Best TV Box

[Dolby]

.

... and if the box is Google Certified, but not Netflix certified ?

 

[Dairyfarmer]

Installed 8.1 on an old laptop over the weekend to test it out. Made the mistake of using a mechanical 5400rpm drive. Cloned it to an SSD and it runs well along with 2Gb ram.

Netflix wouldn't install but Showmax did (no account to test it though). CyberFlix also loaded fine.

 

[Nemus]

I have a spare Small form factor pc, with i3, 4gb ram and 500gb hdd.. what would i need to load on it to make it a "tv box", without needing Windows.. Kodi? Or is there something else?

 

[joshuatree]

I have a spare Small form factor pc, with i3, 4gb ram and 500gb hdd.. what would i need to load on it to make it a "tv box", without needing Windows.. Kodi? Or is there something else?

Stremio.

 

[Nemus]

Thanks @joshuatree

 

[Hemps]

I have a spare Small form factor pc, with i3, 4gb ram and 500gb hdd.. what would i need to load on it to make it a "tv box", without needing Windows.. Kodi? Or is there something else?

here are some others - https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/htpc

 

[Nemus]

here are some others - https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/htpc

Thanks for that @Hemps .
These look like they install on an existing OS.. Is there one in there you can recommend as a deidicated OS?

 

[Hemps]

Thanks for that @Hemps .
These look like they install on an existing OS.. Is there one in there you can recommend as a deidicated OS?

https://openelec.tv/

 

[Hemps]

I think you can run it off usb as well - https://openelec.tv/

 

[Nemus]

Thanks, i'll give it a go.

 

[Hemps]

For those that have issues with Plex Transcoding and the Not enough bandwidth popup.

Seem's Plex is happiest with .mp4 and aac formats and has trouble with some mkv and ac3 audio.

This guys script will make your video collection behave better with Plex, I have run it on multiple items that Plex would start to Transcode and the script is fast and works.

https://forums.plex.tv/t/cayars-setup-walk-through-and-some-tips-and-tricks/85803/737

Here's another one that works as well

https://github.com/mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator

Since running the above scripts on my series and docs I have not had any issues, playback is straight away.

Hope it helps.

 

[Hemps]

Some more tips: https://forums.plex.tv/t/web-optimizing-your-mp4-m4v-video-collection/136116

 

[Hemps]

Appears this is the one that's maintained, I ran it through shows that started to Transcode and had sound issues in Plex ATV4 app, after running the script the files now play right away.

GitHub - mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator: Automatically convert video files to a standardized format with metadata tagging to create a beautiful and uniform media library

Automatically convert video files to a standardized format with metadata tagging to create a beautiful and uniform media library - mdhiggins/sickbeard_mp4_automator

github.com

Edit: Noticed it left the video alone, added another AAC track 256kbps and left the AC-3, DTS tracks etc alone as a second option.
Loving this script, everything feels so much more snappier I might actually go back to Desktop unit this weekend as laptop is OK but Desktop Plex server is more convenient.