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Got the Amlogic S805 today. Hooked up easily, except ethernet port not working. It has Kodo 14.1 pre-installed. Are you saying download Kodi v. 15 Isengard (Windows) through the device browser and install as usual on any PC? Any other setup issues and procedures I need to be aware of? What is C1? I work in IT but am a newbie to video tech.
And again thanks for all the assistance!
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2015-08-09, 23:00
(This post was last modified: 2015-08-10, 01:33 by jjmediaman.)
Is there a specific Minix box that would be recommended?
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Yes I have also come to the conclusion from all my reading here and in other places that the Minix Neo X6 is great value all things considered (especially considering all the 'little' details which trip users up in the end), particularly so if it will somehow be an interim box which will eventually be replaced once the 4k situation becomes fully clear.
Thanks also to you wrxtasy for all your very clear posts regarding this matter.
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Yes totally agree.
What a lot of potential Android device purchasers forget is that with all the MX8/Q/85 no name S805 clone devices you see on Amazon, is that there is NILL after sales support. Your on your own, especially if you are a Newbie.
99% of the reviews also on Amazon are from Newbies who have not a clue.
There are currently only three Companies I would trust to give you a decent Android device with sorted out Firmware that includes essential movie playback features like 23.976/59.94Hz video output and Dynamic refresh rate switching. Required if you value judder free movie viewing.
These three are MINIX, HardKernel and Wetek/OpenELEC. NVIDIA will be a consideration when they sort out their 23.976/59.94Hz video output and their deinterlacing.
You get what you pay for in the Android Marketspace.
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2015-08-10, 18:44
(This post was last modified: 2015-08-10, 21:31 by jmh2002.)
I totally agree on all points.
I went around and around in circles looking at all the clone android boxes (and others too) looking for a value solution because I will be replacing multiple devices, and thinking I could save some money compared to the Minix (which I can - in general about 25%).
But (and this is a big BUT!), one trip to the Minix forums vs any of the others should give any user a very clear answer about which box to buy in this segment of the market. Try looking at tronsmart, or bee-link websites (or for other clones a support forum doesn't even exist except at freaktab) and afterwards its very clear how non existent ANY support is. This is exactly what you DON'T want if you are a newbie.
Minix X6 is still receiving firmware updates even though it's getting on towards being a year old soon (NB: this is good point - some maturity means you are not a guinea pig beta tester!). Plus the firmware updates are over the air, so just push a button and it's that simple. This is even more important for non tech people who want an off the shelf box 'that just works' (so will not be RPi or HK buyers).
That's worth paying a little extra for. Not to mention that this box actually works, which can't be said for all the clone boxes that are on sale.
I think its the box to buy for users who would otherwise be considering some other type of android clone box. Plus it will hardware decode H264 and H265 even if it only has 1080p output. But, does a newbie user looking for a value priced box even own a 4k TV in the first place...? If yes, they can afford a more expensive more capable box too. If not then the 1080p should be enough for them.
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1) - No, although if you wanted to run a device as both a TvHeadend Server and a TV/Kodi Client you would need to run OpenELEC or Ubuntu. This means Wetek or HardKernel. MINIX will run fine in Android as a Kodi / TV Client. HardKernel has Gigabit ethernet and will run a TvHeadend server better then Wetek.
2) - Kodi Isengard on any of these platforms does not need 2 or 4GB of RAM like you would see running Windows.
OpenELEC runs happily on just 256MB of RAM. Its a very slim Linux OS. Even Android is fine with 1GB.
OpenELEC on the Wetek Play and HardKernel C1+ run well. Its the preferred OS platform if you do not need Android Apps.
My C1+ running OpenELEC is nice and quick plus Hardware decoding of 1080p HEVC works.
I don't think I have seen anyone running OpenELEC on the MINIX NEO X6 yet.
The MINIX NEO X6 would be the preferred device if you just want a nice integrated HEVC Kodi / Android player.
3) - Firmware updates and continual development and bug busting is ongoing on all platforms. I'm involved in bug busting video drivers and Kernel Updates on the C1+. Its now turning into a nice platform for people that need a RPi like device that does 1080p HEVC in OpenELEC. Quicker than the RPi2 as well.
Be aware none of these platforms will give you HD Netflix in Android, max resolution is 720x480p at ~4500Kbps. Get a cheap Fire TV stick if you want HD paid DRM video streaming as a companion device.
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1) OpenELEC is just the underlying Linux Operating System. A very stripped and lean and mean one at that designed to do one thing only. Run Kodi fast. With a few tweaks to optimise Kodi for various types of hardware setups.
Once installed to a microSDHC card and run for the first time, there is minimal setup. Operation and configuring is just the same as the Kodi instructions found on Wikipedia.
2) Licensing and Money plus having secured locked down Firmware to get the device Netflix approved.
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Wrxtasy - I think you already noticed that this newbie confused your $35 C1 board comment and "S805" as being the same and almost got one of those no name devices (after all it was around $35, right??). It was not me trying to be cheap, but dumb me confused the terminology. Anyway, I think I am going to go with the ODroid C1/OpenElec setup for now. Retailer was sold out - that's a good sign.
Skrell - A NAS option - Silicon Dust is coming out with a DVR that will work in conjunction with it's HD Homerun products. I plan to use that with my NAS.
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nickr
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NASes generally serve via standard protocols like CIFS (previously called SMB) and NFS. Kodi supports those protocols, no matter what operating system kodi is running on. Kodi has it's own internal implementations of those protocols, and therefore isn't OS dependent for support for NASes.
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