Is there any hardware solution supporting HDMI 2.0 / 2160p @ 60hz?

1st Official Post

    Hi all,

    First off I just started using LibreELEC and absolutely love it. I'm using it to run my media center and it is simply phenomenal!

    I have a 4K / UHD TV with HDMI 2.0(a). I'd like to run LibreELEC at 2160p / 60hz, which for that bandwidth I need full speed HDMI 2.0. I'm having problems finding a hardware solution that can help me do this.

    So far I have tried:

    1 - Skull Canyon NUC (appears Intel's drivers aren't fully supported in chipset yet in kernel?). Sort of works, but I cannot get audio pass through / bit stream over hdmi which is important to me. I can get 2160p / 60hz, but if I set audio to pass through LibreELEC crashes / blackscreens).

    2- Gigabyte Brix unit similar to Skull Canyon NUC (same results).

    3 - Sandy bridge based PC with NVIDIA 1050 for HDMI 2.0. Get cannot start xorg server error. Is this because the kernal is not yet supporting the new 1050?

    Before I return the 1050 and try an older NVIDIA 2.0 card like a 900 series or 1060 (which I hope are supported because they've been around a while), I think I'm best asking. Is there any proven hardware solution out there where I can get the latest build of LibreELEC/Krypton running on HDMI 2.0 at full res with 60hz and able to bitstream audio over HDMI? I assume this can currently only be done on NVIDIA/AMD so far and am hoping there's a card that's fully supported. Any other solutions greatly appreciated if known.

    I found out most of the above through trial and error and internet / forum searches. I'm not a smart software person so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

    Edited once, last by Txpple (November 26, 2016 at 8:23 PM).

    The ODROID C2 can do 2160p / 60hz and the board is only $40 (it will end up costing a bit more than that after you add eMMC memory module, wifi module, etc.) I don't know a ton about all of the audio options but according to this thread: ODROID C2 S905 2GB RAM HDMI 2.0 $46, these options are currently supported:

    • + Passthrough of AC3/DD/DTS 5.1 (Lossy)
    • + Passthrough of DD+ (EAC3)
    • + Passthrough of Dolby True HD 5.1 and 7.1 / ATMOS (Lossless)
    • + Passthrough of DTS-HD MA/HRA 5.1 and 7.1 (Lossless)
    • + Passthrough of DTS 96/24
    • + Multichannel 5.1/7.1 PCM audio output now supported.
    • + FLAC (lossless) and AAC Audio sources can now be decoded by Kodi and output at up to 24bit/192kHz
    • + The HardKernel HiFi Shield Plus has also been confirmed working with a recent LE 7.1 update. (S/PDIF untested)


    [hr]

    LibreELEC project even provides images for the ODROID C2 now:

    LibreELEC (Krypton) v7.90.008 ALPHA – LibreELEC

    it's very easy to setup

    Edited once, last by docta_v (November 26, 2016 at 11:21 PM).

    • Official Post

    The biggest problem for Nvidia & Linux is that 8bit is supported, but 10bit HEVC is not (yet?). And decoding that via software requires a pretty big CPU.

    There should be NUCs on the way with Kaby Lake boards, which have the same functionality as Asrock's J3455 and J4205 boards: 4K 10bit HEVC @ 60fps. The only lacking feature for those NUCs would be HDR, which is a thing necessary in the content itself as well. I'm not that convinced of HDR yet.

    Thanks all. I ordered the ODROID to give it a try. I had seen it earlier this year in my research, but support didn't look fully baked at the time.

    Playback will be mostly 1080p content, but I like the UI to be in 2160p and have lots of pictures I would like to see in native res too.

    Thanks also for the tip on 8-bit color. The display is a 10-bit panel at about 95% DCI-P3, but maybe it wont be material enough for me to care.

    I will post my thoughts when it arrives. Amazon had a good deal for it this weekend. If it doesn't work I can certainly live with 1080p output until Kaby Lake. I could also wait to see if the HDMI 2.0 NUCs on market now get full kernal support, but its not clear to me from reading if HD Audio passthrough on Skylake will ever work properly on HDMI 2.0. I am wondering if another option is simply an older NVIDIA or Radeon GPU that has HDMI 2.0 and hope that it is supported. My mistake I think was getting a 1050 and its still new to market.

    Thanks again!

    Edited once, last by Txpple (November 28, 2016 at 4:58 PM).

    Quote from Klojum


    The biggest problem for Nvidia & Linux is that 8bit is supported, but 10bit HEVC is not (yet?). And decoding that via software requires a pretty big CPU.

    There should be NUCs on the way with Kaby Lake boards, which have the same functionality as Asrock's J3455 and J4205 boards: 4K 10bit HEVC @ 60fps. The only lacking feature for those NUCs would be HDR, which is a thing necessary in the content itself as well. I'm not that convinced of HDR yet.


    Hi.

    10 bit hevc is not working (hw decoding) with gtx 960 (libreelec 7.90.008)

    Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk

    I tried the ODROID C2 and it works pretty much as advertised, thanks. I got 4k/60fps. I felt there were a few times where playback had issues (slow downs). Menu speed and loading cover arts was slow, but I'm sure fixable with a memory module as opposed to the current SD card. Video quality compared to the Intel platform looks...a bit off. Its not bad, it just lacks a bit of refined feeling the Intel platform has. I'm running on a LG B6 65" OLED however, and it is pretty merciless when it comes to flaws in source content.

    As it turns out, I was able to order a Kaby Lake Gigabyte Brix yesterday, so I'm going to try that if there are any issues. I read on the KODI forums that someone was able to run the most recent version of libreelec w/out issue, including full hdmi bitstreaming. As mentioned before I had an issue with the Skylake version on that front.

    Thanks!

    Just updating. LibreElec doesn't work well on the Kaby Lake right now (using 009). It registers the HDMI 2.0 as displayport, which works for video, but cannot bitstream HD audio. I think I'll wait a few months until things settle.

    Thanks for your very insightful reply! Yes that's exactly right, the lossless formats do not work (no audio), but regular DD/DTS are fine on the Kaby Lake Brix/box. Also that makes perfect sense re: the DP to HDMI2 adapter and I've seen similar issues in external active adapters.

    Well, it looks like there is hope in the future since I saw in another post nvidia 1050 will be supported in the next LibreElec build with no more xorg video support error, which I assume is any day now seeing that Kodi put out their next beta, so I think I will go back to that as I have that card. Here's hoping I'm finally all set by Christmas!

    Edited once, last by Txpple (December 21, 2016 at 1:08 PM).

    I tried out my nvidia 1050 with the latest 010 build which added support for that card by way of 4.9 kernal i guess. All work awesomely now I'm getting HDMI 2.0 / 2160p at 60fps. I can look at my photos in native res and have speedy menus, and the frame rate drops to match my videos for 24fps playback. Everything is perfect! I also noticed that on the photos the pan and zoom / ken burns effect is very smooth and has very few artifacts. On the intel only there was frequent strobing in certain pictures (usually where there was a lot of texture, such as fields of grass, trees, etc.) during the pan. Thanks so much LibreElec! I couldn't be happier =)

    Quote from Txpple


    I tried out my nvidia 1050 with the latest 010 build which added support for that card by way of 4.9 kernal i guess. All work awesomely now I'm getting HDMI 2.0 / 2160p at 60fps. I can look at my photos in native res and have speedy menus, and the frame rate drops to match my videos for 24fps playback. Everything is perfect! I also noticed that on the photos the pan and zoom / ken burns effect is very smooth and has very few artifacts. On the intel only there was frequent strobing in certain pictures (usually where there was a lot of texture, such as fields of grass, trees, etc.) during the pan. Thanks so much LibreElec! I couldn't be happier =)

    But unfortunately , on linux you can't HW decode for HEVC 10 bit on Nvidia plateform (lack of vdpau support actually from NVidia , not the fault of LibreElec)

    Quote from marcorel

    But unfortunately , on linux you can't HW decode for HEVC 10 bit on Nvidia plateform (lack of vdpau support actually from NVidia , not the fault of LibreElec)

    Ya, that's fine, I don't have anything HEVC 10-bit video to decode anyhow =)


    [hr]

    Quote from testwerke

    That's great news! What are the specs of the machine you have the thx 1050 in?

    It is an i5 sandy bridge, an old PC I had laying around, on a mini itx board a silverstone sg05bb. It is overkill but it is the only thing I could find that works for my use case with little investment (just 100 dollars for the card). Now I have the ability to navigate menus and view my photos in 4k/60hz, watch 1080p movies in 24fps with adjust refresh rate when needed.

    Edited once, last by Txpple (January 20, 2017 at 7:28 PM).

    • Official Post
    Quote from Txpple


    I tried out my nvidia 1050 with the latest 010 build which added support for that card by way of 4.9 kernal i guess. All work awesomely now I'm getting HDMI 2.0 / 2160p at 60fps. I can look at my photos in native res and have speedy menus, and the frame rate drops to match my videos for 24fps playback. Everything is perfect! I also noticed that on the photos the pan and zoom / ken burns effect is very smooth and has very few artifacts. On the intel only there was frequent strobing in certain pictures (usually where there was a lot of texture, such as fields of grass, trees, etc.) during the pan. Thanks so much LibreElec! I couldn't be happier =)

    One thing that might not work on new(er) Nvidia cards is suspend mode. Apparently there may be a bug in the newest Nvidia drivers, and the newest Nvidia is not fully fixing that just yet.