[Justkidding]

Don't need 4K - only HEVC 10Bit 1080p. Still not possible with beebox or SATV?

[fritsch]

"Still not possible" ... I am not even sure there is much content at all in 1080p hevc 10 bit - as it makes only limited sense ...

which sources have that format?

[wrxtasy]

@Justkidding, forget about Frame Packed 3D, it limits your options far too much.

[b]8-bit HEVC, Hardware decoded:[b]
- nVIDIA Shield (4K)
- Intel Braswell (4K) (such as a Beebox) or Cherry Trail microarchitecture (Tronsmart Ara X5)
- MINIX NEO X6 / X8-H Plus (4K) or ODROID C1+ or the WeTek Core (4K) (all AMLogic SoC's)

10 bit HEVC, Hardware decoded = nVIDIA Shield (also the only one with HDMI 2.0) or
Low Bitrate 1080p / 10-bit HEVC = Software decode on powerful i5/i7 Intel platform (Kodi does not support 10-bit video output currently)

Quality deinterlacing:
- RPi2
- Intel Microarchitecture
- AMLogic SXX SoC platforms

Note: No HD Audio passthrough or HD Audio decoded to Multichannel PCM on AMLogic platforms currently. Lossy 5.1 AC3/DD passthrough still works fine. 5.1 DTS as well on some OS's.

[Justkidding]

"Still not possible" ... I am not even sure there is much content at all in 1080p hevc 10 bit - as it makes only limited sense ...

which sources have that format?

AIUI HEVC 10Bit Content has better colors. I want to rip my BluRays and put them on my NAS so I thought when I rip them to HEVC 10Bit the color would be better. Did I understand it wrongly?

@Justkidding, forget about Frame Packed 3D, it limits your options far too much.

[b]8-bit HEVC, Hardware decoded:[b]
- nVIDIA Shield (4K)
- Intel Braswell (4K) (such as a Beebox) or Cherry Trail microarchitecture (Tronsmart Ara X5)
- MINIX NEO X6 / X8-H Plus (4K) or ODROID C1+ or the WeTek Core (4K) (all AMLogic SoC's)

10 bit HEVC, Hardware decoded = nVIDIA Shield (also the only one with HDMI 2.0) or
Low Bitrate 1080p / 10-bit HEVC = Software decode on powerful i5/i7 Intel platform (Kodi does not support 10-bit video output currently)

Quality deinterlacing:
- RPi2
- Intel Microarchitecture
- AMLogic SXX SoC platforms

Note: No HD Audio passthrough or HD Audio decoded to Multichannel PCM on AMLogic platforms currently. Lossy 5.1 AC3/DD passthrough still works fine. 5.1 DTS as well on some OS's.

Yeah, I already abandoned Frame-Packed 3D. For me it is not worth the other limitations.
So it is just between Shield TV and Beebox (intel Braswell).
The advantage of the beebox is the better deinterlacing.
Apart from that both options are a good choice?
I guess I don't need HDMI 2.0 with 1080p content only

[Karnis]

Newegg currently has the Intel NUC NUC5PPYH (Braswell) on sale for $139:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856102141

Add 8 GB Crucial memory & a Seagate SSHD 500 GB for a nice box for $214.00

[noggin]

AIUI HEVC 10Bit Content has better colors. I want to rip my BluRays and put them on my NAS so I thought when I rip them to HEVC 10Bit the color would be better. Did I understand it wrongly?

Blu-ray is 8bit 4:2:0 on the disc (whether it is H264/AVC, VC-1 or MPEG2), so you are starting with an 8 bit source. For the highest quality you are best off ripping but not recompressing, as any recompression will reduce your quality. However unrecompressed Blu-rays take up a lot of space, even if you strip out the extras, audio tracks and subtitles you don't need etc. There is an argument that ripping 8 bit sources to 10 bit allows for higher levels of compression, or delivers improved picture quality for a given data rate because you avoid truncation errors causing quality issues.

The other thing to be aware of is that HEVC/H265 compression is MUCH (orders of magnitude) slower than AVC/H264, and there are still question marks over how good the software HEVC/H265 encoders really are at the moment. You'll need a powerful PC to do the ripping - and even then it will be slower I suspect. A lot slower.

[tree_and_kite]

Hey guys. I just want something cheap for the bedroom that'll play 1080p content and DVD ISOs. Is the Pi 2 still the best bet?

[wrxtasy]

Yes it is. You will possibly need to purchase the cheap mpeg2 Licence as well to watch DVD's with mpeg2 video.

Stay away from AMLogic platforms if you want to watch DVD ISO's that contain mpeg2 video found in .vob files. It will stutter all over the place.

[wrxtasy]

Don't need 4K - only HEVC 10Bit 1080p. Still not possible with beebox or SATV?

If you were a betting man and like to take a risk there are a massive number of dirt cheap AMLogic S9XX devices coming on to the market that will decode 10-bit HEVC and use HDMI 2.0 to allow for a 4K at up to a 60Hz refresh rate. Firmware quality is unknown, which is usually the case with a dirt cheap AMLogic device.

Braswell is 8-bit only plus Kodi itself can output 8-bit video only at the moment.

[jmh2002]

Good video today from Roberto Jorge featuring the Nvidia Shield but also explaining some points that are often asked about here with regard to comparing different boxes (for different needs) as well about android itself too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtoyFqwWwPQ

[djhifi]

Probably a stupid question, but I mod my kodi alot, and make heavy usage of SMB control, from my pc to my KODIS, to transfer ZIP files. Is this possible with nvidia shield?
I mean does it create the "update", "pictures", "backup", etc folders or... ?

[Justkidding]

Thanks for your inputs guys. It helped me a lot.
I am going with the SATV now. The prices of black friday were just too good

[Newbie_from_NJ]

Hi guys,

I have OpenElec 6 on my Chromebox (i3 CPU; 4400/GT2 GPU) I simply love this box! For information purposes, I would like to know its limitations. So far, I know full 3D ISO's won't play, but other 3D content will?

Are there any other formats/codecs I will not be able to play?

[Matt Devo]

Hi guys,

I have OpenElec 6 on my Chromebox (i3 CPU; 4400/GT2 GPU) I simply love this box! For information purposes, I would like to know its limitations. So far, I know full 3D ISO's won't play, but other 3D content will?

Are there any other formats/codecs I will not be able to play?

RTFW Also, 3D ISOs will play just fine, albeit in 2D mode. But that's not a limitation of the ChromeBox, it's a limitation of ffmpeg/kodi on Linux



(read the friendly wiki, linked in my sig)

[wrxtasy]

No Hardware decoding of 4K/2K/1080p HEVC content , you need a Intel Braswell /Cherry Trail / Skylake platform for that.

Software decoding of 1080p HEVC should work on an i3 Chromebox, but there will be a bitrate limitation eventually.