ASUS CHROMEBOX-M004U vs. NVIDIA Shield TV

  • Question - I'm looking to install Libreelec on one of these machines, 4k or 3D not necessary, but DTS-MA and Dolby Tru-HD is required.

    Is anyone aware if either of these machines support HD audio passthrough? Also if there are many major benefits/differences between these two machines? I have no intentions to stream games or anything, just want it for Kodi only. Although I do like the remote for the shield TV..

    Let me know!

  • Awesome, thanks for the reply! One coming in the mail!

    depending on the cost difference, you may want to look at the Chromebox 3 (N017U) instead, since it will handle 4K, HEVC/VP9, etc so makes it a bit more future-proof. I'll be adding support for all the 2018 Chromebox models very shortly :)

    But as chewitt said, full support for Chromeboxes running Kodi is available via my website and the Kodi Chromebox wiki page

  • Interesting, good call. Thanks for the heads up!

    np. Any/all of the 2018/Kabylake-based Chromeboxes (Asus, HP, CTL, Acer, Viewsonic) will be supported. The HP/CTL Celeron 3865U boxes are right at $200 which is pretty reasonable IMO (and the Asus is only $30 more)

  • Question - I'm looking to install Libreelec on one of these machines, 4k or 3D not necessary, but DTS-MA and Dolby Tru-HD is required.

    Is anyone aware if either of these machines support HD audio passthrough? Also if there are many major benefits/differences between these two machines? I have no intentions to stream games or anything, just want it for Kodi only. Although I do like the remote for the shield TV..

    Let me know!

    I have tested the NVIDIA Shield TV Pro.
    From the Hardware Point of view it is the best I already had, especially when watching 4K.
    From the security Point of view the Android an Kodi is the worst Thing that you can install in your private Network.
    Therefore you should know, that I have an synology NAS working in my switched Network.

    So I have there Access also to my private Things as well as to movies.

    On Synology NAS you can have only Access with Shield and KODI if you map the user with admin rights.
    (Squash: Map user to Admin on NAS)

    Kodi running on Shield can also only get Access if you use only SMB-V1.

    Please watch at security risks when useing that protocol. In comprisation to an Intel NUC or something similiar when installing Libreelec I was not faced with that Situation. SMB-V2 or V3 seems to be not supported on Shield when useing KODI.

    And by the way Google's way of Datacollection is worst.

    I don't want to be faced with that risks.