2015-12-20, 19:32
Been running the Beebox 3150 for a few weeks now & after getting it settled in I feel comfortable now sharing my own personal observations. Be aware I prefer to use these boxes as stand-alone Kodi devices.
I think for best results, install OpenElec & be done with it. If the best video quality from an Intel HW perspective is your goal, boot it to OE 6 official & then upgrade to whatever version EGL build suits your needs. Personally I use 6.0.95 fritsch. It's a 15.2 final based build & it's quite stable, no passthru issues & runs the skins I use just fine (Aeon 5 & 6). I find the video picture quality to be a shade better than my Chromebox...from my perspective, there's a little more pop & depth to the image. Sources are mostly 1080p full quality MKV rips w/ full quality HD audio, but some 4K & HEVC test files, DVD rips, & 1080p video recordings of my band in MP4.
From a hardware perspective you really don't need more than 2 x 2 GB for memory under OE. Save yourself some $$$ on the memory side & put it towards an mSATA drive instead. I put in a Samsung 120GB mSATA drive, for a couple of reasons...from my trial & error, Kodi ran snappier & the system was more stable as opposed to using a 2.5" drive (had a few reboot issues that went away when I switched to mSATA). Also, the sata cable arrangement for the box is a pretty poor design, it's a tight fit & that connector is doomed for failure IMHO. Air flow is better without it as well. Asrock does include that teeny little screw for mounting the mSATA drive (thank you).
I also recommend that when you connect it to your AVR>>>HDTV monitor, select the source first then power up the box. Sometimes if I let it boot from power off with my AVR switched to another source, I got no video output, requiring a reboot.
I think Windows 10 will run just fine on this box IF you set your expectations accordingly. It won't be a super powered gaming or multi tasking machine. You won't be getting the best PQ available from the HW using Kodi w/ Windows. It should run Netflix, VUDU & all that other stuff just fine. A nice touch is that Microsoft Edge has HEVC HW decoding built in so it plays You Tube 4K without a problem.
Overall it's a very good Kodi box that provides a slight upgrade in PQ from the Chromebox & the added bonus of HW HEVC decoding. Triple head monitor outputs if that's your thing. 4 USB 3.0 ports. No SD card slot. Plastic box feels a little cheap but much easier to deal with by not using a 2.5" drive. Buy it. Buy me one too.
I think for best results, install OpenElec & be done with it. If the best video quality from an Intel HW perspective is your goal, boot it to OE 6 official & then upgrade to whatever version EGL build suits your needs. Personally I use 6.0.95 fritsch. It's a 15.2 final based build & it's quite stable, no passthru issues & runs the skins I use just fine (Aeon 5 & 6). I find the video picture quality to be a shade better than my Chromebox...from my perspective, there's a little more pop & depth to the image. Sources are mostly 1080p full quality MKV rips w/ full quality HD audio, but some 4K & HEVC test files, DVD rips, & 1080p video recordings of my band in MP4.
From a hardware perspective you really don't need more than 2 x 2 GB for memory under OE. Save yourself some $$$ on the memory side & put it towards an mSATA drive instead. I put in a Samsung 120GB mSATA drive, for a couple of reasons...from my trial & error, Kodi ran snappier & the system was more stable as opposed to using a 2.5" drive (had a few reboot issues that went away when I switched to mSATA). Also, the sata cable arrangement for the box is a pretty poor design, it's a tight fit & that connector is doomed for failure IMHO. Air flow is better without it as well. Asrock does include that teeny little screw for mounting the mSATA drive (thank you).
I also recommend that when you connect it to your AVR>>>HDTV monitor, select the source first then power up the box. Sometimes if I let it boot from power off with my AVR switched to another source, I got no video output, requiring a reboot.
I think Windows 10 will run just fine on this box IF you set your expectations accordingly. It won't be a super powered gaming or multi tasking machine. You won't be getting the best PQ available from the HW using Kodi w/ Windows. It should run Netflix, VUDU & all that other stuff just fine. A nice touch is that Microsoft Edge has HEVC HW decoding built in so it plays You Tube 4K without a problem.
Overall it's a very good Kodi box that provides a slight upgrade in PQ from the Chromebox & the added bonus of HW HEVC decoding. Triple head monitor outputs if that's your thing. 4 USB 3.0 ports. No SD card slot. Plastic box feels a little cheap but much easier to deal with by not using a 2.5" drive. Buy it. Buy me one too.
. But in my country, there always is the opportunity to return an item to the reseller, should it become a problem 
