The N2 has its own issues, but very little you can do to it will brick it in the way that is possible (and even easy) to brick a cheap Chinese box. If things go wrong with a cheap chinese box its possible to waste days/weeks trying to get it back. The N2 just needs a new SD card or a reflash of the emmc to bring it back. For me this is the thing that makes it head and shoulders above any Cheap Chinese box. Also despite some reports of issues with the N2 (which to my mind were common to all of the early new generation AMLogic chips) they are built well with quality components and will last for years. We can look to the thousands of satisfied C2 owners who are still using these boxes as evidence of the quality of these products.
To me comparing the N2 to Android boxes is like comparing a PC to a cheap Gaming console.
Yes they’ll always be issues which will have to be accepted and worked around but you both suggest the obvious, that it’s simply a quality piece of kit. It may not be perfect as something else will, undoubtedly, come along but it’s probably as good as it gets. Of course some will run Kodi via a PC and no doubt that could, with a high end graphics card, be amazing but not many are going to dedicate a quality PC to Kodi.
Contrary to what a few have said the N2 is a reasonable computer for running an OS, not ideal, but perfectly formed and probably better than those old laptops we all have hidden away. It’s likely that if CE runs really well then the idea of running a OS on the N2 will fade as it was just me trying to justifying the financial outlay. Hey they’re not expensive but many of us are used to buying cheap boxes and going through the process, the stress, of getting them to work correctly although they often fall short. I’ve given up on stress, hopefully, and decided that it makes more sense to buy something that has a pedigree and works well.
Hey I’m saying all this and I haven’t even received my box yet but the excitement is building and I’m looking forward to the experience. I will no doubt give my opinion once it’s arrived, setup and running.
Well lucky for me I cancelled my order for the N2 due to availability! I’m still considering a Minix though, but…
,well I’m going to sit tight for a couple of months.
I often think if something works why change it but things do change unfortunately. I only wanted to be able to play 10bit files and it turned into a nightmare. There’s a lot of quality boxes being sold on ebay simply because they can’t play 10bit but perhaps they’ll make great servers?
I already said to you in another thread that besides the S905W SoC the S912 is the worst one because of the missing mali drivers, and now you are considering to buy a Minix U9-H, which contains an S912 SoC. Don’t get me wrong, but why are you asking for help, when you are constantly doing exactly the opposite of what has been suggested?
So the “Beelink GT1 Ultimate” is a bad purchase as well? It’s listed as a CE compatible device here! Not stirring but why is it listed as compatible if there’s issues with it?
Ahh one more thing. You can buy whatever you want. Asking for advice doesn’t mean you will get good advice. If you buy S912 and CoreELEC drops support with next mediacenter version you are free to use CE9 builds as long as it works for you. Just don’t expect any new features or bugfixes. Or you can wait for mainline.
I think a lot of people ,including myself, get a device put LE, CE or whatever on it and then wait a couple of years until there’s a good reason to change their setup. As said before the main reason I’ve been doing the rounds is I decided it was time to be able to play 10but files. People into 60fps 4K or higher will chase the latest builds of course but that’s not me.
This is why I’m not up to speed because I get something working and then I’m off so I won’t be here for much longer. I have learnt a few new things along the way though:
The reason power supplies have very short cables is due to voltage drop. I’ve been having problems for a while now with drives and today I figured it out. Longer or extended cables can cause a slight voltage drop and then 4TB USB powered drives can have problems spinning up!
USB fans, mini CPU type, can run at full speed for 15/20 minutes (noisy) until they drop to almost silent and stay so until unplugged, so obviously leave them running. Now one of my boxes has a fan on and it’s pretty much silent and temperatures are at least 10 degrees lower.
What is the technical definition of ‘mainline’, just for the record?
Hopefully it will not be that long. Although I understand the frustration. For some people it feels like forever already.
@PatrickJB you can use old builds as long as you want but if there are no longer addons available or repo’s or you encounter issues or look for support you will be on your own.
It’s looks as if LE development has ground to a halt! The last build still works well though albeit more and more addons are defuncted. CE is on the main (S905x3) box and the other 2 (S905/X) are on LE as I had issues with judder if you remember but that could have been due to a bunch of things now resolved. So I may try CE again on the older boxes, from SD, and if they work I’ll jump but there’s no rush.
Generally as long as they play files then that’s all that’s required. I’m aware a lot of people use CE etc for streaming TV but not me.