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START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Dec 2020)
(2016-08-27, 19:15)wesk05 Wrote:
(2016-08-27, 17:57)noggin Wrote: Interesting - so the Shield plays 4:2;2 and 4:4:4 HEVC stuff. Wonder if it plays 4:2:2 MPEG2 and H264 too?
The Shield has hardware decoding only for 4:2:0. It can sort of play 1080i/p 4:2:2/4:4:4 MEPG2/H.264/H.265 with software decoding, but it will choke and die with 2160p. There seems to be conflicting reports about how HiMedia Q10 Pro handles this content. There is one user report on Futeko forum that says the Q10 Pro doesn't play these clips. I made these test clips for a user on the Shield forum who is a video editor and was trying to play digital intermediates to his clients.

Interesting - but surely most edit intermediates will be Intra-based ProRes 4:2:2 or DNXHD 4:2:2 (or 4:4:4) - few people use MPEG2 or AVC as an edit codec (though admittedly some low-end stuff may be edited with an XD Cam 4:2:2 HD = Long GOP MPEG2 or AVCi 100 = AVC Intra timeline codec) and if you are rendering out for viewing separately, then 4:2:0 should be OK for a viewing copy?

MPEG2 and H264 4:2:2 functionality is really useful for watching high quality broadcast satellite distribution feeds - where 4:2:2 is preferred over 4:2:0 prior to final encode. 24-60Mbs bitrates and 4:2:2 generate very nice looking pictures.

If the Shield is software decoding 4:2:2 1080i stuff, and also presumably software deinterlacing it, just as x86 boxes do (an i5 Haswel NUC seems to cope OK with 1080i H264 4:2:2 with a YADIF 2x deinterlace) then it's really a case of how powerful the CPU is and/or how optimised the code is for the CPU architecture.

(Out of interest - is anyone interested in the Weston 3 Field Deinterlacer (which was BBC patented for years and popular in the broadcast industry) - which appears to be a little sharper than YADIF 2x at the expense of a little more aliasing on diagonals, or the new BobWeaver deinterlacer that claims to combine the best of YADIF 2x and Weston 3 Field? )
Thanks a lot to everyone that replied, looks like I will be purchasing a hub, can't wait!
Hi,
There are Wetek Hub and Wetek Core but not Wetek Play (Play 2 and later). Why ? Maybe because it costs more than $100 (it would explain why it's not in the list) ?
Thank you in advance Wink
(2016-08-29, 10:52)noggin Wrote: Interesting - but surely most edit intermediates will be Intra-based ProRes 4:2:2 or DNXHD 4:2:2 (or 4:4:4) - few people use MPEG2 or AVC as an edit codec (though admittedly some low-end stuff may be edited with an XD Cam 4:2:2 HD = Long GOP MPEG2 or AVCi 100 = AVC Intra timeline codec) and if you are rendering out for viewing separately, then 4:2:0 should be OK for a viewing copy?
I understand. This particular user was rendering them in HEVC main 4:2:2 10/12 (don't ask me why).

If we are going to continue this conversation, we may want to take it somewhere else. Otherwise, @wrxtasy is going to be mad at us Wink
I can't seem to find many Mini PC's anymore, HP and Dell both stopped making them, it looks like and Zbox and NUC w/o OS is are the only options.
I need to buy a small PC that I plan to mount behind a TV in our office which will be used as Kodi box as well as video conferencing and training materials. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? It doesn't have to be the fastest, but I assume i3 should be minimum for usual tasks.

I found this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856164052 but it's $500. I am not sure if this is worth $500 over Asus https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VivoMini-VC6...al_qh_dp_i

Gigabyte comes with mounting plate so it would actually be perfect since I can mount it on the wall.

Any other suggestions?
(2016-08-29, 18:51)killerbot Wrote: Hi,
There are Wetek Hub and Wetek Core but not Wetek Play (Play 2 and later). Why ? Maybe because it costs more than $100 (it would explain why it's not in the list) ?
Thank you in advance Wink
WeTek Play is a pretty old system, that is very shortly to be superseded by the Play2. You could still use the original Play as a Dual Tuner TvHeadend (or similar) server for a home Network. The Play2 will only come with a single spec tuner.

(2016-08-29, 20:27)hyde01 Wrote: I can't seem to find many Mini PC's anymore, HP and Dell both stopped making them, it looks like and Zbox and NUC w/o OS is are the only options.
I need to buy a small PC that I plan to mount behind a TV in our office which will be used as Kodi box as well as video conferencing and training materials. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? It doesn't have to be the fastest, but I assume i3 should be minimum for usual tasks.

I found this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856164052 but it's $500. I am not sure if this is worth $500 over Asus https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VivoMini-VC6...al_qh_dp_i

Gigabyte comes with mounting plate so it would actually be perfect since I can mount it on the wall.

Any other suggestions?
You certainly don't need an i3 for kodi. A celeron chromebox is sufficient.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
(2016-08-29, 21:01)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2016-08-29, 18:51)killerbot Wrote: Hi,
There are Wetek Hub and Wetek Core but not Wetek Play (Play 2 and later). Why ? Maybe because it costs more than $100 (it would explain why it's not in the list) ?
Thank you in advance Wink
WeTek Play is a pretty old system, that is very shortly to be superseded by the Play2. You could still use the original Play as a Dual Tuner TvHeadend (or similar) server for a home Network. The Play2 will only come with a single spec tuner.

I don't care about the tuner because I can't install a dish and even if I could, I'd choose another box (Enigma2 boxes such as Vu+ or Dreambox Big Grin )
But when it'll be available on sale (they'll start shipping on 6th September), will it be added on the list ?
(2016-08-29, 18:58)wesk05 Wrote:
(2016-08-29, 10:52)noggin Wrote: Interesting - but surely most edit intermediates will be Intra-based ProRes 4:2:2 or DNXHD 4:2:2 (or 4:4:4) - few people use MPEG2 or AVC as an edit codec (though admittedly some low-end stuff may be edited with an XD Cam 4:2:2 HD = Long GOP MPEG2 or AVCi 100 = AVC Intra timeline codec) and if you are rendering out for viewing separately, then 4:2:0 should be OK for a viewing copy?
I understand. This particular user was rendering them in HEVC main 4:2:2 10/12 (don't ask me why).
Umm... That's a way to make life hellish... Either play the intermediates natively or transcode to H264 4:2:0 at a decent bitrate and make life easy... (If you want you can deinterlace to 50p/59.94p if your sources are interlaced and you want to ensure people don't mess that up..)

Quote:If we are going to continue this conversation, we may want to take it somewhere else. Otherwise, @wrxtasy is going to be mad at us Wink

Oops...
Super Nerd video decoding discussion Over here:

Comprehensive Kodi Media Player A/V Test Clips Suite

(2016-08-29, 22:33)nickr Wrote:
(2016-08-29, 20:27)hyde01 Wrote: I can't seem to find many Mini PC's anymore, HP and Dell both stopped making them, it looks like and Zbox and NUC w/o OS is are the only options.
I need to buy a small PC that I plan to mount behind a TV in our office which will be used as Kodi box as well as video conferencing and training materials. Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations? It doesn't have to be the fastest, but I assume i3 should be minimum for usual tasks.

I found this, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856164052 but it's $500. I am not sure if this is worth $500 over Asus https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-VivoMini-VC6...al_qh_dp_i

Gigabyte comes with mounting plate so it would actually be perfect since I can mount it on the wall.

Any other suggestions?
You certainly don't need an i3 for kodi. A celeron chromebox is sufficient.

Thanks, but it will be a video conferencing device as well running GoToMeeting with 4 cameras (3 other participants) on screen, and we will most likely use it to demonstrate new applications or presentations. That's why I figured we'd need at least I3.

I can't find a lot of celeron boxes either. What happened to all those various mini PC's. Were they just not popular?
(2016-08-29, 22:40)killerbot Wrote:
(2016-08-29, 21:01)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2016-08-29, 18:51)killerbot Wrote: Hi,
There are Wetek Hub and Wetek Core but not Wetek Play (Play 2 and later). Why ? Maybe because it costs more than $100 (it would explain why it's not in the list) ?
Thank you in advance Wink
WeTek Play is a pretty old system, that is very shortly to be superseded by the Play2. You could still use the original Play as a Dual Tuner TvHeadend (or similar) server for a home Network. The Play2 will only come with a single spec tuner.

I don't care about the tuner because I can't install a dish and even if I could, I'd choose another box (Enigma2 boxes such as Vu+ or Dreambox Big Grin )
But when it'll be available on sale (they'll start shipping on 6th September), will it be added on the list ?

Of course I was talking about Wetek Play 2 Wink
BTW, what version of Android is it ? (Android "classic" or "Android TV") I read it's WeTeK OS (based on Android 5.1.1 but no other information.
Thanks again
Hi,
I have been through hundreds of posts, but due to my low experience in this matters I am completely confused. I actually have an HT arrangement with an old Mini Mac and xbmc installed which has been giving me great satisfaction for some years. Now, the Mini Mac has died. My question is: how can I substitute it considering that I have all my media (nearly 3 Tb of music and videos) on HFS HD. I am thinking of a Linux based system, who is able to read HFS ... I am also looking at an optical or USB digital audio output -> I am working audio through an external DAC ...
My goal is exclusively watching HD videos (and probably in the very near future 4K ones) and listenning to high quality music.
Anyone can give me a hand ...? Thanks in advance
I would just buy a used Mac Mini and put your hard drive in it, that would be the fastest way to get back up and running.

Another option would be to remove that hard drive from your broken Mac Mini, put into a USB enclosure and turn it into an external HDD to be used in a new system. This external HDD could be paired with something running LibreELEC for playback.

Mac Mini already has a digital audio output, so I'm not sure why you were using an external one?

p.s. Mac Mini, not Mini Mac! Wink
(2016-08-30, 17:16)roaringforties Wrote: Hi,
I have been through hundreds of posts, but due to my low experience in this matters I am completely confused. I actually have an HT arrangement with an old Mini Mac and xbmc installed which has been giving me great satisfaction for some years. Now, the Mini Mac has died. My question is: how can I substitute it considering that I have all my media (nearly 3 Tb of music and videos) on HFS HD. I am thinking of a Linux based system, who is able to read HFS ... I am also looking at an optical or USB digital audio output -> I am working audio through an external DAC ...
My goal is exclusively watching HD videos (and probably in the very near future 4K ones) and listenning to high quality music.
Anyone can give me a hand ...? Thanks in advance
LibreElec/OpenElec reads HFS discs with no problems - so something like a Wetek Hub running LibreElec would do pretty much everything you want. (Though it's still a bit new)

It doesn't AFAIK have a Toslink output though - so you'd probably be best using an HDMI audio extractor (USB audio devices are less-good solutions on ARM devices IMO)
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