Compute Stick for 1080p playback?

[Nosada]

That said, I prefer devices that can function on their own and, besides, MPEG2-TS is not something your average Android phone can even handle.

You need some sort of remote, might as well be something you always have on you. Your android phone also doesn't need to handle anything. Nothing of the stream actually passes through your phone. You can shut down your phone while streaming and it will have 0 impact on your stream. I can't vouch for M2TS streams, as I havent bothered checking for codecs in ages, but I have put 20Mb/s 1080p streams through these Chromecasts without any issue.

My iphone don't support Chrommycast so no, my dad actually has a chromecast but I don't want that and still need to have my phone (which don't support it) or buy a tablet to do so

iPhone actually supports Chromecast, all iDevices do. If you have any available, give it a spin, you'll be more than pleasantly surprised.

https://www.google.com/chromecast/tv/#?discover#products
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/2998456?co=GENIE.Platform=iOS&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chromecast/id680819774?mt=8

 

[FordGT90Concept]

You need some sort of remote, might as well be something you always have on you. Your android phone also doesn't need to handle anything. Nothing of the stream actually passes through your phone. You can shut down your phone while streaming and it will have 0 impact on your stream. I can't vouch for M2TS streams, as I havent bothered checking for codecs in ages, but I have put 20Mb/s 1080p streams through these Chromecasts without any issue.

That's what these are for.

MPEG2-TS 1080i can exceed 15 Mb/s. Mircast uses H.264 so for MPEG2-TS, it would likely have to be transcoded.

Considering the aforementioned Leelbox costs the same as a Chromecast but does a lot more (including Miracast)...

 

[Shou Miko]

iPhone actually supports Chromecast, all iDevices do. If you have any available, give it a spin, you'll be more than pleasantly surprised.

https://www.google.com/chromecast/tv/#?discover#products
https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/2998456?co=GENIE.Platform=iOS&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chromecast/id680819774?mt=8

Doesn't Chromecast use Miracast? from what I know iphone 6 and 6 plus don't support miracast but oki I could be wrong bcs I never used it since I read they didn't support it xD

 

[FordGT90Concept]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2907...our-devices-screen-wirelessly-on-your-tv.html

OS X and iOS do not support Miracast, opting instead for Apple's own AirPlay technology for screen mirroring. AirPlay is compatible only with Apple's second- and third-generation Apple TVs.

 

[Nosada]

That's what these are for.

MPEG2-TS 1080i can exceed 15 Mb/s. Mircast uses H.264 so for MPEG2-TS, it would likely have to be transcoded.

Considering the aforementioned Leelbox costs the same as a Chromecast but does a lot more (including Miracast)...

A remote adds to the cost of your device. High bitrate streams usually mean less overhead on the client processor. Is transcoding an issue? I'm guessing most people running Plex are doing it on a machine that easily transcodes several 1080p streams. The Chromecast Ultra can do 4K and doesn't actually use Miracast, as the stream is going directly to the device, not via your phone. And I agree that Leelbox looks mighty tempting, but when deploying Plex to several screens on several different locations, you want low maintenance, zero-config devices, or at least I do.

Doesn't Chromecast use Miracast? from what I know iphone 6 and 6 plus don't support miracast but oki I could be wrong bcs I never used it since I read they didn't support it xD

Miracasting is screen mirroring over wifi. What Chromecast does actually redirecting the entire stream to the other device, so there is no need for Miracast support. That said, I never believe what I read on the internet myself, so I'll test it out with a colleague's iPhone 6 when I get the chance.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

A remote adds to the cost of your device. High bitrate streams usually mean less overhead on the client processor. Is transcoding an issue? I'm guessing most people running Plex are doing it on a machine that easily transcodes several 1080p streams. The Chromecast Ultra can do 4K and doesn't actually use Miracast, as the stream is going directly to the device, not via your phone. And I agree that Leelbox looks mighty tempting, but when deploying Plex to several screens on several different locations, you want low maintenance, zero-config devices, or at least I do.

The Amlogic S905 is capable of direct stream MPEG2-TS 1080i and H.264. S905X should be capable of direct streaming H.265 too. My Emby server only transcodes devices that really need it (e.g. phones and tablets).

All I do when I get a new Leelbox is remove the apps that came with it, go to the Play Store, get TV Launcher, Firefox, and Emby for Android TV, pin that stuff to the TV Launcher, and it's good to go.

 

[silentbogo]

My TVs are 20+". I doubt anyone buying the compute stick or NUC is going to plug it in to <9" screen. Therefore, not free.
Invalid license means you can't do simple things like change the wallpaper.

You are not buying a TV, you are buying a mini-PC.
According to ixbt.com, who reviewed an identical Tornsmart Ara X5 and Pipo X7, it is fully licensed Win10 x64 Home.

a) it's old (I think QuickSync debuted on Haswell or Devil's Canyon)
b) requires iGPU to use QuickSync.

Let me rephrase a bit: just because there is no QucikSync does not mean that this is the end of the world.

Here is Z8300 in action:
1) Decoding (FPS, in parenthesis - CPU load)

2) Playback(FPS, in parenthesis - CPU load)

The only problem that it has, is high-bitrate VP9, which means there will be some problems with 2K/4K in Chrome (though MS Edge only shows 30% max CPU load).
http://www.ixbt.com/blogs/preview/t...tom-x5-z8300---koloss-na-glinyanyh-nogah.html

 

[FordGT90Concept]

You are not buying a TV, you are buying a mini-PC.
According to ixbt.com, who reviewed an identical Tornsmart Ara X5 and Pipo X7, it is fully licensed Win10 x64 Home.

It's also $40-50 more which may explain why it has a legitimate license. Microsoft is not handing out keys for free to these devices. Windows would have activated if they did.

Here is Z8300 in action:
1) Decoding (FPS, in parenthesis - CPU load)

2) Playback(FPS, in parenthesis - CPU load)

Point taken but note how MPEG2-TS is excluded. I tried it, CPU was 100% and framerate was likely less than 10 fps. Why is MPEG2-TS important? HDHomeRun CONNECT. Atom would clearly work well with the more expensive, transcoding HDHomeRun EXTEND. Instead of paying <$60 TV (including box and remote) + $90 per HDHomeRun CONNECT, you're paying $120+ per TV + $160+ per HDHomeRun EXTEND. Not only does the latter cost a lot more, you're getting an inferior picture. That's a massive cost for Windows.

 

[Nosada]

The Amlogic S905 is capable of direct stream MPEG2-TS 1080i and H.264. S905X should be capable of direct streaming H.265 too. My Emby server only transcodes devices that really need it (e.g. phones and tablets).

Do you notice a substantial difference between transcoded and raw streams? I honestly haven't bothered checking if there is any difference (my eyesight is probably too poor to notice it anyway), but I am very interested to know whether or not there is. Most of my source files are x264/265 (HEVC?) and my clients are set to use a max of 20Mb/s. Would going non-transcoded be a noticeable upgrade? I have indeed noticed that a lot of my devices transcode simply because they cannot handle AC3 audio.

All I do when I get a new Leelbox is remove the apps that came with it, go to the Play Store, get TV Launcher, Firefox, and Emby for Android TV, pin that stuff to the TV Launcher, and it's good to go.

How does it handle app upgrades, do you find you have to do any hands-on maintenance?

 

[Shou Miko]

Now it's just waiting on my work desk to I am off work today to get to play with it later

 

[Nosada]

Now it's just waiting on my work desk to I am off work today to get to play with it later

Keep us posted, really curious about your findings!

 

[Shou Miko]

Keep us posted, really curious about your findings!

I tried the first generation wasn't really my patience that was the best but I was also a bad sample I got it crashed and couldn't be recovered so I had to get a new one, so I hope it will go better with this second generation, I am positive (The first generation was for a customer)

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Do you notice a substantial difference between transcoded and raw streams? I honestly haven't bothered checking if there is any difference (my eyesight is probably too poor to notice it anyway), but I am very interested to know whether or not there is. Most of my source files are x264/265 (HEVC?) and my clients are set to use a max of 20Mb/s. Would going non-transcoded be a noticeable upgrade? I have indeed noticed that a lot of my devices transcode simply because they cannot handle AC3 audio.

I haven't had to transcode in a long time and devices that usually do require transcoding have really small screens. Hard to compare to 8" screen to something that is blown up to 40".

Amlogic S905 handles AC3 but no more than two channels. S905X handles AC3 5.1 but there's apparently a limit on the bandwidth of it (384 might be the top). S905X-H may remove the 384 limit...but no one has confirmed that yet.

How does it handle app upgrades, do you find you have to do any hands-on maintenance?

Play Store, just like you would your phone. That said, my Leelbox Q1 Masters (Android 6.0) have a glitch Play Store where you can only access it once before you have to uninstall updates to make it work again. I did not have that issue with the Android 5.1 boxes. On those systems, I've disabled automatic updates but haven't tried again to see if that fixes it.

That said, I never seen any of the Leelboxes install updates without my going into the Play Store and telling it to update them.



Xiaomi Mi Box is now apparently available at Walmart stores.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Emby user uploaded a video of using Mi Box:

Edit: A lot of the video is complaining about the home screen. Get TVlauncher from the Play Store and problem solved.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

Oh yeah something worth mentioning is Amazon's Fire TV...
You can load just about any Android app from an Android device with the"App to Fire TV" app and it works good...

I loaded Kodi and watch TV recorded from my windows 7 htpc and live TV via my hdhomerun....or anything else I want.. Lol

However the Fire TV isn't any better than a S905x box or the older S812 box...

I tried a NUC stick.... With an Atom something...and Windows 10....no.. just no.
Microsoft just isn't as media friendly as Android surprisingly...had lag...plus slow start up...
I would try an AMD compute stick if they made one....

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Windows can be media friendly if you have Plex or Emby to make it so (Emby Home Theater does a nice job at replacing Windows Media Center). On Atom though, I quote you: "no.. just no."

And too right. AMD should combine ARM + GCN.

 

[Mussels]

you can get 4K capable HEVC/H265 android media players for under $100, and due to the baked in hardware acceleration support for the media they 'just work' and work well.


i use a generic chinese one over wifi, link it to a SAMBA file share on my NAS (or desktop) and away i go.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

you can get 4K capable HEVC/H265 android media players for under $100, and due to the baked in hardware acceleration support for the media they 'just work' and work well.


i use a generic chinese one over wifi, link it to a SAMBA file share on my NAS (or desktop) and away i go.

I paid $40 for my <insert silly Chinese name>T95 box...which is S905x based

I paid $48 for my <insert silly Chinese name> S812 box

They are both made by OTT TV BOX.
Both have had 1 firmware update.

They are both 4k @30hz like the FireTV.
They work as good as the FireTV.
The T95 box needs hard wired...it cannot do full 1080 over wifi.

The S812 SE box (with the rounded edges and triangle light) was a premium type model a year ago..it uses the wired connection for Internet while using the wifi separately for a controller or with apps like droidmote.

Both easily pull whatever media from wherever on your network.
I prefer to use Kodi with the TvAddons setup because the TV app within Kodi works best with my hdhomerun and Windows Media center for OTA recordings and Kodi is free.

 

[Shou Miko]

My little Intel Compute Stick actually played the x265 I through at the the only serie I had I encoded myself to x265 with AAC audio played like a dream even the size per episode is only like 200-265mb (Old danish series from 1978-1980 only available on dvd)