olivluca

@olivluca well, it is not totally a stupid idea, but consider that tv boxes are mostly just-for-fun kind of product; I would rather go with a properly supported SBC, or at least a community supported SBC. For example, today I test a Radxa Pi-e board (very small, one gigabit eth, one fast eth, 802.11ac/b/g/n wifi) that turned out being a very impressive throughput of > 100mbps on a 300mbps 802.11n 2.4ghz link, and the access point was one floor above! SImilar results came from an Orange Pi 4 LTS; the tv boxes I tried couldn't reach such bitrate and one of them which had the ssv6051 wifi on board was not even working right.
 
I never tried RaspAp, but looks very good if it does what it promises.
But if you want something reliable, go with an SBC + armbian, otherwise find an access point that supports openwrt.

Any suggested model (known working, that is)?

Last time I investigated, csi is present in mainline, but does not support vfe_v4l2, which the existing gc2035 code relies on.  It is no small task to reverse engineer the driver code, so as to migrate it. The hardware datasheets provide the means, but the effort is enormous compared to replacing the gc2035 with ov56xx hardware, which is fully supported in mainline and legacy.  The driver code is probably something xunlong need to provide, but don't hold your breath.

let's try this url for wheezy security updates?:
http://security.debian.org/debian-security/dists/wheezy/updates/
http://security-cdn.debian.org/debian-security/dists/wheezy/updates/
 
and here main contrib and non-free?
 

Then wait until I can check the dtb you sent from kernel 3.14 and build a new version.
It's not going to be fast.

Patch is applied and it seems to work, updates pushed up:
https://github.com/armbian/documentation/commit/417821896fedd9623bfc6d7dac13cc5392729c80
https://github.com/armbian/upload/commit/3ea43843df0ccfa7e749b41cffa27f38c3ba53e8

... but it seems not all problems went away. I am experiencing network troubles. 
Lan cable was not connected to the switch 

@erbas I didn't pursue this further. I'm currently running libreelec but with kernel 3.14, as it seems nobody has a working dtb for newer kernels and I'm not able to write one. With libreelec the dvb driver more or less works but worse than under android (with android I can tune both dvb-s/s2 muxes as well as dvb-t, with libreelec I have more difficulty tuning some dvb-s/s2 muxes and cannot tune dvb-t at all).
Perhaps later I'll try armbian again on this box, but for the time being libreelec it is.

@pepesuriano if you're still following the forum, does the dvb-s2 tuner work with armbian?

Just found this thread that explains the problem and the possible solutions

use the system image 5.41 (where the kernel is the same as the packages on the site) and compiler 4.9

Google , Yandex etc
 
 

I can only reply to question 4 and based on my limited sample of one: I bought their power supply with mi orange pi pc and it's been working 24/7 for the last year and half. Crossing fingers....

I never thought you were in bad faith. Pity that my orange pi pc is in active use as my doorbell otherwise I could test it (though by reading the thread it seems there's still a lot of work to be done).

You're absolutely right, so let's back on the tracks.
 
A tv box is very handy if you're going to use it like a tvbox or some headless servering, here boxes with S905X are all around and mostly work good.
If you want an all-purpose device which you can use for development, kodi, interfacing to arduino, with best all-around compatibility and don't want to bother with GPU and VPU issues, take an RPi3 (maybe latest Model B+), but here you have to resign to some "latest and greatest" (hw decoding for H.265 most of all, but also capped gigabit ethernet and the ethically discutible BLOB firmware)
If you want to try armbian, get GPIO and be on the edge about performance and features, but also unable to use some features because of chipset manufacturers, you can select any board which sports Allwinner, Amlogic or rockchip (OrangePi, Odroid, Libre Computer, ...). This is the most adventurous and can be both satisfactory and frustrating when see you can't reach the goal (the same applies with tvboxes too, somewhat amplified)
 
Maybe this link can be helpful to clarify current hardware accelerated video status for various chips.

Depending on what tasks the device will be used for, you can use different combinations. For example, if you and your loved ones will use the device to watch videos more often , it is better to install LE in eMMC and run Linux from external media as required. By the way, the latest versions of Libreelec for Amlogic and RK3328 can be installed in parallel with the regular Android in the TV box (eMMC) and can use Libreelec and regular Android. With a strong desire (and certain skills), you can install multiple systems in eMMC together (Android+Libreelec+Linux, etc.).
 

https://forum.khadas.com/t/armbian-kodi-ubuntu-debian-for-sd-usb-emmc/825/258?u=balbes150
 
1. Clearly, in fact you have nothing to answer. You, the topic title, remember ?
2. I don't know what developers and what you're told, but a lot of users have been using Armbian+KODI with HW for a long time. And for those who need maximum possible, use a bunch Armbian+Librelec.
 I just stick to the discussion of the "Armbian+KODI" bundle, which exists (if I'm not confused) only for the Amlogic S905X. There is another option of Armbian+c2play image with HW full screen video playback for s912 assembled by pro777. And for reference, in the near future (I hope to find time for this) comes out Armbian+KODI for rk3328-tv.  Armbian+MPV version with full screen video for rk3328-tv is now available.
3. This question is directly related to this topic, as it directly affects the time of appearance of the version of Armbian+KODI with HW on the kernel 4.x for a number of promising platforms (Amlogic and Rockchip. And it depends on the feasibility of investing money.
 
1. I do not have a" favorite " chip, I try to choose the ones that are optimal for my tasks.
2. You are "a little" late with the advice to use "vanilla" Armbian. I have been developing Armbian for TV boxes and other devices for several years. And oddly enough, these works are in demand among many users. And among these works there is a variant of Armbian+KODI.
 
hhhhm .... either you do not understand these issues, or deliberately misleading ... start by reading the topics in the about TV boxes section. Perhaps then, you will discover the real situation with the launch of Armbian on TV boxes. And learn to read carefully :
 
p.s.
Judging by what you write, I see no reason to waste time answering.

1. Can you provide a link where I said H3 with Armbian + KODI has full HW support? Those are NOT my words, I said something completely different in the purpose to give the OP an idea of the actual state of the art about the various chips, not trying to sell him something!.
2. Glad to hear, but developers are saying that's far from being usable, and the same applies for others too. But just stick to the thread "Kodi + Armbian" - not "S905X on LibreELEC" - would you?
3. The differences between utgard and midgard gpu architectures are totally irrelevant to this thread
 
That's your opinion, which may be respected but from my point of view is completely wrong. Start from vanilla Armbian and tell me how many steps you need to get GPU and VPU working for your favourite chip.
 
My rk3288 tvbox was nothing more than a brick a couple of months ago, stuck with Android 4.4, before I poured time and time to bring armbian on it... hardware is nothing without software support, and software support for tvbox is totally absent. Suggesting to buy an unsupported chinese tvbox for a person who asked something completely different is intellectually dishonest.

Did I understand correctly that in order for RPI to work, you have to keep an additional device (NAS or server that provides a network resource to host the RPI working system) turned on ?
 
If you install LE or Linux on eMMC (you can use different systems, not only Armbian), you will have all USB ports and SD card slot free. But be careful when choosing, it is better not to rush and ask questions to real users with the proposed equipment. What versions of images and with what kernel they work, what features of iron can occur.
 
On S905X in Armbian (with the mainline kernel) can be enabled support for two levels of HW (which are needed for full-screen video playback in KODI or other programs built with this feature).
https://github.com/superna9999/meson_gx_mali_450/tree/DX910-SW-99002-r7p0-00rel1_meson_gx
 
1. Can you provide links to real images for H3 with Armbian + KODI where there is full HW support ?
2. Perhaps you are not aware already released versions of images of the LE with the kernel 4.18 and HW  for S905X.
3. Do you have a good idea of the difference between mali400p2 and mali450p5\T820\T860 ?
Recommend to study.
Yes, this is only the initial stage and will need time until everything goes into the finished product. But to recommend obviously outdated, incorrectly.
 
 
 
Summary is wrong. Let me tell you a secret, to use KODI with full HW in Armbian does not require many complex steps.  For those who are not in a hurry-it is enough not to wait much and soon there will be a ready solution.
 
To give that kind of money for a very weak iron in our time ....
 

No non-sense, the OP asked for hardware acceleration and preferably mainline kernel, so the thing which scores the most this sense is H3, with all the cons I wrote in the post you quoted (plus the fact that I'm not fond of allwinner which is by far the most non-opensource company of the group).
AmLogic has no committment for mainline kernel and hardware video decoding is missing in mainline (linux-meson.com says "No" "WiP"), so to stay stick to the original question (armbian + kodi) is a step behind the H3. Now you can use it with the legacy kernel and get all the nice things working on a carefully crafted armbian image, but with an ancient kernel.
 
The summary of all this is that armbian + kodi requires a decent amount of exercise either because armbian target is not multimedia and because the "best" SoC here has still several missing things.
That's also the reason why many people said buy a RPi3 which has all the USB ports, GPIO, hardware acceleration (with the notable exception of H.265), 64 bits, chips, fries and desserts for the miserable price of €35

IMHO taking into account the need for GPIO, to date (in the near future this situation may change) for you to optimally use models based on RK3328 (Renegat Rock64 etc). This is optimal in terms of cost and the result obtained for your tasks. And advice, do not chase the cheapness, it is better to spend 100 and use the purchased piece of iron in full compliance with the tasks for many years than to spend 50 and then not get the desired result (at best, somehow use the purchased iron, at worst-throw in the trash).
 
https://forum.armbian.com/forum/21-rockchip-3288-3328/
https://forum.armbian.com/forum/16-amlogic-s905x/

Luca cómprate un MXQ cualquiera por ejemplo y tendrás triple boot sin problemas gracias a las imágenes de @balbes150 
 
Luca buy some MXQ for example and you will have triple boot without problems thanks to the images of @balbes150
The triple boot works like this: you modify the Android TV boot so that it checks the SD slot, the USB and finally the internal eMMC. Once this is done, if you turn on the computer with an SD or USB with the image of Armbian prepared by @balbes150 will be the partition that boots and from it you can choose Kodi or Linux Desktop, and if you do not place the SD then starts the Android serial.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

Which monitor or TV (maximum screen resolution) are you going to use ?
What HW decoding are we talking about ?
What video content are you going to watch (1080p 720p 4K) ?
Are you going to use USB 2.0 as a medium for a working Linux system (desktop) on RPI ????
 
Are you seriously offering X2 ? This equipment is already not supported by any Armbian. With Libreelec is also not working as it should.
https://www.armbian.com/download/?device_support=Support+ended+(EOS)
 
 
Don't write nonsense.
To begin, study this information. And closely examine themes in section TV boxes on this forum.
http://www.linux-meson.com/doku.php
https://forum.libreelec.tv/board/38-amlogic/
https://forum.libreelec.tv/board/43-rockchip/
 
Anything complex, just slowly learn all the material on this forum and on the forum Libreelec. In them you will find reviews of real users with specific models.
 
The RPI has no eMMC, no USB 3.0, the wired network is connected via a common USB and when you try to use them together with the maximum load, you will get a significant slowdown. I have RPI 3, in order for it to work properly desktop, you need to use a very expensive SD card, that would somehow compensate for its hardware flaws (I use a lot of different equipment for comparative tests and evaluation of their capabilities for different tasks ). RPi is used for other tasks.
 
 

@olivluca FYI I tested jellyfish-40-mbps-hd-hevc.mkv file on RPI3 and was not good. 

On the other hand, Le Potato plays h265 very well (LibreElec v8.90.005 ALPHA)

@olivluca I'm sorry for your confusion. I'm not an expert.  but from my personal experience if we are speaking about Linux-base Kodi player RPI is the best option so far.  Allwiner support is at a very early stage still,  Amlogic support is more mature but still experimental. I have got no Rockchip boards so far. I think it would be better to ask on a Kodi or LibreELEC forums. 

Maybe all the things you want may be found in an Allwinner H3 box, probably the best choice for armbian is Beelink X2 which is supported out-of-the-box.
Pros:
Cheap (below 30$) Have decent support in mainline linux, thanks to the effort of the community GPU drivers can run Bootlin works for reverse engineering the VPU and thus hardware video encoding and decoding Cons:
The SoC is a bit old nowadays (Cortex A7) The GPU is quite old (Mali 400) The GPU drivers are quite horrible (but if you just run Kodi they should suffice) and have no vsync I don't what is the status of the VPU hardware video decoding now, probably will require some months to mature. Maybe ask on Kodi forums about would turn out to be interesting  
Otherwise the most decent thing which has everything you ask, but not in mainline but fairly recent kernel, is rockchip family (rk3288/rk3328/rk3399).
However, except for the Beelink X2 (Allwinner H3) which are supported out of the box by armbian, it's a matter of luck getting a tv box and hoping everything works. I have a discontinued rk3288 tv box which is capable of being a decent media center, but I spent several weekends to reverse engineer lots and lots of details to make it useful (but now I can proudly write this comment from it )
AMLogic has the oldest kernel of the group, dunno what is the status of mainline kernel but I think they did not release their customized GPU drivers at all

You can only use RPi (1-2-3) for video and audio if you already have RPI. Spending money now to buy PRi3 for multimedia content = this is the worst choice.  Look at Amlogic S905X2\D2 S922 or Rockchip RK3328 RK3399. Series RK32XX-outdated and not worth it to buy now.  If video playback is the main task (other tasks to run Linux are secondary), it is better to look for the TV box. You will get all the necessary components at once and do not have to spend time and money on the equipment (remote control, power supply, housing, good eMMC memory, etc.).  I have no LePotato with S905X, but I'm sure Libreelec (KODI) can work perfectly on this model.
 
And start by reading the topics in this section, much will become more clear. 
https://forum.armbian.com/forum/24-tv-boxes/