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START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Dec 2020)
(2016-05-13, 11:03)guru11 Wrote: Hi I test at this time the new Rippl-TV V2, it has Google Widevine Level 1 and a special Kodi inside. I think it is one of the best Kodi/Android TV Box at this time. Youtube, Hulu, Netflix works with 1080p.
BR
guru11

Netflix at 1080p...? Is the Rippl-TV V2 officially certified by Netflix?? I don't remember...
(2016-05-12, 11:38)wrxtasy Wrote: The only thing I would add is be very careful trying to stream Live TV with quality deinterlacing on anything but a AMLogic S8xx/S9xx platform (Hardware deinterlacing) or an Intel Linux/Windows box. The Shield and Nexus players and FireTV's will not do the job properly, I've seen too many problems unfortunately.
You need a minimum of YADIF x2, full motion software deinterlacing, especially for fast action sports like Aussie Rules Footy ! Wink

wrxtasy,

Do you see the shield ever being able to deinterlace properly? The Shield pretty much checks all the boxes (or will soon) for me except this one thing. Is it a Kodi development hurdle or a Nvidia software hurdle? I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm betting that we have yet to reach the limits or capabilities of the shield in our current form/state.

Thanks!
Ok, my post got kinda ignored in the 4k thread (which went a bit offtopic), so i am asking it here too :

I am wondering what path should i take. My typical use is content served by Plex (via PlexKodiConnect) from my local fileserver, plus Twitch/Youtube streams. So yeah, not much 4k content yet, but i want to be as much future proof as possible.

Currently i have a Broadwell i3 NUC (NUC5i3MYHE), which has two DP++ capable outputs. It can do 4k30 as it is.

I would want to have something capable of 4k60 (thus HDMI 2.0) with CEC support (because it is annoying to put the NUC to sleep manually or even on timer, because then it shuts down when i don't want to; on my other N2930 box with same CEC adapter i set it up exactly as i wanted to work).
My current choice would be to keep the NUC, add Pulse Eight CEC adapter (ideally the USB one for future compatibility if i move away from this NUC) for HDMI-CEC and one Club3D CAC-1170 (miniDP to HDMI 2.0 active adapter) (or CAC-1070 + miniDP->DP adapter before that, as this would be good if i decided to move the Kodi task to my Skylake based server (which cannot do Kodi right now because of Proxmox having only older Intel GPU driver) to get HDMI 2.0 output from one of those mini DisplayPort outputs. The issue with this choice is that it costs 80€ as it is, while using something relatively overpowered for the intended use.

Is there a good alternative to this setup before i splash out the money on it ?

PS: For typical alternatives i seen on this forum - NVIDIA Shield is not available in my country (also very expensive), so i would have to order it from Amazon.de. ODROID C2 can be bought locally, but it is kinda expensive (62.51€ including taxes, plus 8GB eMMC would be 30€).
(2016-05-13, 19:12)Jbizzlefosho Wrote:
(2016-05-12, 11:38)wrxtasy Wrote: The only thing I would add is be very careful trying to stream Live TV with quality deinterlacing on anything but a AMLogic S8xx/S9xx platform (Hardware deinterlacing) or an Intel Linux/Windows box. The Shield and Nexus players and FireTV's will not do the job properly, I've seen too many problems unfortunately.
You need a minimum of YADIF x2, full motion software deinterlacing, especially for fast action sports like Aussie Rules Footy ! Wink

wrxtasy,

Do you see the shield ever being able to deinterlace properly? The Shield pretty much checks all the boxes (or will soon) for me except this one thing. Is it a Kodi development hurdle or a Nvidia software hurdle? I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm betting that we have yet to reach the limits or capabilities of the shield in our current form/state.

Thanks!
The nVIDIA Shield I would think is more than capable of high quality deinterlacing when using Software decoding. It has enough CPU ponies certainly.
You will have to ask the Android Assasin - Koying nicely in his SPMC thread. It will not be a hard job for him to implement Wink

Extensively tested the MXQ Pro earlier; briefly:

- No issues with any of the x264 or x265 up to 1080p files I tested at all
- No weird playback issues; 23.976 works and I notice no judder in Kodi 16.1; there is a HDMI setting to enable in settings
- No crashes or overheating
- Default Kodi (got rid of the preinstalled apps) is slick. No sluggishness
- General UI is equally slick; the important settings bits are blown up as part of the skin so easily to see on a TV
- Glaring bright blue LED for the power which also seems to be the IR, can't be disabled, dims for soft off by remote
- No hardware power button as with the WD; soft off by remote then wall
- Remote is functional although poor compared to the WD - no play/pause buttons just seek which is just odd
- Power adaptor is at least 25% smaller than the WD, which is welcome
- Despite running Lollipop, this is running an old kernel. Doesn't really matter for playback, just a note.

Didn't test the WiFi although looking at reviews online (cnx-software) its functional at best, don't expect speed. Ethernet recommended. Not interested at all in anything online so can't comment there. I set up a Google Account with a plugged in USB mouse and it was fast enough, no hang ups of slowdowns so the browsing part seems to work. Lastly, the actual cost price for these is around $33 USD, if you are paying more than roughly $50 delivered to your door after accounting for shipping, any taxes, and markups you are getting ripped off. I picked one up for just under $63 delivered in 24 hours with a local seller. Box is pre-rooted and comes with an .apk installer so installing apps is easy offline. For the price this is exactly what I wanted - an offline WD media replacement. In a year I may even pick up a new S912 or newer model with Marshmallow. However, if you want a perfect slick polished all rounder for online and offline buy a Shield.
(2016-05-19, 23:27)winterfell44 Wrote: Extensively tested the MXQ Pro earlier; briefly:

- No issues with any of the x264 or x265 up to 1080p files I tested at all
- No weird playback issues; 23.976 works and I notice no judder in Kodi 16.1; there is a HDMI setting to enable in settings
- No crashes or overheating
- Default Kodi (got rid of the preinstalled apps) is slick. No sluggishness
- General UI is equally slick; the important settings bits are blown up as part of the skin so easily to see on a TV
- Glaring bright blue LED for the power which also seems to be the IR, can't be disabled, dims for soft off by remote
- No hardware power button as with the WD; soft off by remote then wall
- Remote is functional although poor compared to the WD - no play/pause buttons just seek which is just odd
- Power adaptor is at least 25% smaller than the WD, which is welcome
- Despite running Lollipop, this is running an old kernel. Doesn't really matter for playback, just a note.

Didn't test the WiFi although looking at reviews online (cnx-software) its functional at best, don't expect speed. Ethernet recommended. Not interested at all in anything online so can't comment there. I set up a Google Account with a plugged in USB mouse and it was fast enough, no hang ups of slowdowns so the browsing part seems to work. Lastly, the actual cost price for these is around $33 USD, if you are paying more than roughly $50 delivered to your door after accounting for shipping, any taxes, and markups you are getting ripped off. I picked one up for just under $63 delivered in 24 hours with a local seller. Box is pre-rooted and comes with an .apk installer so installing apps is easy offline. For the price this is exactly what I wanted - an offline WD media replacement. In a year I may even pick up a new S912 or newer model with Marshmallow. However, if you want a perfect slick polished all rounder for online and offline buy a Shield.

Good review

But the big problem with these chinese boxes is that you don't know what you are buying. I can buy a MXQ Pro from the same retailer that you bought and it can come with a completly different PCB board.

I bricked a MXIII-G because it was a MXIII-G outside but a M8S inside.
(2016-05-19, 23:37)sebvalmontx360 Wrote:
(2016-05-19, 23:27)winterfell44 Wrote: Extensively tested the MXQ Pro earlier; briefly:

- No issues with any of the x264 or x265 up to 1080p files I tested at all
- No weird playback issues; 23.976 works and I notice no judder in Kodi 16.1; there is a HDMI setting to enable in settings
- No crashes or overheating
- Default Kodi (got rid of the preinstalled apps) is slick. No sluggishness
- General UI is equally slick; the important settings bits are blown up as part of the skin so easily to see on a TV
- Glaring bright blue LED for the power which also seems to be the IR, can't be disabled, dims for soft off by remote
- No hardware power button as with the WD; soft off by remote then wall
- Remote is functional although poor compared to the WD - no play/pause buttons just seek which is just odd
- Power adaptor is at least 25% smaller than the WD, which is welcome
- Despite running Lollipop, this is running an old kernel. Doesn't really matter for playback, just a note.

Didn't test the WiFi although looking at reviews online (cnx-software) its functional at best, don't expect speed. Ethernet recommended. Not interested at all in anything online so can't comment there. I set up a Google Account with a plugged in USB mouse and it was fast enough, no hang ups of slowdowns so the browsing part seems to work. Lastly, the actual cost price for these is around $33 USD, if you are paying more than roughly $50 delivered to your door after accounting for shipping, any taxes, and markups you are getting ripped off. I picked one up for just under $63 delivered in 24 hours with a local seller. Box is pre-rooted and comes with an .apk installer so installing apps is easy offline. For the price this is exactly what I wanted - an offline WD media replacement. In a year I may even pick up a new S912 or newer model with Marshmallow. However, if you want a perfect slick polished all rounder for online and offline buy a Shield.

Good review

But the big problem with these chinese boxes is that you don't know what you are buying. I can buy a MXQ Pro from the same retailer that you bought and it can come with a completly different PCB board.

I bricked a MXIII-G because it was a MXIII-G outside but a M8S inside.

Buy from a reputable seller. The one I purchased from had a 3000 rating, a stack of good reviews, and plenty of feedback. It wasn't from somebody opening up shop for 3 weeks on Aliexpress.
So this has probably been answered somewhere, but when does the Wetek Hub come out? I'm sure someone said 15th May...not seen any sign or preorder of this anywhere.
(2016-05-19, 23:27)winterfell44 Wrote: Extensively tested the MXQ Pro earlier; briefly:

- No issues with any of the x264 or x265 up to 1080p files I tested at all
- No weird playback issues; 23.976 works and I notice no judder in Kodi 16.1; there is a HDMI setting to enable in settings
- No crashes or overheating
- Default Kodi (got rid of the preinstalled apps) is slick. No sluggishness
- General UI is equally slick; the important settings bits are blown up as part of the skin so easily to see on a TV
- Glaring bright blue LED for the power which also seems to be the IR, can't be disabled, dims for soft off by remote
- No hardware power button as with the WD; soft off by remote then wall
- Remote is functional although poor compared to the WD - no play/pause buttons just seek which is just odd
- Power adaptor is at least 25% smaller than the WD, which is welcome
- Despite running Lollipop, this is running an old kernel. Doesn't really matter for playback, just a note.

Didn't test the WiFi although looking at reviews online (cnx-software) its functional at best, don't expect speed. Ethernet recommended. Not interested at all in anything online so can't comment there. I set up a Google Account with a plugged in USB mouse and it was fast enough, no hang ups of slowdowns so the browsing part seems to work. Lastly, the actual cost price for these is around $33 USD, if you are paying more than roughly $50 delivered to your door after accounting for shipping, any taxes, and markups you are getting ripped off. I picked one up for just under $63 delivered in 24 hours with a local seller. Box is pre-rooted and comes with an .apk installer so installing apps is easy offline. For the price this is exactly what I wanted - an offline WD media replacement. In a year I may even pick up a new S912 or newer model with Marshmallow. However, if you want a perfect slick polished all rounder for online and offline buy a Shield.

Great review thanks winterfell44
(2016-05-20, 01:24)wh1stlebare Wrote: So this has probably been answered somewhere, but when does the Wetek Hub come out?

Not soon enough!
(2016-05-19, 23:27)winterfell44 Wrote: Extensively tested the MXQ Pro earlier; briefly:

- No issues with any of the x264 or x265 up to 1080p files I tested at all
- No weird playback issues; 23.976 works and I notice no judder in Kodi 16.1; there is a HDMI setting to enable in settings
- No crashes or overheating
- Default Kodi (got rid of the preinstalled apps) is slick. No sluggishness
- General UI is equally slick; the important settings bits are blown up as part of the skin so easily to see on a TV
- Glaring bright blue LED for the power which also seems to be the IR, can't be disabled, dims for soft off by remote
- No hardware power button as with the WD; soft off by remote then wall
- Remote is functional although poor compared to the WD - no play/pause buttons just seek which is just odd
- Power adaptor is at least 25% smaller than the WD, which is welcome
- Despite running Lollipop, this is running an old kernel. Doesn't really matter for playback, just a note.

Didn't test the WiFi although looking at reviews online (cnx-software) its functional at best, don't expect speed. Ethernet recommended. Not interested at all in anything online so can't comment there. I set up a Google Account with a plugged in USB mouse and it was fast enough, no hang ups of slowdowns so the browsing part seems to work. Lastly, the actual cost price for these is around $33 USD, if you are paying more than roughly $50 delivered to your door after accounting for shipping, any taxes, and markups you are getting ripped off. I picked one up for just under $63 delivered in 24 hours with a local seller. Box is pre-rooted and comes with an .apk installer so installing apps is easy offline. For the price this is exactly what I wanted - an offline WD media replacement. In a year I may even pick up a new S912 or newer model with Marshmallow. However, if you want a perfect slick polished all rounder for online and offline buy a Shield.

I have the same box which I had delivered for $29. I got it just to mess about with until the Wetek Hub pops up.

I agree with your review, would also like to add that it is quite annoying to wake the box up from sleep, basically having to reboot it again each time with the IR remote.

No bluetooth also.
(2016-05-20, 00:47)winterfell44 Wrote: Buy from a reputable seller. The one I purchased from had a 3000 rating, a stack of good reviews, and plenty of feedback. It wasn't from somebody opening up shop for 3 weeks on Aliexpress.

3000+ ratings are easy to fake, actually. I wouldn't assume anyone selling on Ali a "reputable seller".
(2016-05-20, 01:24)wh1stlebare Wrote: So this has probably been answered somewhere, but when does the Wetek Hub come out? I'm sure someone said 15th May...not seen any sign or preorder of this anywhere.

It launches when it launches. Wetek seem to launch products when they are reasonably bug-fixed and they are satisfied with their performance, not just because a certain date is reached. They aren't a huge company, and aren't entirely based in China (they are mainly, if not entirely, based in Slovenia I think)
(2016-05-20, 00:47)winterfell44 Wrote:
(2016-05-19, 23:37)sebvalmontx360 Wrote:
(2016-05-19, 23:27)winterfell44 Wrote: Extensively tested the MXQ Pro earlier; briefly:

- No issues with any of the x264 or x265 up to 1080p files I tested at all
- No weird playback issues; 23.976 works and I notice no judder in Kodi 16.1; there is a HDMI setting to enable in settings
- No crashes or overheating
- Default Kodi (got rid of the preinstalled apps) is slick. No sluggishness
- General UI is equally slick; the important settings bits are blown up as part of the skin so easily to see on a TV
- Glaring bright blue LED for the power which also seems to be the IR, can't be disabled, dims for soft off by remote
- No hardware power button as with the WD; soft off by remote then wall
- Remote is functional although poor compared to the WD - no play/pause buttons just seek which is just odd
- Power adaptor is at least 25% smaller than the WD, which is welcome
- Despite running Lollipop, this is running an old kernel. Doesn't really matter for playback, just a note.

Didn't test the WiFi although looking at reviews online (cnx-software) its functional at best, don't expect speed. Ethernet recommended. Not interested at all in anything online so can't comment there. I set up a Google Account with a plugged in USB mouse and it was fast enough, no hang ups of slowdowns so the browsing part seems to work. Lastly, the actual cost price for these is around $33 USD, if you are paying more than roughly $50 delivered to your door after accounting for shipping, any taxes, and markups you are getting ripped off. I picked one up for just under $63 delivered in 24 hours with a local seller. Box is pre-rooted and comes with an .apk installer so installing apps is easy offline. For the price this is exactly what I wanted - an offline WD media replacement. In a year I may even pick up a new S912 or newer model with Marshmallow. However, if you want a perfect slick polished all rounder for online and offline buy a Shield.

Good review

But the big problem with these chinese boxes is that you don't know what you are buying. I can buy a MXQ Pro from the same retailer that you bought and it can come with a completly different PCB board.

I bricked a MXIII-G because it was a MXIII-G outside but a M8S inside.

Buy from a reputable seller. The one I purchased from had a 3000 rating, a stack of good reviews, and plenty of feedback. It wasn't from somebody opening up shop for 3 weeks on Aliexpress.

In general the problem is not the reseler. I bought my one from a very reputable reseler from amazon.com.

These chinese boxes do not have brands. You have a lot of small factories producing the "same" units.

If the original firmware was good for you, you are lucky. Because, if you need to change your firmware, it is going to be a mess...

The first thing to do is to open the box, take a pic of the PC Board and send it in freaktabs in order to check which one is yours.

I tried to flash openelec that was designed to MXIII-G... my one, in theory, was MXIII-G... and it bricked my box.

When I opened it, its board was very similar to M8S.

In practice, there is no reputable reseller for chinese boxes. In almost all cases, the seller does not know exactly what he is selling.
(2016-05-20, 14:05)sebvalmontx360 Wrote:
(2016-05-20, 00:47)winterfell44 Wrote:
(2016-05-19, 23:37)sebvalmontx360 Wrote: I bricked a MXIII-G because it was a MXIII-G outside but a M8S inside.

Buy from a reputable seller. The one I purchased from had a 3000 rating, a stack of good reviews, and plenty of feedback. It wasn't from somebody opening up shop for 3 weeks on Aliexpress.

I tried to flash openelec that was designed to MXIII-G... my one, in theory, was MXIII-G... and it bricked my box.

When I opened it, its board was very similar to M8S.

In practice, there is no reputable reseller for chinese boxes. In almost all cases, the seller does not know exactly what he is selling.

I did exactly the same thing. Have you tried to unbrick it, and if you did how did you do it. I have been researching, and want to make sure I do it correctly. I now use a RaspPi 3, so I might as well play around with this. Thanks.
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