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START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Dec 2020)
thx for the tips. What about the Beelink devices, such as Beelink MINI MXIII II?
(2016-10-26, 14:18)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2016-10-26, 14:08)Beatwolf Wrote: I only watch live-tv via Kodi add-ons.
Is deinterlacing needed, as that will narrow the field considerably, from Post #1....

Q. I need a device with proper video deinterlacing for Over the Air (OTA) TV streaming from my HD Homerun or PVR server ?
  • RPi's.
  • Intel Hardware
  • All AMLogic chipset based boxes, eg the WeTek, MINIX, ODROID devices plus others.
  • nVIDIA Shield but only for ATSC / US users only !

Personally if you only need Kodi video playback from a NAS I would not bother with Android at all. LibreELEC all the way.
As an example of 4K colorspace issues with the Shield:
  • There are now a bunch of users complaining about poor quality Video Upscaling output with the Shield, see HERE for details.
Also as a general observation newly released Android devices are prone to bugs. And then when Google upgrades the Android OS, frequently.
You repeat the bug busting process all over again. Its a never ending cycle.

Nope no deinterlacing or fancy tv stuff needed. Almost exclusively watch stuff from my NAS. I can stream tv via my Chromecast if needed.

Edit: You are right about not needing android. I do my gaming etc. on other platforms, and just want a pure kodi box, but it should be 4k capable. hmm choices choices
(2016-10-26, 14:39)Beatwolf Wrote: thx for the tips. What about the Beelink devices, such as Beelink MINI MXIII II?

I bought 2 Beelink MXIII (S905) and they work like a charm with LE 7.0.2 found here
(2016-10-26, 14:39)Beatwolf Wrote: thx for the tips. What about the Beelink devices, such as Beelink MINI MXIII II?

No BT or WiFi on that box with LE stick to the old MXIII S905
Can this Beelink AML boxes conversation be taken over to its already dedicated thread please ?

Budget AMLogic S905/S905X/S912 Media Player Options

Argh! Been reading this thread for ages and I'm no further forward...

I just want a device that I can run Kodi on that will play Dolby 5.1 out to a Sonos playbar (So it would need to have an optical out)

Any suggestions? (The only other thing I would KINDA like is Sky Go to work on it but that's not a must)

I would buy a NVidia Shield TV but its just not on sale in the UK anymore other than ebay which is at stupid prices
Proper DRM + Sky Go + 5.1 DD + Optical Output on an Android device = WeTek Play2 or WeTek Core.

And as the Sky Go App uses Android Touch control, you need an RF Wireless Air Mouse remote control = the excellent WeTek Core's remote.

As per the limitations in Post#2, the WeTek Core cannot playback 10bit HEVC (H265), but other than that you will be good to go. Smile

http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p...ble#latest
http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p...ment_41947

EDIT However there are conflicting reports of no HD video playback with Sky Go and the WeTek Core:
http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p...ment_41947

Sky Go I believe uses Microsoft Playready DRM, and the only device that has that is the WeTek Play2 with its optical out. So a seperate RF Air Mouse would have to be purchased as well.

(2016-11-02, 12:43)wrxtasy Wrote: Proper DRM + Sky Go + 5.1 DD + Optical Output on an Android device = WeTek Play2 or WeTek Core.

And as the Sky Go App uses Android Touch control, you need an RF Wireless Air Mouse remote control = the excellent WeTek Core's remote.

As per the limitations in Post#2, the WeTek Core cannot playback 10bit HEVC (H265), but other than that you will be good to go. Smile

http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p...ble#latest
http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p...ment_41947

EDIT However there are conflicting reports of no HD video playback with Sky Go and the WeTek Core:
http://www.wetekforums.com/v/index.php?p...ment_41947

Sky Go I believe uses Microsoft Playready DRM, and the only device that has that is the WeTek Play2 with its optical out. So a seperate RF Air Mouse would have to be purchased as well.

How is the WeTek double the price of say a Q-Box when it is only using a S805 instead of a 905 ? Will performance not be hit with this? Does other cheaper boxes with an optical out not give dolby 5.1 ?

Thanks!

Actually that's for the Streamer not the Core - The Core is a 812 which appears to benchmark above a 905... but is out of stock :'< Cant believe that and the Nvidia stream are out of stock!!! Really don't want to buy a cheap unbranded box!
Which would you recommend getting?

RAW Media Mini HTPC
NVIDIA Shield
Himedia Q10 Pro
Zidoo X9s

something that wont be outdated soon.
nVIDIA Shield due to it running Android TV OS with all the nice Android Apps bells and Whistles and the fact it will get better Android OS support going forward from a major Tech company. It's a more mature Kodi platform.

And then you have strong Kodi Android developer support to go along with that without stuffing about with external (non Kodi) media player solutions. Which actually contribute Absolutely Zip to the Kodi Open Source project.

If it is just a Kodi media player you need with no Android Apps at all. Then a number of devices running LibreELEC Kodi is actually preferred to avoid Android limitations.

Previous post deleted...

A reminder to everyone...

Quote:Add-on's and/or Add-on Repo's from third parties. Discussion is banned as these provide illegal content or violate the law/copyright in some sort. A list of the common ones can be found on the wiki at Banned_add-ons (wiki), however please note this is not a comprehensive list, so even though an Add-on may not be listed it may still be in violation of our Piracy Policy. Kodi does not provide, nor is in any way related to these Add-ons and is not responsible for any misuse of private data, or damage to your system, untrustworthy Add-ons like these may cause.

(2016-11-02, 13:12)chrisredmayne Wrote: Actually that's for the Streamer not the Core - The Core is a 812 which appears to benchmark above a 905... but is out of stock :'< Cant believe that and the Nvidia stream are out of stock!!! Really don't want to buy a cheap unbranded box!
As previously mentioned Sky Go requires Microsoft Playready DRM. The WeTek Core does not have this at all, the Play2 does.

The nVIDIA Shield does have the required DRM and you can add Optical output to it with a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II USB (or similar)
The Shield is now back in stock on the nVIDIA Website and Amazon France also has stock.

If you want proper DRM / Approvals on a device for Sky Go and Netflix, HBO etc you are going to have to pay for it. None of those cheap, generic AMLogic boxes will have the necessary DRM Approvals.

(2016-11-03, 04:12)wrxtasy Wrote: Previous post deleted...

A reminder to everyone...

Quote:Add-on's and/or Add-on Repo's from third parties. Discussion is banned as these provide illegal content or violate the law/copyright in some sort. A list of the common ones can be found on the wiki at Banned_add-ons (wiki), however please note this is not a comprehensive list, so even though an Add-on may not be listed it may still be in violation of our Piracy Policy. Kodi does not provide, nor is in any way related to these Add-ons and is not responsible for any misuse of private data, or damage to your system, untrustworthy Add-ons like these may cause.


My bad I didn't know so what's the best box for supported apps like NFL Sunday ticket and ESPN that will stream them flawlessly without stutter or choppy? Thanks and I apologize.
Holy cow, 60 pages to this thread. Please let me know if there's a separate forum for "help me pick hardware" questions, and I'll move my post...

I'm looking to pick up a new Kodi box this year, as my current Asus Chromebox chokes on some HEVC content. I don't have a 4k t.v. and don't plan on getting one for another ~2 years. But I do want the ability to play media in whatever format I find it - just grab the highest quality, and not have to worry about re-acquiring my entire library later on. So 1080p 10-bit HEVC (which I'm seeing more frequently these days) is a must - 4k 10-bit HEVC would be "nice". Also, I watch some anime, which often comes in hi-10p (10bit h264). I don't use netflix, but I do have prime. Would like to keep it in the < $300 range.

My first thought was to get a NUC of some flavor, and run Ubuntu - because I'm most familiar with "real computers", and I'm not a fan of android. But then I discovered that Skylake CPU's only do 10-bit HEVC in a "hybrid" mode, and i3/i5's can max out decoding it. Kaby Lake will do full-hardware 10-bit HEVC, but there's only one NUC available so far (MSI Cubi 2). On the other hand, the first post of this thread says several android options do hardware 4k 10-bit HEVC (Odroid C2, WeTek Hub). But the Odroid thread says no hi-10p, and that "a decent Intel machine" is required for software hi-10p. An NVidia shield might fit the bill - but in addition to what seem to be a lot of glitches/issues in the Shield thread, it's basically a console, which is kind of the opposite of what I started out wanting (a linux computer).

At this point, my eyes are starting to glaze over, and I feel a strong desire to get drunk. Do I get the bleeding edge Kaby Lake i3/i5 NUC, and risk driver problems in Ubuntu? Or a known quantity Skylake NUC, and risk not being able to play some 10bit HEVC content? Or an Odroid, and give up on anime? Or a Shield, and be sad that I'm stuck in Android land, with a game controller for a remote (plus maybe bugs?)

Honestly, I'm still leaning Kaby Lake... I just don't want to pull the trigger, discover something doesn't work under Linux, and then be forced to shell out another $100 for (ugh) Windows 10. (Apparently, microsoft is claiming Win 7 won't run on Kaby Lake?) Argh! Can someone help me out, so that I can close these 47 browser tabs and get some sleep?
(2016-11-03, 07:03)meeotch Wrote: Holy cow, 60 pages to this thread.

At this point, my eyes are starting to glaze over, and I feel a strong desire to get drunk.
...Argh! Can someone help me out, so that I can close these 47 browser tabs and get some sleep?
Ha Ha ha...yes Alcohol can cure many things but when it comes to media player Tech confusion abounds when the wee Spirits are imbibed !

Some points:

10bit Hi10P Anime is encoded using H264 compression standard. As you probably know there is no Hardware decoding on any platform for this combo.
This is different from 10bit HEVC in whatever wrapper takes your fancy .ts .mkv .mp4 etc. This codec can be Hardware decoded.
The two are completely different, so yes it is true a ODROID C2 can decode 10bit HEVC, but will not have the CPU ponies to Software decode 10bit 1080p H264 Hi10P Anime.

The question is how important is Software decoding Hi10P Anime to you to shell out a decent amount of $$$ for a Intel i series NUC. ?

If you don't plan on getting a 4K TV then why can you not just supplement your existing Chromebox with a cheap AML S905 box running LibreELEC Jarvis to decode any 10bit HEVC content you may come across until Intel Hardware prices, 10bit HEVC decoding with Intel Linux, HDMI 2.0 and HDR10 standards settle down a bit. ?

The noose around your neck is this unsupported (for Hardware decoding) Hi10P Anime H264 combo.

I would also ask in the Shield thread this question:
"Am I going to have user noticeable color problems after refresh rate switching when watching any 10bit 1080p content only on the Shield ?"

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