[davelee77]

That could be. That would be a bummer. I'll look into that more. Thank you!!

[emveepee]

There are 4 similar hardware devices Homatics Box 4K, RockTek G2, the Dune Homatics box mentioned above and the Nokia 8010 all using the same Android firmware and the S905X4-K licensed for DV.  https://www.androidtv-guide.com/oem/sei-robotics/  is the OEM link.  There are cheaper S905X4 devices without DV support so be careful ordering.

I would say many Kodi using it are getting one for the CoreElec Kodi DV and if your interest is Kodi for Android you may see different results.  R

I got my RockTek G2 from Newegg with free shipping in the US it goes on sale from time to time too.  There is a discount for the Homatics 4K on the CE forum right now, if you don't want to use Amazon.com

Martin

[clarkss12]

I purchased the Dune HD Homatics Box R 4K Plus, mainly for the Dune app, which works great.  It is only missing the DTS-HD MA audio codec, but supports all of the other goodies like automatic framerate and resolution switching.

My video of that box running the Dune app.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk8FVij3XTo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQJPgOLcU-8

[noggin]

There are 4 similar hardware devices Homatics Box 4K, RockTek G2, the Dune Homatics box mentioned above and the Nokia 8010 all using the same Android firmware and the S905X4-K licensed for DV.  https://www.androidtv-guide.com/oem/sei-robotics/  is the OEM link.  There are cheaper S905X4 devices without DV support so be careful ordering.

I would say many Kodi using it are getting one for the CoreElec Kodi DV and if your interest is Kodi for Android you may see different results.  R

I got my RockTek G2 from Newegg with free shipping in the US it goes on sale from time to time too.  There is a discount for the Homatics 4K on the CE forum right now, if you don't want to use Amazon.com

Martin

Also worth pointing out that the CE Nightlies currently need the box to have had the most recent Android TV update to decode Dolby Vision (this is being rolled out OTA to Homatics and RockTek boxes - no news on Dune or Nokia boxes ISTR).  There is a hope that future Nightlies will work with both the old and new Android TV Dolby Vision stuff (CoreElec uses some files in the Android TV partition to decode Dolby Vision AIUI. I know it's counterintuitive that you need the latest Android TV update when you're not booting into Android TV...)

My Homatics R 4K Plus got the OTA Android TV update when I checked yesterday - and that meant I could un-pause CE Nightly updates and move on to the latest versions again.

[clarkss12]

There are 4 similar hardware devices Homatics Box 4K, RockTek G2, the Dune Homatics box mentioned above and the Nokia 8010 all using the same Android firmware and the S905X4-K licensed for DV.  https://www.androidtv-guide.com/oem/sei-robotics/  is the OEM link.  There are cheaper S905X4 devices without DV support so be careful ordering.

I would say many Kodi using it are getting one for the CoreElec Kodi DV and if your interest is Kodi for Android you may see different results.  R

I got my RockTek G2 from Newegg with free shipping in the US it goes on sale from time to time too.  There is a discount for the Homatics 4K on the CE forum right now, if you don't want to use Amazon.com

Martin

Also worth pointing out that the CE Nightlies currently need the box to have had the most recent Android TV update to decode Dolby Vision (this is being rolled out OTA to Homatics and RockTek boxes - no news on Dune or Nokia boxes ISTR).  There is a hope that future Nightlies will work with both the old and new Android TV Dolby Vision stuff (CoreElec uses some files in the Android TV partition to decode Dolby Vision AIUI. I know it's counterintuitive that you need the latest Android TV update when you're not booting into Android TV...)

My Homatics R 4K Plus got the OTA Android TV update when I checked yesterday - and that meant I could un-pause CE Nightly updates and move on to the latest versions again.

My Dune got the update last week and now CoreELEC works great WITH Dolby Vision.  Also, CE plays ISO files WITH full menu.

[simanwin]

Hi I'm in the same boat looking for new hw that supports Dolby vision and hd audio pass through, currently use a fire stick max.
With prime day around the corner I'm going to wait a week. The dune box is around £135 on Amazon but last year the nvdia sheild came down to £150.
If this happens again do people think the the sheild would be the better buy. I know it doesn't do av1 hardware decode but it's general bench marks seem to trounce the dune processor. I've also considered the fire cube which I'm assuming will be on sale but lack of gige lan seems problematic. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

[davelee77]

I don't know much about audio. But I can tell you, I am running a 60 meter sprint away from anything Amazon - Fire related. I enjoyed customizing and figuring all this out but the lack of space, I'm sure the cube and everything else will be quite similar. Just my 2 cents. 

[izprtxqkft]

I don't know much about audio. But I can tell you, I am running a 60 meter sprint away from anything Amazon - Fire related. I enjoyed customizing and figuring all this out but the lack of space, I'm sure the cube and everything else will be quite similar. Just my 2 cents. 

c'est la vie

no issues here with cube gen 3 for me - do what works for you

[jonmitch]

nVidia Shield TV offers support for DRM services as well as Kodi (Netflix and Prime in 4K HDR, and the latest Shield TV also supports Dolby Vision) - but isn't without issues (AIUI the latest OS upgrade has caused some problems).  Don't go near the Cylindrical/Tubular Shield TV - it's significantly compromised for Kodi use compared to the older and newer wedge-shaped models.

Wish I'd read this a few weeks ago !

I was looking to upgrade/replace my ageing Mac mini - as it just refuses to work properly with Kodi now.  Tried all sorts - including a full rebuild of the OS - but still stuttering on playback of most files (HD, and even SD files).  After weeks of messing with it - and some weird results (it works fine if I Remote Desktop to the Mac mini from my laptop, then watch on the HDMI output of the Mac mini - can't figure out why that would solve it, but not a long-term solution) - I went for a Shield that I saw on eBay (the tube type).  Seems quite reasonable ... but ... takes an age to load basics (eg: iPlayer app), and loading Kodi can be 10 minutes.  Once loaded it seems fine, but just not what I was hoping for.

So - in my search for a simple hardware device that allows me to run Kodi and also have iPlayer, YouTube, etc, apps, is it worth me trying the Shield Pro ?  Or will it be just as frustrating ?  I've seen a good few online posts from people saying that they needed to downgrade the firmware on their Shield to older Android versions as the newer ones crippled the device ?  I assumed that was the issue with my tubular Shield, but maybe not ?

Usually I'd go for a mini PC or Mac mini or something like that (even a Pi) and build something up myself - but I just don't have the time and to be honest am lacking the motivation !  I just want something that works.

Thanks for any pointers,

Jon

[noggin]

nVidia Shield TV offers support for DRM services as well as Kodi (Netflix and Prime in 4K HDR, and the latest Shield TV also supports Dolby Vision) - but isn't without issues (AIUI the latest OS upgrade has caused some problems).  Don't go near the Cylindrical/Tubular Shield TV - it's significantly compromised for Kodi use compared to the older and newer wedge-shaped models.

Wish I'd read this a few weeks ago !

I was looking to upgrade/replace my ageing Mac mini - as it just refuses to work properly with Kodi now.  Tried all sorts - including a full rebuild of the OS - but still stuttering on playback of most files (HD, and even SD files).  After weeks of messing with it - and some weird results (it works fine if I Remote Desktop to the Mac mini from my laptop, then watch on the HDMI output of the Mac mini - can't figure out why that would solve it, but not a long-term solution) - I went for a Shield that I saw on eBay (the tube type).  Seems quite reasonable ... but ... takes an age to load basics (eg: iPlayer app), and loading Kodi can be 10 minutes.  Once loaded it seems fine, but just not what I was hoping for.

So - in my search for a simple hardware device that allows me to run Kodi and also have iPlayer, YouTube, etc, apps, is it worth me trying the Shield Pro ?  Or will it be just as frustrating ?  I've seen a good few online posts from people saying that they needed to downgrade the firmware on their Shield to older Android versions as the newer ones crippled the device ?  I assumed that was the issue with my tubular Shield, but maybe not ?

Usually I'd go for a mini PC or Mac mini or something like that (even a Pi) and build something up myself - but I just don't have the time and to be honest am lacking the motivation !  I just want something that works.

Thanks for any pointers,

Jon

Shield TV isn't a bad call - personally I run an Apple TV 4K for all my non-Kodi stuff like Netflix, Prime, Disney, YouTube etc. (and to be honest MrMC - the Python-less Kodi fork in the App Store, whilst not in active development at the moment, still works very well for SD and HD stuff), and then alongside it I have an ARM box running Kodi on it separately (sometimes a Pi 4B running LibreElec, sometimes another box running CoreElec).

I have a Shield TV but it's not in daily use at the moment - the lack of frame rate switching nicely implemented for Netflix, Prime etc. was too annoying - the Apple TV just does it...

[izprtxqkft]

personally I run an Apple TV 4K for all my non-Kodi stuff like Netflix, Prime, Disney, YouTube etc.

side question - are the 'official' apps on apple tv capable of dolby vision on these streaming services?

since i know the addons for kodi are capable but kodi on the atv is not capable of dolby vision i am curious

[ontap]

Just a heads up for any one thinking of getting an apple tv , if you need subtitles , the BBC iPlayer app doesn't support them on that device. I discovered that at least 7 yrs ago and the issue still hasn't been rectified.

[shrugg1e]

side question - are the 'official' apps on apple tv capable of dolby vision on these streaming services?

since i know the addons for kodi are capable but kodi on the atv is not capable of dolby vision i am curious

Not all official apps support Dolby Vision, but Netflix, Disney, Prime do it on Apple TV.

PS. You should use the ATV thread for those questions: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=370083

[noggin]

Just a heads up for any one thinking of getting an apple tv , if you need subtitles , the BBC iPlayer app doesn't support them on that device. I discovered that at least 7 yrs ago and the issue still hasn't been rectified.

The more recent versions of the Apple TV 4K also don't support UHD HDR iPlayer - though the platform supports HLG and 2160p50 output AIUI Apple doesn't support MPEG DASH, and iPlayer uses only this format for the UHD HDR trial. (Almost every UHD HDR capable platform other than tvOS has DASH support, but Apple concentrates on its own HLS standard)

[JamesX]

There are 4 similar hardware devices Homatics Box 4K, RockTek G2, the Dune Homatics box mentioned above and the Nokia 8010 all using the same Android firmware and the S905X4-K licensed for DV. 

Is there any DV capable box (on local media I mean, not streaming) not using a seriously under powered CPU?

I get it that in a media player CPU power supposedly shouldn't be that important but the S905X2 was already feeble when it was released 5 years ago... and the S905X4 is little more than a codec refresh of it. Not even the CPU process changed (still 12nm!).

Lower priced entry phones, with much more RAM and storage (and a battery and a screen to boot) are at least 3x faster than this old ARM chip. What explains the price and specs of those boxes? Is the DV license half the full price or something like that?