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START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Dec 2020)
What about S905W Boxes? I have read some complains regarding playback issues and that CE is somehow not as good developed for this Chipset.
(2019-09-07, 10:57)Mount81 Wrote: What about S905W Boxes? I have read some complains regarding playback issues and that CE is somehow not as good developed for this Chipset.

Not really, any minor bugs have been ironed out.

Known limitations:
- CPU a bit slower vs all other S9xx chipsets, not much when using CE Kodi. However device runs cooler vs virtually all other S9xx boxes.
- Some deinterlaced OTA TV material can display red artifacts -->>> fixed with a CE Kodi > AMLogic settings toggle.
- 4K (HDR) limited to 30fps = good enough for 24p movies...BUT
- like all S905W/S905X chipset devices there is no Gigabit Ethernet, which is needed for 4K Bluray Rips streaming across a home network.

The ARM G series GPU's in the S905X2/X3, S905D3, and especially the S922X & A311D chipsets are noticeably faster for AMLogic chipset Kodi devices.

(2019-09-06, 04:50)wrxtasy Wrote: Nvidia Shield = does all that you require
Well yes, it could play everything, but UI was mostly low res crap (i did not try hacking it) and colors were never right - either all dark colors were just black, or some other weird issue. Everybody recomends it, but is just not good player.
I mean maybe if someone is geek enough to play with all the settings, but atv 4k for comparison, cost similar and does not have these issues. Still I'm not ok for paying that money for device with 4k in name that can't do 4k youtube, that is just stupid, imo.

Good point about no gigabit intenet on km9 thought, I also found that beelink has android tv box with s912 - so two chinese manufacturers do Android TVs.
According to wikipedia x2 and x3 supports 1000M so I dunno why they went for 100M only.

I also managetd to find actual manufacturer website http://www.videostrong.com/Google%20Certified/98.html
(2019-09-07, 12:36)evlo Wrote:
(2019-09-06, 04:50)wrxtasy Wrote: Nvidia Shield = does all that you require
Well yes, it could play everything, but UI was mostly low res crap (i did not try hacking it) and colors were never right - either all dark colors were just black, or some other weird issue. Everybody recommends it, but is just not good player.

At the moment I agree, but what else do demanding Android TV - Kodi users have available for them ?

Some issues will never get fixed with the current, in Tech terms, old Tegra X1 SoC.

Nvidia with every major Shield OS update ie. Nougat > Oreo or Oreo > Pie always introduces bugs, some of them are showstoppers.

It's even worse now because some idiot Nvidia Manager decided it was a good idea to upgrade the Nvidia support Forums and that has now turned into a POS as well ! No

Talk about pissing off your existing customers !

Quote:..but ATV 4k for comparison, cost similar and does not have these issues. Still I'm not ok for paying that money for device with 4k in name that can't do 4k youtube, that is just stupid, imo.

As I said before, get a 4K HDR Smart TV to do 4K HDR Youtube if you want guarantees it will work now and into the future.
Google place too many restrictions on devices, even legit Android ones that have perfectly capable 4K HDR vp9. profile 2 decode hardware, which then have to use workarounds to stream Google's custom Youtube 4K HDR encodings.

I dunno, I will see about the amlogic based device, maybe it will be better then shield, maybe not. At least for the 40-60 USD I'm OK with running 3 adb commands to get 4k UI (if not OOB) and try to get netflix running (it is similar chipset as firetv has widewine l1, so I guess just setting device identifier to firetv should work - but I don't pay for netflix anymore anyways), Shield at the time was 200+all the hype. (Yes it is my fault for believing in the hype).

I do understand, that most ppl are ok with 4k hdr smart tv, but for me, ones with almost acceptable handling of reflections are just too expensive (and still can't play lot of media needing additional box). Thought from the km9 manufacturer site it seems, it can do 4k youtube.

This table https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comme...ison_table you posted is really best comparison of android tv players - all the info is correct and afaik no player is missing.

EDIT: that gigabit missing is really stupid, but still km9 seems to me as most reasonalbe choice, I will see how wrong I was, I did take you advice into consideration - I can still buy TV Sad ... i have usb3 gbit adeapter I used with chromecast somewhere, so maybe i can find it and maybe it will work.

Oh and one more thing - I had frame matching on ATV disabled and it did not suffer pulldown jerkines that ie. samsung tvs or rPis  do.
(2019-09-07, 11:31)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2019-09-07, 10:57)Mount81 Wrote: What about S905W Boxes? I have read some complains regarding playback issues and that CE is somehow not as good developed for this Chipset.

Not really, any minor bugs have been ironed out.

Known limitations:
- CPU a bit slower vs all other S9xx chipsets, not much when using CE Kodi. However device runs cooler vs virtually all other S9xx boxes.
- Some deinterlaced OTA TV material can display red artifacts -->>> fixed with a CE Kodi > AMLogic settings toggle.
- 4K (HDR) limited to 30fps = good enough for 24p movies...BUT
- like all S905W/S905X chipset devices there is no Gigabit Ethernet, which is needed for 4K Bluray Rips streaming across a home network.

The ARM G series GPU's in the S905X2/X3, S905D3, and especially the S922X & A311D chipsets are noticeably faster for AMLogic chipset Kodi devices.  
How much noticeably slow when using Android and apps? Usable Android would be a must have beside CE with dual-boot for my purpose. Are there any known best-buy W chipset Box models at the moment, that fits these requirements? Good-priced S905X and S912's are all out of the stock now. 

I'm also would be curious how CE development will advance for VIM3L, are these any restrictions and known bugs yet? And also how usable will be the advertised Android for this Box? Any clue?
(2019-09-07, 13:13)Mount81 Wrote:
(2019-09-07, 11:31)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2019-09-07, 10:57)Mount81 Wrote: What about S905W Boxes? I have read some complains regarding playback issues and that CE is somehow not as good developed for this Chipset.

Not really, any minor bugs have been ironed out.

Known limitations:
- CPU a bit slower vs all other S9xx chipsets, not much when using CE Kodi. However device runs cooler vs virtually all other S9xx boxes.
- Some deinterlaced OTA TV material can display red artifacts -->>> fixed with a CE Kodi > AMLogic settings toggle.
- 4K (HDR) limited to 30fps = good enough for 24p movies...BUT
- like all S905W/S905X chipset devices there is no Gigabit Ethernet, which is needed for 4K Bluray Rips streaming across a home network.

The ARM G series GPU's in the S905X2/X3, S905D3, and especially the S922X & A311D chipsets are noticeably faster for AMLogic chipset Kodi devices.  
How much noticeably slow when using Android and apps? Usable Android would be a must have beside CE with dual-boot for my purpose. Are there any known best-buy W chipset Box models at the moment, that fits these requirements? Good-priced S905X and S912's are all out of the stock now. 

S905W is too slow for Android IMHO. In fact far to slow. You are talking the lowest specced components used in a AML S9xx device.
It's fine for a lightweight, optimised Linux OS like CoreELEC Kodi.

For cheap dual boot CE / Android you really need to be using a S905X2 / X3 minimum IMHO these days, something with a ARM G-31 series GPU if from cheap China.
And when looking for Android support, find the most popular Freaktab Website S905X2 ROM thread and read.
I would look at the GigaE LAN equipped - 4GB/32GB - X96Max (click)
Careful - usually only 4GB RAM S905X2 devices seem to GigaE LAN.

Mi Box gets away with an older, slightly slower S905X Chipset because they use high quality fast RAM & a great Wireless, responsive remote.

Not all devices are specced equal, or even have the same component quality control.

Quote:I'm also would be curious how CE development will advance for VIM3L, are these any restrictions and known bugs yet? And also how usable will be the advertised Android for this Box? Any clue?

No idea.
Should not take much work at all to get CE Kodi on to it. Check out the CE or Khadas forums appropriate thread.

I can tell you the Odroid N2 with it's powerful ARM Bifrost G51 GPU and high quality RAM is nice and snappy running the Lineage based Android TV Pie ROM from high spec eMMC flash storage.
I was quite surprised how smooth and snappy it was for an Open Source Android job. Smile
Pity it does not have Android Widevine L1 DRM or working Android HD audio passthrough.

W.

@wrxtasy do you know if there is a list or comparison with all recent / current SoCs?
I was looking to compare some Systems on a Chip, but info is very hard to find.
I was asked to supply some info about current and coming SoC's, but as said, it is difficult to find decent info or comparisons.

Or, if this isn't available, do you perhaps have a list of SoC's that are used in current mediaplayers. Let's say everything that is used in populair mediaplayers since 2016/2017.
So far I'm thinking about Apple A10x; Nvidia Tegra X1, X2, Xavier and Orin; Amlogic S905-series, S912-series, S922-series (lots of versions for each SoC, can't find most of them on the Amlogic website), Rockchip RK3399 (and what more?); MediaTek; etc.
(2019-09-20, 22:59)Sjors125 Wrote: @wrxtasy do you know if there is a list or comparison with all recent / current SoCs?
I was looking to compare some Systems on a Chip, but info is very hard to find.
I was asked to supply some info about current and coming SoC's, but as said, it is difficult to find decent info or comparisons.

Consult Wiki2, in conjunction with searching CNX-software and the ARM Website itself:

https://wiki2.org/En/Tegra_X1
https://wiki2.org/en/A10X
https://wiki2.org/en/Amlogic
https://wiki2.org/en/Mali_(GPU)
https://developer.arm.com/ip-products/gr.../mali-gpus
https://www.cnx-software.com/

Thank you! I'd never heard of wiki2 before, but that gave me a lot of info.

I always thought there are a lot of different 912's too, but I can only find the S912 on those websites. The S912-H for expample isn't mentioned. Strange.
First of all with my apologies and respect your knowledge WRXTASY. It's obvious you are the guru of this players, streaming devices, chipsets.

You can be sure I didn't jump in to here with this message, I really read read read all your suggestions, informations, start here topic and so on... But most of technical terms, chipset names didn't mean anything to me because I'm not an expert about this subject and I really don't want to be ☺️ I'm just a guy who bought a latest 4k uhd TV with hdr support, and a 4k uhd TV, and necessary atmos speaker set. And I downloaded a lot of x265 uhd movies into my HDD and finally I just want to sit and watch this movies with my HT system.

I confused while I read "which brand media player that I need to buy" topics because people mostly suggest Nvidia shield, Vero 4k, zappiti etc. But in other hand people say you just need a xxxx chipset China media player. Then why Nvidia, Vero or zappiti players so expensive I don't understand and don't know what should I buy.

Please just suggest me a best but at the same time best budget player for my needs. As I written before I just need a player which can passthrough atmos and dts x to my reciever and 4k, uhd, hdr videos to my TV from my 1tb HDD.

Thank you for your suggestion and patience for my amateur request 🙏
(2019-09-27, 01:33)lovnblack Wrote: Please just suggest me a best but at the same time best budget player for my needs. As I written before I just need a player which can passthrough atmos and dts x to my receiver and 4k, uhd, hdr videos to my TV from my 1tb HDD.

Thank you for your suggestion and patience for my amateur request 🙏

Hi, welcome.

Gigabit Ethernet device is needed for 4K Bluyray Rips - Kodi only - with proper 4K HDR Metadata output along with HD audio inc Atmos and DTS:X...

A bunch of people are buying the ODROID N2 - CoreELEC edition (click). If you want it to run a bit faster, also buy a 16GB eMMC flash module.

Then simple add a quality USB mini receiver dongle, Plug N Play - MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote. It's keyboard comes in really handy after long term Kodi usage for keyboard shortcuts. Remote batteries last 8+ months.

Minor DIY required, but after after initial setup it just works. Smile

(2019-09-27, 05:23)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2019-09-27, 01:33)lovnblack Wrote: Please just suggest me a best but at the same time best budget player for my needs. As I written before I just need a player which can passthrough atmos and dts x to my receiver and 4k, uhd, hdr videos to my TV from my 1tb HDD.

Thank you for your suggestion and patience for my amateur request 🙏

Hi, welcome.

Gigabit Ethernet device is needed for 4K Bluyray Rips - Kodi only - with proper 4K HDR Metadata output along with HD audio inc Atmos and DTS:X...

A bunch of people are buying the ODROID N2 - CoreELEC edition (click). If you want it to run a bit faster, also buy a 16GB eMMC flash module.

Then simple add a quality USB mini receiver dongle, Plug N Play - MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote. It's keyboard comes in really handy after long term Kodi usage for keyboard shortcuts. Remote batteries last 8+ months.

Minor DIY required, but after after initial setup it just works. Smile

Thank you very much WRXTASY for your answer. Ok will follow your suggestion and will try to complete this set for my HT.

But can you please help me to collect this parts/products? Where should I buy them because I read your warning about very bad guarantee terms of them. Do you think I can success to that DIY without any knowledge ?
(2019-09-27, 19:55)lovnblack Wrote:
(2019-09-27, 05:23)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2019-09-27, 01:33)lovnblack Wrote: Please just suggest me a best but at the same time best budget player for my needs. As I written before I just need a player which can passthrough atmos and dts x to my receiver and 4k, uhd, hdr videos to my TV from my 1tb HDD.

Thank you for your suggestion and patience for my amateur request 🙏

Hi, welcome.

Gigabit Ethernet device is needed for 4K Bluyray Rips - Kodi only - with proper 4K HDR Metadata output along with HD audio inc Atmos and DTS:X...

A bunch of people are buying the ODROID N2 - CoreELEC edition (click). It already has all the parts.
If you want it to run Kodi a bit faster, also buy a 16GB eMMC flash module, does not matter if it is Linux or Android.

Then simple add a quality USB mini receiver dongle, Plug N Play - MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote. It's keyboard comes in really handy after long term Kodi usage for keyboard shortcuts. Remote batteries last 8+ months.

Minor DIY required, but after after initial setup it just works. Smile

Thank you very much WRXTASY for your answer. Ok will follow your suggestion and will try to complete this set for my HT.

But can you please help me to collect this parts/products?

Buy the ODROID N2 - CoreELEC edition (click). It already has all the parts.
If you want it to run Kodi a bit faster, also buy a 16GB eMMC flash module. Does not matter if it is a Linux or Android eMMC.

Then simple add (from somewhere else) a quality USB mini receiver dongle, Plug N Play - MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote. It's keyboard comes in really handy after long term Kodi usage for keyboard shortcuts.

Quote:Where should I buy them because I read your warning about very bad guarantee terms of them.

https://www.hardkernel.com/distributors/

Also read THIS (click) thread for sellers.

Quote:Do you think I can success to that DIY without any knowledge ?

Yes.

CE edition of the N2 is virtually Plug n Play.
Hardest part might be sliding on the top case.
MINIX A2 lite remote works out of the box.

Latest CoreELEC nightly for Amlogic-ng (A311D, S905D2/D3, S905X2/3, S922X) with kernel 4.9 finally support HDR10 playback from HDR10+ source and LPCM!
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