For some reason version 17 of Kodi seems to have issues trying to decode local channels via my HDHomerun Prime. All other normal cable channels worked fine, just the ones that are normally locally broadcasted struggle to play back. The quick fix was to use Live Channels app, which worked fine, but im not exactly in love with the Live Channels app.
The real fix was to turn off automatic updates in the Play Store, un-install Kodi 17.6 manually download and install Kodi 16.1. Local channels work fine now, be it the Nexus Player (quad core x86) or my Mi Box (quad core arm). Not sure whats going on in version 17, but its clearly an issue when it comes to local channels.
EDIT: I had a problem, found a solution through trial and error, so im posting the solution.
Just be aware Android Kodi Krypton has reliability and TV deinterlacing issues on all Android Hardware platforms: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=306137