START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Dec 2020)
(2018-11-26, 16:46)WeldSpark Wrote: The Amazon fire stick 4k has been mentioned here. How fast or slow is it compared to s905 or s912?

The Fire TV stick seems to have HDR support. I would like something with a little bit more cpu power than my Odroid c2. Could the Fire stick be a good replacement for Odroid c2?

The Fire stick, is it android based or has it some other OS?
 The Fire TV Stick 4K runs Amazon's Fire OS - which is based on Android but is operationally a bit different. It's effectively an Amazon developed rival to Android TV, but based on Android.  There is an Amazon App Store rather than the Google Play store but you can side load Android applications from apk files.  The Micro USB power port supports USB 2.0 OTG cables and adaptors, so it is relatively straightforward to connect USB storage, hubs and Ethernet adaptors (though I don't know how supported non-FAT32-formatted devices are)

The Fire TV Stick 4K supports HDR10, Dolby Vision (and I think HDR10+) HDR formats from within its own applications, and Kodi/MrMC support HDR10 output. It supports DD, DD+, DD+ATMOS, PCM 5.1/7.1 and I think DTS output, but I haven't seen HD Audio bitstreamed (so True HD and DTS HD MA/HRA will need to be decoded to PCM, and there isn't support for True HD+Atmos or DTS:x?) It correctly switches frame rates.  I've seen some odd stuff happening around resolution switching.

HOWEVER - the Fire TV Stick 4K seems only to handle interlaced content properly in MPEG2, and doesn't seem to be that good with H264 interlaced video - so is a non-starter for Live/Recorded TV in much of Europe.  I've also hit some 1080i Blu-ray rips that defeat it.

It's very much a work in progress - but at £35 on Black Friday is a very good buy.  The addition of Volume and Mute buttons on the remote are great, as is Alexa integration if you are already in the Alexa ecosystem.

I haven't done anything that is particularly CPU-heavy - as although I'm a big Kodi user, I don't actually use the library functionality at all significantly, and always stick with a stock, Estuary, skin.


Messages In This Thread
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Thanks for the Help! - by jmc15john - 2016-11-09, 16:44
Jarvis crashes and wipes - by gotthis2000 - 2017-01-10, 22:14
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RE: START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Nov. 2018) - by noggin - 2018-11-26, 17:39
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