[Karelp]

Hi, i am looking for new hardware, I use Raspberry Pi 3 until now, but I just need something more. For the new hardware, I have these primary requirements:

• LibreELEC
  
• H265 / HEVC
  
• DTS /TRUEHD
  
• 1080p
  
• HDMI-CEC
  
• GigabitLAN
  
• audio via HDMI or SPDIF
  
• longtime support
  

There's a secondary requirement for price. I'd like device which meets all of my primary requirements and cost as low as it can.

I am deciding these devices:

• Odroid C2
  
• Vero 4K+
  
• Minix NEO U9-H
  
• Pine64 Rock64
  

Which one do you recommend me?

Thank you!

[Klojum]

I'd like device which meets all of my primary requirements and cost as low as it can.

That sounds very Dutch-y to me.

Quality tends to comes at a price. As far as I can tell, only the Vero is sold and supported by the same company, the others are just hardware solutions depending on Kodi/LibreELEC developers for a steady software package. And how "long" time support that will get you, is not written down anywhere.

[wrxtasy]

* ODROID C2 and the Rockchip dev. boards.... all of them do not have SPDIF embedded into the board. The ODROID C2 is pretty damn stable these days tho.

* Minix NEO U9-H - the CoreELEC team are supporting the S912 chipset in it with their stable Linux Kodi Leia release. The packaged MINIX A2 lite mini Keyboard remote that some U9's come with is a beauty for long term Kodi usage.

* Vero 4K+ has dedicated after sales support direct from the developers of the OSMC OS. The Vero 4K guys are talking about "5 years of software updates" in their advertising material.

* Rockchip boards at the moment only really have one LibreELEC developer supporting them (@kwiboo)

Stable mainline Linux Kernel like the current (v 4.19+) RPi is running - none of them have that currently if you want long term support.
Talk to us in about 1 years time - the next upcoming Kodi v19 "M" will dictate which board works better vs the rest.

The RK3328 / RK3399 boards come the closest at the moment BUT they currently do not have HD audio passthrough support when running Kodi Leia.

---

What are a bunch of users doing in the interim ?
Buying something cheap like a generic, pretty snappy AMLogic S912 box. Run CoreELEc Kodi Leia on it... and then use a mini USB receiver dongle Wireless remote with it like the MINIX A2 lite. Such a remote will be highly compatible no matter what device you plug it into, in the future.

Have a read of this:
S912: Beelink or Vorke/Tanix (click)

---

Long term support - I suspect the Apple TV 4K will last a long time, you use something like the Infuse or MrMC Apps (see the review). Yes I know it does not even run Kodi.
ATV 4K really is quite powerful already and better future proofed vs anything else I can see. Apple tend to support their products for a relatively long time vs the competition.

5.1 / 7.1 Dolby TrueHD and 5.1 / 7.1 DTS-HD MA is losslessly decoded to 7.1 LPCM on the ATV 4K for no loss in audio quality.

Long term support by a dedicated company or bunch of developers is going to cost $$$ no matter which way you slice it.

[Boulder]

---

Long term support - I suspect the Apple TV 4K will last a long time, you use something like the Infuse or MrMC Apps (see the review). Yes I know it does not even run Kodi.
ATV 4K really is quite powerful already and better future proofed vs anything else I can see. Apple tend to support their products for a relatively long time vs the competition.

5.1 / 7.1 Dolby TrueHD and 5.1 / 7.1 DTS-HD MA is losslessly decoded to 7.1 LPCM on the ATV 4K for no loss in audio quality.

Long term support by a dedicated company or bunch of developers is going to cost $$$ no matter which way you slice it. 

ATV 4K has its own issues though. No support for true 24.000 fps sources so it will drop a frame every now and then for such material. No Atmos at least for now, unless it's wrapped inside E-AC3 (but the OP didn't care for Atmos so shouldn't matter). What comes to media lib software, MrMC is much closer to Kodi than Infuse. I tried setting Infuse up but it's confusing with its scraper things. Easier for a Kodi person to scrape offline and use MrMC.

I think you can get a second-hand ATV 4K for a quite close price to a new Vero 4K+.

[wrxtasy]

That supposed 24fps issue on the ATV 4K is a very strange one because after using Kodi Leia and the Netflix Addon - I've discovered a bunch of what looks like Euro sourced content from Netflix that is filmed at 24fps - stuff I've already watched on the ATV 4K with the Netflix App.

And I personally did not notice Frame Skips or issues when viewing such 24fps Films and TV series on the ATV 4K with the Netflix App. Maybe Apple have fixed or worked around the initial issue.

The majority of USA sourced Movies and TV series are 23.976fps, which has never been an issue.

---

What is very interesting is that companies appear to be working around Netflix timestamp issues - it appears the timestamps actually vary a bit in the Netflix source material...
Have a look at this recent v4.9 Linux Kernel commit from AMLogic (click)

MEMC = Motion Estimation/Motion Compensation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_interpolation

(For info - the current v4.9 Linux Kernel in the Mi Box appears to be missing this commit - which is why, currently I've seen the worst 24p Netflix playback I've ever encountered on that platform with my TV that can do reverse 3:2 pulldown)

[Boulder]

I just tested the 24 fps playback with a test clip, and the problem is still there. But of course, the Netflix app could use a technique different from MrMC.

[noggin]

That supposed 24fps issue on the ATV 4K is a very strange one because after using Kodi Leia and the Netflix Addon - I've discovered a bunch of what looks like Euro sourced content from Netflix that is filmed at 24fps - stuff I've already watched on the ATV 4K with the Netflix App.

And I personally did not notice Frame Skips or issues when viewing such 24fps Films and TV series on the ATV 4K with the Netflix App. Maybe Apple have fixed or worked around the initial issue.

The majority of USA sourced Movies and TV series are 23.976fps, which has never been an issue.

---

What is very interesting is that companies appear to be working around Netflix timestamp issues - it appears the timestamps actually vary a bit in the Netflix source material...
Have a look at this recent v4.9 Linux Kernel commit from AMLogic (click)

MEMC = Motion Estimation/Motion Compensation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_interpolation

(For info - the current v4.9 Linux Kernel in the Mi Box appears to be missing this commit - which is why, currently I've seen the worst 24p Netflix playback I've ever encountered on that platform with my TV that can do reverse 3:2 pulldown) 

What does the Developer HUD say about the frame rate of your 24.000fps stuff ?

[davilla]

I just tested the 24 fps playback with a test clip, and the problem is still there. But of course, the Netflix app could use a technique different from MrMC.

 Where is this "test clip" ?

[Boulder]

I just tested the 24 fps playback with a test clip, and the problem is still there. But of course, the Netflix app could use a technique different from MrMC.

 Where is this "test clip" ? 

 I don't remember where I originally got it from, but I shared it now on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1I-4YIt...H1kAoyi_2L