I suggest if on a very tight budget get a AMLogic S905(x) Android Box that can also run LibreELEC Kodi with some elbow grease and DIY. LibreELEC Kodi Krypton will be superior on any S905 device vs Android Kodi Krypton.

Oh and H265 Hardware decoding will not be disappearing, no matter what the device.

[KoopaTroopa]

I don't understand why the Kodi Developers are not going to support h.265 in the future for these lower end devices which most people will want to use.. people like me on a budget

Dunno where you're getting your information from but this is wrong.

I will need to buy 2-3 of them so $40 to $60 is about as high as I can go. and even that is a lot I will probably have to sell my old stuff to cover the cost of the new stuff partly

Why not just start with buying ONE box and see how you go?

The Mi only has one USB port and it does not have Wired Ethernet which I need because I want to keep my NAS off of my wifi.

you can buy a $9 USB-to-Ethernet cable to add Ethernet to Mi Box

It has much better specs than the Mi and costs about $60

Android 5.1 OS -- its an ok os version
Same as Mi Box--- CPU: Amlogic S905 Quad-Core Cortex-A53 2.0GHz
Same as Mi Box--- GPU: Penta-Core Mali-450 600MHz+
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- SDRAM: 3GBDDR3; FLASH: 32GBNAND FLASH
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- Expanded Storage: Supports SD / SDHC / MMC cards SD Card, up to 32GB
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- USB host: 4 High speed USB 2.0, support U DISK and USB HDD
BETTER THAN Mi Box -- Card Reader: SD / SDHC / MMC Cards
HDD File System: FAT16 / FAT32 / NTFS
Support Subtitle: SRT/SMI/SUB/SSA/IDX+USB
High Definition video output: SD/HD max.1920x1080 pixel
NOT AVAILABLE ON THE Mi Box -- LAN Ethernet:10/100M, standard RJ-45

None of those specs impress me, I don't need to see the Kodi box to tell it'll have worse Kodi performance out-of-the-box

You said you needed to play media off your NAS, so most of those "BETTER THAN Mi Box" specs are irrelevant to NAS streaming.

anyway

not interested in the Mi Box .. thank you spending most of my reply trying to fend off salesmen for Mi is counter productive especially after my first post said I don't think the Mi is a good box for the money .. and Nvidia is way out of my price range.

I do not work for Mi Box and neither does wrxtasy so I dunno what you're talking about.

Why you don't think Mi Box is good value for the money is quite strange, it is literally the best out-of-the-box Kodi box under $70. It. Just. Works. All the other "cheapies" require various levels of DIY hacking to get similar performance.

thanks again to anyone who actually replies who doesnt work for the makers of the Mi Box

I do not work for Mi Box and neither does wrxtasy so I dunno what you're talking about.

--

So, if you still want some help then I'm sure other people will be able to point you in a direction you prefer.

This is coming from a Kodi user that uses Kodi on all of Mac Mini, Mi Box, Ouya, Apple TV 2, generic s905, Raspberry Pi, MK808B so if you're suggesting I'm some sort of Mi Box fanboy you'd be mistaken

[wrxtasy]

Some facts:

- A 1GB RAM 8 GB ROM AMLogic S905(x) easily has enough power to decode up to 4K@60Hz H265. As I have already said throw LibreELEC Kodi Krypton on one of these sorts of devices and that is all you will need for Superior Kodi performance.

- The AMLogic S912 and Rockchip devices are the worst possible combo for running Kodi out of the box with minimal problems. The S912 does not run LibreELEC Kodi.
Buy one of these and have trouble with Kodi and we will tell you to go away and visit the Freaktab website to sort out all your problems.

This is the Forum to visit for Dirt Cheap on a Budget - LibreELEC Kodi devices:
https://forum.libreelec.tv/forum-38.html

BTW:
- A $9 AXIS Chipset USB > Ethernet adapter can be added to the Mi Box for Ethernet, as KoopaTroopa has already said.

- A dirt cheap unpowered USB Hub can be added to any Hardware device to expand the number of USB ports available.

---

The Title of this thread is confusing as well....

Android Box with h.265 hardware encoding I am on a budget.

I have been looking at newer generic boxes that support h.265 decoding

So which is it ?

You will not get a dirt cheap device that can do H265 encoding. Expensive Intel Hardware is going to be needed to encode H265 video and even then it takes quite a while to do because of the complexities of compression involved. I'm talking leaving the machine running all day and night for a one single H265 movie encode.

[jakejm79]

Why not something like an odroid c2, $40. Throw LE on it and be done.

[ZippyTheChicken]

have a nice night

[wrxtasy]

Why not something like an odroid c2, $40. Throw LE on it and be done.

Yes all you need is a Case and the recommended Samsung EVO or Sandisk Class 10 microSDHC card for superior performance with AMLogic.

Especially if you already have spare Mobile Phone chargers and those USB to Mini USB cables available - that can be used to supply power.

Use HDMI-CEC and a TV's remote to control Kodi and its job done. Gigabit Ethernet on the C2.

We know it works. With minimal LibreELEC Kodi problems. Takes all of 5 minutes to get up and running.

[ZippyTheChicken]

Why not something like an odroid c2, $40. Throw LE on it and be done.

thanks for the reply

from what i see the android boxes have better hardware
the odroid is basically a Raspberry Pi but somewhat better

I build my own computers but I am not really interested in building a tv device

the one Android box I mentioned above was a docooler m9s pro with 3gig ram 32gig nan
it has a bunch of ports all ready to go the price I saw for that box is $58 free shipping..
that sounds reasonable but idk if there are better ones
I have just started a new search for these devices since my old one won't do h.265

I just don't know enough about the h.265 support in Kodi.

Unfortunately I read this about Krypton from a Site Form Mod's Post but I dumped my cache and can't find the link ... also I am doing the bills for the house so hunting that down to prove it to someone isn't my interest

Just trying to find out what budget android box features I need to have.

If the box has h.265 hardware decoding should that just be enough?
Should I not worry about how Kodi handles it because the hardware will?

Because thats not what the Mod from this site ... kodi.tv said in their post .. they said that generic Android Boxes will not have h.265 support in the future because its too much work for the code developers to deal with.

[wrxtasy]

What we are talking about with all these cheap AMLogic Android Kodi boxes is quality Firmware to actually run Kodi on properly. This is the heart and soul of the system. Kodi has no control over the Firmware that is shipped with these devices.

For Android - Firmware is the vital key to getting a good Kodi box over a bad one.

Also devices with ongoing Firmware support will always get our recommendation over cheap unknown Android Kodi boxes because over time there will be a bunch of bug fixed Firmware updates released by the manufacturer. This is very important.

Nearly all dirt Cheap AMLogic Android devices are sold as "Ship & Forget" - the seller will usually not provide Firmware updates. Its a real lottery what you are going to get too internally. Even the exactly same named boxes can have different components internally.

At least if buying any cheap AMLogic S905 device, if Android is complete crap for Kodi, you can always use LibreELEC Kodi Krypton running from a micro SDHC card and virtually all your Kodi problems will go away.

With that Docooler M9s Pro - if Android is complete rubbish - just use LibreELEC.

BTW: For NAS, Ethernet connections only the ODROID C2 has one advantage - Gigabit Ethernet and better quality, reliable Hardware componentry that is exactly the same Spec with every C2 sold.

---

Stop worrying about H265. So long as the Hardware supports it, Kodi will as well BUT you need quality Android Firmware first.

[jakejm79]

FWIW a device running LE with just 2GB of ram will likely have more free ram available than a device running Android (especially Lollipop or later) and 3GB. The odroid uses mSD cards, so you can have well beyond the 32GB of NAND (again LE is much more lightweight there compared to android).
Also I hardly think sticking a memory card in it and putting the board in a case constitutes building a HTPC, but to each their own.

Android is a poor platform choice if you are just looking to run Kodi alone.

[ZippyTheChicken]

gigabit Ethernet would be nice

so basically if I am in the situation where I am going to buy one
then if i have problems install that OS with Kodi and it should work fine... maybe

I have had OS patches update on the box i have now but I have never flashed firmware onto my old box

so now I am at the point where I am deciding do i want 2g/16 or 3g/32 which is higher price
I also notice HDMI 1.4 vs 2.0

You are right though its all a gamble on what you will actually receive

I don't want much just a media player and maybe the a few legal kodi plugins to watch some stuff online and maybe an android app or two to play some other stuff.

It gets difficult though .. there are so many tradeoffs vs price .. $20-$25 for a so called better device with 6.0 vs 5.1 and a few other things i won't really care about for many years to come.. idk

thanks wrxtasy .. i will figure this out and get the best I can justify
and then maybe do that alternative OS if i have to

What we are talking about with all these cheap AMLogic Android Kodi boxes is quality Firmware to actually run Kodi on properly. This is the heart and soul of the system. Kodi has no control over the Firmware that is shipped with these devices.

For Android - Firmware is the vital key to getting a good Kodi box over a bad one.

Also devices with ongoing Firmware support will always get our recommendation over cheap unknown Android Kodi boxes because over time there will be a bunch of bug fixed Firmware updates released by the manufacturer. This is very important.

Nearly all dirt Cheap AMLogic Android devices are sold as "Ship & Forget" - the seller will usually not provide Firmware updates. Its a real lottery what you are going to get too internally. Even the exactly same named boxes can have different components internally.

At least if buying any cheap AMLogic S905 device, if Android is complete crap for Kodi, you can always use LibreELEC Kodi Krypton running from a micro SDHC card and virtually all your Kodi problems will go away.

With that Docooler M9s Pro - if Android is complete rubbish - just use LibreELEC.

BTW: For NAS, Ethernet connections only the ODROID C2 has one advantage - Gigabit Ethernet and better quality, reliable Hardware componentry that is exactly the same Spec with every C2 sold.

---

Stop worrying about H265. So long as the Hardware supports it, Kodi will as well BUT you need quality Android Firmware first.

[ZippyTheChicken]

FWIW a device running LE with just 2GB of ram will likely have more free ram available than a device running Android (especially Lollipop or later) and 3GB. The odroid uses mSD cards, so you can have well beyond the 32GB of NAND (again LE is much more lightweight there compared to android).
Also I hardly think sticking a memory card in it and putting the board in a case constitutes building a HTPC, but to each their own.

Android is a poor platform choice if you are just looking to run Kodi alone.

thats good to remember because i am considering a 2g vs the 3g premium.. might be nice but i may not need it.. i do however know i won't be going with a 1g because i have that now and its clunky

tell you what though kodi starts and quits and loads stuff faster on that android than on my win7 i5 8g .. heh

and not just kodi yeah .. but maybe I might buy the MLB subscription next year..
this year wendy's had a deal to get it free for the last month of regular season
it wasn't bad and my dad likes the games .. it depends

[jakejm79]

I believe there is a MLBTV addon for Kodi that should allow access with a subscription directly within Kodi so usable with a LE setup.