Hello!
I'm new here and I've recently decided to give Kodi a spin. Before I begin setting up hardware and stuff I have a few questions to ask. Please bear with me because some of these questions might sound newb-ish, but legitimately I lack the answers. My current situation: I have a number of smart HD LED TV's in the house, but the one I'm focusing on is in the living room. I originally wanted to attach a full desktop PC to it and to use it as a media device. Later on I thought about using a laptop instead, but stop there? Why not settle for something even smaller? After doing some research about Kodi I found a lot of comments and reviews which claim that a "Chromebox offers best value for the money". So Chromebox it is. Anyway, here are the questions:
Transcoding support
I have multiple smart TV's in the house that are connected to my LAN. At one point I've setup a small linux DLNA server with various media on it. While the TV's were able to stream the contend I noticed that lots of files were missing. The reason behind this is that the TV's lacked codec support such as Ogg Vorbis and the like. Now I'm wondering, if I can use the chromebox with Kodi as a transcoding server to convert the media to a format that these dumb TV's will understand. Is this possible (kodi transcoding + DLNA server)?
Audio passthrough
Oh boy, almost forgot about this one. Can I assume that a chromebox has a HDMI port with audio passthrough, meaning that the HDMI will transfer *video* AND *audio* over the same cable? I recon back in the days when HDMI first came out some desktop GFX cards didn't support this. So tl/dr: Can I expect to see audio+video on the TV that's only connected via a HDMI cable or do I need any extra audio cables?
Linux desktop
Okay, while I'd like to run Kodi on the device I'd also like to use it as a desktop environment i.e. Firefox web browser, LibreOffice Writer and similar stuff. Basically I'd just do a full linux installation on it. What are the tradeoffs, if I want to use the device for both things - Kodi and Desktop usage?
Power saving
How is power saving handled? Can a chromebox be powered off or put to sleep or at least do the CPU frequency scaling to reduce power usage while not being used? How to power it back on (wake it up)? Anyone with some experience on this one?
Chromebox
I'm currently looking forward to buying a Chromebox as a dedicated Kodi device. Do you perhaps have any reasone why I should use some other device? If not, I'd like to know which device to go for - I've been looking at Asus Chromeboxes, but I can't find any specs about different models. There are so many: M004U, CN60, CN62, M025U, M118U, M075U, etc. Which one to go for? I'd probably want 4GB RAM for desktop usage.
Any other suggestions?
Thank you for your time.
Kind regards!
(2017-01-23, 18:29)Ghaze Wrote: [ -> ]Hello!
I'm new here and I've recently decided to give Kodi a spin. Before I begin setting up hardware and stuff I have a few questions to ask. Please bear with me because some of these questions might sound newb-ish, but legitimately I lack the answers. My current situation: I have a number of smart HD LED TV's in the house, but the one I'm focusing on is in the living room. I originally wanted to attach a full desktop PC to it and to use it as a media device. Later on I thought about using a laptop instead, but stop there? Why not settle for something even smaller? After doing some research about Kodi I found a lot of comments and reviews which claim that a "Chromebox offers best value for the money". So Chromebox it is. Anyway, here are the questions:
Transcoding support
I have multiple smart TV's in the house that are connected to my LAN. At one point I've setup a small linux DLNA server with various media on it. While the TV's were able to stream the contend I noticed that lots of files were missing. The reason behind this is that the TV's lacked codec support such as Ogg Vorbis and the like. Now I'm wondering, if I can use the chromebox with Kodi as a transcoding server to convert the media to a format that these dumb TV's will understand. Is this possible (kodi transcoding + DLNA server)?
Kodi UPNP support is limited to other Kodi clients, not generic DLNA devices like your other TVs. However, if you're running a full Linux environment, no reason it can't run a DLNA server in the background. As long as you're not transcoding HEVC it should be fine
Quote:Audio passthrough
Oh boy, almost forgot about this one. Can I assume that a chromebox has a HDMI port with audio passthrough, meaning that the HDMI will transfer *video* AND *audio* over the same cable? I recon back in the days when HDMI first came out some desktop GFX cards didn't support this. So tl/dr: Can I expect to see audio+video on the TV that's only connected via a HDMI cable or do I need any extra audio cables?
all modern devices pass audio along with video on the HDMI output, the Chromebox is no exception
Quote:Linux desktop
Okay, while I'd like to run Kodi on the device I'd also like to use it as a desktop environment i.e. Firefox web browser, LibreOffice Writer and similar stuff. Basically I'd just do a full linux installation on it. What are the tradeoffs, if I want to use the device for both things - Kodi and Desktop usage?
the tradeoff is you have a PC instead of a Kodi appliance (when running LibreELEC)
Quote:Power saving
How is power saving handled? Can a chromebox be powered off or put to sleep or at least do the CPU frequency scaling to reduce power usage while not being used? How to power it back on (wake it up)? Anyone with some experience on this one?
Kodi can be set to put the device into suspend (S3), which uses ~.5w or so. Wakeup is via keyboard, remote, or wake-on-lan (ethernet only)
Quote:Chromebox
I'm currently looking forward to buying a Chromebox as a dedicated Kodi device. Do you perhaps have any reasone why I should use some other device? If not, I'd like to know which device to go for - I've been looking at Asus Chromeboxes, but I can't find any specs about different models. There are so many: M004U, CN60, CN62, M025U, M118U, M075U, etc. Which one to go for? I'd probably want 4GB RAM for desktop usage.
the Chromebox doesn't do HEVC or 4Kp60, which you may or may not need. If you just need a solid, non-nonsense 1080p playback device, then it's still a good choice. CN60 is the base model, Mxxxu indicates CPU, RAM, and bundled accessories for a given region. M004U is the most popular - it's the base Celeron 2955U/2GB/16GB config in north america - and is all you need.
if you're interested in a preconfigured and/or upgraded box, shoot me a PM or email and I'll get you sorted
Hello and thank you for the warm welcome.
(2017-01-23, 19:04)Matt Devo Wrote: [ -> ]Kodi UPNP support is limited to other Kodi clients, not generic DLNA devices like your other TVs. However, if you're running a full Linux environment, no reason it can't run a DLNA server in the background. As long as you're not transcoding HEVC it should be fine
Oh? I had this sensation that Kodi was a full DLNA server (guess not). I have a dedicated networked server - basically it's a DIY-style NAS running debian with active directory (samba) and DLNA support, and some other stuff like FTP, NFS, etc. I'd like to stream media from this device to my TVs. Since a lot of formats are not recognized by TVs I'll need to do some transcoding. Unfortunately the CPU on the server isn't powerful enough for this task so I thought about using Chromebox for the job.
Just out of curiosity what kind of CPU would I need to transcode HEVC?
Quote:all modern devices pass audio along with video on the HDMI output, the Chromebox is no exception
Awesome!
Quote:the tradeoff is you have a PC instead of a Kodi appliance (when running LibreELEC)
Can you elaborate a bit? I'm not familiar with Libre/OpenELEC, so what exactly do these systems have that a full installation of Ubuntu doesn't/can't? Is it not possible to turn an ubuntu installation into "everything that Libre/OpenELEC is plus more"?
Quote:Kodi can be set to put the device into suspend (S3), which uses ~.5w or so. Wakeup is via keyboard, remote, or wake-on-lan (ethernet only)
How does the wakeup work, I just move a mouse or press a key on the keyboard? Will it work on a wireless mouse/keyboard or do I need use a wired equivalent? What about the remote - since Chromebook doesn't have IR afaik, will a Flirc USB IR receiver do the job?
Quote:the Chromebox doesn't do HEVC or 4Kp60, which you may or may not need. If you just need a solid, non-nonsense 1080p playback device, then it's still a good choice. CN60 is the base model, Mxxxu indicates CPU, RAM, and bundled accessories for a given region. M004U is the most popular - it's the base Celeron 2955U/2GB/16GB config in north america - and is all you need.
I'm a bit hesitant about Celerons because it refused to run a
PAE-enabled kernel last time I tried installing linux on a certain laptop. Which CPU should I choose while also taking desktop use into account? I think the quality goes something along these lines: "Haswell < Broadwell < Skylake" and "i7 > i5 > i3 > Celeron". Correct me, if I'm wrong.
EDIT: Holy shiet! The price on the i3 version is insane!
https://www.ple.com.au/Products/621640/A...-Chromebox
EDIT2: Nevermind about the PAE, I think it was actually
Centrino that lacked it, not Celeron.
Quote:if you're interested in a preconfigured and/or upgraded box, shoot me a PM or email and I'll get you sorted
I will probably have to do some more studying before I decide what setup to use. Thanks for the offer though. Also, I live in the EU.
Thanks and kind regards!
(2017-01-23, 21:39)Ghaze Wrote: [ -> ]Oh? I had this sensation that Kodi was a full DLNA server (guess not). I have a dedicated networked server - basically it's a DIY-style NAS running debian with active directory (samba) and DLNA support, and some other stuff like FTP, NFS, etc. I'd like to stream media from this device to my TVs. Since a lot of formats are not recognized by TVs I'll need to do some transcoding. Unfortunately the CPU on the server isn't powerful enough for this task so I thought about using Chromebox for the job.
Just out of curiosity what kind of CPU would I need to transcode HEVC?
I could be wrong about the DLNA server, I haven't looked into it lately since I run emby on my NAS and let it handle everything
Quote:Can you elaborate a bit? I'm not familiar with Libre/OpenELEC, so what exactly do these systems have that a full installation of Ubuntu doesn't/can't? Is it not possible to turn an ubuntu installation into "everything that Libre/OpenELEC is plus more"?
LibreELEC turns the box into a Kodi appliance - you turn it on, 5s later you have Kodi. For 99% of users, you never need to mess with the Linux under the hood. The audio/video config is optimized for media playback, with newer drivers and patches than the mainline kernels used in Ubuntu etc. Can you make a Ubuntu setup into "everything LE and more"? Sure, but then you're in HTPC-land, which is fine if that's what you need -- they're just targeting two different use cases
Quote:How does the wakeup work, I just move a mouse or press a key on the keyboard? Will it work on a wireless mouse/keyboard or do I need use a wired equivalent? What about the remote - since Chromebook doesn't have IR afaik, will a Flirc USB IR receiver do the job?
mouse click, keyboard, wired/wireless, flirc, MCE remote, YATSE/Kore phone apps -- take your pick.
Quote:EDIT: Holy shiet! The price on the i3 version is insane!
https://www.ple.com.au/Products/621640/A...-Chromebox
Chromeboxes aren't competitively priced outside of the US. That's also a very rare Broadwell i3-based box, which we didn't get in the US. Right now I have a handful of Haswell Celeron boxes, and one Haswell core i7 box (which is powerful enough to do 1080p HEVC playback)
Quote:I will probably have to do some more studying before I decide what setup to use. Thanks for the offer though. Also, I live in the EU.
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