Choosing a S905 / S905X / S905D / S905W / S912 box guide

  • would you mind sharing what is needed to get netflix working on kodi? Im sick of having to jump between my tv and the kodi setup

    Go to the Kodi forum -> video add-on section. There you will find the unofficial netflix repository stuff.Remember that all video decoding on linux is done in software, so you need more then a little device to get 1080p working (just found out myself. Runs great on my core i5 mediacenter. a low end atom x5 however...)

  • Go to the Kodi forum -> video add-on section. There you will find the unofficial netflix repository stuff.Remember that all video decoding on linux is done in software, so you need more then a little device to get 1080p working (just found out myself. Runs great on my core i5 mediacenter. a low end atom x5 however...)

    cheers

  • Go to the Kodi forum -> video add-on section. There you will find the unofficial netflix repository stuff.Remember that all video decoding on linux is done in software, so you need more then a little device to get 1080p working (just found out myself. Runs great on my core i5 mediacenter. a low end atom x5 however...)

    Yes that is it. I did find not need to enter an ESN number at all tho.

    Also make sure the included inputstream-adptive addon is installed and enabled - or it will have to be installed from a LE or CE repo.

    Been testing on a Rockchip RK3399 - that has the CPU ponies to do SW decoding of 1080p Netflix easily.

    Only issue I've found is not all content wants to stream from the Netflix servers at 1080p with Linux Kodi Leia for some reason.

    Android Kodi Leia with baked into hardware Widevine L1 DRM streams reliably at 1080p and also does HW decoding of Netflix with the Addon.

    (Does not work on Android Kodi Leia Mecool devices with what appears to be blacklisted L1 DRM or HDCP 1.x)

  • inputstream adaptive, drm, netflix and amazon vod support are the most important reasons for me. Finally a good way to watch netflix (1:1 pixelmapping, framerate switching, hq decoding, fast interface). LE 9 / Kodi 18 was for me the reason to finally get a netflix subscription. Just works out of the box, no need to tweak funky patches, just download a few add-ons and you're ready.

    And other than for streaming services. Any benefits over Krypton?

  • With the arrival of the Odroid N2, and a working version of CE for it, this thread has become redundant. Nothing else comes close for the price.

    Shoog

  • N2 is nice hardware although like most HK devices it has some quirks. It'll be even nicer when it doesn't run an obsolete franken-kernel, but mainline support is progressing swiftly. So far the G12A/B devices i've been playing with are noticeably quicker than GX devices. If you're not sold on the N2 there will be some other S922X devices in the market soon.

  • Any other opinions on that?

    Think about it, who benefits from this nonsense. This is equivalent to saying "All buy one car model for all occasions. No need for trucks, buses and other passenger cars." :)

    This infa answer, what will happen in the near future, especially interesting for the month of September-October. :)

    Rockchip RK3530 announced for Q3 2019, 4x Cortex A55 + mali g52 gpu + gigabit ethernet

  • Hi there,

    I would like to buy a new box with libreelec support.

    Important specs for me are;

    - Amlogic S905 or newer (what processor is the most future proof?)

    - Minimal 4 GB RAM

    - Preferably 1000Mbps LAN + Wifi

    - SPDIF sound output

    - Box what can output Dolby TrueHD en DTS-HD Master Audio

    - For the future, 4K TV support?

    What box do you guys advice?

  • Did you find a box? Looking for something with similar specs, only be using it to play mkvs from external hard drive. Could do with gigabit LAN as I have 1000mbps internet. I've done a lot of reading on this thread but feeling a bit confused... I suppose the simple solution would be a Minix U9 but that's almost Nvidia Shield money where I live!
    Currently using a cheapo x96 s905x 1gb ram box that I had gathering dust in a drawer, it works but sometimes buffers or freezes with high bitrate 4k mkv's.

  • Did you find a box? Looking for something with similar specs, only be using it to play mkvs from external hard drive. Could do with gigabit LAN as I have 1000mbps internet. I've done a lot of reading on this thread but feeling a bit confused... I suppose the simple solution would be a Minix U9 but that's almost Nvidia Shield money where I live!
    Currently using a cheapo x96 s905x 1gb ram box that I had gathering dust in a drawer, it works but sometimes buffers or freezes with high bitrate 4k mkv's.

    None of the current crop of Amlogic boxes are supported under LE running Leia, this version has effectively been skipped at this stage.
    The current crop of S922 and S905x3,S905D3 are not supported in LE.
    The older boxes such as S905x2 are supported in community builds of Krypton - but are no longer actively supported by the developer.

    There are alternatives outside of LE, but the new crop of boxes are not that cheap (ie €50+)

    Shoog

  • Did you find a box? Looking for something with similar specs, only be using it to play mkvs from external hard drive. Could do with gigabit LAN as I have 1000mbps internet. I've done a lot of reading on this thread but feeling a bit confused... I suppose the simple solution would be a Minix U9 but that's almost Nvidia Shield money where I live!
    Currently using a cheapo x96 s905x 1gb ram box that I had gathering dust in a drawer, it works but sometimes buffers or freezes with high bitrate 4k mkv's.

    Nope. Been looking for native Android TV boxes but none of them supply al my demands.

    What architecture is the most future proof?

  • Couple of things to think about...

    If your looking at staying within the Android box market and NOT a sbc then i would say i am not sure whats really out there cheap enough with 4 gb or ram that really has real stable firmware when looking outside of the normal installed Android that comes on the box.

    If you specifically want LE and want to stay within the Amlogic realm then you will need to wait for awhile (as LE is in the middle of trying to migrate parts of their core up to the mainstream (linux) which has lead to them not really supporting Amlogic in their current development tree while this process is going on...

    With that said tho... if your able to handle building their sources on your own theres no reason their current build can't be patched up to build a Amlogic using the newest Kodi (Leia) and on one of the older none 5 kernels... Its just not something i think any of the LE guys are going to do so you''ll be on your own... I know i have done it multiple times and i know others that are still doing it for their own purposes...

    If you want LE without the hassle of building yourself then you probably need to look around here at NON Amlogic boxes to see whats available,,, Rockchip, Allwinner or Rasp maybe able to give you what you want...

    Things are pretty fluid these days as people try and fix or find solutions to the GPU issues which currently plague the Amlogic and Rockchip SoC's when it comes to hardware acceleration to any Non-Android OS running on ANY of those boxes and there is no way of predicting if or when those issues will all be solved at this time...

    If your trying to get out from under those conditions then you need to look at other things like the H2 which is a SBC or some other Intel based device thats not prone to the GPU issues...

    In some ways depending on what you want to do it may be better to just stick with a older box that actually has Leia support that works for the time being till things...

    Finally as others have said there are LE alternatives, but to be honest they aren't perfect either and if your a plug-and play type of person they can be troublesome as well...

  • Did you find a box? Looking for something with similar specs, only be using it to play mkvs from external hard drive. Could do with gigabit LAN as I have 1000mbps internet. I've done a lot of reading on this thread but feeling a bit confused... I suppose the simple solution would be a Minix U9 but that's almost Nvidia Shield money where I live!
    Currently using a cheapo x96 s905x 1gb ram box that I had gathering dust in a drawer, it works but sometimes buffers or freezes with high bitrate 4k mkv's.

    To date, a reasonable option for the ratio of costs\the result is Ugoos x2pro 4\32 or cube 2\16 (2 GB of RAM is enough to play media content). This model has full support for all elements (including WiFi) on core 5. If you don't need built-in WIFI and need maximum performance, you can use the AM6 (with metal body and excellent passive cooling system). These models use the best Android firmware (with long-term support for updates), with support for universal multi-boot. This means that you can immediately and easily run any modern system (LE, Armbian, Manjaro etc.) from external media (including USB 3.0 with a speed faster than eMMC and no volume limit of up to several terabytes) and fully retains the ability to automatically update the standard firmware via OTA.