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Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - Printable Version

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RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - himey - 2025-02-08

(2025-02-08, 22:20)MediaPi Wrote: launcher in windows that can play kodi
Harmony Hub Smart/Companion remote will get you 100% there for Kodi on a PC. No launcher needed. You simply set a button on the remote that triggers the corresponding taskbar Kodi Icon. Also, long press options make the Kodi experience even better to creatively set up the remote. Any Kodi keyboard shortcut can be mimicked from any remote button.

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - signde - 2025-02-08

(2025-02-08, 22:17)himey Wrote:
(2025-02-08, 22:03)signde Wrote:
  • 85% Homatics Box R - my daily driver, does almost everything i need with android tv 12
  • 10% Ugoos AM6B+ - if i know i want to watch a rip that is DV P7
  • 5% AFTV Cube 3 - only device i own that is provisioned for live 1080p HDR in certain apps (peacock sunday night football, prime tv thursday night football)
What do you give up formatting the Homatics to be your DV P7 box? Or is it just a case to leave the former on A 12 and the Ugoos on CE, since you already own both boxes, and it just makes it easier that way?

Has anyone compared the Nvidia Shield to the Homatics for only Android use?
yes, just makes it easier. no rebooting back and forth between android and CE. just push a button on the harmony remote and it am swapped.

i technically don't need them both now but i bought the ugoos before P7 FEL support came to the homatics. for a while there it was looking like the S922x devices would be it for FEL.

as for shield vs. homatics, i've owned every shield pro since 2015 until now. i ditched it for the homatics.

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - MediaPi - 2025-02-08

@himey awesome thanks, though I won't be buying more hardware to have this set up. Also I'm advance user of messing with keyboard.xml and running AHK scripts in windows so I have full faith I can do anything with a remote, I've spent more time than I should have in figuring this out when I had a Pi, hence my name MediaPi

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - himey - 2025-02-08

(2025-02-08, 22:50)MediaPi Wrote: @himey yeah if I had DV tv then 100% I would get the best hardware for the job, probably an AM6B+ at that point. 
but my dilemma (and probably the vast majority of people that use Kodi) is that I don't have DV and I don't have the best files to play
would it give me on my hardware the same experience (or close to it) than the S229X AM6B+ or even the slower Homatics 
I'll be ready to upgrade in future. right now buying the higher chip S928X isn't worth it for meagre increase in power
That mini PC for under $100 and a Harmony Hub Companion or Smart remote for around $30 on Ebay would be my suggestion until you get an OLED with Dolby Vision. I can't think of anything it can't play locally in your case.
edit...
Didn't see your recent post before responding.

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - himey - 2025-02-08

(2025-02-08, 22:54)signde Wrote:
(2025-02-08, 22:17)himey Wrote:
(2025-02-08, 22:03)signde Wrote:
  • 85% Homatics Box R - my daily driver, does almost everything i need with android tv 12
  • 10% Ugoos AM6B+ - if i know i want to watch a rip that is DV P7
  • 5% AFTV Cube 3 - only device i own that is provisioned for live 1080p HDR in certain apps (peacock sunday night football, prime tv thursday night football)
What do you give up formatting the Homatics to be your DV P7 box? Or is it just a case to leave the former on A 12 and the Ugoos on CE, since you already own both boxes, and it just makes it easier that way?

Has anyone compared the Nvidia Shield to the Homatics for only Android use?
yes, just makes it easier. no rebooting back and forth between android and CE. just push a button on the harmony remote and it am swapped.

i technically don't need them both now but i bought the ugoos before P7 FEL support came to the homatics. for a while there it was looking like the S922x devices would be it for FEL.

as for shield vs. homatics, i've owned every shield pro since 2015 until now. i ditched it for the homatics.
Great info. Thanks a ton.

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - hdmkv - 2025-02-09

(2025-02-08, 22:40)himey Wrote:
(2025-02-08, 22:20)MediaPi Wrote: I've been considering those mini PC N100
I have 2. They are great as a server.
Spot on. I use a N150 as my Plex server w/Ubuntu... great for outside-the-home streaming of your movies & shows, and Plexamp for music. Planning to set-up my own VPN server next. Looks like there are other cool 'headless' tools that Ubuntu is a good fit for.
(2025-02-08, 22:24)himey Wrote: What are the Android deficiencies in the Homatics vs the FTVC3?
Power/speed, and ability to play back problematic formats like MPEG2 & VC-1. FTV is worse for ads/clutter though, but there are single-button press ad-free launcher workarounds.
(2025-02-08, 22:54)signde Wrote: as for shield vs. homatics, i've owned every shield pro since 2015 until now. i ditched it for the homatics.
I did similar: AM6B+ mostly, and some FTV Cube 3 for Shield TV Pro. But, I do miss Shield Pro sometimes, a powerful box that can play anything w/o struggling. In testing Homatics, MPEG2 plays all pixelated/blocky, and VC-1 struggles as well as @clarkss12 has pointed out. Finding AM6B+ fares better with both formats, which is (for me) more valuable than AV1 playback capability w/Homatics.

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - clarkss12 - 2025-02-09

Biggest question of the year.  How is everyone watching the Superbowl??

I am using my OTA antenna on the roof connected to an HDHomeRun tuner.  I also have the antenna connected directly to the built-in TV's tuner.  
I use the PVR addon on my Kodi devices.  Right now, I am using the Dune Homatics media player running CoreELEC, but can switch to the Android OS if I am not satisfied with the performance of the CE PVR.  This OTA stream is 720p, and not 1080i (interlaced).  Problems that I see are lip-snc issues that drive me nuts, even a fraction of a second out of sync.

Edit: The TV's tuner obviously gives the best picture, but there are no "trick" plays like pause/play or FF/RW. 
Also, pluto, halo, yyy, etc. are playing that game also.   NOT much into those streaming apps.

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - haxrune32 - 2025-02-09

Hi, I have been using Coreelec with an Odroid N2 for a very long time.
Its been super reliable but never managed to get a controller to work for powering on the device.
I followed the IR remote guides but with no success.
The main issue is whenever you power off the device either with my remote power button or shutdown within coreelec i have to then unplug the device to get it to power back on.
I'd love to replace it for something with easily powers on and off with remote.

Requirements the same as with Odroid N2.
DTS HD,ATMOS bitstream 
Auto Frame Rate Switching
Movies x265 2160p etc 
Everything I play is local playback with 1 USB drive plugged into the Odroid N2.

Thanks
Hax

RE: Best Kodi Media Player Options 2025 - bossanova808 - 2025-02-10

Resume up via IR for for an Odroid is definitely possible, I have a write up here:
https://bossanova808.notion.site/Coreelec-Kodi-Harmony-650-Remotes-Full-Setup-db93c22e1980469ea995c388d9ff4adb

That said, I think the AM6B+ is the best successor to the N2s - basically the same thing but with a few minor improvements, and the bonus of very easy to set up Dolby Vision support...pretty much a drop in replacement (and I have no issues with power off/resume by Harmony remote with it).