2016-04-11, 15:51
Hi,
I have been doing a lot of research and I think I have narrowed down the hardware I need. A little back ground first.
I'm replacing around 10 WD TV Live boxes. All of them are connected via Ethernet to Unraid servers. Most of the content are 1080p mkv with 5.1 lossy DTS & DD. Most are progressive 23.976, some will be VC-1 a few others will either be 29.97 1080i or MPEG2 (mix of progressive and interlaced). Here are my requirements:
* Hardwire Ethernet support
* IR support for Harmony remote (model 550)
* Capable of playing movies from USB HDD and smb shares
* No Plex
* Relatively cheap (less than $100)
* Don't care if it's Android or Linux OS
* Pure Kodi experience (prefer to directly boot into Kodi)
* Some of these need to be set it and forget it scenario (for parents)
* Must support 5.1 lossy DTS/DD passthru
* HDMI only
* Don't need Netflix or streaming capabilities
* Don't need 4k or HD audio
* Don't need Wireless Ethernet or Bluetooth
I have narrowed in down to rPI 2 or 3 or Odroid C1+ or C2. I was leaning towards the Odroid mainly for the built in IR receiver. The C2 looks promising due to the higher hardware specs, but seems to be lacking in the software/kernel currently. I don't mind testing for a bit. I do plan on only buying one of these for setup and testing before I would change out all of them. But I would like to switch them all by end of summer. Thanks for your considerations and opinions.
I have been doing a lot of research and I think I have narrowed down the hardware I need. A little back ground first.
I'm replacing around 10 WD TV Live boxes. All of them are connected via Ethernet to Unraid servers. Most of the content are 1080p mkv with 5.1 lossy DTS & DD. Most are progressive 23.976, some will be VC-1 a few others will either be 29.97 1080i or MPEG2 (mix of progressive and interlaced). Here are my requirements:
* Hardwire Ethernet support
* IR support for Harmony remote (model 550)
* Capable of playing movies from USB HDD and smb shares
* No Plex
* Relatively cheap (less than $100)
* Don't care if it's Android or Linux OS
* Pure Kodi experience (prefer to directly boot into Kodi)
* Some of these need to be set it and forget it scenario (for parents)
* Must support 5.1 lossy DTS/DD passthru
* HDMI only
* Don't need Netflix or streaming capabilities
* Don't need 4k or HD audio
* Don't need Wireless Ethernet or Bluetooth
I have narrowed in down to rPI 2 or 3 or Odroid C1+ or C2. I was leaning towards the Odroid mainly for the built in IR receiver. The C2 looks promising due to the higher hardware specs, but seems to be lacking in the software/kernel currently. I don't mind testing for a bit. I do plan on only buying one of these for setup and testing before I would change out all of them. But I would like to switch them all by end of summer. Thanks for your considerations and opinions.