video playback and Android Boxes

[Stoner]

Up till recently lve been using a standalone digital media player for video playback purposes, generally l have been pretty happy until l recently revisited some old video files which were 10bit encoded.

Now l have been doing some research which suggests it is possible to play 10bit files through kodi, but lm hoping to get some clarification so l can make an informed choice before sinking any cash into an android box.

I watch quite a bit of anime much of which is subtitled, so the ability to use soft subbed files is a must (even better, the ability to edit their colour may come in useful which my current media player does) not to mention being able to playback videos using varying codecs even the hi10p ones, the boxes lm looking at run around the 2ghz mark from their specs which lm assuming is ample for using it to view digital media, however lm also very interested in finding out the best players to view the files in, kodi is just whats been suggested on my travels around the net for information.

 

[Nigelar]

If you are interested in the playback capabilities of Kodi you could load it in a pc or laptop if you had one and experiment. That would give you an indication of how well it performs before considering buying additional hardware. Kodi is multi platform.

 

[Bollocks77]

Not sure if this is ov any help at all but its worth noting that I access my NAS network drive from my Droidbox through Files.
As yet I have not found anything that it wont play. Even full ISO files play flawless along with all MKV etc.

 

[8bitDev]

Up till recently lve been using a standalone digital media player for video playback purposes, generally l have been pretty happy until l recently revisited some old video files which were 10bit encoded.

Now l have been doing some research which suggests it is possible to play 10bit files through kodi, but lm hoping to get some clarification so l can make an informed choice before sinking any cash into an android box.

I watch quite a bit of anime much of which is subtitled, so the ability to use soft subbed files is a must (even better, the ability to edit their colour may come in useful which my current media player does) not to mention being able to playback videos using varying codecs even the hi10p ones, the boxes lm looking at run around the 2ghz mark from their specs which lm assuming is ample for using it to view digital media, however lm also very interested in finding out the best players to view the files in, kodi is just whats been suggested on my travels around the net for information.

Hi

One of our newest boxes T8 SE may be what you are looking for.Spec vise it does suits what you are referring to and does come as dualboot(Android and LibreELEC).
Take a note that Kodi can play local files,add external subtitles and change the color of such,all as you mention but not just that.On Android besides Kodi there are plenty of apps that allow you to stream Anime content and there are many services that are available from google play store.

https://droidbox.co.uk/droidbox-t8-se-dualboot-android-libreelec-4k-amlogic-s905x.html

Regards

 

[Stoner]

thanks for all the replies, l have confirmed kodi plays the files l had trouble with on my current digital media player. though l also use a roku as well, but l guess l can just get rid of both and use a Android box instead that way lm only splitting between two devices rather than my current 3 (it kinda bothers me that my TV only had 1 HDMI and that the splitter sometimes decides it doesnt want to switch).

@8bitDev
lve bookmarked your page, pretty sure l have found it on Amazon which would be my store of choice due to the fact l'll most likely be dumping Amazon vouchers on my purchase (means l only have to find £20/30 extra)

these were the current boxes l was looking at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0771BH...liid=I2AODX912QSR4A&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0774H9...liid=I1YNZEJQ0I3FJM&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075BJHYZ6/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I8GLTOGVXQ263&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074VZJPJQ/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IMEMMHLFG33IC&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

ideally ld prefer not to spend much more than £60, however l could stretch to the recommended box next week. however if l dont obtain a model with a keyboard lm still hoping to have enough USBs for a flash drive/external, mouse and keyboard to make it easier to navigate, not to mention saving me turning on my PC to send emails and misc browsing. lm also curious of the heat dissipation as l will likely be using this allot especially in the summer.

 

[Nigelar]

Well if you do buy Droidbox, as you have seen there is a friendly and helpful user community here. Worth checking if some of your alternative choices have the same.
Btw the airmouse thing has a keyboard. Droidbox offer them on their accessory page. An essential purchase in my opinion (the standard remote on all these boxes is limited)

 

[Stoner]

turns out a friend has a smbox (SM1) the specs are crappy but it does play all the files l wanted to on test, but its limited to 4.0 android, the smbox website suggests MXQ-4k firmware so lm currently in the process of updating the box he didnt want, either way lm planning on getting another one as my parents were interested as well so lm going to get a more updated one for myself since lm planning on doing allot more on it given what the spec of the ones have.

 

[8bitDev]

thanks for all the replies, l have confirmed kodi plays the files l had trouble with on my current digital media player. though l also use a roku as well, but l guess l can just get rid of both and use a Android box instead that way lm only splitting between two devices rather than my current 3 (it kinda bothers me that my TV only had 1 HDMI and that the splitter sometimes decides it doesnt want to switch).

@8bitDev
lve bookmarked your page, pretty sure l have found it on Amazon which would be my store of choice due to the fact l'll most likely be dumping Amazon vouchers on my purchase (means l only have to find £20/30 extra)

these were the current boxes l was looking at:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0771BH...liid=I2AODX912QSR4A&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0774H9...liid=I1YNZEJQ0I3FJM&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075BJHYZ6/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I8GLTOGVXQ263&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074VZJPJQ/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IMEMMHLFG33IC&colid=3HVR1PJQOMGWZ&psc=0

ideally ld prefer not to spend much more than £60, however l could stretch to the recommended box next week. however if l dont obtain a model with a keyboard lm still hoping to have enough USBs for a flash drive/external, mouse and keyboard to make it easier to navigate, not to mention saving me turning on my PC to send emails and misc browsing. lm also curious of the heat dissipation as l will likely be using this allot especially in the summer.

Hi

The box have passive cooling which is enough for today's modern arm CPUs.

When it comes to USB ports box have 3 of those + an SD card slot and if that is not enough you can always connect a USB dongle to it in order to get more USB ports if needed.

On amazon we have bundles with additional accessories and besides IR remote that comes by default you can chose from Air remotes(normal remote front and air feature+keyboard at the back) or Touchpad based keyboard(at the front full keyboard with a touchpad on it).

Also with the T8 SE that comes with DroidBOX Share app you can always use it on Android/iOS and Windows PC to transfer files over the network(locally)so there would not be need to manually use USB flash drive to transfer files and procedure would go much faster.

Regards

 

[Stoner]

interesting to know thanks all goes well should be looking into acquiring a new box tomorrow.

though l do have one more question, lm thinking about using my 5.1s to get better sound, while l do assuming that l wont get their full benefit on some l notice a spdif port which going by what lve seen uses a 3.5mm port, my speakers also use the same connection so lm assuming l can just get a double ended cable for better sound than my TV, thats if l have read what spdif does properly.

 

[8bitDev]

interesting to know thanks all goes well should be looking into acquiring a new box tomorrow.

though l do have one more question, lm thinking about using my 5.1s to get better sound, while l do assuming that l wont get their full benefit on some l notice a spdif port which going by what lve seen uses a 3.5mm port, my speakers also use the same connection so lm assuming l can just get a double ended cable for better sound than my TV, thats if l have read what spdif does properly.

Hi

Yes that is correct,you can cycle thrtough hdmi,PCM and SPDIF audio option.The easiest method would be however if possible to set any audio system that you have through the TV and then let the hdmi pass through the audio signal to the box,just a personal preference due to ease of use and connecting things later on.

Regards

 

[Stoner]

sadly l dont have anything that would allow me to passthrough audio to my 5.1s, their setup is basically RCA to 3.5mm, the only thing l can do is use the AUX 3.5mm which only gives me 2.1 sound, but it will still be better than what the TV will give me.. l did try to connect my TV to my speakers but it just doesnt have the ports which is sad as it would have been amazing playing my playstation with 5.1 sound.

 

[8bitDev]

sadly l dont have anything that would allow me to passthrough audio to my 5.1s, their setup is basically RCA to 3.5mm, the only thing l can do is use the AUX 3.5mm which only gives me 2.1 sound, but it will still be better than what the TV will give me.. l did try to connect my TV to my speakers but it just doesnt have the ports which is sad as it would have been amazing playing my playstation with 5.1 sound.

Hi

If you are using SPDIF to 3.5mm converter and it gives you only 2 or 2/1 audio channels it is either due to TV settings or hardware related issue/firmware design to simply do such.

Connecting to the box should be fine,feel free to let us know if any issue arises in the meantime or if everything works OK as it should be.

Regards

 

[Stoner]

everything is now on order. given my current mess about with my current box are there any clean looking launchers for media boxes l can look at that are recommended.. will be interesting to see the types of customisations l can do.

that said on the note of audio, knowing that audio passes through HDMI and from basic earlier searches l gather its possible to split audio into 5.1 with some kind of splitting device like l use to split my 1 HDMI into 3 ports, what would be interesting to find is some kind of "switch" that l could connect 2/3 devices to that would allow me to also switch audio so l could fully use my 5.1s because it would definitely be quite nice to have my playstation connected to them as well, but at present connecting to the spdif has to be done via 3.5mm male to male cable (thats how it connects to my speakers) but any kind of switch would have to have RCA connectors as thats how it connects to my external PC sound card.

 

[Nigelar]

On my Droidbox I use the nova launcher (from Google play) with the wallpaper of my choice which happens to be a family photo.

 

[Stoner]

guess l could also try action launcher, l use it on my phone and l like it.. just not sure how well it will work on an android box.

 

[8bitDev]

everything is now on order. given my current mess about with my current box are there any clean looking launchers for media boxes l can look at that are recommended.. will be interesting to see the types of customisations l can do.

that said on the note of audio, knowing that audio passes through HDMI and from basic earlier searches l gather its possible to split audio into 5.1 with some kind of splitting device like l use to split my 1 HDMI into 3 ports, what would be interesting to find is some kind of "switch" that l could connect 2/3 devices to that would allow me to also switch audio so l could fully use my 5.1s because it would definitely be quite nice to have my playstation connected to them as well, but at present connecting to the spdif has to be done via 3.5mm male to male cable (thats how it connects to my speakers) but any kind of switch would have to have RCA connectors as thats how it connects to my external PC sound card.

Hi

Take a note that RCA to 3.5mm audio jack cables do exist in both male and female variants .

Regards

 

[Stoner]

no worries, managed to source the correct cables, appreciate the headsup tho.

 

[Stoner]

everything finally arrived today, so lve been playing around with it for a little while. sadly l cant get anything to work through spdif lm unable to get any sound at all via it.

the only option l have if l want to improve sound is to have some kind of HDMI switch which has the ability to direct the audio from the HDMI to my speakers as well.

====
Edit

think lve found what lm looking for, instead of using SPDIF which didnt work lm going to try using a HDMI audio decoder, this seems to do what l want it to do.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076J7YDSC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

the bonus being l should be able to also push my Roku (which l will likely decommission since my android box does everything that does), my android box and also my Playstation 4.. its going to be very nice having my TV play through 5.1s, l just hope it works with my unpowered splitter if l connecting the audio decoder directly into my TV then have my splitter split out where it needs to go.