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Recommend me a TV Box


AnonymousPi

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Hi,

 

Long time OrangePi PC user here who was going to get another of these devices but is intrigued by the TV Boxes which some can be get for about $15.

 

I'm confused about what is the 'best' Tv Box chip-set to get here, Amlogic (yeah I noticed the threads about them lying about CPU speed, but I don't care) or Rockchip etc. 

 

What has the best, or is likely in the future to have good Linux Kernel support for WiFi, Ethernet, SD Card, Audio, HDMI and Hardware Decoding (and bonus points for encoding!)? Amlogic seems to be a winner right?

 

Any links to Aliexpress products that fit the bill?

 

 

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Requirements:

 

  • Doesn't require endless stuffing around to get working with various Kernel patches.
  • Not a headless device. Want to be able to plug this into HDMI to view a basic desktop.
  • Linux Kernel o f > 4.6 support + future compatability. (i.e. my orange pi is basically stuck forever at 3.0 unless I want a headless box)
  • SSH / Web Server
  • NAS of USB attached devices
  • Desktop Web Browsing with decent video playing performance
  • Video playing of H265 and 264 output. Audio playing support of course (2 channel sterio is OK)
  • Bonus points: Hardware H264 encoding... but not sure I'd ever actually use this.

 

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On 6/24/2019 at 4:57 PM, AnonymousPi said:

Requirements:

 

  • Doesn't require endless stuffing around to get working with various Kernel patches.
  • Not a headless device. Want to be able to plug this into HDMI to view a basic desktop.
  • Linux Kernel o f > 4.6 support + future compatability. (i.e. my orange pi is basically stuck forever at 3.0 unless I want a headless box)
  • SSH / Web Server
  • NAS of USB attached devices
  • Desktop Web Browsing with decent video playing performance
  • Video playing of H265 and 264 output. Audio playing support of course (2 channel sterio is OK)
  • Bonus points: Hardware H264 encoding... but not sure I'd ever actually use this.

 

About point #3, your Orange PI PC is not stuck at kernel 3.0.

H3 chip is not the fastest nor the newest, but currently is one of the best supported in mainline kernel. There is an enduring work-in-progress for hardware decoding on mainline kernel which is progressing nicely.

It looks like LibreElec will soon include some official H3 support. All the main peripherals are working well and 3D acceleration is available.

As for desktop replacement, the problem with the H3 is the lacking of the thermal driver, so frequencies of the SoC are set in a conservative fashion in armbian. The experience may suffer from this.

You may think to use a small heatsink and drive the SoC to its rated 1.4Ghz and see if it satisfactory for you. IMHO it is not powerful enough for a decent desktop replacement, but you may try and see if it suits your needs.

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