Kodi Box

[Pjay]

[toby1]

Okay so the Cregbox arrived. Doddle to set up and does exactly what it says on the tin. Very pleased, goodbye Virgin and ever increasing price hikes for crap service.

[M.C]

[CaNsA]

You do know that Amazon Fire kit are just crappy android boxes/sticks right?

[Pjay]

[M.C]

I didn't realise I was actually meant to answer that question Show me where I said they were the best option? It's you, a seller of android boxes, and Cansa who has his own box at 5x the price who says they're shit. Amongst consumers they're pretty well received.

Plus points for me are they discretely plug into the back on the TV (not another box I don't have room for), you're buying from a retailer with a warranty, rather than expecting support from some random chinese seller.

It was one anecdote regarding android box crashes, where he also says Cansa's box crashes

Also why did you say this before?

[Pjay]

[M.C]

I guess why you choose to differentiate between a 'fully loaded' TV stick and fully loaded android box, if they suffer from the same issues.

[Pjay]

Maybe because a box is more powerful and the better option.

[M.C]

[Pjay]

It's the bits where you say that the boxes/laptops/tablets/phones/mainframes/deepblue etc are all crap because they crashed when you tried to install Kodi on them.

Your experiences show me that the common denominator is you.

Maybe you are flawed, who knows?

[M.C]

When have I mentioned trying it on boxes or laptops? I said it barely worked on my tablet and doesn't work at all on my phone. Obviously you have the Cansa attitude of blaming the user because android's perfect, when the reality's it's a lottery with how apps run and if they even run at all*.

*one thing that iOS does better

[Pjay]

I understand that there are people that need their hands held when it comes to technology. Apple do indeed cater very well in that area.

[iooi]

[Pjay]

[Pjay]

To clarify, I have over the past couple of years installed and tested kodi on many different platforms, here are my ratings for each device:

S805 based Andriod boxes - 7/10 - Not bad, but at all, but lack power for full functionality.
S905/x/912 based Android boxes - 9/10 - Much more powerful boxes than the older S805 and it shows in the general use. You can have a stream running in the background of the gui and there is no noticeable slowdown when scrolling through the menu screens. Mostly let down by poor remotes, but still not terrible.
Raspberry Pi 3 (I wont bother with the older versions here) 9/10 - Runs perfectly fine, everything is as it should be and is at least on par with the newer Android boxes for smooth navigation and overall slickness of the gui. Would be 10/10 if it were not again for the lack of decent control, but that's not really the Pi's fault. Buy a decent Bluetooth/Wireless compact keyboard/media controller and this could well be the best of all platforms. Added bonus is that you can install it as part of Retropie, so not only can you watch great media, you can also play tens of thousands of retro games.
Android Tablets - 8/10 - While very competent, the small screen is not ideal for watching blockbusters and lengthy binges of box sets. Ideal for holidays and time away from home, but not a serious single solution.
Amazon Firestick - 5/10 - Once you are used to how Kodi can and should run, it becomes very apparent that the firestick is behind in power by a couple of generations. The gui is slower than all other offerings and crawls to almost a halt if you run a video in the background of the gui. This may well not be an issue for most users, but it certainly brings home the lack of power in this little stick of joy. The lack of processing power is also obvious when the addons do a batch of updates if you leave the device off for a week or two. While it slows down every other device, it grinds down on the firestick and makes you question if it's ever going to end. Ok for casual bedroom use, but frustrating for everyday use. Oh and the remote is terribad.
Windows Laptop - 9/10 - Yup, of course it works wonderfully, it only loses a point due to the small screen.
Windows based media server - 10/10 - This is it, we have the winrar. Wonderful in every way (except cost). If someone could sell these retail at under £100, they would reach global domination within a year.


I do hope my findings help people decide if they are in the market for a kodi streaming box.

My findings are my own, no money has changed hands to influence my ratings and all equipment was purchased by myself.

[kgm]

I ran it on the original Pi model B when it was XBMC. Runs Kodi too but it's incredibly laggy these days, frustratingly so. I'm tempted to buy the latest Pi to replace it (I prefer running Kodi on top of linux so I can have other functionality too if I want it). Right now I'm running it on a Dell Optiplex 390 on top of Arch Linux which works great but obviously that's overkill.

[M.C]

[Pjay]

[M.C]

That civilised debate didn't last long did it.

[sutty86]

I've tried different boxes over the years and fire TV and the stick and rpi2.
I started off on the old MX box which was pretty dire.
Sort of put me off 'Chinese' android boxes
Had a few faults on the m8 and different variants.

Well I thought I'd try the newer box s905 for £25 on amazon with a half decent remote (less buttons)
And what a pleasant surprise.
No junk apps.
All the apps like modbro ,showbox,kodi with a decent build on.
I was impressed and this was the basic 8gb/1gb ram.

Wireless is also good which is a brucy bonus.


Zenopllige Z3 Android TV Box Amlogic S905 Android 5.1 Lollipop OS TV Box Quad Core 1G/8G 4K Google Streaming Media Players with WiFi HDMI DLNA https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N3QO16T/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apap_RuEidzGZxcmlt

BTW I have no affiliation

Just a cracking box

[Pjay]

[M.C]

[Pjay]

[M.C]

I have my doubts especially when you see this: https://www.cnx-software.com/2016/08/28/amlogic-s905-and-s912-processors-appear-to-be-limited-to-1-5-ghz-not-2-ghz-as-advertised/