Playing H265 on TV

[Stan the Bat]

I have a media player box ( Sumvision Cyclone 3) that plugs into the TV , I plug an HD into the box and it plays all formats except H265.

I know that an Nvidia shield will play them, but would like something a bit cheaper.

Anyone got any recommendations ?

[mmm-five]

If you don't need BBC iPlayer, then a Roku Ultra will work.

Used ones on ebay for £40+ (not that these are US devices as the newer Ultra models were not brought the UK)

Or risk £35 and buy one of the MyPin/AGPTek ones from Amazon.

I got fed up with the cheap ones dying every 12-18 months, and the more expensive ones (Roku) losing access to streaming services as they decided to not update their app versions, so bought a small Intel NUC to use instead - and plays everything I've thrown at it for the last few years. Not the cheap option though.

Edited by mmm-five on Monday 1st March 12:58

[dudleybloke]

Android tv box.
I've just tested mine and it plays H265 fine and copes with 4k HDR10 content easily.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Allwinner-Quad-Co...

[dapprman]

H.265 was/is an oddity that too many players do not support - I suspect you watch anime fansubs as it became popular there (can't remember the reasons why, think it was the colour saturation). Fortunately KODI have long supported it and I think many of the more modern streamers are based on that.

[Radec]

Can't you download VLC player onto the box, I'm not familiar with the box you have but if it's Android then guessing you can just download the player off the app store and play through there?

[Stan the Bat]

dapprman said:

H.265 was/is an oddity that too many players do not support - I suspect you watch anime fansubs as it became popular there (can't remember the reasons why, think it was the colour saturation). Fortunately KODI have long supported it and I think many of the more modern streamers are based on that.

Anime, isn't that Japanese cartoons or something ?

No ,it's TV series like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development etc that I have downloaded en masse in the this format.

[Stan the Bat]

Radec said:

Can't you download VLC player onto the box, I'm not familiar with the box you have but if it's Android then guessing you can just download the player off the app store and play through there?

This box isn't connected to the internet, it's just a player for music and vids.

I have a FireTV box for streaming stuff.

[loudlashadjuster]

A Raspberry Pi running Kodi on LibreELEC is cheap, works with pretty much everything out of the box, and is extensible/upgradable for as long as you are likely to need it.

I have one in addition to a HTPC as it is just a nicer UI for playing back downloaded stuff (box art, metadata etc is all automatic). The HTPC is used more for streaming as it is a lot more flexible with VPN and browsing etc.

[Stan the Bat]

dudleybloke said:

Android tv box.
I've just tested mine and it plays H265 fine and copes with 4k HDR10 content easily.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Allwinner-Quad-Co...

Thanks, that looks interesting.

[Stan the Bat]

Radec said:

Can't you download VLC player onto the box, I'm not familiar with the box you have but if it's Android then guessing you can just download the player off the app store and play through there?

It not an internet item, just a media player and it's fantastic except for not playing h265, it plays the audio but not the video.

[xeny]

Stan the Bat said:

I have a FireTV box for streaming stuff.

Put VLC on that and the media on a network share of some sort?

[Stan the Bat]

xeny said:

Stan the Bat said:

I have a FireTV box for streaming stuff.

Put VLC on that and the media on a network share of some sort?

Yes, have thought of that but was looking for a simple box to replace the one I have.

[Corso Marche]

Xiaomi MiBox 3 or MiBox S. It runs legit (licensed) Android TV, has a decent remote, and you can plug the hard drive directly into the USB port on the back of it.
Lots of players in the official Play Store which you can pick a favourite from to then watch all your content, not just the H.265 stuff.

[Douglas Quaid]

Just get a shield. I have one and haven’t found anything it won’t play.

[loudlashadjuster]

Douglas Quaid said:

Just get a shield. I have one and haven’t found anything it won’t play.

OP said he didn't want a Shield because of the cost. Alternatives posted above are equally competent at about a third of the price.

[Stan the Bat]

Corso Marche said:

Xiaomi MiBox 3 or MiBox S. It runs legit (licensed) Android TV, has a decent remote, and you can plug the hard drive directly into the USB port on the back of it.
Lots of players in the official Play Store which you can pick a favourite from to then watch all your content, not just the H.265 stuff.

Thanks, will have a look at those.

[Lucas Ayde]

Most kit from the last couple of years will play H.265 natively, there will be built in hardware support.

Older than 3 years though and it's increasingly hit or miss and, since it's quite an intensive codec to play, software solutions generally aren't that good.

The space savings on video though, especially 720p and above, have meant I've switched away from H.264 which will play on just about anything.

I guess if you have H.264 only gear that you want to keep you could think of setting up a reasonably powerful server with Plex to transcode to H.264. (Actually, even my Galaxy S10e phone does a great job of transcoding H265 using Bubble upnp so maybe it doesn't have to be all that powerful).

[loudlashadjuster]

It’s all about hardware support. If the decoder can accelerate it properly then it’s very efficient. If not, then you’re basically on to plums.

[Stan the Bat]

Douglas Quaid said:

Just get a shield. I have one and haven’t found anything it won’t play.

I know shield will play H265 as I have one !!

This shield is attached to another TV in another room, and I didn't want to keep moving it from one room to another.

I just wanted a small box similar to the the one I have to play H265.


I have just plugged in an old Minix box which I had put to one side and tried this--- it played some H265 content but not all ??

[paulrockliffe]

The new Google one will play it I think, it's only £60 and it's really very good.