2016-05-12, 16:21
Hi all,
First of all, sorry for bursting in this really nice technical discussion with my story. I don't even know if I properly introduced myself in the forum, which I normally do.
But I found this thread about the Odroid-C2 right now and I'm really excited about this little device. It might be a good alternative to my current HTPC but I have some doubts which I wanted to pass by you guys.
I built my current HTPC in 2008. Back then Raspberry PI and Chromeboxes and stuff like that either didn't exist or I didn't know about them, so I basically built PC in a small barebone case. It's based on a Intel Core2 Duo Processor E6750, 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a dedicated AMD Videocard (don't remember which one). And I must say, after 8 years, it still runs absolutely perfect with Openelec+KODI. It eats everything I throw at it without breaking a sweat.
The reason I would like to change is mainly because I would like something smaller and much more energy efficient so I can leave it on 24/7. I would like to just turn on the TV and have my KODI there. Also, I like to change for the sake of new technology
So I am looking for something small, energy efficient, 24/7 use that will give me the same performance that I already have. And when I'm talking about performance I am not talking about 4k. My TV and receiver are 4 years old and don't even have the HDMI to handle 4k so it is not a priority to me. On the other hand, I am a bit picky on the performance of KODI itself. I mean the navigation through the screens and the application. This is super smooth at the moment. I can run through a list of movies, updating tumbnails and fanart instantly.
So before getting here, I had two candidates:
* Raspberry PI 3 *
Very nice and small and has a lot of support, but the following things bother me:
- No 1Gbit network. I have all my media on a NAS and 1Gbit cabeling through my whole house and eventhough it might be enough to get the information to the RPI on 100Mbit ethernet, I don't like the idea of getting 30Gb remuxed blurays over 100Mbit when I have 1Gbit capability.
- Only has SDCard to put your KODI Library on and that for me sounds as slow. I think that can be a real bottleneck for smooth navigation.
- The CPU sounds a bit on the slow side to me.
* ASUS Chromebox *
I love the look of this little box and it is a much more capable hardware as a RPI. I was almost decided for this one when I learned it cannot do H265(HEVC) hardware decoding. Like I said I am not in a big need of 4k but I believe that if H265 really kicks in as a standard, everything (not only 4k) will end up encoded in H265 and I like it to be hardware decoded. So that's something that stopped me with going for the Chromebox.
And now I see the Odroid C2 exists. It looks really great, having a decent CPU, HEVC hardware decoding and a eMMC chip for your KODI installation. Perfect! But here are some doubts I have:
1. Many of my children's movies are our old Disney DVD's copied directly to an ISO file and we use them a LOT! I've read that Interlaced DVD .Vob files are not hardware decoded. I don't know if my DVD files are interlace or not interlaced (I don't really know what that means, sorry) but if the C2 won't be able to handle a DVD ISO nicely, that would be an issue for me. Is it really an issue or will the CPU handle the software decoding fine?
2. No Passthrough for 7.1 DTS-HD MA/HRA. I only have 5.1 and my wife will rather kick me out than letting more speaker into my house so I don't really need 7.1 DTS-HD but my receiver can handle it and I do have movies with this audio format. Will the C2 just give me standard DTS 5.1 sound for these files or will nothing sound? As long as it is transformed to 5.1, I'll be fine.
3. I use the Chromium Add-On in Openelec, only to be able to launch the Youtube site because the official Youtube Add-on is more often broken than not. I suppose that is because Youtube is constantly working against these type of plug-ins/addons which filter advertisement and such, but that is another issue. Anyway, being able to use the Youtube site in Chromium is a really important requirement for me. I noticed that watching youtube videos in Chromium is the only time the CPU of my current HTPC needs to work hard (the fan speeds up). Will the Odroid C2's CPU be able to handle this? I can understand this is hard on a system with the Flash technology and all. Not really native Openelec stuff, I know. But I'm pretty confident a Chromebox for example can handle it.
And that's it. For the rest, this sounds like a beautiful little device.
Sorry for the long post and congrats on such a great thread!
First of all, sorry for bursting in this really nice technical discussion with my story. I don't even know if I properly introduced myself in the forum, which I normally do.
But I found this thread about the Odroid-C2 right now and I'm really excited about this little device. It might be a good alternative to my current HTPC but I have some doubts which I wanted to pass by you guys.
I built my current HTPC in 2008. Back then Raspberry PI and Chromeboxes and stuff like that either didn't exist or I didn't know about them, so I basically built PC in a small barebone case. It's based on a Intel Core2 Duo Processor E6750, 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a dedicated AMD Videocard (don't remember which one). And I must say, after 8 years, it still runs absolutely perfect with Openelec+KODI. It eats everything I throw at it without breaking a sweat.
The reason I would like to change is mainly because I would like something smaller and much more energy efficient so I can leave it on 24/7. I would like to just turn on the TV and have my KODI there. Also, I like to change for the sake of new technology
So I am looking for something small, energy efficient, 24/7 use that will give me the same performance that I already have. And when I'm talking about performance I am not talking about 4k. My TV and receiver are 4 years old and don't even have the HDMI to handle 4k so it is not a priority to me. On the other hand, I am a bit picky on the performance of KODI itself. I mean the navigation through the screens and the application. This is super smooth at the moment. I can run through a list of movies, updating tumbnails and fanart instantly.
So before getting here, I had two candidates:
* Raspberry PI 3 *
Very nice and small and has a lot of support, but the following things bother me:
- No 1Gbit network. I have all my media on a NAS and 1Gbit cabeling through my whole house and eventhough it might be enough to get the information to the RPI on 100Mbit ethernet, I don't like the idea of getting 30Gb remuxed blurays over 100Mbit when I have 1Gbit capability.
- Only has SDCard to put your KODI Library on and that for me sounds as slow. I think that can be a real bottleneck for smooth navigation.
- The CPU sounds a bit on the slow side to me.
* ASUS Chromebox *
I love the look of this little box and it is a much more capable hardware as a RPI. I was almost decided for this one when I learned it cannot do H265(HEVC) hardware decoding. Like I said I am not in a big need of 4k but I believe that if H265 really kicks in as a standard, everything (not only 4k) will end up encoded in H265 and I like it to be hardware decoded. So that's something that stopped me with going for the Chromebox.
And now I see the Odroid C2 exists. It looks really great, having a decent CPU, HEVC hardware decoding and a eMMC chip for your KODI installation. Perfect! But here are some doubts I have:
1. Many of my children's movies are our old Disney DVD's copied directly to an ISO file and we use them a LOT!
I've read that Interlaced DVD .Vob files are not hardware decoded. I don't know if my DVD files are interlace or not interlaced (I don't really know what that means, sorry) but if the C2 won't be able to handle a DVD ISO nicely, that would be an issue for me. Is it really an issue or will the CPU handle the software decoding fine?2. No Passthrough for 7.1 DTS-HD MA/HRA. I only have 5.1 and my wife will rather kick me out than letting more speaker into my house so I don't really need 7.1 DTS-HD but my receiver can handle it and I do have movies with this audio format. Will the C2 just give me standard DTS 5.1 sound for these files or will nothing sound? As long as it is transformed to 5.1, I'll be fine.
3. I use the Chromium Add-On in Openelec, only to be able to launch the Youtube site because the official Youtube Add-on is more often broken than not. I suppose that is because Youtube is constantly working against these type of plug-ins/addons which filter advertisement and such, but that is another issue. Anyway, being able to use the Youtube site in Chromium is a really important requirement for me. I noticed that watching youtube videos in Chromium is the only time the CPU of my current HTPC needs to work hard (the fan speeds up). Will the Odroid C2's CPU be able to handle this? I can understand this is hard on a system with the Flash technology and all. Not really native Openelec stuff, I know. But I'm pretty confident a Chromebox for example can handle it.
And that's it. For the rest, this sounds like a beautiful little device.
Sorry for the long post and congrats on such a great thread!
