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START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Dec 2020)
Thank you for the descriptive answer. Quite honestly I was hoping to get the new fire tv stick simply because of it's really nice price but apart from that it really doesn't fit my needs. As you said the ATV 4K seems to be the best choice so for now my only issue is how do I go about getting one as it costs too much to buy locally (will probably have to import one).
Hi

I bought the Minix U1 for £100 after a few beers. Before I open it up I'm wondering should I be looking for something better for that cost? Use Kodi currently on laptop but wanted something smaller and could be left beside TV. Mostly stream 1080 films from my NAS and occasionally online. Must be able to install a VPN.

If I stick with the U1 should I get stuck right in with librelec from the start?
Kodi doesn't need a VPN.

See our VPN Policy (wiki) for more details before you continue talking about such things here.
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I'm talking about the capabilities of the hardware and not specifically the use of a VPN with Kodi
We have the Off-topic forum section for that.
Hello, i just joined up today. I bought myself a A95X PLUS TV Box. I was wondering if any Libreelec builds would work on it.
(2018-11-29, 05:25)Cenfus Wrote: Hello, i just joined up today. I bought myself a A95X PLUS TV Box. I was wondering if any Libreelec builds would work on it.

Welcome.

Currently there is No LiberELEC or CoreELEC support for the new S905X2 or S905Y2 chipsets.
At the very least the developers would need correct Linux GPU drivers for the new ARM Mali-G31 MP2 GPU or they could possible use the LibHybris GPU drivers implementation the LE AMLogic S912 releases are currently using.

Hi I need some help, I am looking at buying the Wetek Core box because the Nvidia Shield TV is too expensive for me and the Amazon fire TV is unavailable in Canada.

But I was wondering if anyone has the Wetek Core and can give review if is still up to the job of using it as a Kodi box in 2018?

Here are the specs:

CPU: AMLogic S812-H Quad-core up to 2.0 GHz
• GPU: Octa-core Mali-450MP
• RAM: 2 GB DDR III
• Flash Memory: 8 GB NAND
• WiFi: 802.11 B/G/N 2.4/5 Ghz
• Ethernet: 1000 Mbit/s
• Bluetooth: 4.0
• HDMI: 1x
• S-PDIF: 1x
• MicroSD: 1x
• USB 2.0: 2x
hi I would love some advice, I just got my first 4k uhd tv and want to playback h265 files with good quality.

tv says it Ultra HD Certified and hd10+ I also use a av receiver so require dts hd bitstream passthrough 7.1 **i dont have atmos**

at the moment im using an intel nuc i5 gen 5 and understand this will not playback as good as some hardware recommended here. I have tested some h265 using powerdvd and seemed ok, Im usually only using kodi mvc build for all my films.

whats the best current option for h265 playback on a budget. can anyone recommend me any hardware options for this, more options the better.

requirements are dts hd 7.1passthrough via av receiver and good quality video and h265 codec support.

Also i prefer to playback via usb not wanting to stream movies.

new device would be plugged in via hdmi to my av receiver and have usb port to use with my usb drive with h265 files on

note it doesnt have to have wifi or play 3d as i will do this with my Intel nuc main requirement is best h265 support and playback quality.

thanks.
haxel
NUC5I5RYH
yamaha RX-V777
BenQ w1070
samsung ue55nu7100

The Best Of - categorised - media players on the market (click)

Personally I would try LibreELEC in a x86_64 Intel i5 first. LE can even be run entirely from a USB stick, completely seperate from the existing OS:
https://nucblog.net/2016/11/installing-l...intel-nuc/

An i5 should easily be able to CPU software decode H265 (HEVC) content:

https://wiki.libreelec.tv/installation

4K HEVC, which will mostly be 10bit will need HEVC hardware decoding.
Note you are REALLY limited in your hardware choices if you want 1080p 3D support.

(2018-12-08, 13:45)wrxtasy Wrote: The Best Of - categorised - media players on the market (click)

Personally I would try LibreELEC in a x86_64 Intel i5 first. LE can even be run entirely from a USB stick, completely seperate from the existing OS:
https://nucblog.net/2016/11/installing-l...intel-nuc/

An i5 should easily be able to CPU software decode H265 (HEVC) content:

https://wiki.libreelec.tv/installation

4K HEVC, which will mostly be 10bit will need HEVC hardware decoding.
Note you are REALLY limited in your hardware choices if you want 1080p 3D support.
 However whilst those solutions will play UHD HEVC/h.265 content with hardware acceleration - they won't playback HDR content in HDR (Windows solutions may do if the NUC is a recent model).  

I think the OP meant to type HDR10+ (not HD10+) so their set - like pretty much every UHD set now sold - is HDR compatible.  Given that a lot of 4K/UHD HEVC/h.265 content is now HDR - you will be limited to LibreElec's 8-bit SDR output on Intel - and an HDR->SDR conversion?

Wouldn't something like a Vero 4K+ with OSMC be a better bet?
thanks for quick reply.

so would a Vero 4K+ be my best option.

I know their isnt a perfect device just without serious issues like microstutters would be good enough.

I would like to be able to play all available types of h265 files. and this device would strictly be for that as i will keep nuc for everything else.

reading some posts that vero 4k and+ have some issues with stuttering when playing back via usb does anyone know if this is the case as it could just be their usb drive, found 2 different users on other websites posting about this. Also found lots of users happy with it and not experiencing any problems with usb. mine are seagate self powered so probally be fine.
NUC5I5RYH
yamaha RX-V777
BenQ w1070
samsung ue55nu7100

(2018-12-08, 14:05)haxel666 Wrote: thanks for quick reply.

so would a Vero 4K+ be my best option.

I know their isnt a perfect device just without serious issues like microstutters would be good enough.

I would like to be able to play all available types of h265 files. and this device would strictly be for that as i will keep nuc for everything else.

reading some posts that vero 4k and+ have some issues with stuttering when playing back via usb does anyone know if this is the case as it could just be their usb drive, found 2 different users on other websites posting about this.
 I have a Vero 4K (not +) but haven't seen stuttering that I am aware of.    However it's not my primary viewing device.

Also  I'm not saying the Vero is perfect.  There are other solutions that are also worth considering.
Where do people get there 4k videos, in a **mobile** formatHuh  I was able to acquire an HEVC encoded movie a couple of weeks ago, through a not so reputable source to do some testing, will delete it when I get done testing.

From my results, only my Nvidia Shield and Zidoo X9S, and some of my **cheap Chinese** boxes running LibreELEC or CoreELEC could play that video.  Even my moderately powered Windows 10, desktop computer could not play that movie.  I do not have a 4k firestick to test.

To be noted, I have tested numerous 4k clips, and most of those clips play on most of my devices, but this REAL movie will NOT play on those devices.

Information from the Mediainfo Windows app.

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Commercial name                          : HDR10
Format profile                           : Main [email protected]@high
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 42 min
Bit rate                                 : 69.1 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.348
Stream size                              : 49.5 GiB (95%)
(2018-12-08, 16:11)clarkss12 Wrote: Where do people get there 4k videos, in a **mobile** formatHuh  I was able to acquire an HEVC encoded movie a couple of weeks ago, through a not so reputable source to do some testing, will delete it when I get done testing.

From my results, only my Nvidia Shield and Zidoo X9S, and some of my **cheap Chinese** boxes running LibreELEC or CoreELEC could play that video.  Even my moderately powered Windows 10, desktop computer could not play that movie.  I do not have a 4k firestick to test.

To be noted, I have tested numerous 4k clips, and most of those clips play on most of my devices, but this REAL movie will NOT play on those devices.

Information from the Mediainfo Windows app.

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : HEVC
Format/Info                              : High Efficiency Video Coding
Commercial name                          : HDR10
Format profile                           : Main [email protected]@high
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration                                 : 1 h 42 min
Bit rate                                 : 69.1 Mb/s
Width                                    : 3 840 pixels
Height                                   : 2 160 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0 (Type 2)
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.348
Stream size                              : 49.5 GiB (95%)
 A lot of early 4K content was 4K h.264 8-bit and 4K h.264 8-bit content will play on Intels from around Haswell onwards, as these devices had h.264 hardware acceleration that was good enough to play this.

However - real world UHD Blu-ray movies (which can now be ripped) are in 10-bit HEVC/h.265 and usually also in HDR10 format.  This is much more demanding to play - so needs a more recent playback solution - and you also have to factor in the complication of HDR output or HDR->SDR conversion. You will also see that UHD Blu-ray lossless rips can often have very high bitrates - which will also stress network connectivity if you are streaming them from a NAS or similar.

What do you mean by **mobile** format?  A format for playing on mobile phones - or something with smaller file sizes and lower bit rate (and thus lower quality)?
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