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+---- Thread: Best Android (TV) - Kodi Box (/showthread.php?tid=186106)
RE: Best Android TV Box - adnang - 2015-08-04
can anybody review smartkodi.com ? it works well or just a scam.thanks
Re: RE: Best Android TV Box - Martijn - 2015-08-04
(2015-08-04, 16:27)adnang Wrote: can anybody review smartkodi.com ? it works well or just a scam.thanks
Absolutely a scam
RE: Best Android TV Box - Ned Scott - 2015-08-04
Oh god, $325 USD for an Android box that probably costs $50. That's hilarious.
RE: Best Android TV Box - thack72 - 2015-08-04
I am having a tough time deciding what box to go with. My brother and friend both swear by the G box Octa Core. I had a MX2 before and it was a pain with the wifi cutting out on me. Can anybody else confirm the new G box no longer has wifi issues? Based on this android box review of several boxes I am leaning towards the Octa Core.
***mod edit: modified link to prevent google search boosting***
RE: Best Android TV Box - Ned Scott - 2015-08-04
(2015-08-04, 22:55)thack72 Wrote: I am having a tough time deciding what box to go with. My brother and friend both swear by the G box Octa Core. I had a MX2 before and it was a pain with the wifi cutting out on me. Can anybody else confirm the new G box no longer has wifi issues? Based on this android box review of several boxes I am leaning towards the Octa Core.
That website is a joke. They listed an OUYA, and Kodi v15 doesn't run on the OUYA unless you do some complicated upgrading of the OS. Don't get any of those.
Get a Google Nexus Player. It's got good wifi and it's cheap. Given the lack of other details you've given, I believe this is the best general-purpose Kodi box for you. Seriously. I don't do this often, where I just flat out tell people what they should get.
Don't get swept up by the number of cores a box has. It really doesn't mean anything as far as actual CPU speed.
RE: Best Android TV Box - thack72 - 2015-08-04
Thanks Ned. I had no intentions of buying the OUYA. I did not like the remote it came with. I will look into the Nexus.
RE: Best Android TV Box - andy828 - 2015-08-05
I would recommend the m8 box if all ur going to use is Kodi on it I've installed a custom openelec on it and it runs great. Really quick and plays back everything I chuck at it
RE: Best Android TV Box - thack72 - 2015-08-05
I have heard good things about the M8 as well. Thanks Andy.
RE: Best Android TV Box - Fist - 2015-08-05
Get an Amazon Fire TV. Dead easy to install Kodi, excellent remote, great selection of other apps like Netflix, Youtube, etc. Reasonable price. No brainer, really.
RE: Best Android TV Box - Fist - 2015-08-05
(2015-08-04, 23:34)Ned Scott Wrote:(2015-08-04, 22:55)thack72 Wrote: I am having a tough time deciding what box to go with. My brother and friend both swear by the G box Octa Core. I had a MX2 before and it was a pain with the wifi cutting out on me. Can anybody else confirm the new G box no longer has wifi issues? Based on this android box review of several boxes I am leaning towards the Octa Core.
Get a Google Nexus Player. It's got good wifi and it's cheap.
Fire TV has a better remote, Ethernet, wider selection of apps, twice the RAM, plus easy access to USB storage.
My money would go that way.
The only thing the Nexus Player has going for it is you can download Kodi from the App store. In practice, that's not real important unless you're technically challenged.
RE: Best Android TV Box - thack72 - 2015-08-06
Thanks. I live in Canada though and Amazon will not ship the Fire TV up here.
RE: Best Android TV Box - Ned Scott - 2015-08-06
(2015-08-05, 17:10)Fist Wrote: Fire TV has a better remote, Ethernet, wider selection of apps, twice the RAM, plus easy access to USB storage.
My money would go that way.
The only thing the Nexus Player has going for it is you can download Kodi from the App store. In practice, that's not real important unless you're technically challenged.
The Google Nexus Player has way more software support than the Fire TV. It is the flagship device for Android TV. Amazon's app store is much more limited, and even moreso when you are looking for Fire TV approved apps.
Android boxes don't really see any difference between 1 or 2 GB of RAM. Some people won't ever see any difference between 512MB or 2GB of ram for Kodi usage. It might be important if you do a lot of Android gaming, but most of of the high-end Android games do just fine with 1GB of RAM.
Ethernet is easily added from a $10 adapter, but the wifi on the Nexus Player is amazing (and I normally hate wifi). Even better, you can get a $10 USB hub that includes the ethernet port: http://amzn.com/B0105URLHE . Since the Nexus Player is currently listed at $80, adding the ethernet/hub makes it pretty comparable to the Fire TV in my mind. I already had to add a USB hub to my Fire TV, since it only had one USB port, so I don't see it as a major hurdle for ether device.
Regarding remote controls, I would never judge a box based on the included remote control ;) . Especially when both can easily use a massive selection of other remotes, including using each other's remotes :D
The Fire TV is a lot more of a pain to mess with. You can't change the launcher (although FireStarter is a great work around), you don't have full access to the Android OS, less bluetooth/USB devices supported, and less chance of getting proper video refresh rate switching (which is needed to get rid of that slight judder people sometimes see, depending on the video and TV used), etc.
The Nexus Player supports more video codecs, such as HEVC and VP9, has a much better default launcher, and is cheaper (especially if you don't need ethernet or USB drives), and is going to get more love and attention than most Android set top boxes out there due to being the flagship Android TV device for developers (not to mention Google's own support).
They're both good boxes, but I would not buy a Fire TV again. I would buy a Nexus Player.
RE: Best Android TV Box - mmick - 2015-08-06
I have at home:
FIRE TV STICK (unmodified), bought for 19€:
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- Kodi 15.0 works flawlessly up to h264 1080p@30fps, with no issues until now.
- Kodi´s UI works well, but the low-power SoC can´t handle the UI so smoothly as the bigger Fire TV (box) or other Android boxes. Nevertheless you see no lags or issues. Also streaming content (provided your wifi router is powerful/close enough) is a very good experience.
- I advice installing "FireStarter", a free app that can load itselft automatically, and works a laucher for non-Amazon Apps like Kodi. No root needed.
- Wireless Display works
- HDMI-CEC works
If you need no more than up to h264 1080p@30fps video playback from Kodi, and you just stream video (eg: NAS or Internet), then search no more. Fire TV Stick is fantastic.
RKM MK12:
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- AMLOGIC S812-based Android box + rooted Android 4.4.2 + 2 GB RAM + 3 USB + microSD card slot
- Kodi 14.2 / SPMC / Kodi 15.0 work well, with 15.0 you can play h265 streams flawlessly *but* on Kodi 15.0 you have to test with the option "Allow hardware acceleration - amcodec" ON and OFF, because skipping FFW or RW with it ON has video freezing issues (and with it OFF, sometimes -luckily rarely- some video doesn´t play smooth). Note that this is a Kodi 15.0 issue, as on Kodi 14.2/SPMC with amcodec ON it worked flawlessly.
- the box supports h265 up to 4k, I did not test it on Kodi 15.0 (as I have no 4k TV, therefore, no 4k files), but with standard players I tested it when I bought it, and the playback is very smooth
- the box is VERY stable and powerful (talking about as Media Center), and has everything needed
- playing over USB / microSD / NAS / Internet works flawlessly whatever the bitrate
- every subtitle and so far standard DTS/AC3 soundtracks play well.
- HDMI-CEC / Anynet+ is supported, I use KODI with my Samsung TV F6500-series (Infrared) remote, which has "Play" "RW" "FW" "STOP" and arrows buttons (which work as the original XBOX 1 XBMC remote).
- USB or USB-wireless mouse/keyboards work flawlessly
- Wireless Display works
CONS:
- the FW doesn´t allow you to write on removable media (microSD/USB PEN) if you boot the box with them plugged-in (though with USB HDDs it works flawlessly, and I have permantly a 500GB HDD on NTFS plugged-in, and a SMB Server on the box installed, so I can copy/manage from PC -> network -> HDD on BOX)
- RKM support is a "mehhh", they answer emails in English too but the software department is not willing to make any changes/improvements to the original FW (fortunately the box works extremely well witht the original FW from March 2015, installable ONLY through connection over USB-PC)
- RKM does not support the Logitech F710 gamepad (I tried to play some games with it...)
All in all, this box is used almost everyday in all scenarios and works like a champion, with a very stable FW, extremely powerful AMLOGIC S812 and pratically all "home" multimedia files are playable out of the box / with Kodi, with hardware acceleration up to h265 @ 4K.
RE: Best Android TV Box - mike77 - 2015-08-06
Beelink MXQ android-nand/openelec-sdcard .
RE: Best Android TV Box - spqr - 2015-08-07
(2015-08-06, 01:08)thack72 Wrote: Thanks. I live in Canada though and Amazon will not ship the Fire TV up here.
Unless you are willing to pay double the price for the Fire TV from someone who hopped the border, your best bet would be Nexus Player. If gaming is more important then there is the Forge TV and Nvidia TV box worth looking into but they are much more pricier. I would stay away from those cheap Chinese imports android boxes. None of them have the build quality like the Nexus Player and I had 2 break down on me during the past couple of years.