Kodi Community Forum

Hi
So I have this problem. I need to buy new media player. For reference - I have Dune Prime 3.0 at the moment. I know what I want but I'm struggling between four concepts:
- HiMedia Q10/Q5 pro
- WeTek new device
- Dune Solo 4k
- HTPC/MiniPC (not NUC, would build it myself on ITX and Windows)
What I want is smooth playback without any configuration hassle - I'd like to make config once and forget about it. Things like check something to play this specific file is big disadvantage. I don't care for 3D and 4k and proper ISO support. I just want full support for everything else with 10bit h265 as a strong example. Player has to have Samba support because all my media is a network share. But the four players I mentioned above should play this nicely.

The description below is what I think about pros and cons for those players. And what I ask of you is to tell me if I'm wrong at some point and guide me towards what's the best. I will edit points below to reflect latest changes in my mind after your suggestions.

HiMedia Q10/Q5 pro
+ All-in-one, almost without the need of configuration
+ Small factor
+ HDMI 2.0
+ Can play almost anything (even h264 10bit from what I understand)
+ Kodi as a library
- Needs wrapper
- Needs native player to use hardware
- I don't trust Chinese companies (especially after playing with some cheap amlogic s905 thing)
- Won't support future codecs
- Firmware problem at the moment. It maybe fixed...but may not so the trust in manufacturer is needed.

WeTek new device
+ Small factor
+ Will play almost anything
+ Kodi as a library
+ Great support from Kodi
- Great unknown for me as those devices are not yet on the market

Dune Solo 4k
+ I have faith in Dune
+ Small factor
+ Can play almost anything and without any problem
+ Can be used as a DVB-T with ability to record (it's interesting but not a deal breaker)
+ I'm familiar with interface
+ YaDIS
- Kodi is better then YaDIS as a library
- Quite expensive
- No HDMI 2.0 - have no idea what will be impact on future so not 100% future proof
- Won't support future codecs

HTPC/MiniPC
+ Flexibility - I could choose hardware and therefore power I want
+ Quite future proof - even if new codecs arrives I would change CPU or GPU and still have hardware acceleration
+ Kodi
+ No wrappers or other hacks to work properly
+/- Can be extended with additional modules like DVB-T/T2 sticks but that is also additional cost
- Quite expensive (especially with Windows)
- Hard to choose proper hardware - I know quite a lot about PC hardware but not in context of playing movies so I don't know what CPU I need and if external GPU is needed
- More noise from CPU and maybe GPU fans
- Problem with remote - I would have to choose some small media keyboard with touchpad or play with some irda accessories
- Will use more power

Thx.

You mention DVB-T recording for the Dune Solo 4K. You can achieve that on an HTPC with no problems (OpenElec/Linux and Windows support a wide variety of DVB-T/T2 sticks and it is close to trivial to implement using TV Headend, VDR etc.) The only platform that DVB-T reception is tricky on is Android.

However you can implement a DVB-T PVR back-end on a Raspberry Pi (even a 1st get model) for a pretty low cost and Android clients (assuming the platform supports decent deinterlacing - which isn't close to a given) will work with it, just as other platforms will.

You should check out wetek stuff, specially the new models coming this year (there's a thread about it). They have DVB, can play almost everything with minimal wrapper hassle (from my understanding).

AFAIK htpcs are too expensive if you want to play HD audio + 10 bit hevc. Also big, noisy and power hungry.

(2016-04-19, 10:39)pyrex27 Wrote: [ -> ]You should check out wetek stuff, specially the new models coming this year (there's a thread about it). They have DVB, can play almost everything with minimal wrapper hassle (from my understanding).

AFAIK htpcs are too expensive if you want to play HD audio + 10 bit hevc. Also big, noisy and power hungry.

Yes - seconded. The only current major issues with AMLogic stuff are :

1. Playback of DVD interlaced content fails. (progressive stuff - movies etc. are OK)
2. HD Audio and PCM multichannel is limited to Android currently. Open/LibreElec are PCM 2.0/DD/DTS only.

DVB-T is something that is good but not a deal breaker. I use my media player mostly to listen music and watch movies/TV shows. I just found it interesting to plug my antenna to media player because my TV is quite slow and sluggish.

I will edit my original post to reflect all the suggestion I will get.

Thanks!

How about putting your current 'must-have' requirements, and then 'would be nice to have' requirements - but the sticky threads are really pretty good.

HTPC building has massively reduced in popularity. I built my first HTPC in around 2003, then another in 2008. I built a final one in 2012, but have since pretty much universally switched to low power ready-made boxes. I DO still have a Sandy Bridge Pentium box running purely as a Windows 7 Media Centre box (it still works very well for other members of my family). The noise, size and cost of DIY HTPCs were no longer worth the functionality they offered IMO.

There is only one must-have to be honest - ability to play all media formats with exception of 3D, ISO and 4k as I don't need those. And all of those needs to work without me looking constantly over the Internet for why something doesn't want to play or some hacks that needs to be done in order to play something or...or whatever there is. Unfortunately I don't have enough time this days to spend it on tweaking and fixing playback issues. I want to relax after day of work with my wife watching something during dinner.
Everything else is pure cosmetics.
So I could say I need smooth playback.

That's why I try to find something as good as possible. Dune Prime 3.0 wasn't perfect and had some issues but overall didn't create any mayor problem. Right now I have dedicated BD player so even their faulty one didn't concern me anymore.

I consider HTPC only because of the flexibility and good Kodi support. At first I wanted to buy new Dune but price is a killer here. So I started to look for alternative and came across HiMedia. because I wanted to test out Android as a media player I bought some cheap Chinese box but I was very disappointed with it. Didn't know back then that Android has many flaws in codec support and I didn't know that there won't be Samba support...But people here and there are telling that HiMedia is much better so after reading quite a lot about it I'm at the place where I have 3 options to choose from and just don't know what to do - I can't afford to make mistakes.

BTW I've added another con to HiMedia - firmware problem at the moment. It maybe fixed...but may not so the trust in manufacturer is needed.

Firmware, Firmware, Firmware.
I keep banging on about it for a very good reason. Media players are next to useless if they get released with buggy Firmware that is never fixed.

Seriously if you do not need 3D and are looking at Android, spend the money and get a nVIDIA Shield. Why, because Kodi's Top Android developer, Koying is pretty much exclusively developing for it. It will get fantastic support from nVIDIA as well.
Its a proven device. You cannot go wrong.

The HiMedia Q10 stuff is too new to give you bug free satisfaction at the moment, even with all the hype. The other problem is 23.976fps smoothly synced playback. HiMedia has issues with this. For me personally this is not acceptable in a 2016 media player. I have not seen proper deinterlacing tests either for Kodi TV viewing.

The new 10-bit S905 WeTek boxes that will come on to the market soon will offer good Firmware support, and will be dual boot Android / OpenELEC. The WeTek S905 Play2 systems will have integrated DVB TV Tuners in them as well.

You may even like OpenELEC or LibreELEC better as these are set and forget Linux OS based Kodi systems that offer a plug N play Appliance like experience and run nice and quick on a S905. Quicker and smoother than Android.

The hardest requirement is really the "play all formats". HEVC has been launched recently and most desktop processors don't have hardware decoding capabilities. HEVC is really expensive for software decoding so you will need a powerful processor.

Mobile devices, on the other hand, have invested in hardware decoding of HEVC so it's easier and cheaper to get HEVC decoding.

In the end, with your requirements (which are basically the same as mine), I would go for WETEK Hub.

Full blown HTPC are a thing of the past IMHO. Popular these days are set-top-boxes/Mini PCs media players, while holding all media on a NAS stack somewhere else in the house (as you already have it). If you are a PC gamer and/or have a specific need besides playing files, then it is another story.
If you haven't read the "Pick The Right Kodi Box" sticky thread on first page, do so. Pick something popular in Kodi and with good vendor support.

Oh come on. Don't do this to me. I had three options to choose from and you trying to add another one to make my life even more complicated.

Maybe I choose wrong word for describing third option. What I meant by HTPC was just ordinary PC build on ITX motherboard in some small case.

You're telling me that HiMedia is too new for to know what will happen with their firmware but then you're trying to convince me to some other company that sounds as exotic as HiMedia to my ear.

I have read this topic but it's strangely formatted and I had problem with finding anything there...It looks to me like I should choose some Intel platform based on I found there...

Anyway thanks for you input. At the moment HTPC solution is staying behind HiMedia/Dune solutions. Wetek has this problem...They don't have new version available and I would like to buy box in near future.

Yeah its like WeTek are completely unknown around the Kodi forums.....

Kodi official Diamond Sponsors are nVIDIA, MINIX and WeTek.

I will say again you are NOT going to get smooth video playback out of a device with 23.976fps video sync problems that is also brand new, out of the blocks, like most brand spanking new Android devices there are simply too many bugs. Feel free to choose what you want, we can only give you the facts.

I'm betting there is an OpenELEC distribution available for the S905 you currently have that runs better than Android on your current device. Maybe its one of these three ?
https://github.com/surkovalex/OpenELEC.t...ic/devices

You know WeTek but this the first time I see it.
But what you're saying sounds true so I will consider it - have to find some more info about new devices from them.

BTW my current device is Dune Prime 3.0. I bought the Chinese one only to test android and Kodi as a media platform. It is called: MXQ Pro Quick Play Amlogic S905 and was very cheap when I bought it.

Wetek definitely worth strong consideration. They consistently support their devices with updates (unlike no-name manufacturers who sell cheaper boxes with zero support), and chose pretty decent hardware specs.

There are still a few issues - but no platform is issue-free. If you need HEVC decode and want a well supported platform - then it's really the nVidia Shield or the Wetek series. The nVidia Shield is probably not an ideal candidate if you want TV (still question marks over deinterlacing. I have no first hand experience so can't comment), but the Wetek stuff does a great job (apart from on interlaced DVD content - which is an ongoing issue on a number of AMLogic processors)

If DVB-T is of interest I'd be looking at the upcoming Wetek DVB box (Play 2?), if not then the Hub.

Ok, but are there some info about new devices from WeTek? Like prices and release dates? I only found this