Suggestions for a decent Android box appreciated

[Rob_B]

Hi all,

I'm giving my Amazon fire TV stick to my folks and so need a replacement, I could buy another stick but as they are £32 I figure another Android box might be a better option.

I don't need access to Amazon video (The PS4 covers that need) so my requirements are that it run Kodi and either be cheaper or do more than the Fire otherwise I'd just buy that.

All suggestions appreciated

Rob

[Gunbuster]

Hi Rob_B,
my experience is of a pre-Android TV 4.4 based box and my Sony 4K TV's built in Android TV. Also a brief look at my mate's fire stick.

I would defo avoid anything that doesn't show screenshots of running actual Android TV. A TV Launcher is no replacement, the apps themselves, including Google Play are fidgetty and not nice to use. Android TV though is pretty nice. KODI is on the play store and can also be installed via ES File Explorer. That can be handy if you want a specific build (like one with audio passthrough tweaks) or you want to try a beta of 17.

The SOC the device is based on can mean that one file plays very well and another file withe slightly different codecs might not. I know the Firestick is very well supported because of its ubquity.

Unless you need a feature (like lan or optical) that the stick lacks, maybe go with what you know.

[MaddAussie]

I have just replaced my RasPi 2 running Kodi last weekend with one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

No issues so far other than I had to force it to use HDMI for audio output and it has played everything I've thrown at it.

[Biscuit]

Im still rocking Raspberry Pi's myself!

[Rob_B]

I have just replaced my RasPi 2 running Kodi last weekend with one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

No issues so far other than I had to force it to use HDMI for audio output and it has played everything I've thrown at it.

I think that's the one I was looking at, seems decent enough, how is menu speed etc, that's my main issue with the fire stick? Stock android with the play store?

Im still rocking Raspberry Pi's myself!

How's kodi on the pi?

[Biscuit]

I think that's the one I was looking at, seems decent enough, how is menu speed etc, that's my main issue with the fire stick? Stock android with the play store?



How's kodi on the pi?

Essentially just like Kodi on any other platfrom I have tried it on really. It does struggle with very high bitrate files and H265 when playing natively but most things work flawlessly. I havent put the Pi3 through its paces yet tbut it can only perform better.
I use Next PVR(live TV) and Emby plug ins without any issues. Emby is especially awesome as it elliviates any potential bitrate issues by transcoding on the server, and also any "shared library" issues that were present when I used an SQL database as different versions of Kodi work together just fine.

There are two main options that Im aware of, OSMC and OpenELEC.

Not a lot between them but I prefer OSMC as the distro its built seems a bit less stripped back and (at the time I got sick of waiting) the updates seem to be qucker. The two things are probably related in fairness.

[MaddAussie]

I think that's the one I was looking at, seems decent enough, how is menu speed etc, that's my main issue with the fire stick? Stock android with the play store?

Yep it has its own launcher, but everything is available, menu speed seems a lot zippier than the Pi, scanning the library is a lot faster. Play Store is fully accessible and it plays H265 flawlessly.