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Pick the Right Kodi Box (UPDATED FEB 2015)
full ACK, poofy. great guide, should help a lot with all of those "I have no clue about hardware but I want Kodi/XBMC in my living room" posts. kudos.
OpenElec Standalone --> Asus Chromebox 'Panther' --> Onkyo TX-NR709 --> Sony 55" X85C Android TV (also with Kodi!)
Asus Chromebox EZ Script
Kodi on Sony Bravia Android TVs
PHG, thanks for this. No lie, I was in here a while back, looking mournfully at the stale date on this thread, thinking, damn, who is going to step up and summarize all the new stuff that is going on in this space .. I can't possibly nag PHG about it.

So now that you've stepped up, I do have a couple of suggestions Smile

a) It's a little hard to differentiate which categories comprise certain features or not. I wonder if you would consider making some kind of more detailed description line, including the basics, but also, the gotchas - like, no surround passthrough, or native Netflix, ...

b) Maybe a new thread is in order here?

c) The subject is too long, such that replying forces one to delete characters .. just a note

And, I am very interested in OTA in this context. I already have a full whole house setup, but I am considering options for friends and family. Some might prefer or at least like the option of using Netflix, and/or OTA, in addition to local content, and some may want to have the option of passthrough audio. I'd also be interested to know if (which) of these solutions can run as a standalone solution using SB/Sonarr/CP/etc.

I don't think this forum has mentions, but @NedScott, I know you've got some experience with OTA and Android I wonder if you'd pipe up too Smile

Thanks PHG, your work is appreciated
(2015-02-06, 04:55)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2015-02-06, 00:40)kdnoel Wrote: A nice Christmas present to yourself in December may get you a compact, quite, and fast NUC running Windows 10.

Please don't waste your money on buying a NUC right now, because it will be obsolete in a very short time period.

Why, because h265 video is just around the corner and Intel will likely release Skylake microarchitecture later in the year that will use hardware to full encode / decode this demanding codec. This would be a nice XMas present then.

Currently, the Intel Celeron's 2955U / 2957U with Haswell graphics are perfect for Kodi streaming needs at good prices.
NUC's are complete overkill for just streaming H264 video.

Smile

I think the chromboxes are ideal for KODI. They come with ram and a small hdd, and if you stream from a NAS/external hdd, all setup (and you get "x86/64" cpu power to boot, which is helpful for addons/etc/other things written like shit that need CPU power).
(2015-02-08, 23:14)Hannes The Hun Wrote: full ACK, poofy. great guide, should help a lot with all of those "I have no clue about hardware but I want Kodi/XBMC in my living room" posts. kudos.

Its my bad it was poor advice for so long.

(2015-02-09, 01:25)bluenote Wrote: PHG, thanks for this. No lie, I was in here a while back, looking mournfully at the stale date on this thread, thinking, damn, who is going to step up and summarize all the new stuff that is going on in this space .. I can't possibly nag PHG about it.

So now that you've stepped up, I do have a couple of suggestions Smile

a) It's a little hard to differentiate which categories comprise certain features or not. I wonder if you would consider making some kind of more detailed description line, including the basics, but also, the gotchas - like, no surround passthrough, or native Netflix, ...

b) Maybe a new thread is in order here?

c) The subject is too long, such that replying forces one to delete characters .. just a note

And, I am very interested in OTA in this context. I already have a full whole house setup, but I am considering options for friends and family. Some might prefer or at least like the option of using Netflix, and/or OTA, in addition to local content, and some may want to have the option of passthrough audio. I'd also be interested to know if (which) of these solutions can run as a standalone solution using SB/Sonarr/CP/etc.

I don't think this forum has mentions, but @NedScott, I know you've got some experience with OTA and Android I wonder if you'd pipe up too Smile

Thanks PHG, your work is appreciated

Thank you. Honestly I was surprised as anyone to still see this old thing at the top, hence why I redid it. I am going to redo it again now that we have the Pi2 info.

(2015-02-10, 00:28)poofyhairguy Wrote: Thank you. Honestly I was surprised as anyone to still see this old thing at the top, hence why I redid it. I am going to redo it again now that we have the Pi2 info.

Could you add info about HD-Audio / bitstreaming ?
Hello,

This is my first post to the forum. I have been a Kodi user of and on for years and I would like to thank all the people involved in creating this fantastic piece of free software!

Now for my question/remarks regarding advice on hardware for a new Kodi box:

I want to replace a Raspberry PI model B because i require the use of bit-streaming DTS-HD Master Audio sound. My options seem to be limited to the (Asus) Chromebox or the CuBox-i models if my research is correct. I am thinking the Chromebox is my best option as it seems to perform snappier than the CuBox. Is there another option I should consider and what would you choose if you had to make this decision?

Other things I require: playback of (backed up) BDMV structures or M2TS files and ability to remote control it using a Harmony Smart Hub through IR and/or Bluetooth. I don't require local storage expansion capabilities. I want the device to be inaudible, small and as energy efficient as possible.

I know it's like asking what car to get but I really would appreciate any thoughts on this.
I think Chromebox suits your needs perfectly. I also have a HArmony smart control hub and plan to use it via bluetooth to control the Chromebox.
(2015-02-12, 14:40)Qawa Wrote: Hello,

This is my first post to the forum. I have been a Kodi user of and on for years and I would like to thank all the people involved in creating this fantastic piece of free software!

Now for my question/remarks regarding advice on hardware for a new Kodi box:

I want to replace a Raspberry PI model B because i require the use of bit-streaming DTS-HD Master Audio sound. My options seem to be limited to the (Asus) Chromebox or the CuBox-i models if my research is correct. I am thinking the Chromebox is my best option as it seems to perform snappier than the CuBox. Is there another option I should consider and what would you choose if you had to make this decision?

Other things I require: playback of (backed up) BDMV structures or M2TS files and ability to remote control it using a Harmony Smart Hub through IR and/or Bluetooth. I don't require local storage expansion capabilities. I want the device to be inaudible, small and as energy efficient as possible.

I know it's like asking what car to get but I really would appreciate any thoughts on this.

Dunno if it fit's in your budget, but maybe you can take a look at http://kodi.wiki/view/WeTek_Play

BT 4.0, 3 x USB, MicroSD, and of course OpenELEX 5.0.x
(2015-02-10, 16:01)ReXX Wrote: Could you add info about HD-Audio / bitstreaming ?

Ok big update that hopefully cleared everything up.

Nice update mate.

Another category worth considering is the Cheap Dual media device group..
Utilizing superior HDMI CEC control with 2 media devices.
All the benefits of superior video for pure Kodi playback plus you then get the HD paid video streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon - etc all on the same CEC compatible TV.

The RPi 2 forms the base device for this category and then the first choice companion device for paid streaming services is the bargain Amazon Fire TV Stick with its included quality remote. For those where the AFTV Stick is unavailable then the Chromecast would also be an option.

This is far more preferable than even the all in one media box, due to minimal compromises as you are only really missing out on HD audio with the RPi 2, a remote is not even needed for the RPi 2 if you have a modern CEC HDMI compatible TV.

Discussions on this setup was held here:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=217803

Smile

So 3d + chromebox is not possible in any way?
For me is not THE Box out of all boxes then.
(2015-02-19, 10:37)Skank Wrote: So 3d + chromebox is not possible in any way?
For me is not THE Box out of all boxes then.

you need to be more specific about what you mean by "3D." The only thing the ChromeBox can't do 3D-wise is Bluray ISOs, since that requires Windows + external player. The ChromeBox can play anything "3D" that Kodi natively supports (eg, HSBS / HTAB).
yeah sorry forgot to mention full 3d iso (mvc)
but i just read the himedia Q5 or q10 does do 3d iso mvc and hd audio also (with use of own player) but launched from kodi
(2015-02-19, 10:37)Skank Wrote: So 3d + chromebox is not possible in any way?
For me is not THE Box out of all boxes then.

I use 3D with my Chromebox all the time for testing. It is 3D ISOs that aren't supported by Kodi. For what Kodi supports, a Chromebox is THE box.

But if you care about 3D ISOs that solution is in my post. You are going to sacrifice the Kodi experience to get it though.

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