[insaneoctane]

I'm trying to decide which box to replace my current FireTV gen 4K box (not stick).  I'm running out of space and things are slow.  I was thinking upgrading to the cube might be the performance fix, but after reading this thread I'm uncertain.  Maybe I should just buy the nVidia Shield TV?  I primarily need Amazon content, Netflix, Kodi, and a browser.  For Kodi, I have my DB in SQL on a PC server, but my Kodi cache is still like 1GB.

Anyhow, any advice on whether to wait for gen3 Cube, buy gen2 or just go nVidia Shield TV (not thinking Pro due to $)

[insaneoctane]

I'm trying to decide which box to replace my current FireTV gen 4K box (not stick).  I'm running out of space and things are slow.  I was thinking upgrading to the cube might be the performance fix, but after reading this thread I'm uncertain.  Maybe I should just buy the nVidia Shield TV?  I primarily need Amazon content, Netflix, Kodi, and a browser.  For Kodi, I have my DB in SQL on a PC server, but my Kodi cache is still like 1GB.

Anyhow, any advice on whether to wait for gen3 Cube, buy gen2 or just go nVidia Shield TV (not thinking Pro due to $)

Should save FireTV gen 1 4K box (not stick).  Also I have gigabit and prefer that for my solution....

[cconstantin1979]

My Fire TV cube 2019 is perfect for anything (except Kodi, I wrote in this thread some reasons).
It has 9 GB space left after I installed all my streaming sources apps (Prime, Netflix, Disney+ etc) + Kodi.

It operates clearly faster than the old Fire TV stick 4K, and has lots of space left - but for me this upgrade didn't fully make sense, it has the same set of features and the voice control is not working good enough, yet.

For you the upgrade might make sense in case you want 4K + HDR / Dolby Vision and / or Atmos.
For Kodi, look somewhere else (even the Fire TV Stick 4k was better, especially on sound support).

[WaynesterUK]

So guys - just a yes or no as I’m not very technical

I currently have an Amazon fire tv box 2nd generation

I’ve ordered the new fire cube box
Should I cancel this order and just stick with my current box which is 5 years old and I’ll miss out on HDR and a few more audio codecs?

I don’t want any issues when I install KODI, such as audio probs etc

Thoughts?

[WaynesterUK]

So guys - just a yes or no as I’m not very technical

I currently have an Amazon fire tv box 2nd generation

I’ve ordered the new fire cube box
Should I cancel this order and just stick with my current box which is 5 years old and I’ll miss out on HDR and a few more audio codecs?

I don’t want any issues when I install KODI, such as audio probs etc

Thoughts?

Forgot to say I’ll be using Ethernet cable on the new Cubs as I’ve been doing with my old fire box

[WaynesterUK]

So guys - just a yes or no as I’m not very technical

I currently have an Amazon fire tv box 2nd generation

I’ve ordered the new fire cube box
Should I cancel this order and just stick with my current box which is 5 years old and I’ll miss out on HDR and a few more audio codecs?

I don’t want any issues when I install KODI, such as audio probs etc

Thoughts?

If I could also get the settings for audio in system menu for when I set the cube up

I’ve got a 5.1 speaker setup, but my AVR receiver is a 7.1 Denon AVRX2200
I’ll be using a HDMI cable from the cube to the AVR

do I leave the number of channels on 2.0 and allow passthrough? and allow all codecs enabled? Or do I put channels to 5.1 or 7.1 and turn off passthrough?

I’ll be watching movies encoded with Dolby and DTS etc etc

On my old fire tv box, if i set channels to 2.0 and allow passthrough, I got Dolby working fine etc, but when putting in 5.1 and 7.1 and turning off passthrough, I only get PCM showing on the AVR display as multi channel, surely this isn’t as good as Dolby ? I’m not an expert lol!

[wrxtasy]

So guys - just a yes or no as I’m not very technical

I currently have an Amazon fire tv box 2nd generation

I’ve ordered the new fire cube box
Should I cancel this order and just stick with my current box which is 5 years old and I’ll miss out on HDR and a few more audio codecs?

I don’t want any issues when I install KODI, such as audio probs etc

Thoughts?

If I could also get the settings for audio in system menu for when I set the cube up

I’ve got a 5.1 speaker setup, but my AVR receiver is a 7.1 Denon AVRX2200
I’ll be using a HDMI cable from the cube to the AVR

do I leave the number of channels on 2.0 and allow passthrough? and allow all codecs enabled? Or do I put channels to 5.1 or 7.1 and turn off passthrough?

I’ll be watching movies encoded with Dolby and DTS etc etc

On my old fire tv box, if i set channels to 2.0 and allow passthrough, I got Dolby working fine etc, but when putting in 5.1 and 7.1 and turning off passthrough, I only get PCM showing on the AVR display as multi channel, surely this isn’t as good as Dolby ? I’m not an expert lol!

Let your AVR do the audio decoding...

I doubt you will get Multichannel PCM & Passthru to work at the same time with Kodi on this device so....

Select “Advanced” bottom left of Kodi Audio config screen then....

Leave Audio channels = 2.0 (this is NOT the number of speakers when using Passthru Audio)

Then Simply select Allow Passthru and DD(AC3), DD+(EAC3) & DTS Options.

I also suggest you Select > Enable Dolby Digital Transcoding
5.1 AAC will then be Transcoded into compatible 5.1 AC3

[WaynesterUK]

So guys - just a yes or no as I’m not very technical

I currently have an Amazon fire tv box 2nd generation

I’ve ordered the new fire cube box
Should I cancel this order and just stick with my current box which is 5 years old and I’ll miss out on HDR and a few more audio codecs?

I don’t want any issues when I install KODI, such as audio probs etc

Thoughts?

If I could also get the settings for audio in system menu for when I set the cube up

I’ve got a 5.1 speaker setup, but my AVR receiver is a 7.1 Denon AVRX2200
I’ll be using a HDMI cable from the cube to the AVR

do I leave the number of channels on 2.0 and allow passthrough? and allow all codecs enabled? Or do I put channels to 5.1 or 7.1 and turn off passthrough?

I’ll be watching movies encoded with Dolby and DTS etc etc

On my old fire tv box, if i set channels to 2.0 and allow passthrough, I got Dolby working fine etc, but when putting in 5.1 and 7.1 and turning off passthrough, I only get PCM showing on the AVR display as multi channel, surely this isn’t as good as Dolby ? I’m not an expert lol!

Let your AVR do the audio decoding...

I doubt you will get Multichannel PCM & Passthru to work at the same time with Kodi on this device so....

Select “Advanced” bottom left of Kodi Audio config screen then....

Leave Audio channels = 2.0 (this is NOT the number of speakers when using Passthru Audio)

Then Simply select Allow Passthru and DD(AC3), DD+(EAC3) & DTS Options.

I also suggest you Select > Enable Dolby Digital Transcoding
5.1 AAC will then be Transcoded into compatible 5.1 AC3

Thanks for the advice

I suppose at the end of the day, the best audio is always gonna be watching a Blu Ray disk with proper DTS-HD etc, never gonna get as good with steaming off of anything?

[WaynesterUK]

Forgot to ask..

I know the fire cube comes with the USB to Ethernet adaptor, but do I need a better one when streaming 4K movies? I have 72mbps broadband MAX

what adaptor is an improvement on the one included (if any?)

[noggin]

Forgot to ask..

I know the fire cube comes with the USB to Ethernet adaptor, but do I need a better one when streaming 4K movies? I have 72mbps broadband MAX

what adaptor is an improvement on the one included (if any?)

If you are playing local content that you own and store on a local NAS or similar, then some content may well require a higher bitrate than the 100Mbs Ethernet adaptor supports (UHD Blu-ray rips for instance) - these are not carried over your broadband.  

If you are streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer etc. then that will work fine with 100Mbs connectivity as they are typically less than 30Mbs (well within the 72Mbs of your broadband and the real-world throughput you would expect using a 100Mbs Ethernet connection)

[WaynesterUK]

Forgot to ask..

I know the fire cube comes with the USB to Ethernet adaptor, but do I need a better one when streaming 4K movies? I have 72mbps broadband MAX

what adaptor is an improvement on the one included (if any?)

If you are playing local content that you own and store on a local NAS or similar, then some content may well require a higher bitrate than the 100Mbs Ethernet adaptor supports (UHD Blu-ray rips for instance) - these are not carried over your broadband.  

If you are streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer etc. then that will work fine with 100Mbs connectivity as they are typically less than 30Mbs (well within the 72Mbs of your broadband and the real-world throughput you would expect using a 100Mbs Ethernet connection)

Okay 👍🏻

So, as I’m only streaming Amazon Prime Netflix and Kodi to watch movies, the adaptor and Ethernet to USB adaptor that comes with it will be okay?

how about Ethernet cable?
I have a BT home hun the newest model
Should I get a new Ethernet cable?
It’s about 5 years old, so was thinking a CAT6 or 7 one about 2 metres long would be perfect, but if not needed I won’t buy one 😊

[insaneoctane]

For me, all my Kodi content is local.  Since I wanted gigabit, I'm thinking the USB-ethernet adapter that comes with the cube is NOT the best for my use case. I think up-thread I read there is a better gigabit to usb adapter to buy that would be an improvement.  No one mentioned the Shield as a recommendation in this thread, so I'm guessing the opinions are that the new Cube would suffice?

[ozkhan1]

Forgot to ask..

I know the fire cube comes with the USB to Ethernet adaptor, but do I need a better one when streaming 4K movies? I have 72mbps broadband MAX

what adaptor is an improvement on the one included (if any?)

If you are playing local content that you own and store on a local NAS or similar, then some content may well require a higher bitrate than the 100Mbs Ethernet adaptor supports (UHD Blu-ray rips for instance) - these are not carried over your broadband.  

If you are streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer etc. then that will work fine with 100Mbs connectivity as they are typically less than 30Mbs (well within the 72Mbs of your broadband and the real-world throughput you would expect using a 100Mbs Ethernet connection)

Okay 👍🏻

So, as I’m only streaming Amazon Prime Netflix and Kodi to watch movies, the adaptor and Ethernet to USB adaptor that comes with it will be okay?

how about Ethernet cable?
I have a BT home hun the newest model
Should I get a new Ethernet cable?
It’s about 5 years old, so was thinking a CAT6 or 7 one about 2 metres long would be perfect, but if not needed I won’t buy one 😊

What do you plan on using Kodi for? If it’s not pretty large files, you should be ok with wifi only. An Ethernet adapter is only recommended if you have a library of 4k movies sitting in your home somewhere you will be streaming..

[WaynesterUK]

If you are playing local content that you own and store on a local NAS or similar, then some content may well require a higher bitrate than the 100Mbs Ethernet adaptor supports (UHD Blu-ray rips for instance) - these are not carried over your broadband.  

If you are streaming Netflix, Amazon Prime, iPlayer etc. then that will work fine with 100Mbs connectivity as they are typically less than 30Mbs (well within the 72Mbs of your broadband and the real-world throughput you would expect using a 100Mbs Ethernet connection)

Okay 👍🏻

So, as I’m only streaming Amazon Prime Netflix and Kodi to watch movies, the adaptor and Ethernet to USB adaptor that comes with it will be okay?

how about Ethernet cable?
I have a BT home hun the newest model
Should I get a new Ethernet cable?
It’s about 5 years old, so was thinking a CAT6 or 7 one about 2 metres long would be perfect, but if not needed I won’t buy one 😊

What do you plan on using Kodi for? If it’s not pretty large files, you should be ok with wifi only. An Ethernet adapter is only recommended if you have a library of 4k movies sitting in your home somewhere you will be streaming..

I’ve been using my existing amazon box for 5 years on Ethernet and watch 4K movies on KODI, Netflix and Amazon Prime, that’s about it 😂

very rarely even with Ethernet do i get buffering.... just thought the new fire cube would be better and obviously I’d get HDR and maybe better audio?

[ozkhan1]

Okay 👍🏻

So, as I’m only streaming Amazon Prime Netflix and Kodi to watch movies, the adaptor and Ethernet to USB adaptor that comes with it will be okay?

how about Ethernet cable?
I have a BT home hun the newest model
Should I get a new Ethernet cable?
It’s about 5 years old, so was thinking a CAT6 or 7 one about 2 metres long would be perfect, but if not needed I won’t buy one 😊

What do you plan on using Kodi for? If it’s not pretty large files, you should be ok with wifi only. An Ethernet adapter is only recommended if you have a library of 4k movies sitting in your home somewhere you will be streaming..

I’ve been using my existing amazon box for 5 years on Ethernet and watch 4K movies on KODI, Netflix and Amazon Prime, that’s about it 😂

very rarely even with Ethernet do i get buffering.... just thought the new fire cube would be better and obviously I’d get HDR and maybe better audio?

You didn’t answer my question. But regardless, ethernet is not always better with fire devices. The ethernet adapter that comes with the box is only 100m. You need a gigabit (1000m) ethernet adapter to really make it worth it over wifi. You can search the forums and find the recommended ethernet adapter for the fire cube. If you have good wifi at home, you are better off using it over the amazon provides ethernet adapter..