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START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Dec 2020)
So if you have to decide for

Option 1: Odroid C2 set (with Case,Power supply, eMMC) = 85€
Option 2: Vero 4K = 130€

What would you chose?
All depends on if you want a ready to go out of the box complete setup in the Vero 4K or a minor bit of DIY with Odroid C2.

You would still need to factor in a Wireless remote, like the MINIX A2 lite for equivalent remote control responsiveness when buying the C2.
But then again the C2 can be overclocked and you can easily run other Operating systems with simple microSDHC cards.

If you need incoming HDR support (under testing), AC WiFi and SPDIF then its the AML S905x Vero, the C2 has Gigabit Ethernet vs 100M on the Vero 4K.
Pick which features are most important to you.

Both will have excellent ongoing support for OSMC on the Vero or LibreELEC Kodi Krypton on the C2.

wrxtasy,

I've been reading on some forums some attempts of running LE on Minix U9-H (AML S912). The users seem to get success, but they don't mention GPU problems. I think that if there are GPU drivers problems, then watching movies would be an annoying task.
Despite the fact it's not my area of expertise, I couldn't understand why one wants LE on S912, if, as you said, has a severe lack of GPU drivers which causes incompatibility between both.
If, without any doubt, LE is not stable for S912, and if there is no prevision of development support, then I think that whoever wants LE and Android SO(s), should get a box with S905. Correct?
Is this is true, then in my case, there's no point in trying to decide between Wetek Play 2 and Minix U9-H. At least, my decision should be between WP2 and Minix Neo U1. Am I right?
If I narrow my options to a S905 Box, is there any other better option besides Wetek Play 2 and Minix Neo U1?
I think the only main disadvantage of Minix U1 is Android 5.1.1. Among S905, do you personally recommend other box?
(2017-08-16, 21:57)jonascotch Wrote: Despite the fact it's not my area of expertise, I couldn't understand why one wants LE on S912
One would want S912 because of things like Dolby Vision and VP9 hardware decode

(2017-08-16, 21:57)jonascotch Wrote: If, without any doubt, LE is not stable for S912, and if there is no prevision of development support, then I think that whoever wants LE and Android SO(s), should get a box with S905. Correct?
Correct. There is no doubt. S912 "sucks" if you want LE

(2017-08-16, 21:57)jonascotch Wrote: If I narrow my options to a S905 Box, is there any other better option besides Wetek Play 2 and Minix Neo U1?
I think the only main disadvantage of Minix U1 is Android 5.1.1. Among S905, do you personally recommend other box?
I think you already know what S905 box that wrx likes Smile
(2017-08-16, 21:57)jonascotch Wrote: wrxtasy,

I've been reading on some forums some attempts of running LE on Minix U9-H (AML S912). The users seem to get success, but they don't mention GPU problems. I think that if there are GPU drivers problems, then watching movies would be an annoying task.

Despite the fact it's not my area of expertise, I couldn't understand why one wants LE on S912, if, as you said, has a severe lack of GPU drivers which causes incompatibility between both.

What gets annoying is the noticeable Graphic user interface tearing of Kodi and also going forward into Kodi Leia - Netflix / Amazon software decoding does not work properly either with stuttering and tearing. S912 is not a recommended LE box. Day to day its not really noticeably faster than LE on S905(x) anyway.

Quote:If, without any doubt, LE is not stable for S912, and if there is no prevision of development support, then I think that whoever wants LE and Android SO(s), should get a box with S905. Correct?

Yes S905 if you want Gibabit ethernet or S905X if you want experimental 10bit video output & HDR / VP9. S905X is 100M Ethernet only.
I now have a S905X box and 100M ethernet is a bit slower when streaming 4K video during the video startup and buffering phase vs S905 Gigabit ethernet.

Quote:Is this is true, then in my case, there's no point in trying to decide between Wetek Play 2 and Minix U9-H. At least, my decision should be between WP2 and Minix Neo U1. Am I right?

If I narrow my options to a S905 Box, is there any other better option besides Wetek Play 2 and Minix Neo U1?
I think the only main disadvantage of Minix U1 is Android 5.1.1. Among S905, do you personally recommend other box?

Pick what features are most important to you and choose, this link will help:

AMLogic S905(x) - LibreELEC / OSMC - Kodi Krypton - 4K Options

Bang for the buck WeTek are offering more with the Play2 vs the U1, but U1 counters with better fully integrated Wireless Air Mouse mini keyboard remote and better AC MIMO WiFi.

Be aware Android Kodi Krypton has stuttering video playback issues on AMLogic Android Lollipop Firmware. LE Kodi Krypton is better anyway.
Android Lollipop Firmware is slower vs Android Marshmallow Firmware too.

After reading the post indicated above, I got curious about Odroid.
Do you think a Odroid based system would fulfill my demands?
I made a search about Odroid and dual boot but couldn't reach a conclusion. Is this possible like in Wetek Play 2 or Minix Neo U1?
Should I read about Odroid?
(2017-08-18, 18:27)jonascotch Wrote: After reading the post indicated above, I got curious about Odroid.
Do you think a Odroid based system would fulfill my demands?
I made a search about Odroid and dual boot but couldn't reach a conclusion. Is this possible like in Wetek Play 2 or Minix Neo U1?
Should I read about Odroid?

Not sure there is a huge amount of point Dual Booting an ODroid C2. It's a great solution for LibreElec and Kodi, but it doesn't have any DRM options for Android, so there't not much reason to run Android on it (as you won't get 4K Netflix etc. that way)

I think most people running C2s are simply booting just into LibreElec, either from an on-board eMMC module or a MicroSD card. (The eMMC module is neater, quicker and probably more robust long-term - and allows you to use the MicroSD slot for removable storage, but the modules are quite expensive. Lots of people have found booting from modern MicroSD cards work swell enough I believe)
No Dual booting with the ODROID C2. You pick your SD/eMMC storage and run that or swap 'em over physically.
The C2 will always boot from eMMC if both eMMC and a SD card are plugged in.

(2017-08-17, 08:43)wrxtasy Wrote: I now have a S905X box and 100M ethernet is a bit slower when streaming 4K video during the video startup and buffering phase vs S905 Gigabit ethernet.

How does the start time of a high bitrate 4k movie compare for Odroid C2 <> S905x (do you have a Vero 4k?)?
Have you experienced any buffering during the playback on the S905x (due to 100mbit LAN).
The 100Mbit LAN will be fine, even for UHD BD rips.
Discussion here: https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/vero4k-networking/36469

Using fstab based mounts always provides better performance, which is
particularly noticeable with high bitrate content. This is because they
perform readahead.

Playback should start pretty much instantly.
(2017-08-20, 09:21)Sam.Nazarko Wrote: The 100Mbit LAN will be fine, even for UHD BD rips.
Discussion here: https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/vero4k-networking/36469

Is that based on real-world examples, or re-encodes Sam? The UHD Blu-ray spec allows 50GB discs to hit 82Mb/s, 66GB discs to hit 108Mb/s, and 100GB discs to hit 128Mb/s.

If UHD Blu-rays do run at max bitrates (as some HD Blu-rays do) - wouldn't this be somewhat challenging for a 100Mb/s connection if rips were lossless (i.e. without a re-encode)?

(Whether anyone actually pushes the specs this hard - who knows?)
I've not tested with many UHD Blu-rays, but have tested extensively with Jellyfish clips. It's good to use these as part of a series of test clips before releasing a new update.

Even 300mbps will play instantly from eMMC with the latest update.

Over LAN: I found no issue with Jellyfish 140Mbps (jellyfish-140-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit.mkv). It's a good one to test
as it's the only (I think?) Jellyfish clip with audio. The startup was snappy. Obviously if you're using something like
sshfs (some people do); there's going to be more overhead and a slower startup speed.
(2017-08-20, 10:53)Sam.Nazarko Wrote: I've not tested with many UHD Blu-rays, but have tested extensively with Jellyfish clips. It's good to use these as part of a series of test clips before releasing a new update.
Yep - I don't think there are many lossless rips in the wild yet (I suspect most 'UHD Blu-ray' stuff is HDMI captured and re-encoded at lower bitrates)
Quote:Even 300mbps will play instantly from eMMC with the latest update.

Yep - would expect local playback from eMMC to be fast. I've had good results on an ODroid C2 from eMMC.

Would hope local playback from a USB 2.0 connected storage device should deliver 20MB/s levels too? (i.e. 160Mb/s?)

(BTW in the thread you linked to you said no ARM SoC supports USB 3.0? What about the Samsung Exynos that the ODroid U and XU series have been running for a while? The XU4 (and predecessors) has USB 3.0 support and has been around a little while now. The HiSilicon Hi3798C V200 that the Poplar 96Board is based on also has USB 3.0.)

Quote:Over LAN: I found no issue with Jellyfish 140Mbps (jellyfish-140-mbps-4k-uhd-hevc-10bit.mkv). It's a good one to test
as it's the only (I think?) Jellyfish clip with audio. The startup was snappy. Obviously if you're using something like
sshfs (some people do); there's going to be more overhead and a slower startup speed.

Jellyfish is quite a short clip though isn't it - 30" or so? So you aren't testing sustained playback, and partial buffering will let you mitigate network connection speed? Testing with short clips only tells a partial story.
Quote:(BTW in the thread you linked to you said no ARM SoC supports USB 3.0? What about the Samsung Exynos that the ODroid U and XU series have been running for a while? The XU4 (and predecessors) has USB 3.0 support and has been around a little while now. The HiSilicon Hi3798C V200 that the Poplar 96Board is based on also has USB 3.0.)

Indeed -- I wasn't clear. I was mainly talking about from a Linux + Kodi perspective.

The HiSillicon seems to be used in HiMedia products and be an Android only affair. Not aware of the Linux + Kodi situation. XU4 seems to have some limitations with Linux + Kodi too; although I understand HK did improve some of the Exynos HDMI limitations.

Quote:Jellyfish is quite a short clip though isn't it? So you aren't testing sustained playback, and buffering will let you mitigate network connection speed? Testing with short clips only tells a partial story.

Agreed, but I have also tested with other clips. Jellyfish is far too short, particularly when you have Adjust Refresh Rate on, so we make it longer with mkvmerge.
I think 100Mbps will do the trick for quite a while.
(2017-08-20, 11:19)Sam.Nazarko Wrote:
Quote:(BTW in the thread you linked to you said no ARM SoC supports USB 3.0? What about the Samsung Exynos that the ODroid U and XU series have been running for a while? The XU4 (and predecessors) has USB 3.0 support and has been around a little while now. The HiSilicon Hi3798C V200 that the Poplar 96Board is based on also has USB 3.0.)

Indeed -- I wasn't clear. I was mainly talking about from a Linux + Kodi perspective.

The HiSillicon seems to be used in HiMedia products and be an Android only affair. Not aware of the Linux + Kodi situation. XU4 seems to have some limitations with Linux + Kodi too; although I understand HK did improve some of the Exynos HDMI limitations.

Yep - in Kodi terms I totally agree. That said Linaro are backing the HiSilicon stuff https://github.com/Linaro/poplar-tools/b...uctions.md So it could be an interesting thing to keep an eye on. Whether it will amount to anything relevant to Kodi - who knows...

Quote:
Quote:Jellyfish is quite a short clip though isn't it? So you aren't testing sustained playback, and buffering will let you mitigate network connection speed? Testing with short clips only tells a partial story.

Agreed, but I have also tested with other clips. Jellyfish is far too short, particularly when you have Adjust Refresh Rate on, so we make it longer with mkvmerge.
I think 100Mbps will do the trick for quite a while.

So how are you getting >140Mbs content over a 100Mbs connection - or is the 140Mbs a peak, with the average below 100Mbs? I'm confused.

BTW - I totally agree that until we see proper, real world, content maxing out UHD bitrates it is a non-issue. Practical issues of storing ~100GB movie files is an issue...
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