What’s your reason for buying a Vero? Does your TV’s built-in player work?
Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Kodi.
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I have working player in TV and also on other devices.
- It works really well
- Its plug and play (connect and start using)
- Rapid updates with improvements and new functionality
- Fantastic support (only company I know of which have this level of support is Trinnov; they are on the really expensive side of the range)
- Cheap (you can get cheaper, but compared to what you get - it is really cheap).
- Great design/well built
- Possibility to influence how the product evolves (an example is the bright front-light which now is turned off when device is in use)
- HDR, DTS:X, Atmos
- High performance Gbit ethernet connection
- Kodi
- Flexible (for example adding a blutooth remote is very easy, great option when using systems like Harmony Elite to control an entire system).
Edit.
And I have to add, before moving to the Vero product line; I used a Windows based PC with Kodi - It was a constant tweak to get stuff right. My wife really loves that we can just start watching a movie, not spend 2 hours tweaking to get the frame rate correct - or struggle to make the audio passthrough working correctly. Or getting a bit fat message that Windows must be updated.
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My Samsung TV has a built in player, but no where near user friendly.
I was looking for an affordable 4k player, coming from a RPi.
I started with XBMC a decade ago on an AppleTV1 and never looked back.
However with the newer AppleTV’s not jailbreakable I moved on.
And here I am. Two 4K’s and since a day or three a 4K+.
Kodi is flexible beyond this planet which makes it very interesting to customize it to my likings.
The community support is also one of the reasons to stick to the Vero player until I’m 96 years old 
.
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I have been using Kodi since around 2003 when it was known as XBMP and I soldered a Xecutor chip into my original Xbox and fitted it with what seemed at the time a huge 128GB hdd.
I had been using Windows based HTPC’s for a few years until I needed 4K HDR playback, Windows was and still is a mess for HDR so I bought an original (non plus) Vero 4K as it was the closest thing to an out of the box 4K HDR Kodi player.
It has been one of my favourite tech purchases over the past decade, the great staff, constant updates to improve things and helpful community here made it a no brainer for me to upgrade to the 4K+ when it came out.
Its not part of the question but I’d add the well written tutorials, patient hand holding by staff and members here has enabled me to do things like SSH (that is probably simple for most on this site, but I’d never done it before) to sort out the few problems I’ve had not covered in the out of the box setup.
I am still a complete Linux noob but without OSMC and the Vero 4K I would not have gotten to where I am now.
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Two big reasons.
The first is audio - I don’t use my TV’s speakers, I have an external set of speakers and amp, and if I use the TV’s video app, I’m limited to no better than Dolby Digital Plus audio output.
The other is that I use an external video processor which has better upscaling quality than the TV and a 3D LUT for improved video calibration accuracy. For that to be useful, every video source has to be external so the signal goes through the processor before it reaches the TV.
There are other minor advantages, of course. Kodi’s library function is useful. It’s a bit more flexible about video formats than the TV is. It can do things like bringing the server out of sleep mode with a WakeOnLAN packet. The ability to vary the audio and subtitle sync is handy. And I find the “Original Size” playback setting useful with some videos.
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Perfectly Working Little Player, I‘ve tried a Couple of Android—Players, but this one was the only one, That is playing all and Starts without Compromises Directly with Kodi, Great Support , thanks Sam !
Merry Christmas !
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I needed a stand-alone device that works in an environment without a pc around and that has the option to plug in a usb thumb drive and play a movie from it.
YouTube and other apps were a bonus.
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Wanted to have 2 things:
- Control over the OS/Application, remote login, root access (linux OS
) . - Be able to service my own media when, where and on the device I want
This did limit me to mostly self-made mediaplayers (VIA C3 based back in 2000, Raspberry PI etc.).
With all the alternatives out there, when I noticed Sam was to build something, there was only one logical choice for me Get a Vero (Have them all here, although only using the Vero4K and 4K+ at the moment, as I re-ripped all my media to x265).
I was not wrong with my choice. Best support ever, responsiveness you would dream of at any other hardware/software vendor.
Kudos Sam & Team: for being the best support Team I know! 
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TV has all usual SMART features and works, but the interface for showing TV shows is just file links.
As ive used XBMC/ KODI for many years its the clear choice to use, I did have a windows based system as when this was set up there wasnt many options for linux or dedicated boxs.
For me the Vero4k is great, easy to set up, plenty of support off Sam when needed and a forum for other bits.
4k works well, and android had varying accounts of how well it performed, plus not much support on certain box`s, Also had infra red for hormony remote.
the usual kodi things like control it via the web interface
Also now having 3 x vero4ks, means I can run updates remotly, have 1 box with tvheadend, and others connected over network.
It did take some long consideration over picking the vero4k over a standard android box lots of reading up, as the price was nearly double, but with how little issues and over all stability its worth it. I would say in 1.5 years of owning one, I have only had the odd bluescreen maybe 3. Compared to the windows one where kodi would just close maybe once a month for no reason
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I have a smart TV but don’t use the traditional TV, don’t even have an aerial plugged in. I don’t even configure the network on my TV, except for updates.
I used to use my desktop PC and a 10m cable to watch torrent downloads or youtube but that was annoying to constantly have to plug in the cable and have it running from upstairs was not viable.
I built a custom NAS to hold all my data and setup a home network with wired ports on the walls and little switch and firewall.
So I use it to play 1080p and 4k content off my NAS and my desktop PC via my AV receiver using bitstreaming features.
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I’ve been using Kodi for quite awhile (not as longer as the poster who soldered their Xbox though) and had been using OSMC on a Raspberry Pi, but I wanted a device to do 4K playback and didn’t really want another full fledged PC in my media cabinet. Ther Vero 4K+ was basically plug and play in my setup.
BTW, my TV is seven years old and definitely doesn’t have anywhere near the capabilities the Vero 4K+ does.
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Hi,
Been using kodi since before it was even xbmc, and even built and sold a couple of mediacenters (chipped xbox with xbmc preinstalled and a large hdd for storage).
I got the Vero 4k+ after reading how easy it is to get hdr working on it.
I run kodi on several devices depending on where I want to watch (laptop, ipad, androidphones, tv).
Since I’ve got a last years model Samsung TV using the built in upnp player really isn’t an option (it doesn’t passtru any form of DTS, and Dolby Digital+ as best) Right now I’m letting the Vero transcode the audio and then I send the signal on to my reciever(really old one has no hdmi) from my tv. Was initially going to upgrade my audio but have been a bit lazy (wiring and mounting speakers aren’t my cup of tea). I do use the samsung upnp player for HDR10+ titles since the vero doesn’t do that (yet).
I do use the apps for netflix and amazon prime thats on the tv since those handle hdr.
I got the Vero 4k+ since its the best hdr device for kodi.
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It was natural for me…
- RPi with RaspBMC (not working anymore)
- RPi2 with OSMC (runs Pi-Hole at the moment)
- Shield with SPMC (still have Kodi on it, but never use it apart from YouTube, Twitch and other Android apps like F1TV)
- Vero4K with OSMC (next step up from the Shield, with actual working resolution/refresh rate switching)
Both Shield and Vero I still use daily and really working well!
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Originally I had a WD media hub which was fantastic. When x265 was released and channel 2 iView support was dropped, I decided to look around. I wanted something that was not android as not wanting Google. I saw the Vero 4K+ and was really impressed with what I was reading both in specs, features and reviews. Stepping ahead a few months, the TV Built in player does not work for me. Cannot record. Remote does not work. Replaced the remote which works occasionally and it is way to complex to setup. I keep having issues and would have preferred not to buy it if I knew what I was in for. I an going to continue trying to get it sorted and am glad though that others are having success. Maybe one day, I will find a Kodi box / setup that works well without the endless hassles and let downs.
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@eagerbeaver Yes and No. The Box looks great and I appreciate everything the developers have done. I guess that I got the bad box out of the lot and am trying to work out if I can fix it. The main issue was this was for my parents who also had the same WD box as me and I wad going to get this for them as it seemed like something I could configure to be streamlined. Since getting it, the re ore rarely worked so I have replaced it with a remote that seems better but still does not work at times. Keeps looking for subtitles files every time a movie starts and the standard remote had no way of getting past the screen. X265 did not play as advertised. Multiple entries in the library when there is only one file amongst other issues. I guess I have the box now so regretting buying it is a waste of time. Hoping I can get it sorted. All good. Am up for a challenge to get this all sorted and the OSMC community is great as well.
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I see that you started a thread about the remote back in July but didn’t follow up after the day you started that thread. If there is a configuration issue it should be able to be sorted.
The auto search for subtitles is an option in the settings (not on by default) that can be turned off. Not sure what you mean by not being able to get past that screen. You should just be able to hit the back/previous/exit button on your remote. If you are using a third party remote and that key is not active you should be able to map it with the keymap editor add-on.
This should not be the case. I would suggest starting a thread with logs that display whatever issue your having with them.
That is normally fairly easy to fix. Have you tried running a library clean (settings>media>library)?
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Originally used a Dune and then Mede8er but the Vero4k is head and shoulders above those - previously was constantly tweaking things to get them to work to my liking but the Vero just works. You also have the option to tweak as much as you like and when you get bored with one skin just try another one ! Plus the support is fantastic.
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Hi @darwindesign. Thank you muchly for all of the insight into what could be causing the issues. As thank you for taking the time to list them out. I am going to go through the list and see how much I can get fixed up. The key mapping looks good. I bought a remote with a few more buttons on it to help with all of the features that come with the OSMC and if I can get it to map the power button to the power screen, that would be awesome. A bit of learning and research on my part. Will try and get that done ASAP and let you know. Would you prefer me message you direct or should I leave it in this thread?