Hardware For MKV With h.264/h.265 Video and DTS/AC3/AAC Audio?
#1
Question 
I'm looking for an inexpensive device for playing mkv files containing h.264/h.265 video and DTS/AC3/AAC audio. I'll be be outputting it to a TV with 2-channel audio, so the hardware will have to be fast enough to merge multi-channel audio into stereo in real-time.

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B looks like an inexpensive option but, I'm wondering whether it will be fast enough to meet my requirements. Will it be sufficient or would I be better going for a faster device? If I'd be better with something faster, what would you recommended?

Also, the guide lists four Kodi centric Linux distributions, but doesn't offer any advice as to which is best. Do you have any advice as to which to use?

Thanks for your help with the questions. I'm new to Kodi and have been using a Roku up until now, but it doesn't support DTS or AC3 audio, so you have to convert everything to AAC. Kodi looks like a better alternative to the Roku, but I was unsure about what hardware to buy, so I thought I best ask.

Thanks again.
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#2
Down mixing to 2.0 PCM Audio is a standard Kodi function any box can do. .

If you have not already been there:
START HERE

Plenty of HEVC capable AMLogic 5.1 AC3/DTS/AAC down mixed to 2.0 capable devices in there.
LibreELEC is the preferred Linux based Kodi OS, it's an appliance like OS booting straight into Kodi.

RPi3 does not have HEVC (H265) hardware decoding, I use an ODROID C2 instead.
Samsung EVO+ or Sandisk Class 10 UHS 1 micro SDHC cards are recommended ones to use.
eMMC better still.

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#3
Thanks a lot for the advice.

I must be honest, I completely missed the Start Here thread. I read through the hardware sections in the Wiki and the Wiki guides, but I didn't see that thread at all. Sorry, I should have looked more at the forum before posting.

That's also good to know about the RPi3 not supporting HEVC. I think the ODROID C2 might be better because it would be more future proof.

Anyway, thanks again for the advice. I'll have a read through the Start Here thread now and the ODROID thread.
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Hardware For MKV With h.264/h.265 Video and DTS/AC3/AAC Audio?0