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So having just updated my bedroom TV to a smart Roku TV its time to ditch the Nexus Player and find something that runs Kodi (Live TV front end) a little better.
A little background: The bulk of my media is consumed via Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, PVR recordings or locally stored media. I do though require a web browser to play a few videos a week. Originally my NP handled everything but its Kodi support wasn't perfect specifically the PVR stuff.
The TV now handles all the Netflix, Hulu, etc stuff so I just need something for Kodi and a web browser.
I am thinking just a generic S905 box that I can dual boot android and LE on, primarily using LE and then just android for the web browser.
Also need something with a usable remote (CEC appears to be limited on the RokuTV with no navigation of other devices available), doesn't need to be perfect since primarily it will be just navigating around in Kodi but something that also has a cursor mode for the android web navigation (I don't mind one of those horrible scroll the cursor all over the place one, since thats what I had with the NP and use in that mode is very limited). Also something with wired network adapter would be great.
Can someone maybe suggest a specific S905 device (links or names appreciated) or something else if a S905 device wont work, MPEG2 deinterlacing is about the only real requirement I have from it.
Thanks
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Because it has a really nice Integrated Wireless Air Mouse - Mini Keyboard A2 Lite remote with GigaBit ethernet and a great LibreELEC Kodi Krypton image available for it get a S905 MINIX U1. Which can be run in a Dual Boot setup. AMLogic LibreELEC Kodi Krypton Hardware deinterlacing is excellent.
Even AMLogic Android Lollipop with SPMC (Kodi Jarvis) or XBMC for MINIX - and using Amcodec Hardware video acceleration will give you excellent Hardware deinterlacing. The MINIX U1 still runs Android Lollipop.
The MINIX A2 Lite remote's mini keyboard makes it easy to use a Web browser. Integrated remotes will give you proper turn ON / OFF / Standby capabilities that aftermarket remotes will not give you.
The easiest AMLogic S905 - dual boot Android / LibreELEC devices using simply the remote's power button on bootup are the WeTek Play2 or Hub. But WeTek have never addressed their poor Infra Red only remotes that have pathetic Air Mouse capabilities, same issue as all generic cheap Android devices have.
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Thanks, WRXTASY, I guess I should have mentioned budget, looking to be around the $50USD mark, something comparable to the RPi3 I have for the living room (where the Xbox 1 can handle web browsing duties).
I was thinking about something like the O Droid C2, don't mind throwing together a kit. The standby, remote, etc arent really important. I leave everything on 24/7 and it's only one website I visit saved has a fav so no text input.
I have no problem with more difficult dual booting like having to swap mSD cards or the like, I wont be using android a lot but I do need that web browsing capability occasionally.
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2017-05-17, 22:30
(This post was last modified: 2017-05-18, 02:00 by jakejm79.)
OK to update this, ended up with a Neebox A95X (S905X) 2G/8G model and a 16GB mSD Sandisk Ultra, all delivered by Amazon next day for a little over $50.
Took about 10 mins to get LE 8.0.1 (Kodi 17) up and running on it, everything appears to work out of the box, at least remote (more on this later), wifi and BT (I didn't connected with either, since I use ethernet and have no real BT devices, but it would scan and see networks/devices).
Used the android app 'Reboot to Libreelec' after I had flashed the mSD card and LE started right up.
Remote is actually pretty decent, or lets say the IR receiver on the device is very good. The AC power cord is kinda short so I have the box currently sitting near the floor (TV is about 4' off the ground, AC socket is at the floor) and the remote signals are received even without a line of sight, in fact I almost thought it was BT to begin with since I can aim it away from the box and it still works (I guess the IR receiver and remote are strong enough to receive the bouncing signals). The 'mouse' function isn't the best, but it does have a few programmable buttons for TV volume etc which is nice.
Only question I have is with regards to deinterlacing, in Kodi under the video menu of the OSD the deinterlace option is grayed out and says off. On my Pi3 I was able to cycle through auto, off and a few other options. Is this due to the AMCLogic decoding, I thought I read somewhere that AMCLogic has automagic deinterlacing done automatically - Looks like this is the case or something like this, managed to track down a wireless keyboard, 'Hardware' shows for the deinterlace method.
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Thanks wrxtasy, that is what I thought (and confirmed once I hooked the keyboard up later on).
Spent a little time last night uninstalling all the crap apps that come with Android, just have pretty much Chrome installed now and it does work for the website I need.
Switching between Android and LE/Kodi is nice and simple, no messing with reset buttons or remote. Just select reboot to LE with in Android and reboot to internal when in LE.
Live TV appears to look better than it ever has on my NP or Pi3, but I've only played with it a little, had some weird scanline looking artifacts along leading edges of players on some football clips on the news, but that may have been down to the feed or TV. I'll try and find some to record and then do back to back comparisions on all 3 systems. But if it does indeed end up much better on the A95X then I think I'll throw the NP and Pi3 up on ebay and stick buy another one for the living room where I will flash LE to NAND.
Also UI navigation in Kodi seems snappier (than the Pi), I believe both the Pi and A95X are using the same mSD cards (at least both Sandisk class 10), not sure if its down to the more powerful CPU or extra GB of RAM.
