[skunkos]

All AMLogic S9xx boards will be moving to a v4.x or greater mainline Linux Kernel by the time Kodi / LibreELEC v19 M hits.
LE / Linux support for such a release on these type of ARM boards is already well under way with LibreELEC and other Linux developers. 

This is actually the main thing which encourages me to choose AML box over RK box.

[Sam.Nazarko]

 Yes, I went through the thread and many others. While Vero 4k+ looks really solid (and i added it to my list), i have several points about it:

• is bit more expensive than i'd like
  
• is is currently sold out
  

But it certainly became one of my contenders.      

The Vero 4K + is still available locally in CZ: http://rpishop.cz/komplety/1013-osmc-vero-4k.html 
Vero 4K + should be back in stock in a couple of weeks. 

Cheers

Sam  

 Yes, but it is even more expensive (+20%) than if I order from official store. 

True. Just so you know, there will be a sale when the Vero 4K + is back in stock; for those that sign up to the notification on the website.

[skunkos]

I did, by "sale" you mean some kind of discounted price? Or the regular price they advertise now?

[Luke Cage]

Vero 4K + should be back in stock in a couple of weeks. 

Cheers

Sam 

On this page https://osmc.tv/vero/ I read :

• 1 year international warranty
  
• 5 years of software updates
  

I'm a resident of one of the EU member states. Do I still get just 1 year international warranty, and not the 2 years EU warranty?
When does the counter starts/started ticking for "5 years of software updates"?

[Sam.Nazarko]

Vero 4K + should be back in stock in a couple of weeks. 

Cheers

Sam 

On this page https://osmc.tv/vero/ I read :

• 1 year international warranty
  
• 5 years of software updates
  

I'm a resident of one of the EU member states. Do I still get just 1 year international warranty, and not the 2 years EU warranty?
When does the counter starts/started ticking for "5 years of software updates"? 

 That is a warranty provided by OSMC and doesn't reduce the warranty available in your country. For example, under English law you could have several years to remedy an issue.
However the EU providing a 2 year warranty is actually a common myth. See https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/very-4k-warranty/72363.

Software updates began in February 2017 when the device was originally released. That's the minimum duration for which we will maintain patches; but we will likely extend this as we have some LTS customers.

Cheers

Sam

[skunkos]

I Plan to order Vero4k+ right tomorrow morning, hopefully it will still be in stock! How big is this batch, Sam?

[Sam.Nazarko]

It's a batch of 5000 devices.
So it should last us until the next batch (just after Chinese New Year).

[Luke Cage]

Vero 4K + should be back in stock in a couple of weeks. 

Cheers

Sam 

On this page https://osmc.tv/vero/ I read :

• 1 year international warranty
  
• 5 years of software updates
  

I'm a resident of one of the EU member states. Do I still get just 1 year international warranty, and not the 2 years EU warranty?
When does the counter starts/started ticking for "5 years of software updates"?       

 That is a warranty provided by OSMC and doesn't reduce the warranty available in your country. For example, under English law you could have several years to remedy an issue.
However the EU providing a 2 year warranty is actually a common myth. See https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/very-4k-warranty/72363.

Software updates began in February 2017 when the device was originally released. That's the minimum duration for which we will maintain patches; but we will likely extend this as we have some LTS customers.

Cheers

Sam      

"and doesn't reduce the warranty available in your country" : And that's why I'm actually doing you a favour by asking for just 2 years warranty.
Here in The Netherlands it's even worse for sellers. No wonder everything is overpriced. When converting the European Directive of a minimum of 2 years warranty, into Dutch law, it was decided not to take over these two years. And have no statutory warranty period at all on consumer products. Because the life expectancy of of a great number of products sold is expected to be much longer than 2 years. So even after 2 years we the Dutch may still appeal to the seller for warranty under Dutch law. I don't know how the situation will be after Brexit, for products bought from GB before Brexit though.
It's explained in Dutch at this web page on the website of the Dutch government.With a link to a more detailed explanation under the link (to another Dutch government website about consumer law) named "geen wettelijke garantietermijn in Nederland".

It's not a myth actually. The EU directive to all EU member states mandates a minimum of 2 years warranty as a guideline. Which these members states may only change in favour of the consumer.

But you have already put my mind at rest and ease. Thanks!

[Sam.Nazarko]

On this page https://osmc.tv/vero/ I read :

• 1 year international warranty
  
• 5 years of software updates
  

I'm a resident of one of the EU member states. Do I still get just 1 year international warranty, and not the 2 years EU warranty?
When does the counter starts/started ticking for "5 years of software updates"?            

 That is a warranty provided by OSMC and doesn't reduce the warranty available in your country. For example, under English law you could have several years to remedy an issue.
However the EU providing a 2 year warranty is actually a common myth. See https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/very-4k-warranty/72363.

Software updates began in February 2017 when the device was originally released. That's the minimum duration for which we will maintain patches; but we will likely extend this as we have some LTS customers.

Cheers

Sam           

"and doesn't reduce the warranty available in your country" : And that's why I'm actually doing you a favour by asking for just 2 years warranty.
Here in The Netherlands it's even worse for sellers. No wonder everything is overpriced. When converting the European Directive of a minimum of 2 years warranty, into Dutch law, it was decided not to take over these two years. And have no statutory warranty period at all on consumer products. Because the life expectancy of of a great number of products sold is expected to be much longer than 2 years. So even after 2 years we the Dutch may still appeal to the seller for warranty under Dutch law. I don't know how the situation will be after Brexit, for products bought from GB before Brexit though.
It's explained in Dutch at this web page on the website of the Dutch government.With a link to a more detailed explanation under the link (to another Dutch government website about consumer law) named "geen wettelijke garantietermijn in Nederland".

It's not a myth actually. The EU directive to all EU member states mandates a minimum of 2 years warranty as a guideline. Which these members states may only change in favour of the consumer.

But you have already put my mind at rest and ease. Thanks!     

 The device should last you a long time. Same with software. 

We've done a few out of warranty replacements for much older Veros. In our eyes, they should last for many years. 

Where the EU unfortunately falls short is in how they expect consumers to report issues and the timeframes regarding them. Some of the expectations would not be reasonable unless you had expert knowledge in this area. It's a step in the right direction, but still lacking. So you may have a 2 year warranty in the EU; but you may not realistically be able to deploy that in some member states that have implemented the directive without bolstering it nationally. 

The OSMC warranty is supplemental. We're not trying to override consumer law in your locality or restrict your rights.

No one knows what will happen after Brexit, but I appreciate the concern. My understanding is that the warranty rights apply at the date of the order (as we both enter the contract at that point). It would not be fair for someone to purchase with a warranty expectation and for it to be retroactively changed.

Hope that's clear.

Cheers

Sam

[Luke Cage]

Yes it already was clear to me. I don’t need explaining on EU warranty for consumers. I was actually explaining the law as it is here in The Netherlands. Now get us those boxes. Pretty please with sugar on top.

EDIT: I just looked up Chinese New Year. It's on February 5th 2019. That's just 3 weeks from now. So there is still a chance of missing out again. Statler & Waldorf would Booooooooooooooo!!! this.

[skunkos]

So, ordered my Vero 4k+ and I plan to have separate device for HW tinkering/DIY stuff (probably RPI). Will post my impressions, but will be satisfied I guess.

[bmentink]

HI,

I would like to say I have been using the Rock64/LibreElec/Kodi for some weeks with the latest release build, and I am very happy with it.
4K content plays very well, no pauses or buffering, excellent colour, 1080p/720 content also plays without issue.

I have installed multiple Kodi plugins including Plex, Plexconnect, LightBox, TvOnDemand, NetFlix, YouTube etc and all but Netflix play very well. Netflix due to libwidevine having to do software decoding of both video and audio has micro pauses on 1080p. But the the other addons make use of hardware decoding even though they use the same libwidevine lib ..

I would not buy any other hardware ... very happy. I used to have an AndroidTV Nvidia Shield, but the Rock64 with Libreelec  beats that hands down .. much smoother ...

Cheers

[8-BaLL]

I call BS on that. NV Shield TV is about 25x faster in terms of hardware power. Plus it supports all other Apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, YT etc. natively in 4K and HDR (except YT). No need to mess around with plugins to configure them in most optimal way etc. It can also do software upscaling with Lanczos3 on its CPU- even up to 4k resolution, absolutely no problem, which Rock64 could never handle.

Even browsing through folders with a ton of files inside- I doubt that any Android Box comes close to the speed/fluidity of NV Shield. I mean it does has its flaws and bugs and NV is a trash company, but the hardware is solid. The device is like 4 years old or so and is still the best Android box out there.

[bmentink]

I call BS on that. NV Shield TV is about 25x faster in terms of hardware power. Plus it supports all other Apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, YT etc. natively in 4K and HDR (except YT). No need to mess around with plugins to configure them in most optimal way etc. It can also do software upscaling with Lanczos3 on its CPU- even up to 4k resolution, absolutely no problem, which Rock64 could never handle.

Even browsing through folders with a ton of files inside- I doubt that any Android Box comes close to the speed/fluidity of NV Shield. I mean it does has its flaws and bugs and NV is a trash company, but the hardware is solid. The device is like 4 years old or so and is still the best Android box out there.

You can call BS all you like. The fact remains, I can't install Lightbox or NZ TvOnDemand on my NV Shield, plus many other sources, they are not in AndroidTV repo .. (at least in NZ) and side-loading does not work well if at all. 

> It can also do software upscaling with Lanczos3 on its CPU-
Why do I need to do that, that's what I paid big money for the TV to do, and it does it well .. and I do not like aspect ratio mashing! I like to watch my videos at the resolution/aspect that was intended.

All in all, the Rock64 is a better solution FOR ME .... so call BS all you want ... does not make me change my mind ...

PS: Navigating folders content etc on the Rock is way faster than on the Shield, and PlexConnect plugin is a way better experience than the crappy Android Plex app ..

[8-BaLL]

This didnt sound like its a better solution for YOU, but in general a better device, which it isnt.

"I would not buy any other hardware ... very happy. I used to have an AndroidTV Nvidia Shield, but the Rock64 with Libreelec  beats that hands down .. much smoother ...

Cheers"

Using software upscaling on Kodi like Spline, Lanczos etc. doenst change the AR. On top of that, lanczos3 is actually better than most 4k TVs out there can do, except maybe high end Sony TVs, maybe high end Samsungs like Q9 too, but even LG Oleds have a slighty worse upscaling quality. So using lanczos3 is quite a good thing to have for those who dont own the newest 2018 high end tv from Sony/Samsung.


And I dont really know what you mean with "sideloading doesnt work well". I sideload alot of Apps and every single one works, so... not exactly sure whats going on with your Shield.

You could install PleConnect on the Shield too if you wanted, so how is that an argument?

I mean you can look up benchmarks for the Shield TV SoC and the one in the Rock, I bet the Shield is like 3+ times faster in everything, so...

Not to mention Shield can do YT 4K, NEtflix 4K HDR, Amazon 4K HDR, Rock64 player cant, Im sure the web browser performance is also much better on the Shield TV, thats if the rock64 even has one. And it is quite useful to have a web browser on the media player device in many scenarios- f. e. you can just DL .apks off the internet and install them instantly and some other scenarios.

Shield can do emulation of old consoles and many old consoles are emulated really well. Rock cant do it.. I mean there are tons of things where rock cant even compete with the Shield. You were generalizing with your post above, and that was simply incorrect.