[wrxtasy]

 I was considering picking up a U9 though after reading through this thread I'm having some doubts. I have relatively simple needs in that I have my DVD collection on an external usb hard drive connected to my current box.  The media is 720/1080 in MP4 and the tv series are .ISO   Will I have a problem using the Minix U9 as an android player for this ?   Would I be better off running Libreelec ?  And should I get the U1 instead of the U9?

Also you mention 'Hold down the power button ... and it boots straight into Kodi'.  Does this have to be done each time you boot into Kodi ? 

Thanks...

Your needs are not that demanding. Any AML S9xx box would do the job, but Kodi will run better and be more reliable when using LibreELEC.

On the U1/U9's device power button only has to be held in for the very first Bootup and initialisation of LE Kodi. After that you can simply press the power button on the box / remote as normal for device power up and auto bootup of LE Kodi. It's all pretty easy to do, even flip flopping between Android and LE Kodi.

The U1 is still quality hardware if you do not need HDR support. It's A2 lite wireless remote is a beauty, and my favourite out of all of them for LE Kodi usage.
The U1 is running an older Android OS vs the U9, but will have support past LibreELEC Kodi v18 Leia, where as LE Kodi support will cease on the U9 past Kodi Leia due to no compatible Linux GPU drivers available due to changes within the future Linux Kodi v19 M.