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Pick the Right Kodi Box (UPDATED FEB 2015)
(2015-08-07, 14:45)tredman Wrote: Pretty much any kodi client will be good for TV viewing, I would steer clear of android kodi if you use just kodi and live TV. RPi2 makes a very good cheap option for second and third TV viewing.
Simply not true.
Android devices using an AMlogic S802/805/812 SoC's have very good Broadcast TV deinterlacing, quite a bit better than an RPi2. Especially those devices from MINIX and HardKernel.

The $35, AMlogic S805 ODROID-C1 I'm currently using, running OpenELEC / Kodi 15.1 RC is noticeably quicker than my RPi2. The output video picture quality is definitely superior as well.
So good, I've actually switched camps and now use the C1 for all my 1080p HEVC / Kodi needs and TV viewing. I watch a lot of 1080p fast action Aussie Rules Football. Its superb TV viewing for the price paid.
(I recommend you read my Signature below for a RPi2 vs C1 comparison)

The NVIDIA Shield, IMHO is not at all ready for the Kodi main stage in its present incarnation. Yes its "Pretty" and fast but lacks even basic Movie viewing features like 23.976/59.94Hz video output for the $$ you pay.

You would only buy an Amazon Fire Stick/TV if you needed HD video streaming services and can put up with 3:2 pulldown video judder. Definitely not for any sort of deinterlacing of broadcast TV.

(2015-08-07, 16:57)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2015-08-07, 14:45)tredman Wrote: Pretty much any kodi client will be good for TV viewing, I would steer clear of android kodi if you use just kodi and live TV. RPi2 makes a very good cheap option for second and third TV viewing.
Simply not true.
Android devices using an AMlogic S802/805/812 SoC's have very good deinterlacing, quite a bit better than an RPi2. Especially those devices from MINIX and HardKernel.

The $35, AMlogic S805 ODROID-C1 I'm currently using, running OpenELEC / Kodi 15.1 RC is noticeably quicker than my RPi2. The output video picture quality is definitely superior as well.
So good, I've actually switched camps and now use the C1 for all my 1080p HEVC / Kodi needs and TV viewing. I watch a lot of 1080p fast action Aussie Rules Football. Its superb TV viewing for the price paid.
(I recommend you read my Signature below for a RPi2 vs C1 comparison)

The NVIDIA Shield, IMHO is not at all ready for the Kodi main stage in its present incarnation. Yes its "Pretty" and fast but lacks even basic Movie viewing features like 23.976/59.94Hz video output for the $$ you pay.

You would only buy an Amazon Fire Stick/TV if you needed HD video streaming services and can put up with 3:2 pulldown video judder. Definitely not for any sort of deinterlacing of broadcast TV.

I should have clarified that with 'for ease of use'.

I have two wetek plays and they also work very well in android for live tv (and had a C1 too), but they work better and more reliably in OpenElec - unless you want android apps I can't see any reason whatsoever for using kodi on android?
(2015-08-07, 15:51)noggin Wrote: Raspberry Pi 2s have very good 1080i and 576i/480i deinterlacing for the price and excellent support. Depending on your approach to integrating your HD Homerun into your system, you might want to run a main server box (like a Chromebox etc.) with a bit more IO throughput (GigE, USB 3 etc.) to handle recording and intermediate serving duties, rather than run the HDHRs straight into Kodi?

Thanks for the input!

Could you clarify? So are you saying the Pi's basically function as a TV client, but I also need a central "server" type box? Sounds like Plex server/client format. Not going with Plex as the Live TV app is a pain to make reliable.

Run the HDHR through the server first? Would I run Kodi on all three machines? Windows or Linux?
Any device that can run Kodi using Win/Linux/Raspbian/Ubuntu etc. can act as a TV viewing client.

As Noggin said if you have multiple TV clients, run a backend TV server with Gigabit Ethernet and some sort of connected HDD.
You save money this way by usually only needing one HDHR connected to this server for your entire house.

As an example, I run a 8+ year old 1Ghz ATV1 as a TvHeadend / Ubuntu server. This does the job of feeding 1080p TV to 3 Kodi client in the house.

(2015-08-07, 17:00)tredman Wrote: I should have clarified that with 'for ease of use'.

I have two wetek plays and they also work very well in android for live tv (and had a C1 too), but they work better and more reliably in OpenElec - unless you want android apps I can't see any reason whatsoever for using kodi on android?
Totally agree with you there. Slimmed down OS's like OpenELEC or OSMC run Kodi far better without the Android limitations and restrictions.

QUESTION: On the Wetek Play do you get Netflix HD when using Android ?

I agree with wrxtasy about the Amlogic S805 playing the live TV streams flawlessly. I don't have a chromebox, so I can't compare to that. I have the $35 MK808B Plus running OpenELEC and tvheadend server for my PVR/DVR. I have two OTA HDHomeRun tuner boxes (4 tuners), and use Schedules Direct for my 14 days of guide. My setup is not perfect, but is a very good whole home DVR solution.
(2015-08-07, 17:03)jjmediaman Wrote:
(2015-08-07, 15:51)noggin Wrote: Raspberry Pi 2s have very good 1080i and 576i/480i deinterlacing for the price and excellent support. Depending on your approach to integrating your HD Homerun into your system, you might want to run a main server box (like a Chromebox etc.) with a bit more IO throughput (GigE, USB 3 etc.) to handle recording and intermediate serving duties, rather than run the HDHRs straight into Kodi?

Thanks for the input!

Could you clarify? So are you saying the Pi's basically function as a TV client, but I also need a central "server" type box? Sounds like Plex server/client format. Not going with Plex as the Live TV app is a pain to make reliable.

Run the HDHR through the server first? Would I run Kodi on all three machines? Windows or Linux?

Most Live TV/PVR solutions for Kodi rely on the client server model - with a backend server (TV Headend, VDR, MythTV) doing the tuning and recording stuff, and streaming live TV to clients running in Kodi. It is entirely possible for the backend server to be running on the same box as a Kodi client though. This is because most tuner solutions rely on USB or PCI/PCI-E cards to handle reception duties.

The HD HomeRun is a bit different as it is a networked TV tuner. As such there are, I believe, clients for Kodi that will work directly with the HDHR tuner on your network, and don't need a server. However this may not be a great solution, as with a backend server you can remotely schedule recordings from within Kodi, but that are recorded if that client is switched off. You can clash resolve recording requests made by multiple clients, and you can also intelligently share tuners. In the UK for instance, BBC One and BBC Two are on the same frequency so only need one tuner to record/watch live both channels.

It is possible to integrate HD Homerun tuners into backend servers like TV Headend, and I'd suggest that might be your best course of action. The reason I suggested using a slightly better spec device than a Pi 2 as a server is that the Pi 2 is limited in IO bandwidth - so if it has to stream multiple channels, whilst making recordings, and accepting channels to record over the network, the 100Mbs Ethernet connection and the single USB 2.0 connection that the USB ports and Ethernet port share is a bottleneck potentially.
(2015-08-07, 16:57)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2015-08-07, 14:45)tredman Wrote: Pretty much any kodi client will be good for TV viewing, I would steer clear of android kodi if you use just kodi and live TV. RPi2 makes a very good cheap option for second and third TV viewing.
Simply not true.
Android devices using an AMlogic S802/805/812 SoC's have very good Broadcast TV deinterlacing, quite a bit better than an RPi2. Especially those devices from MINIX and HardKernel.

The $35, AMlogic S805 ODROID-C1 I'm currently using, running OpenELEC / Kodi 15.1 RC is noticeably quicker than my RPi2. The output video picture quality is definitely superior as well.
So good, I've actually switched camps and now use the C1 for all my 1080p HEVC / Kodi needs and TV viewing. I watch a lot of 1080p fast action Aussie Rules Football. Its superb TV viewing for the price paid.
(I recommend you read my Signature below for a RPi2 vs C1 comparison)

To be fair the devices you mention are definitely the exception when it comes to deinterlacing and Android. Almost every other Android solution is lousy when it comes to deinterlacing...

It's interesting what you say about the C1 deinterlacing. I watched quite a lot of high quality 1080i stuff through it, and I think it is doing some artificial sharpening in its processing? I keep meaning to run a full test signal through it, but there does seem to be a bit of HF sharpening that you don't see on Intel MCDI, nVidia Temporal/Spatial 2x and Raspberry Pi MMAL advanced deinterlacing.
Very likely. I'm still impressed with the results.

The AMlogic S805 is definitely doing this in its VPU:
- Motion adaptive 3D noise reduction filter
- Advanced motion adaptive Edge enhancing de-interlacing engine
- Programmable color management filter (to enhance blue, green, red, face and other colors)
- Dynamic Non-Linear Luma filter

Th Edge enhancing I find gives nice "depth" to the video output results without going over the top. Smile

(2015-08-07, 17:22)wrxtasy Wrote: QUESTION: On the Wetek Play do you get Netflix HD when using Android ?

Good question! Subjectively I would say yes, but I have no idea how to pull up the playback quality osd.

If you know I'll test tonight.
(2015-08-07, 17:53)tredman Wrote:
(2015-08-07, 17:22)wrxtasy Wrote: QUESTION: On the Wetek Play do you get Netflix HD when using Android ?

Good question! Subjectively I would say yes, but I have no idea how to pull up the playback quality osd.

If you know I'll test tonight.

Search for El Fuente or Example short
(2015-08-07, 18:01)clarkss12 Wrote:
(2015-08-07, 17:53)tredman Wrote:
(2015-08-07, 17:22)wrxtasy Wrote: QUESTION: On the Wetek Play do you get Netflix HD when using Android ?

Good question! Subjectively I would say yes, but I have no idea how to pull up the playback quality osd.

If you know I'll test tonight.

Search for El Fuente or Example short

Nothing found, I'm on UK Netflix if that matters.
(2015-08-07, 18:04)tredman Wrote: Nothing found, I'm on UK Netflix if that matters.
Example Short: 23.976 is available in the UK. El Fuente: 60 main10 is not available. If you can't find Example Short when you search within the app, you can add the title to your "My List" from a browser and then you should be able to see it.

Example Short: 23.976 - http://www.netflix.com/title/70136810
WRXTASY: What version of Kodi would I use on the Amlogic if I gave it a try?
I build and compile my own versions for community distribution on the C1(+). These can be anything. Helix / Isengard 15.0/15.1 RC or even nightly versions.
The recent Isengard 15.1 works well and I use it every day.

One tip, and this applies to all Kodi devices. For painless custom programmable Kodi control, grab a FLIRC IR usb receiver. I can literally unplug this device transfer it to another Kodi box and use it exactly the same across all my devices in the house. It has a very sensitive IR receiver as well. I wish all Tech was this easy.
FLIRC is just brilliant. Smile

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