Kodi Community Forum

Hello folks?

I have used xbmc on a windows PC for many years but after moving and no longer having the PC with me. I am now looking at what device I can use in my living room and have been thinking about the Amazon Fire TV 4K or the Matricom G-Box Q. I can't decide which would be the best option for me. I have prime membership and am a heavy Netflix user. I ocassionaly also use amazon prime videos. I also have a huge library of media that I have stored on a WD My Cloud and will be playing a lot of local content. However as I run out of space in the future, I might have to resort to a USB 3.0 HD connected directly to the box, but I don't want to make a decision just on that as I could go for an expanded NAS device in the future.

My main questions are as follows:
Amazon Fire TV - The fact that Kodi was removed from the store, and you can't add the kodi icon to the apps section, is it always going to be a battle with Amazon to keep Kodi updated and running?
Matricom G-Box Q - Does this run stock Android? Stock Kodi? Will it receive Android updates?

Which of these two would you guys recommend?

i use both the fire tv and the fire tv stick, but i have a buddy with the matricom g box q and it is pretty awesome. i just ordered one tonight.

Just as a general observation:

In 2016 your really want a device running Android Lollipop 5.1.1 as a minimum, which the Fire TV does.

Why - because it use ART Android OS runtime optimisations and this basically speeds up every aspect of Android compared to the inferior Android KitKit. Plus Lollipop is more user friendly when you get into it.

The only Android devices I have seen receiving Android OS updates without having to purchase new hardware are from the big 3, nVIDIA, Amazon and Google with their Nexus Player.

All Amazon questions should be asked over in the dedicated thread, where all this info already resides:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=239126

+1 to wrxtasy's comment about most boxes not receiving updates to the OS. Some of the newer Amlogic S905 boxes already come with Lollipop, though. You might want to look at the MINIX NEO U1 and the upcoming Ugoos AM1 and UT4:

http://minix.com.hk/en/products/neo-u1
http://ugoos.net/ugoos-brand

As far as Matricom updating Kodi, there's a lot of posts about their lack of support for Kodi in other threads here. Read them before you buy. It's better to know what you're getting in to with them.

But, one other thing to consider...if you're a heavy Netflix user, then you might want to avoid devices like the G-Box and MINIX entirely. Unless you've got a Netflix certified device, you won't be getting 1080p or 4K resolution using those boxes.

There are a bunch of articles out there that go in to more detail on that, though. I won't link to any because, to be honest, I wrote one of them and I don't want to be spammy.