Hardware recommendation for solely LE

denist · September 2, 2022 at 3:27 AM

I want to retire a Intel NUC5 Pentium.

I have a Intel NUC Pentium Gemini Lake which works great.

My question would be do I get another Gemini lake for just Network file streaming and Widevine live tv playback, or upgrade to the new Nuc 11 Celeron/Pentium Essentials. I don’t think AV1 hardware decide is essential for me as I do not watch YouTube on this device only as a HTPC client to the NAS. Also can wait till the new NUCs and AV1 becomes more mature.

GEMIN NUC - CIR, HDMI native plays everything fine but is from 2018.

NUC 11 Essentials Celeron or Pentium - Has no CIR would need to use Bluetooth remote and WOL with my Harmony to control and power on the unit from off state S5 or use S3, I am sure there is wake from Bluetooth on these. Not sure if it has native HDMI. Should boot faster due to using NVME Gen 3 instead of the Standard 2.5 SSD. Does the stable version work fine with this NUC like it does with the Gemini.

Don’t really want to move up to I3 as it’s just solely Libreelec playback device. The price heater is $269aud for the Pentium and $469 aud for the I3 plus Ram and NVME SSD.

What do you guys think and

**chewitt** · September 2, 2022 at 9:16 AM

RPi4 2GB and up .. because it's a simple playback device and the Foundation provides the best vendor support of all hardware we run on.

denist · September 2, 2022 at 10:45 AM

Can the rpi do full HBR pass thru to act receiver.

**Da Flex** · September 2, 2022 at 3:47 PM

Quote from denist

Can the rpi do full HBR pass thru to act receiver.

HBR ...

Please clarify the question. What do you want to do?

**HiassofT** · September 2, 2022 at 3:50 PM

Quote from denist

Can the rpi do full HBR pass thru to act receiver.

yes

so long,

Hias

denist · September 3, 2022 at 6:39 AM

We there is no ROI to buy, so need to resort back to the Nuc and my original question still stands do I go new or just grab another Gemini or keep the NUC5 Pentium.

Thanks.

tokul · September 3, 2022 at 7:54 AM

Quote from denist

We there is no ROI to buy, so need to resort back to the Nuc and my original question still stands do I go new or just grab another Gemini or keep the NUC5 Pentium.
Thanks.

New NUC models, NUC7 Gemini or NUC5 will run libreelec. It is your decision how much you want to cut costs. If your existing hardware works and provides all the features that you need, nothing stops you from continuing to use it. If it breaks, then you can always make a new decision about getting new kit from price range acceptable by you.

denist · September 5, 2022 at 8:51 AM

Thanks.

Was thinking the new Pentium NUC 11 i can wake via HDMI CEC from my receiver, and use Bluetooth remote to control Libreelec. I did notice that the HDMI port uses Level Shifter is this still native HDMI. What does Level Shifter do as i do not have this on the Gemini.

Thanks for the help.

**smp** · September 5, 2022 at 5:45 PM

Quote from denist

is this still native HDMI

Yes.

Quote from denist

What does Level Shifter do

ITE Tech. Inc.

"At extremely high data rate like this, signal quality drops significantly with extended board trace or cable length, making an additional retiming buffer necessary in many systems"

Quote from denist

NUC 11 Essentials

NUC 11 Essentials = Jasper Lake SoC with inferior video processing features compared to Gemini Lake, e.g. no advanced MADI/MCDI HW deinterlacing.

joop · October 23, 2022 at 12:43 PM

Quote from chewitt

RPi4 2GB and up .. because it's a simple playback device and the Foundation provides the best vendor support of all hardware we run on.

Thank you for your guidance. I found this thread after reading on the homepage: "

We can offer stable and good working versions for Allwinner, Generic and Rockchip devices. The RPi4 is also in good shape but the codebase is rather new, so it is not polished yet (keep reading for details)."

Would you say that today the Raspberry is the recommended minicomputer to run Libreelec on?

Thanks

**HiassofT** · October 23, 2022 at 2:30 PM

We really should change that text about RPi (esp RPi4), lots of things have been fixed and improved in the last year

In several aspects, esp HDR video and HBR audio it's now ahead of other devices.

so long,

Hias

atoulmin · October 26, 2022 at 1:13 AM

I disagree, the best device is the Intel NUC. much faster than a RPI4. Just as capable and well supported

VLouis · October 26, 2022 at 8:15 AM

Quote from atoulmin

I disagree, the best device is the Intel NUC. much faster than a RPI4. Just as capable and well supported

I think that is depend on the user too. The RPI4 is recommended because have well enough power to be used for LibreElec-Kodi. And is a good balance between CPU, power consumption and price. An Intel NUC is good too, and exist other devices that can be used too.

I'm an RPi user, and for me (and probably for other people too) is important the GPIO-header of the RPi (I2S DAC, IR receiver, IR transmitter in my case). About the power consumption, don't know in case of RPi4, but once I measured when played FHD stream on RPi3B, was only 2W (0.4A - 5V).

noggin · October 26, 2022 at 11:17 AM

Quote from atoulmin

I disagree, the best device is the Intel NUC. much faster than a RPI4. Just as capable and well supported

How is the NUC with 2160p50 and 59.94 UHD HDR10 and HLG output now ?

atoulmin · October 26, 2022 at 9:32 PM

Quote from noggin

How is the NUC with 2160p50 and 59.94 UHD HDR10 and HLG output now ?

It works great and flawless on latest beta for HDR content at 24p and outputs correct metadata.

However there seems to be a bug at any file that is 4K60 e.g. Gemini Man.

I can live with that at the moment as it’s limited to very few titles.

roterdrachen · October 30, 2022 at 12:53 PM

Hi, where can I find a comparison between the video decoding capabilities between the Gemini Lake and the Jasper Lake? Are these important? If I choose between them should I prefer Gemini Lake for LE? Are there any small and cheap passively cooled Alder Lake out there for LE ?