2024 Capability comparisons between Hardware Platforms?

    Hi everyone,

    Does anyone know a good place to read up on this? I fear I have allowed my knowledge on the topic to get out of date.

    Way back I used to run Kodi under Linux desktops on custom HTPC builds. Then I switched to running Kodi straight from the project on custom low end Haswell era x86 celerons using minimal Linux installs based on Ubuntu Server without a Desktop back when x86 was really the only decent option.

    After that I switched to OpenElec on that same hardware, and eventually transitioned to LibreElec. At that time, there really was no good solution for H265 and HDR under Linux for x86 (except for the integrated Intel video on a select few new small-core implementations, with poor support as that were so new, so I investigated and decided to go ARM.

    For the last few years I have been running CoreElec on Hardkernel Odroid N2+ boards with Amlogic SoC's for my frontends. Other than the fact that I absolutely hate eMMC, I have liked the experience, and there is nothing wrong with the performance of the Odroid N2+ boxes even now a few years later, but with Hardkernel having released some really nice small boards based off of Intel's N97, (Odroid H4 series) I am wondering what I might be missing.

    What is the state of compatibility for the latest formats (both hardware decode and output support) between popular ARM SOC's and x86 these days?

    Am I missing out on anything by running these Amlogic boards?

    For the best experience in mid 2024, which hardware would you choose?

    Appreciate any information about the hardware and their comparative abilities as well as rationales for your selection where possible.

    My odroid-c2 with an old kodi (leia) sometimes reboots. (Actually I need to replace two.) It does nearly everything I need, but I'm missing HDR, since my new TV supports it now. And while in theory I should get a current LE image on it, it fails to boot it. So maybe its time to replace the SBCs after ~8 years.

    I want:

    • media from a smb share, no netflix apps and similar (the TV takes care of that)
    • shared mysql DB, but that should be hardware independent
    • x265, AV1 would be nice to have I guess
    • CEC support
    • at least the odroid in the living room is on 24/7, so not too much idle draw

    I thought about x86, since there are many refurbished low power USFF devices for cheap out there, but they mostly have DP and no HDMI, which is probably a problem with HDR?

    I read the recommendations from this article, but nothing looks good and they dont talk about CEC: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=376035

    Would an an odroid-C4 be a good choice? I guess my requirements would be met, I'm just a bit unsure if the hardware is too old again and I would need to buy 2-3 new ones in 3 years.

    Thanks for any hints!