Even the 3 wire solution seems to come with a whole heap of SW issues to get it working its doesn't just seem like plug and play.
I'm using this type of IR receiver for years and didn't had any problem. Your remote looks like it's a MCE RC6 one, that code is the default supported by LE. So for that remote to work with RPi, you need the "3 wire solution" and in the config.txt enabled the line with "dtoverlay=gpio-ir,gpio_pin=18". That's all.
Hi, if you have a bit of experience in electronics (or know somebody), you should use google to search for "RPi IR receiver". A single cheap component, 3 wire, and no more problems with the USB receiver.
Hi, you should look here: kodi wiki smb
"When SMB v1 was deprecated by Microsoft due to security reasons, it was no longer possible to browse SMB shares. Instead it required you to add the specific IP Address or Device Name followed by the path to access shares. (detailed in the next section)"
Ok.. any suggestions as to the device to reprogram it to?
I've never had or used a MCE remote, and the MyHarmony software is looking for a manufacturer/device combo
I'm using HP MCE remotes for all my RPi+LE devices, like this: HP Remote if this could help you.
Audio always on HDMI1 but video on demand, either HDMI 1 or HDMI 0 .
Hi, Looks like you should use an external HDMI switch. Isn't the best solution... but if no other solution...
You understand me correctly, but I don't want to switch my daily driver to the nightly version for two reasons: One, I want to use the stable branch so that I don't have to deal with stability problems, and two, I think it's useful to keep debugging this so we may identify the bug, and stop it from popping up again later.
I'm using LE nightly builds for years, am my experience, the fixes are includes more quickly in the nighlyes. I don't update the nightly at every new version, just after few weeks maybe, and feel more stable than the "stable" release. For me that's only a label. 
Your choice, wait till this will be fixed in the next "stable" build, or use the LE 13 nighly where already it's working well...
Still want me to test?
If I understand correctly, the LE13 nightly working for you without issue. In that case why you don't just switch to that?
Hi, probably isn't the best solution, but if nobody else with anything better...
As your device is a miniPC, you could try to boot a live linux from USB and backup your data (will be on an ext4 partition, and look for the "userdata" folder, or anything else if you have). In this way you can check the hardware too.
Run the LE from USB (select "live" at installer screen), so maybe you can try first if the newer versions of the LE working on your device... If working in the live mode, try to install it and use the files from backup to restore your data.
Hint: if you don't want to rewrite many times your USB stick for different installers, check the Ventoy project. Working even with the LE image (I tried in "live" mode), just unpack the LE "img" file somewhere to the USB stick after the Ventoy installed.
The cable is the same one that worked for years in the same Rpi4.
Every hardware fault start with "till yesterday works well"... Just try with a minimal setup: new image without any modification, HDMI cable connected to directly to display. If you can, try with another cable, display.
It's a very large number of people (including me) using their RPI4 and LE without sound issue.
My current workaround is to have both 2.4 and 5 GHz networks configured for autoconnect. So after ungraceful shutdown, the first one to connect to will fail and LE will then just connect to the other one.
Few things you should try (if didn't yet):
Router without encryption (just for test), only WPA2 (AES and CCMP) encryption. Avoid WPA3 or mixed mode. Maybe is encrytion modes that isn't fully compatibile with iwd in LE.
If you or somebody near of you have a USB-wifi dongle, disable the onboard wifi (in config.txt) and try it with that.
Increase the wait for network time in the LE settings.
It's a bug in iwd and/or the underlying broadcom driver.
I understand you have that wifi issue, but you should think a bit out of the box. It's a very large number of the users with RPi, LE and wifi connection. So, in the case of the clear iwd/broadcom bug, this forum would be filled with bug reports and probably solved long time ago. I don't say all it's perfect with iwd, just this probably isn't a simple software "bug" case.
It doesn't have to do with signal strength or WPA mode as others suggested.
I had this wifi "thing" or something very the same, but at least I tried few things. I moved to external antenna (far better singal), changed the router (anyway was one old stuff), and I don't have any wifi issue, even after "dirty" restart. With external antenna, I only disconnected that tiny and weak on-board antenna and connected one with "normal size", the broadcom wifi and the iwd remains the same (nightly build LE, so the iwd it's more or less up to date). I don't know if in my case what triggered that issue, was the signal strenght or something in the router... but now it's working well. And I don't think to be alone who had, but no more have it that issue.
Does anyone have any thoughts.
Hi, if you really want some help, you should provide some real informations, like your hardware, LE version, and log file.
Hi, I think is major changes between 12.02 and 12.2 and because this the automatic update isn't working. If you want to update, make a backup and start the update manually. At least in that way I made it. Because I found few strange things in the LE 12.2, I switched to 12.2 nightly builds (works pretty well).
Also you should read this too: LE 12.2 info
I have almost zero experience with Linux.
Hi, that's a good opportunity to learn a bit. 
If there's a step-by-step tutorial available, directions to it would be great.
You should take a look here: Libreelec + NextPVR
Between the 12.02 and 12.2 stable version, were a lot of nightly images. If you want and have time, you could test few of them, maybe could find which was the first with that wifi issue. That could help the devs to find the root cause. If you are interested, could take a look here: LE 12.0 Nightly
and I bet it’s tripped up plenty of others too.
Glad you managed to make that RPi4 - CRT setup. Your config is a rare specialty, I don't think to be to many people to use ancient CRT displays in this days (20 years ago I seen and repaired enough of those). And the fact that the video source is 4:3 format doesn't means it's needs a same display, I think even a cheap HD ready LCD display could provide a better quality than an old CRT (even it's a Sony trinitron).
Hi, Always try to start the TV first, than the LE/Kodi device. Some old TV's doesn't provide EDID (display data) when are in stand-by and the LE don't know what it's the correct resolution. If it's an old TV, the native resolution can be different than the 1080 (full HD), try to find the native resolution (ex. try with a PC or switching the resolution in the LE settings - when you got the best sharp picture). Example I have an old LG with 1366 x 768 at 60Hz.
So the error is in deleting and adding items in the database.
Do you use the Kodi built-in database (SQLite), the Kodi database addon (MariaDB) or a database installed somewhere else? You should try to change it, to see if the bug remain the same. If you use Kodi on multiple device, the joint database it's an advantage, maybe you should think to install to your NAS server (if it's always on). Kodi-MySQL
