Quote from MacUsers

How much does it 'actually' actually matter? I have a S912 (MINIX U9) and although I don't have a S905 device to compare with, I don't think you can get any better than that at the moment. With such a big size of a 4K + HD audio movies (for example), you practically/eventually have to store 'em on external storage to stream. Does it really worth having a better video driver and not gigabit? The total experience will be probably even worse?

-San

Well if you are happy with your device and it fills your needs that's fine. we all want to have the most powerful hardware but in linux universe having the most powerful hardware does not necessary translate to superior experience. in this case S912 soc is superior in every aspect but it crippled by its driver. there is no official linux driver for this soc and everything's works with hacks will eventually stop working, user reports several issue like subtitle rendering and so on while using s912's devices in LE. nobody knows the feature if V4L2 and 3d driver release for this devices they become perfect. and if the Gigabit Ethernet is your concern s905D has a Gigabit Ethernet and you can add usb2 Gigabit Ethernet to any s905x devices.

Quote from BeneDicT

I was all ready to pull the trigger on a s912 based device but saw wrxtasy comment down the bottom. I don't intend to use the device for netflix but have plenty of h264 720 and 1080p content. Based upon the sticky I thought this would play OK.

From below this appears to not be the case?

Thanks!

you are wrong, wrxtasy comment is about Netflix adaptive streaming, if I'm not mistaken (correct me if i'm wrong) there is no hardware acceleration for netflix adaptive streaming available in LE/kodi/addons for now, your h264/265 720/1080/4k content play fine without any problem in s912 based device.

Quote from AllanMarcus

Oh joy. Thanks for the info. Seems like I should wait until the next version of the AMLogic Linux Kernel or wait for Apple to add Atmos to the ATV4K.

Any ETA for the new kernel and LE?

No ETA for now, the critical part of SOC for new kernel remain untouched like Video Decoders and DVB TS Input , you can check the mainlining progress for Amlogic Meson SoCs hear Meson SoCs. I hope things get done before S9XX become obsolete, because new amlogic socs on the horizon.

one more thing

Various forks of Kodi are available for different platforms, For apple's tvOS you can use this fork of kodi MrMC, also there is an effort to brings Kodi v18 Leia to apple's tvOS and sooner or later this will happen. My advice is, stick to your odroid C2 and ATV until new kernel available for s9XX or something come up with HDMI 2.1.

Quote from wrxtasy

Actually last I heard only the AMLogic S912's have a true 10bit tunnel from source video to output. Not sure about the S905X.

This info was from Baylibre, the guys that are mainlining the AMLogic S9xx Linux Kernel.

For sure you have the best knowledge about it. but i read it from one of chewitt post.

Quote from AllanMarcus

Thanks! I'm willing to spend a little more money to get better quality. What's the next step up from an S9xx device that meets my needs?

The problem is not how much money you can spend, there isn't fully perfect device available right now. the most expensive device for LE is intel NUC which has its own problem like drivers, audio passthrough, Dp to hdmi converter, HDR support, wake up and suspend and so on. another option is to buy ARM devices, for now only Amlogic's S9xx devices is worth buying. S9xx family included S905x which doesn't have Gigabit Ethernet, S905D which has Gigabit Ethernet and DVB interface and more powerful S912 devices which doesn't have proper GPU driver as i mentioned above and you should avoid it. you have army of best of best tv boxes in your arsenal like apple tv 4k and odroid c2 the only thing i can recommend to you is MECOOL KI PRO but i'm not sure that it can support dolby atmos passthrough.

Quote from AllanMarcus

Sorry for yet another "what should I buy" questions, but damn, this is confusing. Thanks for this great thread, forum, and LibreElec in general. Thanks.

What I want:

• Kodi with LE. I don't need Android, dual boot, or another else.
• GB ethernet
• no netflix or other streaming. Just Kodi (reading files from my Linux server)
• 4K/HDR remix streaming
• Dolby Atmos support
• can boot directly into Kodi

What I have:

• Apple TV. Can run Plex. Can do 4K/HDR. Cannot do Atmos (go figure)
• 2016 LG OLED TV. Can run Plex. Can do 4K/HDR. Cannot do Atmos.
• Odroid C2. Can run Kodi. Can do Atmos. Can do 4K. Cannot to HDR
• Yamaha RX-A2050 receiver and 5.1.4 speakers set up. The 2050 can pass through 4K/HDR

From what I've read, The TX92 and the MINIX U9 are the top contenders.

Question 1: Anything better that would meet my needs? New Odroid?

Question 2: Does it matter which brand TX92? Do I need 3GB of RAM, or is 2 OK?

The Vero 4K looks good, but a little pricey, but not much more than the U9

TIA

Display More

Check this out MECOOL KI PRO
S912 devices (TX92,MINIX U9 ) doesn't have proper GPU driver (for now) in linux and it may plays videos choppy with subtitles, Vero 4K has its own OS called OSMC not the LE.
MECOOL KI PRO has a Gigabit Ethernet, dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, support for HDR10 and HLG, Video Codecs: 10-bit H.265, and VP9 Profile 2 up to 4K60, H.264 up to 4K30.
keep in mind all S9xx device which has HDR capability produce fake HDR 8 bit and not true 10bit colores.

Your 6 years old Ivy Bridge NUC is quite capable for many tasks but not as HTPC, it's VPU is outdated and doesn't have Hardware accelerated algorithms for decoding common video formats like HEVC and VP9 and you should relying on software decoder and playing high bitrate videos in mentioned format may result stuttering and choppy playback. It has HDMI 1.4 display interface which can't output videos above 4K@30FPS. I think it is time to upgrade to cheap S905X devices.

This is the typo "systemctl enable storage-music.mount" you should enable this with ssh "systemctl enable storage-tvhrec.mount"

You didn't specify your Intel NUC model? for decoding videos your NUC mostly rely on built in VPU and doesn't use the gpu and cpu , if the vpu supported the codec of your videos it decode it , if not it uses cpu to decode, with software decoder and deppende of your video format software decoder may plays it choppy. this situation mostly happen for new video formats like HEVC and VP9 if your NUC is old. DVMT is determines how much RAM and VRAM is needed at each moment in time and will temporarily allocate more VRAM when it is needed, kodi doesn't have any graphic sensitive task which stress your gpu i think you should leave it in default.

I don't think you'll get answer for using illegal kodi addons hear and you may get banned . for officially supported streaming addons check official kodi repository video addons. Kodi Video ADD-ONS

Anyway reading this thread (Choosing a S9xx box guide) may help you.

which streaming services you are watching?

as it stated before S905 soc is capable to play Hevc content, not only in 1080P but up to 4k@60fps without frames drop. if you need a device for kodi and not for some computer project go and buy a device with S905X or S905D because S905 is already outdated. read this thread Choosing a S9XX guide if you want to know which one is suitable for you.

Yes, this single board computer has dated S905 soc which its VPU has capability to plays 8 and 10bit Hevc with ease.

I have same problem as you, the quality of SD channels (576i) are awful ,the hd channels (1080i) just not bad and 4k channels (2160p) are fine . I don't see any interlacing artifact as picture above but the colors are washed out and are not vibrant. even in WETV in android picture quality is far better. if development team has wetek play2 which officially supported box you can compare it with any other satellite receiver, and for sure you will understand what i'm talking about. this problem only exist when i watching DVB-S/S2 satellite channels but my video collection plays fine without this problem.

Libreelec beautifully designed as an open source just enough OS (JeOS) to host kodi so it is up to kodi and streaming services to brings any specific feature to consumer, unfortunately kodi for now rely on its horrible and ugly addons to brings streaming videos services to consumer. there is YouTube addons which you can find in official repository but in no way it comparable to official app both in functional and ease of use. for netflix there is no official way to watch it in Libreelec but there is hack that sooner or later stop working. this situation will remain the same until the the stream services bring their apps to linux or kodi which in very unlikely our Libreelec developer do somethings new for example add android subsystem in Libreelec to run certain android streaming apps even if Libreelec run android apps DRM may cause so much trouble. so i recommend you for your offline music and video collection use kodi and for access to streaming services use its official platform which is android tv(nvidia shield), apple tv os(apple tv 4k), xbox and ....... .

It is up to you what to choose but i can be more specific.

1a) buy MECOOL KI PRO

pros: it has S905D soc,DDR4 ram, hw vp9,hevc decoding and support for HDR, libreelec, plus Gigabit Ethernet, dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi

cons: Pricey, I'm not sure it may not have sufficient DRM licenses to play netflix in 4k and FHD only HD(720p)

1b) buy Beelink MiniMXIII II

pro: it has S905X soc, hw vp9,hevc decoding and support for HDR, libreelec, plus dual band 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi

cons: no Gigabit Ethernet and it may not have sufficient DRM licenses to play netflix in 4k and FHD

2) buy Apple TV 4K

this is the best and most powerful and highest quality tv box available in the market, unfortunately it runs apple tv os not libreelec but you can download Kodi(mrmc) from store.

pros: the best media player available in market it even support dolby vision HDR format and you can watch all popular streaming services like netflix, Amazon and youtube up to 4k

cons: pricey, no usb port, so you should have NAS for you local media and you can't install addons in kodi only you can use pre installed addons

I hope this will help you to choose your tv box wisly.

There is rumor that i can't confirm that Amlogic commit war crime! They reduce quality of 10bit content in both HDR and SDR by doing process called "8-bit internal conversion" it means your pricey 10 bit tv receive 8 bit color instead of 10 and thats dealbreaker. it produce fake 10 bit color and fake HDR.

the most powerful soc on tv boxes beside apple and nvidia is Rockchip RK3399 which does not support by libreelec the second one is S912 which doesn't have proper linux driver and works with hacks in libreelec and sooner or later will drop support. you have 3 other option left, buy S905X/D tv boxes or Apple TV 4K. if live tv (DVB-S2/T2) is important for you buy the best S905D box you find (MECOOL KI PRO T2+S2) and if not S905X is wise choice. The best of all in my opinion is Apple TV 4K if popular streaming services like netflix, Amazon and youtube is what you are looking for. for your local media you should have NAS and stored all your media in it because Apple TV 4K doesn't have usb port. and you should buy a kodi fork called MRMC which is castrated kodi jarvis, you can do anythings with it besaid installing addons. Apple TV 4K video decoder, decode any thing you throw at it including (4k ,10 bit hdr, sdr, Vp9, hevc........ ) even 10bit h264 anim.