Does anyone knows of a device irregardless of it being sbc/mini-computer/arm/x86... that is capable of running 4k video.
I got a TV with androidTV or (GoogleTV whatever it is called these days but i really do not like the OS and want to use a media center with Libreelec.
Currently i had a raspberry pi 3+ laying around and gave it a go, it does everything i need, can access SMB, netflix is working, youtube without ads, old NES/SNES roms etc... the only thing is that it does not play 4k videos, actually it does not even play 1080p properly which is a bummer but totally expected.
The BananaPi M5 seems to not be up to the task according to this review but i wonder if any of you have such a device as a media center and can provide feedback
Doing a bit of investigation the youyeetoo X1 seems like a good fit, specifically due to this review it might be a bit more than 100€ specially if it is the 8Gb/16Gb version but so far it seems the less expensive option, maybe i wait a couple of months in the hopes that the price drops
Do you have a setup that works properly with 4k specifically on the budget side? i would love some input on this
Edit: personal experience with the device it would be a plus
A unit from any major brand will be good and there are i5/8gb units available for well under £100 that will happily shunt 4K video about. Plus they have the advantage of coming in a nice case, lots of ports, included storage, etc...
Indeed i considered that but, they consume too much and do too much noise i would had gone in that direction if i had one of those already laying around though :)
I can't hear the fans of my Lenovo m920q even if I'm running a burn-in test
And it consumes 10w during use which is comparable to many SBC once you consider that you have nvme, SATA, WiFi, two display port, lots of USB 3 ports, thunderbolt via USB c and an additional PCI express slot
I have been using a Odroid N2+ running CoreELEC with the Jellyfin plugin ever since it released. Plays absolutely everything you throw at it, even 4k60 with HDR.
The Odroids are little beasts, I had the X2 (?) for like 2 years, and then I decided to hook it up to my parents network as a VPN server.. and when I came back a few months later it was dead 😕
They use Samsung Exynos CPUs IIRC instead of the Broadcom chips that the Pis use, so some software support is lacking, but it's generally really good since most ARM distros work fine on them.
I looked into those they are affordable even though a bit old, but i got the impression they only played 4k video properly on androidTV and that is something i do not want to run, on and this live test really threw me off.
But it is a 3 year old video, drivers and software might worked some magic along the way like corelecc which was a novelty to me, thanks for the hint
CoreELEC is especially built with Amlogic chips in mind, it includes all the drivers necessary to GPU decode all codecs it can.
The live test you posted runs on CPU, there's no mobile ARM chip out there that can smoothly CPU decode anything above 1080p so using GPU decode is crucial.
I have really enjoyed my vero 4k. they came out with a new version (vero v), which I haven't used, but now has av1 support. my older model, the 4k+ version, has done everything great, with the exception of handling IR, which it did a mediocre job of managing. Linux irrecord is ass, but the vero software mitigates it by having a premade library of common remotes.
Their user forums are actually really great, their software support is also pretty good. I had help from both with setting my box up to match my TV feature set.
The vero V looks to be over budget for you, but if you end up deciding you need to spend money to get a solid product, i definitely recommend this one.
The specs seem nice but i can not find a benchmark/test on 4k around to see it actually playing 4k media, i will keep this on the lookout as well, thank you
The closest I can think of is a Vero from osmc.tv but that's breaking the 100 mark.
I've got the old Vero 4K model and it works like a dream in conjunction with my Jellyfin server (it's essentially a Kodi box so you can save media on it locally too).
I got one shipped to Denmark after brexit and IIRC they handled all the customs and everything.
Ninja edit: It looks like you'll pay taxes and customs fees on top of it if you order directly, so it might be a good idea to hunt for a reseller: https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/european-orders/96161/2 - apparently I was lucky and happened to order when they were trialling IOSS
Have you looked into maybe getting a shield and changing out the launcher? It's a great emulator and will play any video file thrown at it. Worth looking into if you can't find any sbc alternative.
The Shield is great for playing media, but it's definitely not under €100 (at least the last time I checked, I'm also American). Also changing our the launcher doesn't stop all the "phoning home" that everything does, DNS blocking will help with that though. Also, the hardware isn't as great as it used to be.
eBay is your friend, Shield came out about 9 years ago so lots on the used market. Also the phoning home for the paranoid can also be handled. Since it's been around for so long there's not a lot left someone hasn't already figured out. Maybe not the perfect answer but worth considering. As a media player it just works and it's tried and true.