[wrxtasy]

Yes I'm testing at the moment, also a LE 7.1 PCM MCH for the Play2 and possibly the Core.

Multichannel PCM (>2.0) is confirmed working along with DD+ (EAC3) Passthrough...
And as an added bonus the HardKernel HiFi Shield also now works out of the box with this LE 7.1 Multichannel PCM update

[discovery]

How is the situation of Android in this box?

[noggin]

Yes I'm testing at the moment, also a LE 7.1 PCM MCH for the Play2 and possibly the Core.

Multichannel PCM (>2.0) is confirmed working along with DD+ (EAC3) Passthrough...
And as an added bonus the HardKernel HiFi Shield also now works out of the box with this LE 7.1 Multichannel PCM update

Is that the version you call : LibreELEC 7.1.0 - Multichannel PCM Audio & EAC3(DD+) testing ?

(Wonder if it might be worth moving to the system that popcornmix of incremental version numbering for each release - possibly in addition to the descriptive name?) Makes it easier for use leaching (!) off your work to keep track of versions and release chronology?)

[hollywoodpete]

I hope this is the right place to ask but I am planning to switch to an Odroid C2 from a RPi with HiFiBerry and optical output going into a high-end surround sound processor feeding high-end amps. My processor does not support HDMI inputs. I am not stuck on using the processor and would be happy to switch to a smaller unit with multi-channel RCA outputs to feed the amps but don't want do sacrifice on the sound quality or deal with significant lip-synch issues. Are there USB options available that might work? I have an Odroid C2 on another TV and am so pleased with it's snappyness, I find it annoying to use the RPi

[wrxtasy]

HardKernel's HiFi Shield Plus daughter board apparently works out of the box since the recent LibreELEC Kodi - Multichannel PCM Audio Update, to output 2 Channel PCM Audio.
http://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?f=...50#p159646

There has been no feedback on working optical out. And the highest bitrate that probably will work with LibreELEC Kodi is 192kHz, possibly with up to 32bit Audio, and then I'm only speculating.
https://github.com/wrxtasy/LibreELEC.tv.....patch#L11

I personally don't have a HiFi Shield, so cannot comment on Lip Sync issues either, and I'm not a AML LE HiFi Shield - Audio guy, so there would be little support.
The HiFi Shield either works of not. That is the end of my involvement.

[infinity85]

I hope this is the right place to ask but I am planning to switch to an Odroid C2 from a RPi with HiFiBerry and optical output going into a high-end surround sound processor feeding high-end amps. My processor does not support HDMI inputs. I am not stuck on using the processor and would be happy to switch to a smaller unit with multi-channel RCA outputs to feed the amps but don't want do sacrifice on the sound quality or deal with significant lip-synch issues. Are there USB options available that might work? I have an Odroid C2 on another TV and am so pleased with it's snappyness, I find it annoying to use the RPi

If you do not rely on your processor, why don't you buy a device that supports HDMI? Why sticking to multi channel RCA? I am missing something here I think. Could you explain your aim a bit better, please?
HDMI would provide better sound quality as it supports HD-Audio (DTS-HD, TrueHD, Atmos, DTS-X) and also transfers the sound digitally, so no conversion from digital to analog (RPi / O-C2), then input into any sound processor, which converts it from analog to digital again for processing... every step has naturally a quality loss and then also interferences and so on can happen on analog audio transfers (RCA connection and wires). Multi channel RCA sounds like you want to output the audio as analog signal via the RCA cables (each 2 channel), i.e. for FR/FL, C/LFE and RR/RL... I doubt this could ever be better than direct digital HDMI output followed by digital signal processing without any A/D conversions.

[hollywoodpete]

I hope this is the right place to ask but I am planning to switch to an Odroid C2 from a RPi with HiFiBerry and optical output going into a high-end surround sound processor feeding high-end amps. My processor does not support HDMI inputs. I am not stuck on using the processor and would be happy to switch to a smaller unit with multi-channel RCA outputs to feed the amps but don't want do sacrifice on the sound quality or deal with significant lip-synch issues. Are there USB options available that might work? I have an Odroid C2 on another TV and am so pleased with it's snappyness, I find it annoying to use the RPi

If you do not rely on your processor, why don't you buy a device that supports HDMI? Why sticking to multi channel RCA? I am missing something here I think. Could you explain your aim a bit better, please?
HDMI would provide better sound quality as it supports HD-Audio (DTS-HD, TrueHD, Atmos, DTS-X) and also transfers the sound digitally, so no conversion from digital to analog (RPi / O-C2), then input into any sound processor, which converts it from analog to digital again for processing... every step has naturally a quality loss and then also interferences and so on can happen on analog audio transfers (RCA connection and wires). Multi channel RCA sounds like you want to output the audio as analog signal via the RCA cables (each 2 channel), i.e. for FR/FL, C/LFE and RR/RL... I doubt this could ever be better than direct digital HDMI output followed by digital signal processing without any A/D conversions.

I may end up buying a HDMI compatible receiver but my goal was to decrease the size of the "boxes" in my living room. My wife likes the little RPi in the acrylic case. She doesn't like the reboots and slow menu.
I get what your saying about repeated digital/analog conversions but ultimately there is always a digital to analog conversion as the signal goes into the amp and out to the speakers. My current processor/amp connection is balanced cables but I do have the option of RCA inputs into the amp. The device I am looking for would ideally be a small device that passes optical signal to my processor or does direct DA conversion from the board and has 6-8 RCA jacks an the back to directly connect to each separate channel of the amp. (5.1 or 7.1) If the Odroid had an onboard optical output my problems would be solved. I may have to wait for the next version of Odroid

I did find this http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/...0081048224 but have no idea if it would work on Libreelect on the Odroid

[infinity85]

Ah I understand

Yeah about D/A conversion between processor and speakers, but if you add even more A/D conversions in this chain, this cannot be good. An AVR with HDMI would be the best solution indeed (corrects lipsync automatically), but you could simply search google for "HDMI to spdif" and there you see devices like HDMI audio extractor or audio splitter. This would be the cheapest solution and also would be compatible with every device that has HDMI. If you'd buy the hardkernel USB SPDIF I could imagine that this would always depend on proper usb support and so on. But a HDMI splitter/extractor would work on every device out of the box (RPi, Odroid, Bluray Player etc). Perhaups that is worth a consideration.

Edit
As for lipsync issues: With using S/P-DIF the devices do not have any handshake which could correct sync differences caused by image processing of TV. You will always have to set the offset for sync manually (at least for the first time). You can always do that either in your TV's settings somewhere (LCD/LED/OLED tv's usually have this), or in your processor (if it has such a setting) or in kodi itself, where you set it while watching a movie and then apply this for every movie automatically.

The tricky thing with those flatscreens is that sometimes the delay caused by image processing is not constant... some image profiles (24p output) do have a higher delay than others. My Philips has e.g. a movie profile (24p, motion compensation processing, high delay via S/P-DIF, automatically corrected delay via HDMI) and a video game profile (no noticeable delay, but no motion compensation, thus a bit unsmooth movements). But all this depends on your TV brand. I guess philips is not very good at this... I actually dislike the Philips TV's software so much...

[noggin]

The tricky thing with those flatscreens is that sometimes the delay caused by image processing is not constant... some image profiles (24p output) do have a higher delay than others. My Philips has e.g. a movie profile (24p, motion compensation processing, high delay via S/P-DIF, automatically corrected delay via HDMI) and a video game profile (no noticeable delay, but no motion compensation, thus a bit unsmooth movements). But all this depends on your TV brand. I guess philips is not very good at this... I actually dislike the Philips TV's software so much...

First rule of modern TVs. Switch all the processing off - particularly motion compensation. Watch stuff as it was shot and meant to be viewed. Don't turn Star Wars into a football match.

There is so much processing in modern TVs (sharpness, motion compensation, noise reduction, edge enhancement etc.) that just makes good pictures look lousy and lousy pictures look terrible...

[infinity85]

Try this on a Philips LCD 2012 Series and you will throw up immediately... unfortunately the picture is very stuttery on many philips models, because they somehow manage to disable 100Hz or something else altogether with the motion compensation . If I see the cheap 39" Samsung with 50Hz panel of my parents, which has everything disabled, then I'm simply pissed off of my double the price philips, which should be able to picture at least some kind of smoothness with his 100Hz panel (700Hz extrapolated or so) without motion compensation stuff. But there is no way if I disable motioncompensation unfortunately . Philips is real crap software... The Picture Quality is actually awesome, but they destroy everything with bad software somehow.

[gsmtech]

How is the situation of Android in this box?

Is there even a working supported android distro for the period C2 ??

[wrxtasy]

http://odroid.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=e...se_android

Only 14 updates since C2 release

[noggin]

Try this on a Philips LCD 2012 Series and you will throw up immediately... unfortunately the picture is very stuttery on many philips models, because they somehow manage to disable 100Hz or something else altogether with the motion compensation . If I see the cheap 39" Samsung with 50Hz panel of my parents, which has everything disabled, then I'm simply pissed off of my double the price philips, which should be able to picture at least some kind of smoothness with his 100Hz panel (700Hz extrapolated or so) without motion compensation stuff. But there is no way if I disable motioncompensation unfortunately . Philips is real crap software... The Picture Quality is actually awesome, but they destroy everything with bad software somehow.

Yes - it's a pity that Philips stopped making TV sets about 5 years ago. The Philips TV brand in Europe is now a Chinese manufacturer called TP Vision. (I think the US Philips TVs are part of a totally different venture with Funai) Could be your set is one of the last real Philips models, or one of the first Chinese ones?

I haven't seen a picture worth looking at on a Philips TV in Europe for a long time. Sony, Panasonic and Samsung are the only displays I really look at when planning a purchase (and I always used to try to buy a 50Hz not a 100Hz model, I think the 24p compatibility was through 48Hz display which with an LCD won't flicker too much). LG OLEDs do look very nice though...

[carmik]

This is probably a question for wrxtasy, but perhaps others from LibreELEC could comment.

I have been building small RPi2 boxes running OE for a couple of years. The limitations (no S/PDIF optical mainly) have been a non-issue considering the device's price, especially consering the device's CEC support. Unfortunately, HEVC recently has started upping the ante.

So the bottomline is that I am considering switching to something different. Something that will stand for a couple of years at least.C2 seems like a solid candidate, got a couple of questions though:

* Do you feel that C2 will be supported officially from the LE project for the next 1-2 years, or is it personal development efforts that are pushing the LE port? No disrespect here, just asking to understand where this thing stands

* Is HK the sole seller of these devices? Can they be bought elsewhere for a better price?

[wrxtasy]

1st question > the C2 is in the LibreELEC official GitHub code Repo for LE 8.x & Kodi Krypton.
There are a bunch of LibreELEC and HardKernel developers adding all sorts of mods and additions to it as there are some pretty switched on Linux u-boot and Kernel developer guys over on the HK forums.

The C2 LE developers (Raybuntu and gda) also do a lot of work with AMLogic HDMI CEC which then spreads to other AML platforms. In fact out of all the AMLogic S905 platforms I distribute LE 7.x versions for, their C2 AML HDMI CEC implementation is the best. u-boot also play a plays here.

https://github.com/LibreELEC/LibreELEC.t...r/projects

In short the C2 is not going anywhere soon, especially once Kwiboo finalises merging a common linux-amlogic S905 Kernel that WeTek devices will also be using for LE as well.

2nd question > Yes you can order direct from HardKernel, which takes a while. Especially if you choose cheap shipping. Or there are re-distributors:
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/distributor.php

What I do like about the C2, is Lirc works properly to easily custom program any IR remote. MCE remotes also work out out the box.

I suppose the only thing the AML S905 devices cannot do is HDR10 video output, but there is bugger all HDR10 content around, and the standards are still yet to be finalised anyway. I personally would not be chaining my horse to any HDR10 wagon yet, especially with Dolbyvision siting on the sidelines as well.