[izprtxqkft]

ive been curious about the rpi4, price and availability questions aside

i have found results that you can get widevine support onto a rpi with libwidevinecdm0 but every single result neglects to mention what Level it is
i would assume its only L3 like every other linux but it doesnt hurt to ask if someone has personally checked it

otherwise, i would like to know how the broadcom videocore vi fairs in hardware decoding
and if its able to utilize passthrough audio (im not familiar on the subject but i think i mean iec)

first hand accounts and opinions would be greatly appreciated

(not especially interested in a Just Enough OS For Kodi offering, i would likely compile kodi myself for raspbian)

[PANiCnz]

These bullet points are blatantly stolen from the LibreELEC website, but it gives you a good idea of what the Pi4 can do in Linux:

• HDMI output up to 4kp60
  
• H264 and H265 HW decoding
  
• HDR output (HDR10 and HLG)
  
• HD audio passthrough (Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD)
  
• Deinterlacing support (PVR/DVD)
  
• 10/12bit video output
  

I'm not aware of the Pi have any special DRM capabilities, so will only do in Linux what any other Linux PC will do.

[izprtxqkft]

thanks for the heads up, im about 99% sure theres not going to be any L1 widevine but thats not exactly "knowing" like i know my own name

[calev]

ive been curious about the rpi4, price and availability questions aside

i have found results that you can get widevine support onto a rpi with libwidevinecdm0 but every single result neglects to mention what Level it is
i would assume its only L3 like every other linux but it doesnt hurt to ask if someone has personally checked it

otherwise, i would like to know how the broadcom videocore vi fairs in hardware decoding
and if its able to utilize passthrough audio (im not familiar on the subject but i think i mean iec)

first hand accounts and opinions would be greatly appreciated

(not especially interested in a Just Enough OS For Kodi offering, i would likely compile kodi myself for raspbian)

imo the rpi4 is only good if used in a "just enough for kodi" OS like librelec. Last time I tried to run kodi on desktop it would not run as good as in librelec. Also, if running on a 4k tv it's just gonna be slow on the desktop. Especially if using a web browser. Playing just about anything will stutter if in desktop mode. 

If you only care about 1080P it's fine. It will be fine for web browsing but only if you can get it at msrp.

A 40$ google tv is going to have a better kodi, netflix, web browsing experience albeit with google tv and all the baggage that comes with. 

You might even be able to find a used xbox 1 S for the price of a rpi4 and it can run kodi as good as a rpi4 can.

[izprtxqkft]

that is exactly what i needed @calev thank you, i have 2 pi 3b+ and theyre basically good at one thing each which doesnt include anything video processing which is what i expected and confirmed with what you said
even if i managed L1 it wouldnt be what i want as far as video playback

to note i dont have issues with the just enough os for kodi offerings it just feels like a crippled linux and feels as wrong to me as wearing a shirt 2 sizes too small, its just me

[jjd-uk]

There's also the consideration that RPi's a rarer than rocking horse poo from the usual outlets at the moment due to supply chain issues.

[izprtxqkft]

There's also the consideration that RPi's a rarer than rocking horse poo from the usual outlets at the moment due to supply chain issues.

i could pay gougers' prices and not really care but if its just the latest device on the shelf in my server room (with the other rpi 3b+ i have) then its not even worth the effort
my loss of time would be the unacceptable loss in that equation