[wrxtasy]

Can you suggest me some modern (4k, 10bit hevc, hdr, all dolby sound) player with internal hdd storage support ?
I have popcorn hour a110 which is brilliant player, but no hevc and Kodi support.
I have beelink gt1 which is great player, Kodi support, no hdd support.
There is new product of popcorn A500, but no Kodi support.
So I am looking for something combined :-)

@HereIsTom will be along shortly to answer all your questions. AND I might even agree with him

[komplex]

AND I might even agree with him

LIES!!! :p

[hdmkv]

Beating @HereIsTom on this . If HDD storage support is a must, yes, that just leaves, HiMedia Q10 Pro as the only (decent) box that meets all your criteria. If not, then more options open up: HiMedia Q5 Pro, Zidoo X9S, and nVidia Shield.

[iimitz]

Thank you for the in depth information and organizing this thread. It's made the process of researching different boxes incredibly easy and I thank you for that. Unfortunately some of the boxes listed aren't available in Canada or without paying rather hefty shipping/custom charges. Due to our poor exchange rate right now it makes choosing a box all the more difficult with a limited budget. Would it be possible to get a suggested box for using Kodi (let's just say netflix, TED talks, and a few other programs), as well as running some retro games? If I had planned to install LE on the box, does it support common emulators? Please let me know if retro gaming emulation talk is a no-no. I'd like to budget around $100-$150 CDN ($76-$114 USD). I originally wanted to pick up a Raspberry Pi but was uneasy due to it only having 1GB RAM. Odroid isn't as cheaply or readily available in Canada.

Odroid C2 is well within your budget, do a search for odroid us resellers, there's a few that will be on the first page. I just paid $109 US which included shipping to Australia. That included all the extras too which you could peg back to save more... this included eMMC 16Gb, Bluetooth module, Power supply & the more expensive blue tinted case.

Cheapest I can get the price down to with Odroid-C2, a case, power supply, 16GB EMMC, EMMC Reader, Wifi dongle, and remote is $217 CDN (ordering from Diigiit reseller). The other websites put it at around $255 (Ameridroid). HardKernel says it would put it around $160 but it fails everytime I try to checkout and the website is incredibly buggy. The price above also wouldn't include the Transcend card reader (about $20 here). At those price points I would assume I'd be better off getting the Minix Neo U1 with an air mouse for $175 CDN off Amazon (and have almost zero setup/easy return policy).

[wrxtasy]

@iimitzMan,
Man stuff is expensive to import or buy in Canuck-land !

Is there a special "Moose" tax or something added once Hardware crosses the border ?

[briand095]

wow, do you have a friend over the border than can pick this stuff up for you and just bounce over and back? if that is possible... didn't know Canuckistan was that greedy...

[iimitz]

@iimitzMan,
Man stuff is expensive to import or buy in Canuck-land !

Is there a special "Moose" tax or something added once Hardware crosses the border ?

wow, do you have a friend over the border than can pick this stuff up for you and just bounce over and back? if that is possible... didn't know Canuckistan was that greedy...

Heheh. Well, item tax in my province is 15% but quite a few of these "resellers" charge around $20-$50 shipping which is rather strange. No USA friends unfortunately. I tend to buy most things from Amazon online when I can because I pay for Prime. I would think that larger distributors would sell things with shipping free if it's over $50 or something but that doesn't appear to be the case with these boxes. Unfortunately these Android boxes seem to be US based initially and it's quite a wait (sometimes a year or more) before we receive similar items in our stores. This is part of the reason why the Chinese boxes are so popular here as that's all that's affordable. Hundreds of people are reselling the Chinese boxes daily here. They buy them from Amazon, and charge more to make a profit (I usually see them selling MXQ boxes to older folks for $80-$100). /end side rant

So it looks like I guess I have to make the decision to pay $175 for Minix, $350 for an Nvidia Shield, or change my requirements for what I want. Raspberry Pi's are easy to get here as they are far more popular and cheaper. Blah, money and decisions I guess. Thanks for the help/suggestions anyways guys.

[JonSnow88]

This is exactly why i ordered a 16/2GB Beelink Mini MXIII form China (you most likely know which site), arrived within 3 weeks to Canada. Powered it on and just flashed LE to internal right away and couldn't be happier, i too wanted the odroid also looked at the wetek hub before ordering from China. My cost was about $70 CAD including a certified power supply for the MXIII.

I suggest you do the same until we get better alternatives, not worth buying from Amazon since i rarely see 16/2GB and if they are they cost $70+tax. But maybe worth it to save shipping time if you find the right box thats known to work. I converted a friend's MXQ to LE because the FW was crap which saved some coin for them. The box is snappy and works well but 1GB is not enough if left on 24/ 7, if you power it off after use you won't have any issues.

The LibreELEC forums have a few theads of known working boxes that may help.

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-1982.html

[netaccs]

Zidoo X9S looks good to me, also I saw that has A- in Kodi review.

keep waiting for HereIsTom :-)

[hdmkv]

Not Kodi review, but mine ... Kodi team doesn't explicitly review, grade or endorse any box.

[jvc_x7000]

Hi everybody,
i beg your pardon if i'm posting my question in the wrong section...
I've made some search but i've not found any answer to my doubt so...
I'd like to try a Windows mini pc as a media player running mphc, with madvr (for 1080p Blu-Ray files),
after a calibration session with my i1 display pro colorimeter for adjusting at the best my new JVC-X7000 projector (it should arrive in the next days..)..
I've made some test an year ago using my Laptop (i7 16gb Ram 512 Gb Samsung SSD Lenovo T430) and it works fine
(the fan was almost every second in action...).. and i was really delighted by the imagine my old JVC-HD1 was able to put out..
So now i'd like to try again but with a more "stable" solution..
At the end the question is:
Has someone already tried to use some minipc mediaplayer (mphc, kodi..) vith madvr LUT ?
I'd like to test for example the new Minix Z83-4 (it's fanless and that's good for me..)
but before to spend other money i'd like to know if there is someone that have already tested this configuration..
Has the Minix Z83-4 enough power to manage kodi + Madvr (Input 1080p output 1080p just using LUT table)?

Thank you very much for the time you dedicate in helping me picking the right hardware...

Have a good evening.

JVC-X7000

[racer_]

edit: answered my own questions mostly, moving discussion to more appropriate thread.

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2443597

[Beatwolf]

So i'm looking to upgrade from my Raspberry Pi 2, currently running Xbian with Kodi.

My usage:
I'm almost exclusively streaming Full-HD movies and series from my Synology NAS, on gigabit ethernet. I only watch live-tv via kodi add-ons.
I do have a 4K tv (non-UHD sadly). I have a 5.1 setup with a A/V receiver capable of hdmi 2.0 etc. etc.

I don't mind getting my hands dirty, and learning a few things, but I'm looking for some more stability speed (as I have a large movie library), and 4K support.

What media player should I go for? Have been looking at the HiMedia Q10 Pro and the WeTek Hub. But any recommendations are highly appreciated.

[wrxtasy]

I only watch live-tv via Kodi add-ons.

Is deinterlacing needed, as that will narrow the field considerably, from Post #1....

Q. I need a device with proper video deinterlacing for Over the Air (OTA) TV streaming from my HD Homerun or PVR server ?

• RPi's.
  
• Intel Hardware
  
• All AMLogic chipset based boxes, eg the WeTek, MINIX, ODROID devices plus others.
  
• nVIDIA Shield but only for ATSC / US users only !

Personally if you only need Kodi video playback from a NAS I would not bother with Android at all. LibreELEC all the way.
As an example of 4K colorspace issues with the Shield:

• There are now a bunch of users complaining about poor quality Video Upscaling output with the Shield, see HERE for details.

Also as a general observation newly released Android devices are prone to bugs. And then when Google upgrades the Android OS, frequently.
You repeat the bug busting process all over again. Its a never ending cycle.

[hdmkv]

As you mention "almost exclusively streaming Full-HD movies and series from my Synology NAS", your best options for 4K are Shield, Zidoo X9S and HiMedia Q5/Q10 Pro. If you need 3D, then latter two only.

On the live TV part, agree w/@wrxtasy. HiMedia and Zidoo aren't ideal for it.