You are correct, the "Number of channels setting" has no impact on bitstreaming.
It tells the number of PCM channels to use when bitstreaming is not supported / not in use. If you have an AVR then you should set "Number of channels" to 7.1 so that a non-bitstream format (eg FLAC 7.1) is sent to the receiver as multi-channel PCM
Synerworks LE9 works fine on Pi Zero which also has 512M.
With original Pi Zero and LE9 I can play 1080p H.264 from SMB share and the Kodi playback stats say the memory usage is around 30%
So there is plenty of memory - provided you do not have many stuff running in the background.
Da Flex I can do that but for which bug! The latest I can't even boot from it so it's not going to be much to report. I've got the second most recent nightly, 20211207 working but I'm still seeing some packet loss and I can't even install TVHeadend for some reason.
I'm going to try rpi OS to see if the wifi issue is hardware related.
I only once tested LE on my pzw2 because I don't intend to use it for that purpose. I just tested for curiosity. However I can confirm that 20211207-6638105 (the only build I tested) has wifi issues. In fact many other distros also gave me wifi problems. Even raspbian buster gave me unusable wifi.
So I don't think you have a hardware problem. I think in general support for pzw2 is just not ready due to supply issues. Developers don't own one yet.
You should forget about HEVC.
The ZeroW2 is basically an underclocked Pi3B with less RAM.
At launch of Pi3, HEVC software decoding was very bad, basically unusable. Eventually limited HEVC playback became possible, due to highly optimized decoder (some functions were hardware assisted).
These optimizations were discarded for Kodi 19. Therefore from LibreElec 10 onwards, Pi3 HEVC capability takes a permanent step backwards.
If you own an old Pi3B/+ you have the option to remain on LE9 if you want to keep the old HEVC capability. With Pi ZeroW 2 no such option exists, since LE9 does not support it.
If you want a small, cheap device for HEVC, forget about the Pi Zero W 2. Wait for the Pi4A, which will (presumably) have same hardware decoder as big brother.
Anyone? Ping? What am I doing wrong? I very much want to upgrade to the latest Kodi. I download the latest 10.0 for Rpi4 and copy it onto my USB thumb drive using your imager. I plug it into the same USB port that my working 9.2 imaged thumb drive was in. I see the first bit of text scrolling by, but then the screen goes black, and my monitor goes into powersave mode for lack of a signal. I have made NO changes to the Config.txt file, and this is an unmodified RPi4 that runs the old 9.2 image just fine.
Thanks for any help!
Sometimes it just doesn't work, not necessarily a mistake on your part.
Try a different thumb drive or MicroSD
Try a different imager (eg Win32 disk imager)
Try an in-place upgrade rather than clean install
Saving energy is always worthwhile, even if the existing power consumption is already low.
After using bcmstat.sh it seems my RPi4 idles at 65-70c. Even while playing a 1080p x265 video the temp stays almost the same or increases only by 2C or so.
It has been running continuously at this idle temperature for several weeks as I never bothered to turn it off. How much of a problem will this be?
Also even after 9.1.002 update there still seems to be a very minor amount of stuttering on a 1080p x265 video. Is there any way to generate a report on this and upload it here?
So I found the details: currently Pi4 does not have the 'soft limit' of Pi3B+
This means you are will not experience any downclock until 80C. Therefore if you are having stuttering it is unrelated to temperature.
65-72C operating temperature is not a problem. Personally I would like it cooler (for longevity) but I would not lose any sleep.
If you were using the Pi for something else (eg using it for daily duties via Raspbian) then I think your temperatures would be a problem because for sure you will sometimes do things that cause the processor to throttle.
I haven't checked the temperature for my RPi4. To the touch, it's somewhat hot even under idle. However, I haven't actually seen the thermometer symbol in Kodi at any time under load. Does that mean that the temperature is under safe limits and I can continue to use it?
I'm also getting minor random stuttering on HEVC videos. I feel like I didn't get this problem initially when I first got it. I'm still on 9.1.001 so I have to update and see. For some reason it hasn't auto updated on its own.
If you're never seeing the thermometer symbol then you are below 80C.
Although this is 'safe', many users desire to keep temperatures below 60C for longevity purposes and to avoid throttling.
I do not know the throttling behaviour of Pi4.
Pi3B+ does a 200MHz downclock at 60C (they call it 'soft limit' and user can change to 70C if he wants).
Then at 80C it begins to do heavy throttling.
I do not know if Pi4 has this 'soft limit' behaviour. If it does not currently, I suspect it will be added soon due to the reports of high temperatures.
Based on the amount of issues I've seen with the Pi4 (heat, USB power delivery, USB power issue with GPIO) I am 1000% waiting for Pi 4.1 edition in 3 to 6 months.
Also, sadfly, I wouldn't use one without a fan, period.
A small fan seems to be the most effective solution, you don't even need a heatsink. However I find all small/cheap fans to be junk with low-quality bearings which will not last very long. Of course, you can buy high quality fans like Noctua but they are too expensive to justify on a RPi.
Moin
My Raspi has apparently a small heat problem ... I use the original Raspi case and already have a passive heat sink on the CPU. Can someone recommend a housing and cooler. Is this a general heat problem?
It is a known problem. Every generation of Pi has been a little bit hotter than the previous. Pi4 runs very hot - not just the CPU but several other components on the board are generating more heat than previous generation. The result is that many people consider active cooling necessary.
Flirc case will help to cool the CPU a little bit but it is a bad design because it's a mostly-sealed metal box and only sinks heat from the CPU. With many other components generating more heat, the air inside will heat up something terrible and it will slowly cook your RPi. The material also makes it much harder to cut holes for venting or add a fan.
Some Pi4s seem to run very hot, even outside a case. 70C idle is crazy. However others seem more reasonable.
It is several weeks since launch and still quite confusing. Is this the 'norm' or are we just seeing some defective units?
VLI firmware only makes a 3C difference so something else is causing some units to run way hotter than others.
Some further feedback on idle temps,
RPI4 2GB idling in official case: 70c (room temp 20c)
RPI4 2GB idling with top half of official case removed: 61c (room temp 20c)
RPI4 2GB idling with top half of official case removed and new firmware applied: 58c (room temp 20c)
Interesting feedback.
The new firmware seems to reduce power consumption of USB controller. 3C is better than nothing but the idle temps are still too high for my liking.
I think the official case is unfit for purpose - they did not consider the higher temps of Pi4. 70C idle temp is not acceptable. What seems crazy to me is that the official case is part of the £115 'desktop' bundle... a use case scenario where it will definitely not be idle. I expect it will throttle immediately from light browsing.
Sure, I will post it shortly.
I notice in your settings above that you have the close-tag <defaultaudiosettings /> but I cannot see a correspoding start-tag. (line 358)
I don't know if it is in any way relevant.
Maybe just get a spare SD card and do a fresh install. It will save a lot of time and if you were so inclined you could even try some older versions of LE to see if you are experiencing a regression.
I will post my guisettings.xml if it helps.
I have the official case on my rpi4 2GB. I run it with the top part removed and it drops the idle temp by 5c. The board is still protected by the bottom half of the case.
Hopefully the devs can identify the cause of the high idle temp issue and fix it through a firmware update.
The new case offers less protection if you want to leave the top open for venting. That is self-evident. It is simply a worse case... better for RPi of course because two pieces of plastic are cheaper to make than 5.
There are many reports on various forums of Pi4s idling at 70C. Very worrying.
Equally of course there are many people saying their Pi4 is fine and idles at 50C.
Perhaps we are seeing early software/firmware problems. Or perhaps some percentage of hardware is defective.
Combined with the bad USB-C implementation, I think best approach is to wait and see. Don't rush to buy yet.
The new official case seems to be a step backwards, just two piece and thus no removable panels. At least with old case you could take top panel out to allow for better cooling while still keeping the board somewhat enclosed/protected.
Here is a log of DD+ successfully passthrough-ing for me.
https://pastebin.com/uRrRTAYWUnderstanding exactly what is happening in the logs is above my abilities but to me it seems like your Pi is sending out DD+ in exactly the same way as mine. Perhaps your receiver is at fault? Is there an update for it?
I suggest update to LE 9.0.2
I do not have reason to suspect this is the cause, but it is better to update so we can rule it out as a cause