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jjmediaman · 2015-08-08, 20:31

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!

wrxtasy · 2015-08-08, 21:16

This is not the thread for any sort of Hardware setup procedures, please take any questions for the C1 to this thread:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=210987&page=18

jjmediaman · (This post was last modified: 2015-08-10, 01:33 by jjmediaman.)

Is there a specific Minix box that would be recommended?

wrxtasy · 2015-08-10, 15:37

Any of these....

MINIX: (All Android)
NEO X6 (AMlogic S805) = 1080p + HEVC
NEO X8 Plus (AMlogic S802) = 1080p / 4K
NEO X8-H Plus (AMlogic S812) = 1080p / 4K + HEVC

http://www.minix.com.hk/Products.htm
http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/04/25/a...-and-s812/

jmh2002 · 2015-08-10, 16:35

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.

wrxtasy · 2015-08-10, 18:03

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.

jmh2002 · (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.

**Tinwarble** · 2015-08-10, 21:00

(2015-08-10, 18:03)wrxtasy Wrote: You get what you pay for in the Android Marketspace.

Well......most of the time, unless someone is trying to sell you a box for $300 + and it ain't got a X1 SoC and a 500GB HDD. Wink

Skrell · 2015-08-11, 04:50

(2015-08-10, 18:03)wrxtasy Wrote: 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.

I just wanted to thank you for your suggestions as I've been (what feels like) endless research on which android tv box to get as my first and I feeling like I never get anywhere as there seems to be a lot of confusion and complications in this field. I really just want a box with reliable hardware that comes rooted and from a company that provides support and your posts seem to give me exactly that! A few questions tho if you wouldn't mind:
1. Do your 3 recommendations change at all if i wanted to use the box in the USA?
2. I was a little concerned that 1GB of RAM would be too little. What are your thoughts on this? (less RAM vs more support and firmware updates)
3. I was originally thinking of Wetek since they seem to provide good support and Kodi is built natively for it; however, again the 1GB RAM scared me off.

wrxtasy · 2015-08-11, 05:24

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.

Skrell · 2015-08-11, 14:51

@wrxtasy
Couple more questions:

1. I don't really know anything about openELEC (again I'm a noob) but is it hard to get it set up to browse and stream off of my NAS ?
2. Why the Netflix limitation? Does Netflix have some sort of deal worked out with amazon?

wrxtasy · 2015-08-11, 15:30

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.

jjmediaman · 2015-08-11, 16:45

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.

Skrell · 2015-08-11, 18:30

(2015-08-11, 16:45)jjmediaman Wrote: 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.

I already have the NAS set up and working I just wanted to make sure that Kodi via openELEC has a way to easily connect to it and stream the contents off of it which it sounds like it does? I've never set up Kodi but I would assume it has an option to add your own library to it and source that library off a NAS.

nickr · 2015-08-12, 12:19

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.