Some basic newbie questions re: Mi Box & Kodi

by lassie_get_help

I got tired of my WDTV Live never seeing my network shares and I'm a big Android guy so I decided to buy a Mi Box (on its way).

In the meantime, for the heck of it, I put Kodi on my Windows PC and now that I've configured it to use PotPlayer for playback, I think I will use it all the time in the living room where my 1080p TV is directly connected to the pc.

While I was at it I installed an Android Kodi remote app, Yatse, and I'm pretty good with using it as a front end to cast to my WDTV in the bedroom. That set up seems to work much better than telling the WDTV to use Plex or Kodi as a media server and letting the WDTV do the playback.

So now I'm wondering if I even need the Mi Box at all. Is there a trade off at 1080p between the Mi Box doing the playback and the Oneplus 3T? I don't really need Netflix or the other bundled channels, although Prime Video would be nice. I really just needed to be able to watch my networked movies and shows in another room and it seems I've got that now.

So apart from the Mi Box's potential advantages, my other issue is: I don't want to install Kodi on the Mi Box and have to configure the network shares all over again. Is there a way for Kodi on the Mi Box to just "plug in" to what is already set up on the PC?

Thanks.

elister

I never have to re-configure my network shares for Kodi. I have one PC in the closet, its stuffed with hard drives. Each drive has a main parent folder which I share out. Total, might be 8 shares (movies, tv shows, mp3, sci-fi, educational, kids, etc). So when I add the main PC to Kodi, I just add the PC itself and all the shares listed show up automatically. I dont need to add 8 shares, just the one.

WazWaz

Power?

The MiBox uses a lot less power than a PC. At 100W saving and 20c/kWh, a $69 MiBox will pay for itself in a mere 4000 hours...

pawdog

The MiBox can streamline the livingroom setup greatly. Install Kodi on it and point it at your network shares. Kodi will run better on the MiBox with the remote than it does on the computer. It will likewise be better to replace that setup you described in the bedroom. Using Yatse and an old WDTV, dude you are working way too hard.

By the way, it's awesome that you still have a working WDTV Live. That's like having a classic Mustang or something. Do you also have a Plex server set up? MiBox also loves Plex.

raptor75mlt

If you have managed to connect the wdtv and Plex and that's all you want to use the mi box for, then no you don't need it. Then there's all the other things the mi box is capable of. Like using Kodi and all its plugins directly (something you cannot do with yatse), using IPTV, using TerrariumTV directly.

Unfortunately though no prime video yet. For that you need the shield.

DAVYWAVY

Run a Plex server and install the plex client on the mi box, its much simpler and quicker to setup than dicking around forever with kodi.