The XBMC thread - What it is, how it works etc...

[Captain Turdseye]

You need to be wary of buying anything from China. Apparently some people in China make fake versions of some of the more expensive boxes and sell them loads cheaper. Looks the same on the outside but just a dirt cheap android box underneath. Check out reviews and dig a bit deeper if you're gonna buy anything.

 

On another note, I've just found an add on called Our Match which has highlights of all footy games in the top European leagues plus the CL and EL. It seems sound after clicking a few links and will come in handy for me as Sportsmania only have full matches on demand. Definitely worth installing if you want to catch up quickly on goals and stuff.

[Kloppite]

This is my main box, it's fantastic. I paid the extra for the 1tb hard drive and copied across 13000 songs from my iPod memory.

 

Runs all the 4k stuff flawlessly and the guarantee next day delivery.

 

https://www.entertainmentbox.com/product/stream-tv-box-ebox-t8-v4-tv-box-latest-kodi-smart-tv-box/

I haven't got a 4k TV so don't know if it's worth the money what would you recommend that is cheaper or do you think it's worth paying the extra for that box regardless of 4k or Not?

[Carvalho Diablo]

Ares Football is great for the highlights of all the footy too.

[Carvalho Diablo]

I haven't got a 4k TV so don't know if it's worth the money what would you recommend that is cheaper or do you think it's worth paying the extra for that box regardless of 4k or Not?

I have a Minix box in the loft hooked up to the projector, that cost probably half the price and it works great.

 

That E-Box website is great though, loads of decent boxes on there, ranging in price.

 

To answer your question though mate, I reckon the T8V4 is easily worth the £90 odd quid. Great build quality and the vendor is easily accessible via Twitter, always gets straight back to you with any questions you may have.

 

It's a solid bit of kit.

[Kloppite]

I have a Minix box in the loft hooked up to the projector, that cost probably half the price and it works great.

 

That E-Box website is great though, loads of decent boxes on there, ranging in price.

Thanks I will have a look.

[Carvalho Diablo]

On another note, I still cannot stand Kodi 17 Krypton. I have it on my tablet and fucking detest the thing.

 

On both my boxes I still run Kodi 16 Jarvis and I've no plans to update.

[cloggypop]

The only thing I really noticed with 17 was that it uses a different default skin. I don't use the default anyway so it doesn't make any difference. All my addons are working fine.

[Carvalho Diablo]

On my main box I use the EBMC fork anyway.

[Captain Turdseye]

On another note, I still cannot stand Kodi 17 Krypton. I have it on my tablet and fucking detest the thing.

 

On both my boxes I still run Kodi 16 Jarvis and I've no plans to update.

I still haven't tried it, perfectly happy with my set up on 16. Having said that I'll probably enjoy messing round with it when I eventually do the update.

 

What are the big differences?

[Carvalho Diablo]

I still haven't tried it, perfectly happy with my set up on 16. Having said that I'll probably enjoy messing round with it when I eventually do the update.

What are the big differences?

It's slow and bulky imo.

[Sweeney287]

I'm going to get a VPN given all the stuff Sky are trying.

 

Is there a standout provider, if so, which one, and how do I use it with a firestick?

[Lee909]

Looking for the same myself though it will only be used on a laptop/desktop.

 

I need to be able to log on as if im in Thailand though so i can watch the fights.

[VladimirIlyich]

I use Hide My Ass VPN. About £7 a month and has loads of servers worldwide.

[cloggypop]

IP Vanish is good. I used to get it for free with Usenet so not sure how much it is.

 

Has anyone had any problems with stuff getting blocked yet though?

 

Sky should probably stop advertising Sky Bet on streaming sites before trying to block servers.

 

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/how-gambling-firms-are-funding-your-favourite-illegal-streaming-sites

[Sweeney287]

Nothing as yet but want to be prepared for any action that they do try to take.

 

How do I use a vpn with the firestick? Do I have to do something to the stick or put an app on it?

[Carvalho Diablo]

IP Vanish is good. I used to get it for free with Usenet so not sure how much it is.

 

Has anyone had any problems with stuff getting blocked yet though?

 

Sky should probably stop advertising Sky Bet on streaming sites before trying to block servers.

 

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/how-gambling-firms-are-funding-your-favourite-illegal-streaming-sites

 

No blocking, no throttling, no proxy, no cease and desist.

[cloggypop]

Nothing as yet but want to be prepared for any action that they do try to take.

 

How do I use a vpn with the firestick? Do I have to do something to the stick or put an app on it?

IP Vanish has an Android app so presumably that would work on it. I'm sure other ones will also.

[cloggypop]

https://seo-michael.co.uk/how-to-install-vpn-on-a-firestick-ipvanish-vpn/

[Sweeney287]

Thanks Cloggy, will look in to that tonight

[Scooby Dudek]

I bought a box with kodi approx 4 months ago and all has been fine. I have Jarvis installed. 

 

Anyway, I watched a couple of films on 18th and all good. When I put it on yesterday it was showing 1st January 2015 and when I check Exodus etc the year list on goes to 2015. 

 

Any ideas on what may have happened? I think it is on auto update but have no clue when it comes to this sort of stuff.

 

Any help gratefully received.

[Carvalho Diablo]

I bought a box with kodi approx 4 months ago and all has been fine. I have Jarvis installed.

 

Anyway, I watched a couple of films on 18th and all good. When I put it on yesterday it was showing 1st January 2015 and when I check Exodus etc the year list on goes to 2015.

 

Any ideas on what may have happened? I think it is on auto update but have no clue when it comes to this sort of stuff.

 

Any help gratefully received.

Sounds like.

 

Just go into your settings and manually update the date and time. Open up Kodi and your apps should take a few minutes to auto-update themselves.

 

Would not be surprised to see that Kodi has updated itself to Krypton.

[Guest]

IP Vanish is good. I used to get it for free with Usenet so not sure how much it is.

 

Has anyone had any problems with stuff getting blocked yet though?

 

Sky should probably stop advertising Sky Bet on streaming sites before trying to block servers.

 

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/how-gambling-firms-are-funding-your-favourite-illegal-streaming-sites

 

Yep that's the one I use, good value and always delivers.

[Scooby Dudek]

Sounds like.

 

Just go into your settings and manually update the date and time. Open up Kodi and your apps should take a few minutes to auto-update themselves.

 

Would not be surprised to see that Kodi has updated itself to Krypton.

Cheers for the reply. 

 

 

Opened today and initially showing 1st Jan 2015 then after approx 2 seconds it all updated itself to the correct time and everything is back. Maybe it does this every time it starts but I haven't noticed before because it immediately brings itself up to date.

Kodi is still Jarvis 16.1

[Chairman Meow]

Kodi 17 requires Android 5.0 so that box should be fine.

 

I don't use an Android box myself as I prefer using a Raspberry Pi. Cheap, tiny, more stable than Kodi on Android and stays up to date. I had no problems at all when Kodi updated to 17 whereas a lot of Android users seemed to be having issues.

 

Carvalho Diablo can probably recommend a decent cheap Android box if you would prefer one to a Pi.

 

Will the Pi3 display x265 or 4k?

 

My Pi2 won't and as a torrents are slowly moving towards more being x265 I was considering the 3 to fix this and then using my Pi2 for another project I had in mind. 

[cloggypop]

Will the Pi3 display x265 or 4k?

 

My Pi2 won't and as a torrents are slowly moving towards more being x265 I was considering the 3 to fix this and then using my Pi2 for another project I had in mind.

4k not, x265 is apparently working on LibreElec but I haven't tried it. OSMC has it working but not as stable on a nightly but not yet in a release version.

 

This Asus Tinker Board looks interesting.

 

https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/23/asus-tinker-board/

 

Plays 4K and has 24 bit sound which sounds great for a home theatre set up.

 

There's definitely a lot of uses for an older Raspberry Pi.