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+--- Thread: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 (/showthread.php?tid=376035)
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - nowwhereman - 2024-11-02
Nvidia is a huge company that puts out their own SoCs all the time. The idea that they have to wait for Nintendo to release a new Switch for them to get a new SoC for the Shield is idiotic.
Even if there was a new Shield, Nvidia wouldn't include FEL capabilities because that would be tacit support of piracy (it's illegal to bypass DRM to rip Blu-rays). So it would already be a poor substitute for the HiFi market when there are multiple players here offering that.
A $200-300 AndroidTV player is a money loser.
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - izprtxqkft - 2024-11-02
(2024-11-02, 20:03)nowwhereman Wrote: Nvidia is a huge company that puts out their own SoCs all the time. The idea that they have to wait for Nintendo to release a new Switch for them to get a new SoC for the Shield is idiotic.
you're not entirely wrong but i have a differing opinion
IMO
nvidia is a gaming company, they did the shield to showcase their geforce now gaming platform
nvidia has no interest in a streaming media player and all those capabilities were just a byproduct of building on an AndroidTV platform
being able to say it also does Streaming is about as streaming focused as an XBOX is, as in it's not, it's a gaming device that also happens to do streaming
end opinion
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - xthe_punisherx - 2024-11-03
(2024-01-24, 19:13)hdmkv Wrote: +++ Best All-in-One Kodi Media Players +++Hello everyone,
Dolby Vision-licensed S905X4 Android TV Media Player (Homatics Box R Plus / Dune HD R Plus / Rocktek G2 / Nokia 8010)
The current do-it-all champ! Homatics box recommended as it has the best support of the bunch
$149 or less
+ Only media players to really do it all—between its CoreELEC (CE) & Android TV sides (using dual-boot)
+ Supports:
++ Player-led dual-layer FEL DV (CE)
++ Premium apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, etc. at 4K & HDR/DV (Android TV)
++ HD/object-based audio (CE & Android TV w/Android 12)
++ Full 3D MVC (CE)
+ AV1 4K playback
- As this leverages AMLogic's MVC decoder, it suffers from the same microstuttering problem Vero players (as well as Ugoos players below) have with a handful of 3D titles
- CE needs to run off a mSD card or USB flash drive (but, can be made to mostly run off the internal flash or EMMC drive)
- VC-1 playback is problematic
- Performance noticeably less snappy as Ugoos AM6B+ nor any of the newer AMLogic S928X-K/J-SoC (System-on-Chip) based players
I came across the first post discussing the Homatics Box R Plus Android Box that states "VC-1 playback is problematic," but I'm not quite clear on what the specific issues are.
Could someone elaborate on this? Is the problem related to hardware or software?
Additionally, I'm curious if the issues pertain to the playback of Full HD BluRay content, specifically in progressive (1080p) or interlaced (1080i) formats.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance!
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - cool0007 - 2024-11-03
Equipment that decodes AV1 is relevant. This open codec has amazing compression quality without losing image quality. 4K video of a standard movie is only 5 GB in size - and this is currently the top. That's why I prefer Intel equipment with AV1 encoding/decoding support. This is Alder Lake and ARC video chips - they are the future. 100 Gigabyte Dolby Vision awaits the fate of 3D video. Who needs 3D TVs and 3D media players now?
This is a screenshot of the movie in 4K, its weight is 4.5 GB
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - MediaPi - 2024-11-04
(2024-11-03, 20:05)cool0007 Wrote: Equipment that decodes AV1 is relevant. This open codec has amazing compression quality without losing image quality. 4K video of a standard movie is only 5 GB in size - and this is currently the top. That's why I prefer Intel equipment with AV1 encoding/decoding support. This is Alder Lake and ARC video chips - they are the future. 100 Gigabyte Dolby Vision awaits the fate of 3D video. Who needs 3D TVs and 3D media players now?
This is a screenshot of the movie in 4K, its weight is 4.5 GB
ngl but I've never heard anyone say this and you might be wrong but you got my interest. People here talk about FEL and you need FEL but even a core developer at coreelec said FEL would be gone in the future. plus I'm fed up of the lack of performance compared to x86. 5GB files for that quality is insane! I need to do more research, how soon do you think the transition will happen with this open codec? how long has it been out for?
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - Sholander - 2024-11-04
As long as UHD Bluray FEL disks are produced, AV1 is of no interest to me. Stating that C/P "This open codec has amazing compression quality without losing image quality" is pure nonsense without stating to which image quality: SDR, HDR10, HDR10+, DV P5, DV P8 or DV P7FEL/MEL.
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - izprtxqkft - 2024-11-04
(2024-11-04, 19:55)Sholander Wrote: As long as UHD Bluray FEL disks are produced, AV1 is of no interest to me. Stating that C/P "This open codec has amazing compression quality without losing image quality" is pure nonsense without stating to which image quality: SDR, HDR10, HDR10+, DV P5, DV P8 or DV P7FEL/MEL.
AV1 only "currently" supports HDR, not + or DV so stating which image quality can only be of 2 options, SDR or HDR
since nobody would be talking about the great image quality of SDR i would imagine they mean HDR
-----
edit
apparently apple has brought dolby vision profile 10 to AV1
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - Sholander - 2024-11-05
Tnx for explanation. Is there any comparison AV1 vs HDR of the same material to check "no image quality loss" statements?
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - hdmkv - 2024-11-05
(2024-11-03, 19:02)xthe_punisherx Wrote: I came across the first post discussing the Homatics Box R Plus Android Box that states "VC-1 playback is problematic," but I'm not quite clear on what the specific issues are.So, VC-1 used to be problematic in general w/S905X4-based devices due to lack of h/w decoding, relying instead on s/w. It may no longer be--@clarkss12, think you have a Homatics & other S905X4 boxes; can you comment?
Could someone elaborate on this? Is the problem related to hardware or software?
Additionally, I'm curious if the issues pertain to the playback of Full HD BluRay content, specifically in progressive (1080p) or interlaced (1080i) formats.
1:1 BD rips of 1080i & 1080p are not problematic for S905X4 as far as I'm aware.
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - izprtxqkft - 2024-11-05
(2024-11-05, 00:27)Sholander Wrote: Tnx for explanation. Is there any comparison AV1 vs HDR of the same material to check "no image quality loss" statements?
i can only find anecdotal evidence
here's a fairly good read https://videotap.com/blog/av1-vs-hevc-video-codec-guide-2024
and a video side by side https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSN2CKxi9mk
other than saving bandwidth i can't find a use for AV1 but when all my media gets played locally on a multi-gig LAN i can't see the point
plus i like dolby vision and dislike re-encoding my library
so until it appears on a commercial disc i don't see using it for local
i could be persuaded to maybe use it on my jellyfin setup for remote playback on my phone while on the go (since my server has an intel ARC GPU)
but i really just lean on Hulu, Prime Video, Movies Anywhere and YouTube while mobile so i don't even have transcoding enabled on my jellyfin server currently
just really comes down to use i guess, if it works for your instance then great but being "better" than original i don't see it
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - nowwhereman - 2024-11-05
Using AV1 lossless compression isn't going to shrink a 65GB HEVC video down to 5GB. Lossy compression had to have been used. AV1 is only ~30% more efficient than HEVC, it's safe to assume there's significant quality lose compressing Interstellar by over ~90%.
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - mrcleeo - 2024-11-05
(2024-11-04, 20:02)izprtxqkft Wrote:(2024-11-04, 19:55)Sholander Wrote: As long as UHD Bluray FEL disks are produced, AV1 is of no interest to me. Stating that C/P "This open codec has amazing compression quality without losing image quality" is pure nonsense without stating to which image quality: SDR, HDR10, HDR10+, DV P5, DV P8 or DV P7FEL/MEL.
AV1 only "currently" supports HDR, not + or DV so stating which image quality can only be of 2 options, SDR or HDR
since nobody would be talking about the great image quality of SDR i would imagine they mean HDR
I just checked a bunch of av1 releases and they do come with dv profile 10 but I couldn't find one with a different profile. Im wondering if it's like some releases with their AI enhancement garbage. They range from 5gb to 35gb with Atmos and maybe 5.1?? The avg video bitrate was 15.9 Mb/s to 28Mb/s
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - izprtxqkft - 2024-11-05
(2024-11-05, 05:52)mrcleeo Wrote: I just checked a bunch of av1 releases and they do come with dv profile 10 but I couldn't find one with a different profile. Im wondering if it's like some releases with their AI enhancement garbage. They range from 5gb to 35gb with Atmos and maybe 5.1?? The avg video bitrate was 15.9 Mb/s to 28Mb/s
i must be behind on this because i had to look up what profile 10 was (was pretty sure it stopped at 9)
found this reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/AV1/comments/1dhgiz4/apple_av1_dolby_vision_support
which seems basically accurate for a reddit post
chances of this being useful might be up for debate because it requires running kodi on an apple device that supports this (iphone 16?)
and i am not sure kodi even supports profile 10 (yet)
all the same though i love learning new things so thanks for bringing this up
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - Sholander - 2024-11-05
(2024-11-05, 04:11)izprtxqkft Wrote: other than saving bandwidth i can't find a use for AV1 but when all my media gets played locally on a multi-gig LAN i can't see the point
plus i like dolby vision and dislike re-encoding my library
so until it appears on a commercial disc i don't see using it for local
I also cannot find any interest today for bandwidth saving at quality cost with broadband growing wider and wider every day. I'd rather see more quality improvement.
RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2024 - jbinkley60 - 2024-11-05
(2024-11-05, 11:49)Sholander Wrote: I also cannot find any interest today for bandwidth saving at quality cost with broadband growing wider and wider every day. I'd rather see more quality improvement.
I concur for home usage. On the Internet the content providers and such look for smaller files to reduce their cloud storage and network infrastructure costs. The ongoing challenge is that higher quality is driving more storage as we go from 720P to 1080P to 2160P and more.
For home usage the worldwide cost per terabyte for disk is around $11/TB down from $6,120/TB in 2000 and $53/TB in 2010. If we presume that the average 2160P HEVC file is around 60GB and the average H264 1080P file is around 30GB that means that for a 16TB drive you can store 266 2160P and 532 1080P media files (assuming 100% usage which is unlikely) for around $.66 per file for 2160P and $.33 per 1080P file. Those costs will only continue to go lower.
So unless you are storage OCD like me and have over 1PB of storage, for most folks the storage costs and local network bandwidth should be fine with current technology.
I sometimes think the industry introduces new video / audio encoding methods to drive hardware refresh and codec licensing revenue. I am watching the AC-4 debacle as a prime example. AV1 is starting to feel similar except it has a little more underlying support.
My 2 cents.
Thanks,
Jeff