[wrxtasy]

If it is a USB TV Tuner you need to add to any device to turn it into a TvHeadend server you need to state which part of the world you are in, because USB TV Tuners are definitely not Plug N Play if you are looking at any Android or AMLogic LibreELEC device options.

[shiro]

Thanks for reply, wrxtasy.
I dont consider samba, because of usb 2.0 ports on many of those boxes - it will bottleneck file transfers. Or does any of those boxes have usb 3.0 port?
Are those S905x chipsets sufficient for future use? Does it have performance reserve to run KODI and play various things also in few years onward? Or its better to go into S912 ?

Regarding Vero 4k, its OSMC system looks very promising right out-of-the-box and there is no need for flashing anything. If I get it right, OSMC system is something like OpenELEC, but created by OSMC people.
Sadly, it have only 100Mbit LAN...so, I wont use it to copy files over network either.

[thot]

Hi, same problem as above. Read the first page but no idea what is the best hardware for me.

I bought 4k HDR10 projector, have NAS with LAN gigabit connection and now the problem is how to stream the content to the projector. Requirements:
- do not need a fancy box with remote control so my first choice was RPi3+ or even better Rock64/Pine64 but they still have an issues with HDR10 support
- want support for video formats: mpeg-h/hevc (h264, h265), mp4 in 4k HDR10
- want support for audio formats: 5.1 DD, DD Plus, DTS, DTS-HD up to 7.1
- want gigabit LAN and HDMI 2.0 (HDCP 2.2) ports
- do NOT need Atmos and Dolby Vision - my projector will never support it
- player & OS doesn't matter - just stable

I didn't find a cheap device to achieve that so instead of buying expensive (well performing) box I'm also thinking about console - PS4 Pro / Xbox X. For years I used to use my PS3 as media center to stream 1080p mkvs from NAS or as a standard BD Player and it works perfect! Additionally I can run a game form time to time.

[venividivici]

I currently have an Asus Chromebox-M004U, Intel Celeron 2955U, 4GB DDR3 RAM that boots directly to LibreElec/Kodi, which I set it up a bit over a year ago. I've been very happy with it. I am now looking to add a second box to run LibreElec/Kodi for another TV.

My primary use is playing videos (mostly 1080p or less) from my NAS box, some live OTA TV from an HDHomeRun box (via Kodi addon), and very occasional use of other Kodi addons. I'm looking for another set-top style box to boot directly into LibreElec that runs the Kodi UI without lagginess, that will stream videos from my NAS without choppiness over wired Ethernet, is highly stable/reliable, and not too much agony to set up (the Asus Chromebox LibreElec setup was fine). I don't need fancy audio. 4K support would be nice, but is not essential. Budget <$175.

Could I expect the Minix U9-H to perform as well as my Asus Chromebox? Any other (better) suggestions?

[wrxtasy]

Could I expect the Minix U9-H to perform as well as my Asus Chromebox? Any other (better) suggestions?

I believe it will, especially if you copy LE's data partition to internal eMMC flash storage, give it a wee GPU Overclock tickle and use a wireless remote like the MINIX A2 lite. All easily done.
My LE U9 is nice and snappy with Kodi's Estuary skin with that combo.

Be aware Android MINIX users have been reporting mini wake from sleep issues with the newer A3 lite remote. No problems with the older A2 lite, which is what I use.

Intel hardware will give you better Software upscaling picture output quality of 480/720p >>> 1080p content vs LE running on AMLogic hardware.
You cannot use Lanczos3-optimised upscaling for example on AMLogic hardware.

[wrxtasy]

I bought 4k HDR10 projector, have NAS with LAN gigabit connection and now the problem is how to stream the content to the projector.

First work out what Chroma and but depth inputs you Projector can handle.
Eg 4:4:4 10bit or 4:2:2 12bit etc.

You want to use 10bit or 12bit to prevent color banding of the displayed 4K HDR picture.

This will be the deciding factor in choosing 4K HDR10 hardware. 4K HDR LibreELEC AMLogic boxes for example cannot output 4:2:2 Chroma currently but 4:4:4 10bit is fine.

The following thread now has a bunch of 4K HDR10 info:

4K HDR10 - State of Play thread - important media player limitations (click)

@hdmkv can provide a lot of advice if the projector is limited to 4:2:2 12bit input only.

[hdmkv]

@hdmkv can provide a lot of advice if the projector is limited to 4:2:2 12bit input only. 

 I can, but I've switched to Optoma UHD51A as of today; yay ! Full 4K@60 10bit/HDR + full MVC 3D. Posted initial impressions here.

[wrxtasy]

Congrats, sounds very nice.
So you now have a projector that is 4:4:4 10bit 18Gbps HDMI 2.0a capable !

[venividivici]

Could I expect the Minix U9-H to perform as well as my Asus Chromebox? Any other (better) suggestions?

I believe it will, especially if you copy LE's data partition to internal eMMC flash storage, give it a wee GPU Overclock tickle and use a wireless remote like the MINIX A2 lite. All easily done.
My LE U9 is nice and snappy with Kodi's Estuary skin with that combo.

Be aware Android MINIX users have been reporting mini wake from sleep issues with the newer A3 lite remote. No problems with the older A2 lite, which is what I use.

Intel hardware will give you better Software upscaling picture output quality of 480/720p >>> 1080p content vs LE running on AMLogic hardware.
You cannot use Lanczos3-optimised upscaling for example on AMLogic hardware.  

Thanks wrxtasy. That's very helpful.

Since I have quite a few 480/720p videos, I'm wondering if I should consider an Intel-based box. Within my budget, I could get a used Asus Chromebox like the one I have. Is that the way to go, or is there another Intel box I should consider? The Chromebox2 is over $200.

Insofar as remotes, I've been happy with the MX3 remote I use with my Chromebox. Are there advantages to the A2 lite that I should consider it instead?

[shiro]

 

Intel hardware will give you better Software upscaling picture output quality of 480/720p >>> 1080p content vs LE running on AMLogic hardware.
You cannot use Lanczos3-optimised upscaling for example on AMLogic hardware. 

 Does it have problems also with bicubic upscaling or such? I hope that my 480p documentaries will not look all blocky on 1080p TV, because of nearest-neighbor filtering

[wrxtasy]

 

Intel hardware will give you better Software upscaling picture output quality of 480/720p >>> 1080p content vs LE running on AMLogic hardware.
You cannot use Lanczos3-optimised upscaling for example on AMLogic hardware. 

 Does it have problems also with bicubic upscaling or such? I hope that my 480p documentaries will not look all blocky on 1080p TV, because of nearest-neighbor filtering

You only get CPU Software upscaling options like Bilinear and Nearest Neighbour when Software decoding video content with Kodi.
By default AMLogic LibreELEC does NOT software decode.
It uses Hardware decoding and Hardware upscaling for everything OR...
Resolution switches 1080p <<-->> 4K to allow a 4K TV to do 1080p >> 4K picture upscaling.

AMLogic Hardware upscaling does not look blocky, it's just not quite as sharp looking vs what high quality software upscaling will do to SD content.
Nothing will fix low bitrate SD streams.

The only device with my custom version of LE Krypton I have doing 720/1080p <<-->> 4K auto resolution switching is the ODROID C2.
LE on an AMLogic S912 cannot even switch to a 720p video output mode. Lowest is 1080p.

Forget about all those high quality LE Intel CPU Software Kodi picture upscaling options like Bicubic, Lanczos3 etc that give you sharper SD quality picture outputs.
The best you can use is Nearest Neighbour when using LE AMLogic Software decoding for SD content, even that looks find for 720x576i OTA TV.

[thot]

I bought 4k HDR10 projector, have NAS with LAN gigabit connection and now the problem is how to stream the content to the projector.

First work out what Chroma and but depth inputs you Projector can handle.
Eg 4:4:4 10bit or 4:2:2 12bit etc.

You want to use 10bit or 12bit to prevent color banding of the displayed 4K HDR picture.

This will be the deciding factor in choosing 4K HDR10 hardware. 4K HDR LibreELEC AMLogic boxes for example cannot output 4:2:2 Chroma currently but 4:4:4 10bit is fine.

The following thread now has a bunch of 4K HDR10 info:

4K HDR10 - State of Play thread - important media player limitations (click)

@hdmkv can provide a lot of advice if the projector is limited to 4:2:2 12bit input only. 

Thanks. I have Benq W1700 and what I found in spec: 3840×2160@60Hz 4:4:4, DCI / Rec 2020 cover 82%/60%. So it seems only Vero 4k has some issues but not sure if major comparing to others...
So again for this projector which box/board is best in your opinion or wich console? Console is expensive but I much more powerful and I guess can expect more and fastest updates or I'm totally wrong?

[shiro]

You only get CPU Software upscaling options like Bilinear and Nearest Neighbour when Software decoding video content with Kodi.
By default AMLogic LibreELEC does NOT software decode.
It uses Hardware decoding and Hardware upscaling for everything OR...
Resolution switches 1080p <<-->> 4K to allow a 4K TV to do 1080p >> 4K picture upscaling.

AMLogic Hardware upscaling does not look blocky, it's just not quite as sharp looking vs what high quality software upscaling will do to SD content.
Nothing will fix low bitrate SD streams.

The only device with my custom version of LE Krypton I have doing 720/1080p <<-->> 4K auto resolution switching is the ODROID C2.
LE on an AMLogic S912 cannot even switch to a 720p video output mode. Lowest is 1080p.

Forget about all those high quality LE Intel CPU Software Kodi picture upscaling options like Bicubic, Lanczos3 etc that give you sharper SD quality picture outputs.
The best you can use is Nearest Neighbour when using LE AMLogic Software decoding for SD content, even that looks find for 720x576i OTA TV.

Thanks for reply. Those 480p videos what I am talking about are just some documentaries from WW2 or for simple view and delete...so picture quality ist not as important. But on the other side, I dont wanna something blocky like Doom 1 :-) Regarding what you said, it will be okay.
In the end, I will probably buy Vero 4k box, which is running their own ELEC-like distro on s905x chip as far as I know. I bet they have those things solved and there will be no problems...or can be some? :-)

[JohnWB]

I have my Wetek Play 2 (with latest LibreELEC) connected to my new LG OLED C7 and they work great.

I was wondering if i should leave the Play 2 output at 1080p and only change it to 2160 when i want to play 4K movies.

I am assuming the upscaling on the Play 2 will not be as good as the TV.

[wrxtasy]

AMLogic LibreELEC Krypton has always had auto 1080p <<-->> 4K resolution switching.

So yes leave the the Kodi GUI at 1080p so all non 4K content is upscaled by the 4K TV's superior upscaling hardware.

If you have auto refresh switching enabled any 4K video content will auto resolution switch from 1080p to output at 4K anyway.