I have been playing with the Raspberry Pi 3B donated by Ian, and so far it seems impressively good for my requirements.
I need a Kodi platform that can play local files up to and including 1080p 24Hz and passthrough HD audio formats (more on that in a minute) to my Yamaha AVR.
I had a 4GB micro-SD card knocking around, so I copied the files for NOOBS-lite on to it, and fired up the Pi with a USB keyboard and HBMI cable into my monitor.
From there I chose to install the latest version of LibreELEC, which is a pre-built, lightweight Linux distro running Kodi 18.9 (currently). LibreELEC – Just enough OS for KODI
The installation happens automatically and there is a minimum of config to do in order to set up wireless access (if you want it) and SSH access (if you want it).
After that, you can unplug the keyboard and control Kodi remotely. All updates are handled automatically.
I have found that the RPi 3B supports Dolby Digital, DD+ and DTS formats, but doesn’t offer DTS-MA and Dolby True HD that my receiver also supports. Reading around, the RPi4 will do it and the driver support is just starting to come through. I don’t need > 1080p, but the Pi4 will also do 4k if you need it.
Despite only having 1GB RAM the library updates are fast and navigation is super-smooth.
It’s working so well that I’ll almost certainly stop using the Kodi on the NAS via HD-Station, which means I can remove it from behind the TV.
Amazing what removing the overhead of a bloated OS and GUI free up. There is an inordinate amount of grunt in any modern cpu, it’s pissed away on so much useless work it’s sad.
Mark, is it really that easy. I have been wanting to change my android box for a while and was considering a nuc. Presumably all the add ons etc are installed the same way. I get by just about when it comes to computing.
I have decided to turn an older version of an Innuos Zen, into an up to date ripper/streamer.
Been doing some reading, so am going to use Snake-oil OS, instead of Vortexbox. It has support for Roon, LMS, Tidal, etc.
OS will go on it’s own SSD and another larger SSD for storage.
Hope I can get it all to work.
I would temper any expectations for how Roon will perform on the Zen due to its specs.
There was a bloke chucking his toys out of the pram on the Roon forums because he was running it on a Zen with that OS installed and it wouldn’t do what he wanted.
I am not really worried about Roon. It is just mentioned in the compatibility list. All I want is an up to date ripper/streamer to run LMS. The old version of the Innuos software, will not update to many of the new features, and they do not provide an update for the older hardware, hence the move to SnakeOil OS.
