Best Kodi box?

[Ceros_X]

Little bit off topic, but still keeping in line with the SFF nature of things. Does anyone have an opinion on what the best Kodi streaming box is? Preferably under $100 (or else the Nvidia Shield would probably win). I've browsed through Amazon and sifted through the grist mill of 'Best of 2016!' click bait articles, just wondering if anyone had a more qualified opinion. There seems to be an almost infinite selection of choices.

 

[fminus]

Have a look at the thread here. They have plenty of options for purely streaming.

 

[wywywywy]

I use cheap Celeron Intel NUCs for this purpose, which in my opinion is the best option.

Even though ARM systems have slightly lower power consumption and come in slightly smaller sizes, x86 is still better supported.

It was less than £80 when I bought them. No SSD needed either, I just run them off spare USB sticks.

 

[Phuncz]

I've also configured a Celeron NUC for someone for use with OpenELEC/Kodi. With an SSD and 4GB RAM though, so at any time he could repurpose it as a simple desktop PC. It was more expensive than £80 though, more like €150.

 

[jjsyht]

I find that a rpi to be enough. $35 cannot go wrong.

 

[Phuncz]

The new generation is indeed capable of running Kodi much better, although I wonder if high bitrate 1080p is viable now.
To be fair, $35 is only for the RPi board though, excluding the price for a power supply and case, which combined usually ends up between $50 and $60.

 

[jjsyht]

True, forgot about it since I make a small card box to protect it behind the TV.
You also need a microSD card, the speedier the better

 

[Drake]

Often we hear on the news claiming kodi boxes to be illegal Before we get in to the depth of the news suggesting Kodi to be illegal, we often never get a chance to know the truth.

Kodi boxes are legal. Kodi users have an option to buy boxes from various companies and watch free content.
So to go ahead a lot of Kodi boxes are present for Android.
Some of the best ones are
Amazon Fire TV
Nvidia Shield TV
Seguro Trongle

EDIT: link to dank scammy VPN site removed

 

[jØrd]

Often we hear on the news claiming kodi boxes to be illegal Before we get in to the depth of the news suggesting Kodi to be illegal, we often never get a chance to know the truth.

Given the tone of this thread thus far I think its fair to say that the majority of people here are well informed enough to understand the current situation w/ Kodi proper and the various "fully loaded" boxes that are being sold. For anyone who cares about the drama the Kodi Twitter account or their blog are good places to start.

With that out of the way I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has insight into Netflix on Kodi, last I heard it was looking like it would be v18 before the needed code for a proper plugin gets merged.

 

[Soul_Est]

There are already lists for is in the official Kodi forum:

• START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (boxes)
  
• Popular Hardware list (DIY)

@Drake
As @j0rd mentioned, boxes loaded with Kodi are legal but "fully loaded" Kodi boxes loaded with Kodi and illegal streaming add-ons are not. Articles of note on their blog:

• https://kodi.tv/article/piracy-box-sellers-and-youtube-promoters-are-killing-kodi
  
• https://kodi.tv/article/warning-be-aware-what-additional-add-ons-you-install
  
• https://kodi.tv/article/attention-all-companies-attending-ces
  
• https://kodi.tv/article/dev-journal-kodi-and-drm
  
• https://kodi.tv/article/having-issues-free-movies-tv-shows-sports-iptv-streams
  
• https://kodi.tv/article/kodi-trademark-trolls-hidden-battle
• https://torrentfreak.com/kodi-trade...-views-on-co-opting-other-peoples-work-170917