ASUS Chromebox OR Amazon Fire TV
#16
BTW - KODI on FireTV will pass thru DTS just fine.
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#17
Amazon FireTV is not officially sold in Canada. If you really want one you will need to buy it in the US or use a mail forwarding company.

Amazon Fire TV is fine for the most used XBMC features. However it has a ARM mobile class cpu (versus the Intel desktop class cpu of the Asus Chromebox). This mean you won't be able to get HD audio and no raw mpeg2 playback for live TV stream with the Amazon FireTV.
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#18
(2014-10-01, 03:33)RyanM Wrote: Hi there just wondering if someone could give me the breakdown of the pro and cons of either of the ASUS Chromebox OR Amazon Fire TV? I simply want to use Netflix and XBMC streams and have 1080p wherever possible? Any insight or tips that would help me decide, I am also in Canada. Thanks!

read the reviews for firetv on amazon.ca ,not amazon .com, and you will soon see that there are features that out cousins south of us can use, and things that we cant up here. Why?
i should be getting my chromebox this week, if the future shop get the act together. good luck. steve in sk.
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#19
I'm in the same boat! I just bought an Asus Chromebox from Newegg on a Black Friday deal for $104. I also bought an Amazon Fire TV during Black Friday weekend for $69. I wasn't sure which one was better, so I bought both.

So, just to recap:

Quote:Asus Chromebox
  • CPU: Intel® Celeron 2955U Processor 1.4Ghz Dual Core
  • CPU Tech: 22nm
    - - -
  • GPU: Intel® HD Graphics @ 200 Mhz
  • GPU Tech: 32nm
  • 3DMark (2013) - Ice Storm Standard Graphics 1280x720: 13,746.5
    - - -
  • RAM: 2GB Dual Channel, DDR3 at 1600MHz
  • Storage: 16GB Sandisk SSD
    - - -
  • Networking: WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
  • Networking: Ethernet: 10/100/1000 Mbps
    - - -
  • Remote Control: No
  • Power Adapter: 64W
  • Netflix HD: No
  • HD Audio: Yes
  • Requires dual boot for Netflix: Yes
  • Street Price: $169

Quote:Amazon Fire TV
  • CPU: Qualcomm Quad Core Krait 300, up to 1.7 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache (APQ8064)
  • CPU Tech: 28nm
    - - -
  • GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 320, 400 MHz
  • GPU Tech: 28nm
  • 3DMark (2013) - Ice Storm Standard Graphics 1280x720: 10,616
    - - -
  • RAM: 2GB (Type??)
  • Storage: 8GB (Type??)
    - - -
  • Networking: WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n; 2x2 MIMO (2.4 GHz & 5.0 Ghz dual band)
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
  • Networking: Ethernet: 10/100 Mbps
    - - -
  • Remote Control: Yes
  • Power Adapter: 16W
  • Netflix HD: Yes
  • HD Audio: No
  • Requires dual boot for Netflix: No
  • Street Price: $99

Judging from this list, it looks like almost a draw in terms of hardware but the Fire TV beats the Asus Chromebook in terms of price. In addition, the Fire TV uses 4x less electricity than the Chromebook for those who want to be green.

Would love to hear some more opinions on this.
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#20
Additions / amendments to the list above:

Chromebox:
- Netflix HD is available in a single boot configuration via a Chrome web browser so long as you do not run Openelec. Choose - Ubuntu, Windows etc. Netflix can be launched and controlled with a remote via the XBMC add-on NetfliXBMC. Newbies unfriendly this method.

- Needs a IR receiver (Flirc recommended) and compatible remote control, however you can use a Smartphone / Tablet to control XBMC via the official XBMC app. The Yatse (Android) app works well also.

- Superior Intel Haswell graphics compared to AFTV


Amazon Fire TV:
- Comes with a quality remote control as standard

- More couch and family friendly via tight XBMC integration with Fire OS and numerous Android apps, Netflix, games etc. available.

- Cannot de-interlace video with hardware acceleration enabled. Important for 1080i fast action sports on Broadcast Live TV when viewing in XBMC. You need a backend Live TV server such as TvHeadend to feed interlaced content into XBMC.
Note for newbies. Most content on a home or streaming network is NOT interlaced, its 1080p, 720p etc.

- Android based OS, so cannot do on the fly refresh rate switching to sync video perfectly to the TV, resulting in very minor picture judder. Likely not noticeable for most people.

- Needs to be Rooted to access media via USB. Just stream over a network connection.

- Cannot passthrough HD Audio (TrueHD and DTS-MA)

Wink

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#21
Thank you NeoDuck and wrxtasy. Very concise and useful information.
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#22
(2014-12-05, 04:14)wrxtasy Wrote: Additions / amendments to the list above:

Chromebox:
- Netflix HD is available in a single boot configuration via a Chrome web browser so long as you do not run Openelec. Choose - Ubuntu, Windows etc. Netflix can be launched and controlled with a remote via the XBMC add-on NetfliXBMC. Newbies unfriendly this method.

Can't run Windows on this. Audio over HDMI is broken in Windows on this box and there is no fix in the near future. So, I guess if you want Netflix HD, then you would have to dual boot Chrome & OpenElec? I'm not sure if Ubuntu fully works on this.

(2014-12-05, 04:14)wrxtasy Wrote: - Superior Intel Haswell graphics compared to AFTV

How is it superior? The benchmark runs 29% faster on the Chromebox but is that going to make a noticeable difference with XBMC? It would be cool if XBMC could display FPS, so we could see how different setups perform compared to each other.

Thanks for adding your information. There was quite a bit that I didn't know! Smile
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#23
- Windows can be run on a Chromebox but you have to use audio out over a USB dongle, due to the HDMI audio out issue. I'm sure users with external Amplifiers can work around this. I personally still would not do it tho if only running XBMC.

- Netflix HD does work when running Ubuntu and the Ubuntu version of a Chrome (v37+) HTML5 browser. Mr Chromebox aka Matt Devo has tested and confirmed this when I asked recently.

- I don't care about benchmarks. No usable de-interlacing and on the fly refresh rate switching is a deal breaker for some with the Amazon Fire TV. It cannot do 4K video output either that the Chromebox can. I would call that graphics superiority right there !

If you just wanted a pure XBMC box without compromises, the Chromebox is the choice of the two. Wink

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#24
(2014-12-05, 22:12)NeoDuck Wrote:
(2014-12-05, 04:14)wrxtasy Wrote: Additions / amendments to the list above:

Chromebox:
- Netflix HD is available in a single boot configuration via a Chrome web browser so long as you do not run Openelec. Choose - Ubuntu, Windows etc. Netflix can be launched and controlled with a remote via the XBMC add-on NetfliXBMC. Newbies unfriendly this method.

Can't run Windows on this. Audio over HDMI is broken in Windows on this box and there is no fix in the near future. So, I guess if you want Netflix HD, then you would have to dual boot Chrome & OpenElec? I'm not sure if Ubuntu fully works on this.

You can run XBMC from within Ubuntu - no need to dual boot with OpenElec. You can run Netflix from within the Chrome browser under Ubuntu. (It's confusing when the OS and the Browser are both called Chrome...)

I don't know how the FTV deals with VC-1 and MPEG2 stuff, and AIUI being based on Android it won't do on-the-fly refresh rate switching (a real pain if you watch 24p and 60i/60p stuff and or 25p and 50i/p stuff as I do) and no de-interlacing on 1080i is a deal breaker (I have 1080i Blu-rays as well as Live and Recorded TV)
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#25
Noggin or anyone, do you know why Google has still not sorted out this refresh rate switching issue, in its Android firmware ?

Is it -
- A legacy issue, due to the Android OS starting out in the mobile smartphone space where TV refresh rate issues don't exist ?
- A low level Hardware issue ?
- Or some sort of marketing ploy, with vested interests overriding the need for a fix ?

It is to be noted that it took Intel until mid 2013 with the release of their Haswell processor microarchitecture to finally fix their 23.976fps (24p) video syncing issues.
As a perspective on all this my Apple TV1 with a Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 GPU, released in 2007 has never had a refresh rate / syncing problem, but then it was designed for TV video output as its primary purpose in the first place.

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#26
AIUI it is because Android was originally a mobile phone OS. Android 5 Lollipop is supposed to solve it, as it incorporates some of the Google TV stuff, but I haven't seen if this is the case yet. No idea about HD Audio support though...

And never underestimate the issue that US companies often think that 60Hz output for everything is fine... See the Chromecast not supporting refresh rate switching either (and Google effectively saying it is too difficult) which has caused Catch-Up TV viewers in 50Hz countries to have to put up with motion judder on Chromecast services...

The stock Apple TV2 originally didn't allow you to run at 50Hz - and the ATV2 and 3 still don't appear to support refresh rate switching dynamically, but at least allow you to fix at 50Hz if you wish...

(Thank goodness the Raspberry Pi is British so supports multiple refresh rates and dynamic switching...)
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#27
As a new owner of the Asus Chromebox, I'm looking to end up w/ a media box that runs Kodi & can also do Netflix HD (something all the Android boxes I have tried are unable to do)
wrxtasy mentioned that Chrome browser under ubuntu can render NetflixHD, but only as a standalone build (versus dual boot w/ ChromeOS)
Being still pretty much a Linux noob, I was hoping to use Matt's script to install both, but now not sure if I'll lose NetflixHD going dualboot.
Nvidia ShieldTV (2017)+Nexus
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#28
Think you're missing the point christoofar. You get Netflix HD in Chrome OS or Chrome Browser under Ubuntu. So AIUI you get Netflix with the following :

Chrome OS + OpenElec dual boot
Ubuntu standalone with XBMC/Kodi
Ubuntu + OpenElec dual boot (This is not an option with the Matt Devo split - as it is effectively a standalone install with two OSs)
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#29
(2014-12-06, 22:38)noggin Wrote: Think you're missing the point christoofar. You get Netflix HD in Chrome OS or Chrome Browser under Ubuntu. So AIUI you get Netflix with the following :

Chrome OS + OpenElec dual boot
Ubuntu standalone with XBMC/Kodi
Ubuntu + OpenElec dual boot (This is not an option with the Matt Devo split - as it is effectively a standalone install with two OSs)

Ah OK, so the key is having Chrome browser (HTML5) running on the 'box *somewhere* (ChromeOS, Ubuntu) to allow NF-HD.
This what I saw that gave me some confusion earlier:

Chromebox:
- Netflix HD is available in a single boot configuration via a Chrome web browser so long as you do not run Openelec.

I wasn't clear on openelec not being a full Linux distro, I guess.
Nvidia ShieldTV (2017)+Nexus
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#30
Be advised....
Matt D has said that you possibly will only get DVD quality Netflix when using the already installed ChromeOS to watch Netflix, this may have changed since testing however.

I suppose you could test Netflix straight after unpacking the Chromebox in Chrome OS, before running any scripts and see what the quality is like and then decide on install and boot options.

To clear it all up if you choose to single boot the Chromebox to Openelec you cannot run Netflix at all.
A full distro of Linux needs to be installed to run the required Chrome web browser for Netflix operation when single booting.

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