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r0ck0
Sep 12, 2004
r0ck0s p0zt m0d3rn lyf
edit: fixed

r0ck0 fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Oct 13, 2019

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Thermopyle
Jul 1, 2003

...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. —Bertrand Russell

Vykk.Draygo posted:

Disney+ aside, what does the Shield do that the Fire TV doesn't?

I haven't kept up with Fire TVs, but I seemt o have some recollection of the Shield being much higher performance and that showing up in Kodi's UI.

Sneeze Party
Apr 26, 2002

These are, by far, the most brilliant photographs that I have ever seen, and you are a GOD AMONG MEN.
Toilet Rascal
The Shield is sold out on Amazon. The closest Best Buy that has one in stock is like 50 miles away. Crazy. I've ordered one on Amazon, where they're supposed to be in stock by October 18th. Thanks for the advice, everybody.

FeastForCows
Oct 18, 2011
Got a two-parter for you folks here:

I have a Sony Bravia X900(0)E and I'm looking at buying a Synology DS218+ so I can store my media on the NAS and stream it to my TV in the bedroom and the PC in another room. I have a whole bunch of questions about this setup, but the two most important right now are:

1) Will I need anything else besides the NAS and my TV with Kodi to stream to the TV?
2) Google Play or any kind of app stores are not a thing where I live (blocked), so I probably won't be able to download the Kodi app directly from the TV. I assume I can put it manually on the TV?

Thanks in advance.

Sneeze Party
Apr 26, 2002

These are, by far, the most brilliant photographs that I have ever seen, and you are a GOD AMONG MEN.
Toilet Rascal

FeastForCows posted:

Got a two-parter for you folks here:

I have a Sony Bravia X900(0)E and I'm looking at buying a Synology DS218+ so I can store my media on the NAS and stream it to my TV in the bedroom and the PC in another room. I have a whole bunch of questions about this setup, but the two most important right now are:

1) Will I need anything else besides the NAS and my TV with Kodi to stream to the TV?
2) Google Play or any kind of app stores are not a thing where I live (blocked), so I probably won't be able to download the Kodi app directly from the TV. I assume I can put it manually on the TV?

Thanks in advance.
I've got a Synology DS212 (an older version of what you're looking at), and no, you won't need anything else. Except drives, obviously. You'll need drives.

You should be able to side-load Kodi onto that TV, but you should google for directions about it. Should be pretty easy though.

FeastForCows
Oct 18, 2011

Sneeze Party posted:

I've got a Synology DS212 (an older version of what you're looking at), and no, you won't need anything else. Except drives, obviously. You'll need drives.

You should be able to side-load Kodi onto that TV, but you should google for directions about it. Should be pretty easy though.

Just managed to do so with ES File Explorer and my Samsung tablet.

If I connect a NAS to it now, I assume I can tell Kodi to save all settings, images etc. on the NAS so I can access the same "database" from my PC and my TV?

Smoke
Mar 12, 2005

I am NOT a red Bumblebee for god's sake!

I've been running Kodi on a Raspberry Pi Zero for like a year or two now (replacing a 2010 WDTV that was unreliable as heck), and it's getting a bit annoying as it tends to be sluggish (especially regarding file transfers) and crashes occasionally, requiring a reboot. Along with that it's already corrupted the MicroSD card I have in there once. Setup is basically the Pi with a USB hub containing a wireless adapter and a 1.5TB external harddisk for data storage. Software's on a 16GB MicroSD card, and it's hooked up to a 1080p TV that I have no upgrade plans for anytime soon.

I'm now looking at just replacing the hardware along with a clean reinstall because I'm getting tired of the maintenance. The Pi itself will be repurposed for something else, but I'm not sure if I should replace it with a Pi 3+ or a Pi 4. The thing stopping me from getting the Pi 4 is that I'll need some adapters/cables along with the board itself. As I'm in Bulgaria, other options are rather limited. I'll only be running Kodi itself on it, Netflix is handled by a different device. So the main question is, should I get a 4 rather than a 3+?

As far as cases go I've currently got the Pi Zero in a PAL SNES shell which somehow fits everything rather well and gives me access to the ports via the original Multi Out location in the shell.

wolrah
May 8, 2006
what?
Do you care about 4K? Do you want to run higher-end emulators on this device? If the answer to both of these is no, for purposes of a 1080p media player I don't think you'd see a practical difference.

Smoke
Mar 12, 2005

I am NOT a red Bumblebee for god's sake!

Well, turns out the 16GB MicroSD card I was using managed to die on me so that'll be first to be replaced, got an older 8GB card in there now for the moment. I'll be upgrading to a 3+ sometime soon, reinstalling also took a lot less effort than I feared thanks to LibreELEC being pretty darn good.

Falco
Dec 31, 2003

Freewheeling At Last
This thread may be dead, but I'm not sure where else to post it.

It looks like our original FireTV kicked the bucket this weekend. It just refuses to turn on/be recognized by our TV, and I haven't figured out a way to resurrect it. We really just use it for streaming shows from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Kodi (from a local NAS), and as a Plex player from a friend's offsite server.

What would you all recommend as a replacement box? We don't care about gaming, any sort of smart assistant, access to photos or anything like that.
A Fire Cube? Nvidia Shield? Roku?

Edit: To add to it, our TV is an ancient Samsung LCD, well before 4k and we don't have current plans to replace it.

Falco fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Mar 23, 2020

Lowen SoDium
Jun 5, 2003

Highen Fiber
Clapping Larry

Falco posted:

This thread may be dead, but I'm not sure where else to post it.

It looks like our original FireTV kicked the bucket this weekend. It just refuses to turn on/be recognized by our TV, and I haven't figured out a way to resurrect it. We really just use it for streaming shows from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Kodi (from a local NAS), and as a Plex player from a friend's offsite server.

What would you all recommend as a replacement box? We don't care about gaming, any sort of smart assistant, access to photos or anything like that.
A Fire Cube? Nvidia Shield? Roku?

Nvidia Shield has been the best choice for like 5 years running. If you get the newest version, the Pro version is the only one that can run 64bit apps. This probably doesn't matter if you are not using emulators.

The new version has a much better remote, a surprisingly good 4k upscaler, works with google assistant, does voice commands, can play pretty much anything, has all the apps you want. You don't have to sideload anything, Kodi is in the Play App store.

Rumors that the next Chromecast will actually be a real Android TV with a remote are floating around, but no word on release, price, or specs.

Bonzo
Mar 11, 2004

Just like Mama used to make it!
I own an OG Shield and its probably the best tech thing I've bought in 20 years.

Burden
Jul 25, 2006

Falco posted:

This thread may be dead, but I'm not sure where else to post it.

It looks like our original FireTV kicked the bucket this weekend. It just refuses to turn on/be recognized by our TV, and I haven't figured out a way to resurrect it. We really just use it for streaming shows from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Kodi (from a local NAS), and as a Plex player from a friend's offsite server.

What would you all recommend as a replacement box? We don't care about gaming, any sort of smart assistant, access to photos or anything like that.
A Fire Cube? Nvidia Shield? Roku?

Edit: To add to it, our TV is an ancient Samsung LCD, well before 4k and we don't have current plans to replace it.

Like the others have said Nvidia Shield is probably the best box out right now and is worth the price tag. Roku is good as well as a mid tier option, but won't have a Kodi app.

Vykk.Draygo
Jan 17, 2004

I say salesmen and women of the world unite!

Lowen SoDium posted:

Nvidia Shield has been the best choice for like 5 years running. If you get the newest version, the Pro version is the only one that can run 64bit apps. This probably doesn't matter if you are not using emulators.

The new version has a much better remote, a surprisingly good 4k upscaler, works with google assistant, does voice commands, can play pretty much anything, has all the apps you want. You don't have to sideload anything, Kodi is in the Play App store.

Rumors that the next Chromecast will actually be a real Android TV with a remote are floating around, but no word on release, price, or specs.

I have a Fire TV Stick 4K, but now I'm intrigued because they only thing I haven't been able to do with the stick is Emulation. The Shield handles 4k HDR really well and works with all the big streaming providers including Prime?

Thermopyle
Jul 1, 2003

...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. —Bertrand Russell

Vykk.Draygo posted:

I have a Fire TV Stick 4K, but now I'm intrigued because they only thing I haven't been able to do with the stick is Emulation. The Shield handles 4k HDR really well and works with all the big streaming providers including Prime?

I don't use Prime for video watching but I hear about people watching 4k HDR Prime content all the time, so it should be working.

Falco
Dec 31, 2003

Freewheeling At Last
Dang, it sounds like the Nvidia Shield is the way to go. It's quite a bit more than I was hoping to spend compared to the FireTV Cube ($150-200 vs. $90).

How about any opinions on the Nvidia Shield TV vs. Shield TV Pro? It looks like the Pro is sold out everywhere.

Falco fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Mar 23, 2020

SCheeseman
Apr 23, 2003

Yeah Shield is great. My second gen one is still trucking along just fine and does everything I want it to with little fuss.

Incessant Excess
Aug 15, 2005

Cause of glitch:
Pretentiousness

Falco posted:

This thread may be dead, but I'm not sure where else to post it.

It looks like our original FireTV kicked the bucket this weekend. It just refuses to turn on/be recognized by our TV, and I haven't figured out a way to resurrect it. We really just use it for streaming shows from Netflix, Amazon Prime, Kodi (from a local NAS), and as a Plex player from a friend's offsite server.

What would you all recommend as a replacement box? We don't care about gaming, any sort of smart assistant, access to photos or anything like that.
A Fire Cube? Nvidia Shield? Roku?

If you're on a budget, the Vero 4K + is a bit cheaper than the Shield yet similarly capable when it comes to Kodi playback: https://osmc.tv/vero/

Vykk.Draygo
Jan 17, 2004

I say salesmen and women of the world unite!
Might as well point out that while lots of things are currently taking a month to ship from Amazon, the Fire Stick 4K arrives this week, and currently has a promo code on the page that brings it down to $25. If all you need is streaming and Kodi, it works pretty damned well, though the 8gb storage can be a bit limiting.

TomR
Apr 1, 2003
I both own and operate a pirate ship.
The Shield may be expensive, but nvidia has been updating the firmware the whole time it's been out. You aren't likely to get that kind of support from no-name Android boxes, no matter how comparable their specs are.

Photex
Apr 6, 2009




Fwiw the Vero 4K boxes have been around for a good amount of time as has OSMC

Incessant Excess
Aug 15, 2005

Cause of glitch:
Pretentiousness

TomR posted:

The Shield may be expensive, but nvidia has been updating the firmware the whole time it's been out. You aren't likely to get that kind of support from no-name Android boxes, no matter how comparable their specs are.

All of this is true and none of it applies to the Vero.

Ixian
Oct 9, 2001

Many machines on Ix....new machines
Pillbug
The Vero is a nice OSMC box but it's apples and oranges up against the Shield, which in addition to being a good Kodi client is also a well-rounded streamer that takes full advantage of the Android TV ecosystem.

I know there are wonky workarounds to getting Netflix, etc. working...sometimes...with Kodi, OSMC, etc. but with the Shield you don't have to deal with any of that bullshit. If literally the only thing you care about is a Kodi box then sure, the Vero 4k is a great device, otherwise spend a few more bucks and get the better all-around solution for streaming in general.

Falco
Dec 31, 2003

Freewheeling At Last
Thanks everyone. A buddy had an extra Fire Stick to borrow for now. Although long term I’ll look into picking up a Shield TV.

Vykk.Draygo
Jan 17, 2004

I say salesmen and women of the world unite!

Falco posted:

Thanks everyone. A buddy had an extra Fire Stick to borrow for now. Although long term I’ll look into picking up a Shield TV.

I hope it's not a Gen 1. That thing was unusable trash.

Vykk.Draygo
Jan 17, 2004

I say salesmen and women of the world unite!
So I bought a Shield TV today. You guys really neglected to mention just how trash the bluetooth is on this thing. Even with direct line-of-sight from six feet away, I'm having all sorts of issues playing games with my Xbox One controller.

For comparison, I played half of Ori and the Will of the Wisps over Steam Link to my Fire TV Stick 4K with no controller issues whatsoever.

Edit: different HDMI cable might have fixed it. Let's put this complaint on hold for now.

Vykk.Draygo fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Mar 29, 2020

ChiralCondensate
Nov 13, 2007

what is that man doing to his colour palette?
Grimey Drawer

Vykk.Draygo posted:

So I bought a Shield TV today. You guys really neglected to mention just how trash the bluetooth is on this thing. Even with direct line-of-sight from six feet away, I'm having all sorts of issues playing games with my Xbox One controller.

For comparison, I played half of Ori and the Will of the Wisps over Steam Link to my Fire TV Stick 4K with no controller issues whatsoever.

I had a hell of a time getting my xbone controller to work via bluetooth with my PC with an Intel bluetooth adapter, and even when it did work it was laggy af. I wonder if the Xbox USB receiver works on the Shield.

MagusDraco
Nov 11, 2011

even speedwagon was trolled
I've had no issues with a dualshock 4. May just be a thing with some xbox one controllers

Lowen SoDium
Jun 5, 2003

Highen Fiber
Clapping Larry
The only Bluetooth issues I ever had with it was with the gen 2 remote before the first firmware update.

But I never used any other controller with it except the ones that came with the first and second gen shields.

Thermopyle
Jul 1, 2003

...the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt. —Bertrand Russell

BT is just trash in general.

The Shield bluetooth seems fine in the world of bluetooth.

Vykk.Draygo
Jan 17, 2004

I say salesmen and women of the world unite!

Thermopyle posted:

BT is just trash in general.

The Shield bluetooth seems fine in the world of bluetooth.

Yeah, it was just the HDMI cable. Everything is good now. I'm especially loving the way the remote lights up when I grab it, and that it has IR so it can turn my TV and receiver on and off.

Chilled Milk
Jun 22, 2003

No one here is alone,
satellites in every home
I use one of those little palm sized keyboard+trackpad deals with it. It has bluetooth but I use its little usb dongle. That way I don't have to use bluetooth or let google listen to me

Incessant Excess
Aug 15, 2005

Cause of glitch:
Pretentiousness
My little Kodi player has broken down and I'm looking for a replacement. I assume the Shield 2019 is the best dedicated Kodi player there is? Is it worth it to get the Pro version?

Vykk.Draygo
Jan 17, 2004

I say salesmen and women of the world unite!

Incessant Excess posted:

My little Kodi player has broken down and I'm looking for a replacement. I assume the Shield 2019 is the best dedicated Kodi player there is? Is it worth it to get the Pro version?

The Shield is probably the best and easiest, yes. I doubt you'd see much different in Kodi with the pro version. If money is an issue, the current gen Fire TV stick still works well with Kodi for a third of the price, but with more effort to install Kodi.

Lowen SoDium
Jun 5, 2003

Highen Fiber
Clapping Larry

Incessant Excess posted:

My little Kodi player has broken down and I'm looking for a replacement. I assume the Shield 2019 is the best dedicated Kodi player there is? Is it worth it to get the Pro version?

For what ever reason, the non-pro version users a 32 bit build of Android. This doesn't matter unless you want to use some of the higher end emulators like dolphin which require 64 bit libraries to run.

At least that was the case a few months ago. Not sure if it has changed.

For Kodi, it makes no difference.

Lowen SoDium fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Aug 25, 2020

Crindee
Nov 16, 2005

LOOK LIKE EMERIL
Looking for recommendations on a media player and didn't see a better thread for it, probably going to end up using Kodi on it no matter what I get so I figured this would be as good a place to ask as any, someone please help me overcome my decision paralysis.

Wants/needs:

- Preferably from Amazon - I mean, preferably NOT from Amazon, gently caress Bezos, but unfortunately I got gifted a fair amount of Amazon credit this year and wouldn't hate burning it on this.

- Looking to play mostly offline from internal or externally-attached storage, already pretty much set on streaming and looking to have something for if (when) my internet goes down/gets spotty/is being hogged.

- Speaking of: could also use a recommendation on attached storage to go with (unless what you're recommending has a decent internal, at least 512gb), my old 1tb Passport is clearly dying. I was thinking of going cheap and just getting a 512gb thumb drive, but even decent-looking Sandisk ones have people in the reviews complaining that they get loving boiling-lava-hot after just a few minutes, with some even posting pictures of ones that've straight-up melted a bit. I don't plan to run this thing all day long, mostly just long enough to watch a movie, but I'd like to be able to get through the occasional TV marathon without worrying. Maybe an SD card would work better? Or are those not great for repeated media playback? Should I just get an enclosure instead? Which, and attach what to it? help

- Media collection is a variety of formats/encodes ripped over the years, so decent compatibility is a must, obviously needs to do x265, but don't have any 70gb blu-ray rips or anything crazy. More power obviously means more futureproofing though.

- Not above setting up an RPi/Odroid just dunno how they stack up, and obviously less work > more work.

- Access to Chrome/Android apps would potentially give me another backup device with which to push a payload to my Switch and I wouldn't hate that but I could live without it.

- Budget: I dunno, try in the neighborhood of 250 bucks, can go over if it's worth it, won't say no to under, maybe there's a good cheap option I missed. Lotta those Android boxes on Amazon look sketchy, anything reliable buried in there? Considered everything from those to Shield to a dedicated Chromebook to a Fire Stick 4k (can apparently run stuff from USB with some shenanigans) and I'm no closer to an answer so someone pick for me thanks bye.

Burden
Jul 25, 2006

Crindee posted:

Looking for recommendations on a media player and didn't see a better thread for it, probably going to end up using Kodi on it no matter what I get so I figured this would be as good a place to ask as any, someone please help me overcome my decision paralysis.

Wants/needs:

- Preferably from Amazon - I mean, preferably NOT from Amazon, gently caress Bezos, but unfortunately I got gifted a fair amount of Amazon credit this year and wouldn't hate burning it on this.

- Looking to play mostly offline from internal or externally-attached storage, already pretty much set on streaming and looking to have something for if (when) my internet goes down/gets spotty/is being hogged.

- Speaking of: could also use a recommendation on attached storage to go with (unless what you're recommending has a decent internal, at least 512gb), my old 1tb Passport is clearly dying. I was thinking of going cheap and just getting a 512gb thumb drive, but even decent-looking Sandisk ones have people in the reviews complaining that they get loving boiling-lava-hot after just a few minutes, with some even posting pictures of ones that've straight-up melted a bit. I don't plan to run this thing all day long, mostly just long enough to watch a movie, but I'd like to be able to get through the occasional TV marathon without worrying. Maybe an SD card would work better? Or are those not great for repeated media playback? Should I just get an enclosure instead? Which, and attach what to it? help

- Media collection is a variety of formats/encodes ripped over the years, so decent compatibility is a must, obviously needs to do x265, but don't have any 70gb blu-ray rips or anything crazy. More power obviously means more futureproofing though.

- Not above setting up an RPi/Odroid just dunno how they stack up, and obviously less work > more work.

- Access to Chrome/Android apps would potentially give me another backup device with which to push a payload to my Switch and I wouldn't hate that but I could live without it.

- Budget: I dunno, try in the neighborhood of 250 bucks, can go over if it's worth it, won't say no to under, maybe there's a good cheap option I missed. Lotta those Android boxes on Amazon look sketchy, anything reliable buried in there? Considered everything from those to Shield to a dedicated Chromebook to a Fire Stick 4k (can apparently run stuff from USB with some shenanigans) and I'm no closer to an answer so someone pick for me thanks bye.

Just get a Shield TV Pro and you will be all set. It has USB ports to plug a hard drive or USB stick into, can play all the important codecs, has android apps, and if you do want to game on it you could plug in a USB controller or buy one of the official controllers and be all set.

Puddin
Apr 9, 2004
Leave it to Brak
Anyone using the new Chromecast for Kodi and streaming apps?

My old Pi2 isn't cutting it with h.265 videos, it plays but stutters when theres a lot of stuff going on on screen.

It's only for the bedroom tv so don't need 4k and HDR, but for a new Pi it's about the same cost, and would be nice to have everything on one device rather than a Pi + ps4 combo.

joedevola
Sep 11, 2004

worst song, played on ugliest guitar
I need a simple box to do a very simple thing. Play video files on my old bedroom TV off a memory stick. The Shield seems way over-spec for this but everything else I've seen just reeks of cheap Chinese garbage. All the same tacky, dated feature images, all the same awful looking remote.

I looked at the new Chromecast but I can't be arsed trying to find a USB-C hub that may or may not work and will just add to the mess behind the telly.



Would these things do what I need? Rarely would anything be in 4K, 1080p would be nice.

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FeastForCows
Oct 18, 2011
I have a weird issue with Kodi. My Sony TV connects to my NAS to get the content for Kodi, separated into two folders for TV shows and movies. When I turn it on and start the app, I can't watch anything immediately, it will tell me that it can't connect to the network. I first have to go into the library and go specifically to the movie folder there, then I can go back and watch both movies and TV shows (if I start a TV show before doing this and just go back from the loading screen to do these steps, it will even start the show I clicked after I went to the Movies folder in the Library).

It's almost like it can't establish a connection until I go into the library and open the Movies folder there. The funny thing is that this only works if I open the Movies folder and then go back. Doing it with the TV shows folder first doesn't help.

Any ideas what the gently caress is happening here?

Edit: I also have it connected to my HTPC in the living room and everything works perfectly from there. The HTPC and the Sony TV are connected to the same WiFi.

FeastForCows fucked around with this message at 10:37 on Jan 21, 2021

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