[teredactle]

Hey,
just wondering if I can get some help. No big suprise, Im in for a new kodi mediaplayer.

My history up to now: Good old xbox & aTV1. The aTV1 does work up to now, but it needs an upgrade.


My needs are quite simple I think: A reliable fast box able to play my mp4 / mkv (720 and 1080p) from my NAS. I dont really need more than that. But it should be smooth (even with quite a large library of shows).

Im thinking about:

1. RPi3
"drawback" more hassle, I guess. Especially regarding a remote (want to use my Harmony)

2. Fire TV

3. Fire TV Stick

4. Vero 2 (but I guess those boxes wont be discussed here?!)

Which is the best solution? Does the Fire Stick has enough power (dont know if its a real contestant without ethernet port though)? If you guys recomment the pi3: Which IR solution should I take?

and sorry for my bad english, not my native tongue

1. No experience (but you can't do Netflix AFAIK)
2. I have both FireTVv1 and FireTVv2 and would recommend v2. I have no problems playing anything off my NAS, even GoPro 720p@60FPS works fine* [my wifi is not the latest, so both my fTVs are over Cat5]. FireTVv2 support HVEC.265 so get this one, not the v1. USB port supports IR receiver (on both v1 and v2) and I'm using my Harmony 650 with both. Works great!
3. I have a FireTV stick, I find it laggy. Needless to say, your wifi needs to be current and there is no way to run IR received as there is no USB port. I only use this when I travel since it's so small.
4. No experience

All that said, I am still exploring the "utlimate" media box option for me, which is:

1.Be able to play all content (A/V) off NAS/share
2.Support Netflix
3.Support KODI - this goes w/o saying.
4.Support IR so I can use my Harmony 650s
5.Support OTA programming smoothly (both Live as well as Recorded - i use HD Homeruns and NextPVR backend) - I think de-interlacing on the FireTV boxes is weak (if I understand all the posts on this)
6.This is the ultimate requirement, and that is to support a qood quality webcam.

#6 - I would like to set this box on top of my TV and be able to Skype/Hangouts with family/friends that are far away; all the options I've looked at have either 1) decent camera but horrible chipset for other media functions and unsupported by Kodi), or 2) good chipset where Kodi runs well, but camera is garbage.

Cheers