ASUS Chromebox OR Amazon Fire TV
#61
(2015-01-12, 15:11)vjmcdonnell Wrote:
(2014-12-16, 21:06)NeoDuck Wrote:
(2014-12-08, 07:21)wrxtasy Wrote: Maybe NeoDuck can test Netflix in the Chromebox - Chrome browser and let us know about the PQ?

I ended up going with the Amazon Fire TV. I think it's awesome and plenty fast to run XBMC. I have a collection of over 2000 videos and some are 30gb rips. They all play just fine on my plasma TV. I don't notice any 3:2 pulldown issues or anything?

And Netflix works in HD because the AFTV Launcher is still in tact after rooting and installing XBMC.

My XBMC is just setup with everything at default.

Hi Neoduck,
Did you have any issue with the size of the internal memory. I am about to order the Amazon Fire TV and was just going to side load Kodi, not thinking of rooting it.

I happen to have both, my goal was to never have to switch inputs on the TV. Two FireTVs and one HP Chromebox.

FireTV
I must say that for watching LiveTV from an HD HomeRun Prime via MythTV the Chromebox rules, the FireTV is VERY sluggish with the EPG switching channels is unstable (with Kodi), and requires some special set-up. If you watch TV via DLNA then it is okay, but you'll have no guide..etc. What you do have with the FireTV is Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, and Plex. Playing HD h264 interlaced video is a bit of a pain. Took awhile to get the settings right. I spent a fair amount of time on this, and it is still suboptimal. There were nightly Gotham builds that worked pretty well, but Kodi broke things for this hardware platform.

HP Chromebox
With the HP Chromebox with OpenELEC, it is super fast, super stable watching LiveTV via MythTV. The overall TV experience is awesome. All the set-up guides are spot on. What is missing for me? Amazon Instant Video and Netflix. I know I could reboot into ChromeOS and get them. I expended a lot of time on the FireTV, I need to spend a little more on the Chromebox to get everything working as my family would like.
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#62
(2015-01-18, 17:56)HappyMan Wrote: FireTV
I must say that for watching LiveTV from an HD HomeRun Prime via MythTV the Chromebox rules, the FireTV is VERY sluggish with the EPG switching channels is unstable (with Kodi), and requires some special set-up. If you watch TV via DLNA then it is okay, but you'll have no guide..etc. What you do have with the FireTV is Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, and Plex. Playing HD h264 interlaced video is a bit of a pain. Took awhile to get the settings right. I spent a fair amount of time on this, and it is still suboptimal. There were nightly Gotham builds that worked pretty well, but Kodi broke things for this hardware platform.

I am having similar issues with the FireTV/Kodi and LiveTV from HD Homerun Connect and HD Homerun Extend. Ever since I have updated to Kodi, I have had constant reliability issues.

Like many people I am trying to configure one device so that I am not constantly switching inputs etc. I was trying to support Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Archived DVDs/ home movies of my son etc from a central server, live TV, and DVR functionality.

I've been trying to evaluate every reasonable software package that I can get my hands on and plan to continue testing. So far I have tried the Windows7 WMC with ServerWMC route and it worked okay, I'm not a fan of Windows though and since then moved to linux and MythTV. Backend server-wise they both seem quite similar, I like some of the on-the-fly transcoding and commercial skip options that MythTV brings to the table. I've used an i7 and a Xeon class server for each OS and the same two HD Homerun tuners as well. I've tried to swap around hardware to rule it out and use fresh installations to avoid conflict. I'm favoring the linux/Myth combo for personal reasons/comfort as well as the native NFS support for my Rasberry Pi and other devices. (Raspberry PI functions MUCH quicker using NFS than SMB/CIFS from my experience due the native support, I can only assume its more efficient for all unix-based devices.) I have tried using the HD HomeRun Extend in H.264 modes in hopes of finding something that looks better and ran more efficiently on LiveTV and that too was a failure. My devices are all connected to an enterprise-grade gigbit switch, I have attempted hardwired vs wireless testing as well.

Back to the FireTV, it definitely should have the horsepower to do what I'd want but it seems to be limited somewhere severely. IF you can keep LiveTV working and not crashing every time it starts, it suffers from interlacing issues (no known fix to me) and pixelation issues (that can be helped some, not completely by demux settings). The experience of LiveTV WHEN it works is less responsive for me than the Raspberry Pi running OpenELEC. There are many issues to get TV to display where many say to disable hardware encoding, disable this codec or that, and quite a few other recommended settings. Unfortunately at this point in time for me, I can't rely on my (2) Amazon FireTVs.

I am not certain what format the MythTV LiveTV streaming may be, but it would likely be better once the bugs are worked out of it and if as much as possible could be supported in hardware. I'm not sure if the interlacing issues could be corrected either. Hopefully I am wrong and someone smart will chime in to help you make an educated decision on the device decision.

Lastly, I mean no disrespect to any of the developers on this project, there has to be a ton of work involved with trying to support such a number of devices. Great job and keep up the good work!
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#63
I am in the exact same predicament as you... Trying to find a single solution to avoid having to switch inputs all the time. Fire tv is the closest for me. I bought 2 but am disappointed I can't get live TV to work reliability without lags and crashing.
I'm using HDHR, mythbuntu backend and Kodi on FTV with mythtv plug in.
(2015-01-19, 22:13)bartizzle Wrote:
(2015-01-18, 17:56)HappyMan Wrote: FireTV
I must say that for watching LiveTV from an HD HomeRun Prime via MythTV the Chromebox rules, the FireTV is VERY sluggish with the EPG switching channels is unstable (with Kodi), and requires some special set-up. If you watch TV via DLNA then it is okay, but you'll have no guide..etc. What you do have with the FireTV is Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, and Plex. Playing HD h264 interlaced video is a bit of a pain. Took awhile to get the settings right. I spent a fair amount of time on this, and it is still suboptimal. There were nightly Gotham builds that worked pretty well, but Kodi broke things for this hardware platform.

I am having similar issues with the FireTV/Kodi and LiveTV from HD Homerun Connect and HD Homerun Extend. Ever since I have updated to Kodi, I have had constant reliability issues.

Like many people I am trying to configure one device so that I am not constantly switching inputs etc. I was trying to support Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Archived DVDs/ home movies of my son etc from a central server, live TV, and DVR functionality.

I've been trying to evaluate every reasonable software package that I can get my hands on and plan to continue testing. So far I have tried the Windows7 WMC with ServerWMC route and it worked okay, I'm not a fan of Windows though and since then moved to linux and MythTV. Backend server-wise they both seem quite similar, I like some of the on-the-fly transcoding and commercial skip options that MythTV brings to the table. I've used an i7 and a Xeon class server for each OS and the same two HD Homerun tuners as well. I've tried to swap around hardware to rule it out and use fresh installations to avoid conflict. I'm favoring the linux/Myth combo for personal reasons/comfort as well as the native NFS support for my Rasberry Pi and other devices. (Raspberry PI functions MUCH quicker using NFS than SMB/CIFS from my experience due the native support, I can only assume its more efficient for all unix-based devices.) I have tried using the HD HomeRun Extend in H.264 modes in hopes of finding something that looks better and ran more efficiently on LiveTV and that too was a failure. My devices are all connected to an enterprise-grade gigbit switch, I have attempted hardwired vs wireless testing as well.

Back to the FireTV, it definitely should have the horsepower to do what I'd want but it seems to be limited somewhere severely. IF you can keep LiveTV working and not crashing every time it starts, it suffers from interlacing issues (no known fix to me) and pixelation issues (that can be helped some, not completely by demux settings). The experience of LiveTV WHEN it works is less responsive for me than the Raspberry Pi running OpenELEC. There are many issues to get TV to display where many say to disable hardware encoding, disable this codec or that, and quite a few other recommended settings. Unfortunately at this point in time for me, I can't rely on my (2) Amazon FireTVs.

I am not certain what format the MythTV LiveTV streaming may be, but it would likely be better once the bugs are worked out of it and if as much as possible could be supported in hardware. I'm not sure if the interlacing issues could be corrected either. Hopefully I am wrong and someone smart will chime in to help you make an educated decision on the device decision.

Lastly, I mean no disrespect to any of the developers on this project, there has to be a ton of work involved with trying to support such a number of devices. Great job and keep up the good work!
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#64
Quite honestly I don't know if I lucked out with some hidden setting or what but I installed stock helix for android on my ftv, not even the spmc, and it has worked perfectly for me for live tv.

I have a 1080p 60hz tv and I may not be very knowledgeable about interlacing/deinterlaxing stuff, but my live TV through ftv is fast, snappy and looks crystal Clear.

I am running npvr, on a nuc with HD homerun. The nuc has an ssd. I don't know if that is making a difference or not but i never had the issues some people are posting here.
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#65
I'm running a few Chromeboxes and 2 Fire Tv's along with a NUC.
They are all hardwired to a 24 port gigabit switch.
I use 2 HDHomerun prime units and Kodi to watch tv on the Chrome's and FTV's.
My Fire Tv's work flawlessly when watching HdHomerun but I have a problem with the chrome's.
One is a dual boot and the other just has OpenElec on it.None of my machines are using a pvr.
When using the dual boot machine I can watch tv for about 15 minutes and then the picture reverts to the channel selector.
The single boot machine, when on channel 505 in my area flashes all the time.
I can't figure out what's wrong.
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#66
(2015-02-19, 19:47)janzy Wrote: I'm running a few Chromeboxes and 2 Fire Tv's along with a NUC.
They are all hardwired to a 24 port gigabit switch.
I use 2 HDHomerun prime units and Kodi to watch tv on the Chrome's and FTV's.
My Fire Tv's work flawlessly when watching HdHomerun but I have a problem with the chrome's.
One is a dual boot and the other just has OpenElec on it.None of my machines are using a pvr.
When using the dual boot machine I can watch tv for about 15 minutes and then the picture reverts to the channel selector.
The single boot machine, when on channel 505 in my area flashes all the time.
I can't figure out what's wrong.

I have a couple of Chromeboxes, and I experience the flashing problem with 2 channels streamed from my HDHomeRun Extend. These are both SD channels, so I simply select the mobile transcode option for these channels and that seems to solve the problem. I think it may have something to do with the way the MPEG2 is output from the tuners for these channels (which is supposed to be unaltered, so the problem may be in the source). All HD channels seem to work fine.
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#67
(2015-02-19, 20:35)pcdude Wrote:
(2015-02-19, 19:47)janzy Wrote: I'm running a few Chromeboxes and 2 Fire Tv's along with a NUC.
They are all hardwired to a 24 port gigabit switch.
I use 2 HDHomerun prime units and Kodi to watch tv on the Chrome's and FTV's.
My Fire Tv's work flawlessly when watching HdHomerun but I have a problem with the chrome's.
One is a dual boot and the other just has OpenElec on it.None of my machines are using a pvr.
When using the dual boot machine I can watch tv for about 15 minutes and then the picture reverts to the channel selector.
The single boot machine, when on channel 505 in my area flashes all the time.
I can't figure out what's wrong.

I have a couple of Chromeboxes, and I experience the flashing problem with 2 channels streamed from my HDHomeRun Extend. These are both SD channels, so I simply select the mobile transcode option for these channels and that seems to solve the problem. I think it may have something to do with the way the MPEG2 is output from the tuners for these channels (which is supposed to be unaltered, so the problem may be in the source). All HD channels seem to work fine.

Thanks, that's the first bit of info from anyone with my problem.
Can you tell me where I can select the option?
Thanks
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#68
(2015-02-19, 21:31)janzy Wrote: Thanks, that's the first bit of info from anyone with my problem.
Can you tell me where I can select the option?
Thanks

You have Primes and he has Extends so that's not an option for you.
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#69
(2015-02-19, 21:31)janzy Wrote:
(2015-02-19, 20:35)pcdude Wrote:
(2015-02-19, 19:47)janzy Wrote: I'm running a few Chromeboxes and 2 Fire Tv's along with a NUC.
They are all hardwired to a 24 port gigabit switch.
I use 2 HDHomerun prime units and Kodi to watch tv on the Chrome's and FTV's.
My Fire Tv's work flawlessly when watching HdHomerun but I have a problem with the chrome's.
One is a dual boot and the other just has OpenElec on it.None of my machines are using a pvr.
When using the dual boot machine I can watch tv for about 15 minutes and then the picture reverts to the channel selector.
The single boot machine, when on channel 505 in my area flashes all the time.
I can't figure out what's wrong.

I have a couple of Chromeboxes, and I experience the flashing problem with 2 channels streamed from my HDHomeRun Extend. These are both SD channels, so I simply select the mobile transcode option for these channels and that seems to solve the problem. I think it may have something to do with the way the MPEG2 is output from the tuners for these channels (which is supposed to be unaltered, so the problem may be in the source). All HD channels seem to work fine.

Thanks, that's the first bit of info from anyone with my problem.
Can you tell me where I can select the option?
Thanks

Yea, I have the Extend so that won't work for you. I did notice that I had occasional freezes on some HD channels with an Ubuntu dual-boot install. I switched to OpenELEC single-boot, and that seems to have gone away. I've only been testing for a couple of days, however.
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#70
(2015-02-08, 19:46)ozkhan1 Wrote: Quite honestly I don't know if I lucked out with some hidden setting or what but I installed stock helix for android on my ftv, not even the spmc, and it has worked perfectly for me for live tv.

I have a 1080p 60hz tv and I may not be very knowledgeable about interlacing/deinterlaxing stuff, but my live TV through ftv is fast, snappy and looks crystal Clear.

I am running npvr, on a nuc with HD homerun. The nuc has an ssd. I don't know if that is making a difference or not but i never had the issues some people are posting here.

Can you elaborate a little more on your setup? You use the FTV and the NUC?
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#71
NuC with windows as pvr backend and media server only, not for kodi playback? Ftv is the client
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#72
(2015-02-22, 11:34)ozkhan1 Wrote: NuC with windows as pvr backend and media server only, not for kodi playback? Ftv is the client

Cool. I think I understand. I already have a Kodi HTPC (a Win7 box) that will soon have PVR when I add an antenna/tuner combo. I just need to read-up/figure-out how to use the FTV as a client in my other room.

Thanks.
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#73
So....ASUS Chromebox v Amazon Fire TV 2......??

I'm not too well up on this stuff but I bought the Chromebox to dual boot Chrome OS & Openelec and watch movies in 24fps.. (no judder on panning scenes which I really noticed running Koid on my Fire TV 1)

Is this fixed on the new Fire TV 2 OS (refresh rate..?)
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#74
No and its likely it never will be on Android OS based Streamer devices like the FireTV2 or Google Nexus Player.

AMlogic gear from MINIX, Hardkernel and Wetek have Frame Rate Automation Kernels in Firmware that output properly synced 24p (23.976fps) video in both Android and OpenELEC. Dynamic Refresh Rate Switching with these guys as well.

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#75
thanks for the knowledgeable answer! Stick to my Chromebox for my movies so.
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