Best stand alone box for XBMC & Netflix

sarahn11

Hi Guys,

Looking for a bit of advice on what available at the moment. I currently have an apple TV2 running XMBC, had it now for 3 years and its one of the best investments i ever made!

Looking for another box for upstairs that can run XBMC , will want it to be able to access my NAS and watch some live streams, VODie etc. Also it needs to be able to run netflix, which i believe does not have an XBMC plugin? While the Apple tv can play 720p from my NAS, im running into difficulties getting it to play HD streams, which i realise is more a limitation of the hardware.

I've seen this http://www.futeko.com/products/MP047.php Linux box, but cant seem to find out if it supports netflix or can access my NAS via XBMC.

Anyone any other suggestions? My budget is about 100e ish.
Thanks!

:cool:

johnybean

Others may come up with a better solution but I have just ordered an ouya http://www.amazon.co.uk/OUYA-OUYA1-Console-Electronic-Games/dp/B0050SZD18/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377772213&sr=8-1&keywords=ouya
Its a quad core android box which you can sideload or direct download xbmc onto. you can also load the android Netflix app also as well as being able to play loads of old school games through emulators.
One of the better forums for discussing the Ouya is here http://www.xbmchub.com/forums/ouya-gaming-console/ where you will find lots of information and how to's. I will also be posting my own experiences once I receive the console next week as I will be using it for exactly the same purpose as you.
Good video on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLEcxa_0JOU
With regards to the box that you linked, I dont think that any of the linux boxes will run Netflix at the moment as it uses Microsoft silverlight, there may be workarounds but the Ouya should work out of the box

Edit: Price is £102 if you go for the free P&P so should be ok budget wise

Kur4mA

+1 for the Ouya. I've tried lots of the Android boxes and ended up ditching them for the Ouya. It's the best stand-alone android platform out there at the moment for XBMC tbh.

ufc pro

ouya all the way, ive gone through a few box's and sticks, and the ouya destroys them hands down, with there own version of xbmc on the discover store its amazing, plays full 1080 without breaking a sweat,3d too , 10/10 for the ouya!

unless you go with a good pc it has to be ouya!

hope this helps your choice.

jumbobreakfast

I found that netflix is not great on the Ouya but hopefully they'll release an official version for the Ouya soon. XBMC works really well on it though and it doesnt stutter even on those massive 1080p mkv files streamed through the wired ethernet port. Ouya's business model is about getting people to buy games from their market which they get a cut of which I think is why the device + controller is reasonably cheap. I wonder if that is why developing XBMC or Netflix is probably not high up on their list of priorities? Hopefully they'll realise that people would pay for a proper netflix client on it.

Access

Can you get a different controller for the ouya?

Id love to get a ouya for xbmc for my father but I think it would be easier for him if i could get a normal type of remote for it instead of a ouya games controller.

ufc pro

Access wrote: »

Can you get a different controller for the ouya?

Id love to get a ouya for xbmc for my father but I think it would be easier for him if i could get a normal type of remote for it instead of a ouya games controller.

yes you can use another remote apart from the controller,i use the mele f10 air remote and it works excellent! even a wireless mouse would work if he would be more comfortable!
hope this helps.

johnybean

ufc pro wrote: »

yes you can use another remote apart from the controller,i use the mele f10 air remote and it works excellent! even a wireless mouse would work if he would be more comfortable!
hope this helps.

Instructions on how to get most media remotes working with the Ouya
That site is a good resource for Ouya hardware and software. mele F10 seems to be one of the most recommended remotes to use,

jumbobreakfast

Thanks for the advice, I see there are different versions of the F10 (normal and Pro) but one complaint on the normal version is that there is no tab key to skip to the next button when navigating XBMC for example. This means you have to turn the remote over to use the mouse to select the next button.

The Pro version doesnt have tab either but the mouse controls are on the same side as the keyboard so you don't have to turn it over so that's a major benefit.

Is this the experience that you guys have had? The Pro version also has a Mic for Skype etc but I don't think I'll use that so the normal one would do me

johnybean

To be honest, I haven't gotten the Ouya just yet (come on pay day ya bastid!!) but I have been doing all the research first so I cant say which is better as I haven't used either. The main contributor on the forum I linked to earlier called UmOuch has stated that he has used both and that he would pick the pro over the regular in this thread which should answer your question MELE F10 or F10 PRO

jumbobreakfast

no worries, the pro one does seem better alright.

Also, I heard that Valve might be announcing the Steam box next week. It might be in a different price league but it might be worth waiting to see what they announce

rayfitzharris

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

no worries, the pro one does seem better alright.

Also, I heard that Valve might be announcing the Steam box next week. It might be in a different price league but it might be worth waiting to see what they announce

Does the ouya have an ir receiver for the likes of universal remotes like logitec harmony?

usernamegoes

Does the ouya XBMC fork have the same features are the other XBMC versions? How does it stand up with some of the bigger skins e.g. Aeon MQ4?

R

jumbobreakfast

I havent used XBMC since the original xbox days so it's all better to me. There's a page here that explains limitations etc: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=OUYA

The reccommended version is an alpha of XBMC v13 for Android with libstagefright support for ARM hardware acceleration

I'm using xbmchub to download Ouya compatible plugins etc (just select Ouya instead of Mac in step 27):
http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/2013/08/16/the-best-guide-to-installing-xbmc-on-ouya/