[poofyhairguy]

Actually an ION2 will deinterlace some things a Haswell GPU won't in Linux, like VC1. But in general the ION2 never had the power to really use the best VDPAU de-interlace settings so a Chromexbox would be a better experience overall easily including de-interlacing something like live TV. I have two ION2 rigs (all with SSDs and lots of ram and tweaked) but the Chromebox just creams them for a Kodi experience.

Really very few people need more than a Chromebox.

[poofyhairguy]

Sorry if this was asked, but I didn't readily see it. Which is better/faster performance wise PC, Chromebook or Android FireTV or something totally different? FYI I currently have Kodi installed on THIS small factor desktop with a 256GB SSD running Windows 8.1, but I'd be willing to get a FireTV or Chromebook if the performance would be drastically better.

Thank you!

That box is fine, the problem is the OS. Windows 8.1 is simply not an acceptable Media Center OS for this stuff. It is Windows 7 64bit, Linux or bust.

[wrxtasy]

I've no experience with Win 8.1 for Kodi, I'm asking whats so bad about it ?

- Audio ?
- Video ?
- GUI, mouse driven ?
- Speed ?
- drivers ?
- constant Win updates ?

[poofyhairguy]

Windows 8 or 8.1 simply doesn't get the development love in this space that Windows 7 does. Whether that is Kodi (from what I understand there is no longer a main Windows 8 developer), or some emulator, or some other app. Some of that is because Windows 8 went backward with WMC for folks who use that.

Windows 8 is the modern Vista. They jumped from 8.1 to 10 for a reason- so people will assume there was two releases that separated the OSes instead of one.

[kdnoel]

Sorry if this was asked, but I didn't readily see it. Which is better/faster performance wise PC, Chromebook or Android FireTV or something totally different? FYI I currently have Kodi installed on THIS small factor desktop with a 256GB SSD running Windows 8.1, but I'd be willing to get a FireTV or Chromebook if the performance would be drastically better.

Thank you!

Stick with the Q190.
Not any gain with either you mention.

[jjdavola]

That box is fine, the problem is the OS. Windows 8.1 is simply not an acceptable Media Center OS for this stuff. It is Windows 7 64bit, Linux or bust.

Thank you. I'm surprised to read that, but it seems to run everything just fine (I just like tweaking things and making them that much better and smoother if I can). Although I'm a Kodi n00b and have only used Kodi on Win 8.1 and an Android tablet.

Stick with the Q190.
Not any gain with either you mention.

Thanks. Would the gain on any other device be that much better and worth jumping the Win 8.1 ship?

[kdnoel]

That box is fine, the problem is the OS. Windows 8.1 is simply not an acceptable Media Center OS for this stuff. It is Windows 7 64bit, Linux or bust.

Thank you. I'm surprised to read that, but it seems to run everything just fine (I just like tweaking things and making them that much better and smoother if I can). Although I'm a Kodi n00b and have only used Kodi on Win 8.1 and an Android tablet.

Stick with the Q190.
Not any gain with either you mention.

Thanks. Would the gain on any other device be that much better and worth jumping the Win 8.1 ship?

I'd wait until the end of the year for Windows 10 if you want to stick with Windows. A nuc with a fast processor will be a gain but it'll cost you.

The Q190 with an ssd is hard to beat since you own it.
What don't you like? It's more than enough for KODI and is stable.

[Belic]

Can someone give me a clearance on this:

Synology NAS DS214se with H264 1080p 3-5gig movies. Streaming over wifi 5ghz to Rpi 2 with kodi.

Will it go smooth without lagg?

[tredman]

Can someone give me a clearance on this:

Synology NAS DS214se with H264 1080p 3-5gig movies. Streaming over wifi 5ghz to Rpi 2 with kodi.

Will it go smooth without lagg?

Yep, should work fine. I have a similar setup, though with an older 212j.

[jjdavola]

I'd wait until the end of the year for Windows 10 if you want to stick with Windows. A nuc with a fast processor will be a gain but it'll cost you.

The Q190 with an ssd is hard to beat since you own it.
What don't you like? It's more than enough for KODI and is stable.

I never even heard of a NUC before you mentioned it. For future reference, would it really make that big of a difference? I might not mind making an investment down the road.

What don't I like? Not much. Overall, I LOVE my set-up. What I don't like is that when I turn off Kodi manually from the homescreen, I have to hit the top option quite a few times before it stops responding, a white message about not responding pops up and then Kodi finally turns off and goes to my desktop. Plus IMHO it (like my phones and tablets and computers) could always be smoother, faster and more responsive. Also every once and a while it also stops responding (possibly just the sleep setting?) and reboots sporadically, but those things don't really happen that much.

Thanks again!

[kdnoel]

I'd wait until the end of the year for Windows 10 if you want to stick with Windows. A nuc with a fast processor will be a gain but it'll cost you.

The Q190 with an ssd is hard to beat since you own it.
What don't you like? It's more than enough for KODI and is stable.

I never even heard of a NUC before you mentioned it. For future reference, would it really make that big of a difference? I might not mind making an investment down the road.

What don't I like? Not much. Overall, I LOVE my set-up. What I don't like is that when I turn off Kodi manually from the homescreen, I have to hit the top option quite a few times before it stops responding, a white message about not responding pops up and then Kodi finally turns off and goes to my desktop. Plus IMHO it (like my phones and tablets and computers) could always be smoother, faster and more responsive. Also every once and a while it also stops responding (possibly just the sleep setting?) and reboots sporadically, but those things don't really happen that much.

Thanks again!

The big pause / hangup when exiting KODI is normal my friend! No hardware problem at all and won't go away. Upon exit KODI does a bunch of housekeeping chores for you. I've caught myself hitting that Exit button a few times thinking it didn't take.

The hanging up you mention during use may very well be in your power / sleep settings.

Take note of any other annoyances and let me know. I'll share what I know to help you out.

A nice Christmas present to yourself in December may get you a compact, quite, and fast NUC running Windows 10.

Enjoy the Q190 in the mean time!
My son has one and it's been a flawless device.

[jjdavola]

The big pause / hangup when exiting KODI is normal my friend! No hardware problem at all and won't go away. Upon exit KODI does a bunch of housekeeping chores for you. I've caught myself hitting that Exit button a few times thinking it didn't take.

The hanging up you mention during use may very well be in your power / sleep settings.

Take note of any other annoyances and let me know. I'll share what I know to help you out.

A nice Christmas present to yourself in December may get you a compact, quite, and fast NUC running Windows 10.

Enjoy the Q190 in the mean time!
My son has one and it's been a flawless device.

That makes me feel much better.

BTW I was thinking maybe a July 4th present.

Thanks again!

[poofyhairguy]

Great point about Windows 10.

[wrxtasy]

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.

[kdnoel]

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.

Well stated!
Great advice