Computers & Electronics

Need cheap 1080p KODI box with audio passthrough

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  • Feb 22nd, 2017 11:43 am
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Nov 21, 2002
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bogolisk wrote: Well it's up to the OP. But, iirc, there no way send DTS:X (or Atmos) by pcm. Maybe pcm is ok for his use case.

Many ppl opted for the C2 instead of the pi 3 because atmos bitstreaming. Now even soundbars support Atmos, the pi's hardware looks sh1ttier everyday.
He's concerned with 1080p playback I bet 5.1 would be fine. Atmos on a unlicensed 40 usd device? The cheapest atmos soundbar costs $1000. By the time most people jump on atmos surround c2 will be long replaced.

The thing people wanted more from odroid c2 than atmos and it hurt their sales for almost a year was proper iso bluray playback and ac3/ lpcm 5.1 surround support for their older avr's. There are alot more people who don't readily upgrade avr's because they are too pricey to do that. The amlogic sdk just didn't supported it. Sadly only just recently did odroid get that fixed.I think thats the biggest issue with ordoid vs rpi. The specs may be better but the support is just not in the same league.

I wouldn't waste the xtra money on the odroid c2 when a s905x with vp9 and hdr could be bought cheaper. I don't see it worth the extra money to bother with the c2.Its life span will probably be the same. I paid 44 bucks cad last summer for one and 5 bucks for an sd card that has 2.5 megs a sec writes on the small 4k.
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Jan 18, 2009
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lead wrote: He's concerned with 1080p playback I bet 5.1 would be fine. Atmos on a unlicensed 40 usd device? The cheapest atmos soundbar costs $1000. By the time most people jump on atmos surround c2 will be long replaced.
I don't understand your point. The C2 would just passthrough the audio. It's doesn't touch the Atmos, it doesn't need a license. What price has to do with this? Plenty of people use CC-Ultra with atmos, a device cheaper than C2. I don't suggest the C2 to the OP because it's relatively... expensive! The OP looks for a cheap device.
lead wrote: The thing people wanted more from odroid c2 than atmos and it hurt their sales for almost a year was proper iso bluray playback
I don't believe that for second. I just look at the Movies section on n2bs dot org. For every 1000 mkvs, there are probably ONE full bluray iso. Among the ppl who play Movie rips on kodi, almost no one care about bluray ISO. In the old days of hdbit, Bluray ISOs were only posted so that ESiR, iLL, DON and CtrlHD can make high quality mkvs.
lead wrote: I think thats the biggest issue with ordoid vs rpi. The specs may be better but the support is just not in the same league.
In my experience, the rpi3's software support is way overrated! I can't get my pi3's CEC working with my Vizio TV and no one on the kodi nor libreelec forum has a fncking clue. In a couple of days, we'll see if the C2's CEC would fare better.
lead wrote: I wouldn't waste the xtra money on the odroid c2 when a s905x with vp9 and hdr could be bought cheaper. I don't see it worth the extra money to bother with the c2.Its life span will probably be the same. I paid 44 bucks cad last summer for one and 5 bucks for an sd card that has 2.5 megs a sec writes on the small 4k.
Now you have a point. What hurts the C2 is it's high price. That's why I didn't suggest it to the OP.
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bogolisk wrote: I don't understand your point. The C2 would just passthrough the audio. It's doesn't touch the Atmos, it doesn't need a license. What price has to do with this? Plenty of people use CC-Ultra with atmos, a device cheaper than C2. I don't suggest the C2 to the OP because it's relatively... expensive! The OP looks for a cheap device.


I don't believe that for second. I just look at the Movies section on n2bs dot org. For every 1000 mkvs, there are probably ONE full bluray iso. Among the ppl who play Movie rips on kodi, almost no one care about bluray ISO. In the old days of hdbit, Bluray ISOs were only posted so that ESiR, iLL, DON and CtrlHD can make high quality mkvs.

In my experience, the rpi3's software support is way overrated! I can't get my pi3's CEC working with my Vizio TV and no one on the kodi nor libreelec forum has a fncking clue. In a couple of days, we'll see if the C2's CEC would fare better.



Now you have a point. What hurts the C2 is it's high price. That's why I didn't suggest it to the OP.
By unlicensed I meant Odroids are not licensed to run any legit hd streaming application. To warrant Atmos support for basically only ripped material these days is less important anymore with so many affordable hd streaming apps and improved isp speeds.

Also lets not generalize atmos support its not on just any sound bar.Its only on Sound bars that cost 1000 bucks. Those are the cheapest soundbar that supports atmos. Too expensive to care about. No one upgrades avrs too often its too costly. So on a 50 buck box with a short shelf life its not more important as compatiable with legacy avrs. I think hyping atmos by these devices while being a nice option also was a nice distraction from the obvious broken 5.1 dts in kodi they weren't sure how to fix for quite awhile.

I'm not really sure why you referencing about piracy and bluray. I was discussing the amlogic had BR iso issues and lacked ac3/lpcm 5.1 for a while It was recommened at kodi to avoid amlogic for Br iso playack.

Taken from odroid c2 kodi thread Updated 7th Dec 2016: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid ... pid2233982
- AC3/DD/DTS 5.1 Audio passthrough is still a WIP Fixed !
- Interlaced Bluray Rips containing VC-1 content have stuttering playback. Normal VC-1 Movie Rips fine.Fixed !
Dec is when they got around to finally fixing it.. At best all that could be done since odroid c1 was some work around hacks to just get it to play.

I wouldn't never call rpi over rated support when still support all of there boards equally. In kodi they created 3d iso playback for everyone. They also showed the arm community how to use hybrid hvec decoding on ancient chipset. It can playback hvec better than some more powerful intel nucs that don't natively support hvec.

I had issues with cec last year. The rpi updated first but until my firetv got a new update then it all worked together again. My understanding on cec issues may stem from libcec's endeavor to be more compatible with more new tv's. Libcec git pushed an update to 4.xx and in doing so probably hurt legacy devices that weren't playing well with the new libcec in the mix of devices. Thats just my guess. Like I said mine has been fine for a while after fireos updated sometime ago.

Is odroid going to be different? or any s9xx in linux kodi? Odroid and libreelec implement a hybrid cec for amlogic to become more compatible with more tvs. I believe it had alot of issues with toshiba and samsung etc. I believe that meant stop relying on the old aml-cec in the uboot and now rely on libcec in kodi.But i think you can still chose either or.

Price wise our dollar is bad its pricey with peripherals plus its older s905. Is it worth it? With say mibox that has quite a solid build and remote and quite decent wifi vs cheap brands. I'd say no since they seem to offer decent support.

But the thing many don't understand around s9xx is the memory leak. It needs a reboot every day or so to flush memory.Thats why so many recommend 2gb models it takes longer to notice the problem. Can't say if mibox is effected I don't own one.

Last i checked s905 also doesn't allow for usb devices to power on the device when powered down. If you have a box where it works its probably thru its own ir remote. This plagues all s905/x. I read wetek fixed there uboots to do it with there own ir. Honestly I wouldn't care at all its so low powered leave it on 24/7 would be fine. But with the memory leak and the need to power down to slow the effect or swap firmwares etc it has warranted its attention. Fix the leak and no one would care as much.

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-3584- ... l#pid27078
https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-4453- ... ml#pid3172

To find the best cheap one look for ones that have had multiple firmware updates from its brand or seek out recommendations at libreelec.
Deal Addict
Jan 18, 2009
3363 posts
1990 upvotes
lead wrote: By unlicensed I meant Odroids are not licensed to run any legit hd streaming application. To warrant Atmos support for basically only ripped material these days is less important anymore with so many affordable hd streaming apps and improved isp speeds.

Also lets not generalize atmos support its not on just any sound bar.Its only on Sound bars that cost 1000 bucks. Those are the cheapest soundbar that supports atmos. Too expensive to care about. No one upgrades avrs too often its too costly. So on a 50 buck box with a short shelf life its not more important as compatiable with legacy avrs. I think hyping atmos by these devices while being a nice option also was a nice distraction from the obvious broken 5.1 dts in kodi they weren't sure how to fix for quite awhile.

I'm not really sure why you referencing about piracy and bluray. I was discussing the amlogic had BR iso issues and lacked ac3/lpcm 5.1 for a while It was recommened at kodi to avoid amlogic for Br iso playack.

Taken from odroid c2 kodi thread Updated 7th Dec 2016: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid ... pid2233982
- AC3/DD/DTS 5.1 Audio passthrough is still a WIP Fixed !
- Interlaced Bluray Rips containing VC-1 content have stuttering playback. Normal VC-1 Movie Rips fine.Fixed !
Dec is when they got around to finally fixing it.. At best all that could be done since odroid c1 was some work around hacks to just get it to play.

I wouldn't never call rpi over rated support when still support all of there boards equally. In kodi they created 3d iso playback for everyone. They also showed the arm community how to use hybrid hvec decoding on ancient chipset. It can playback hvec better than some more powerful intel nucs that don't natively support hvec.

I had issues with cec last year. The rpi updated first but until my firetv got a new update then it all worked together again. My understanding on cec issues may stem from libcec's endeavor to be more compatible with more new tv's. Libcec git pushed an update to 4.xx and in doing so probably hurt legacy devices that weren't playing well with the new libcec in the mix of devices. Thats just my guess. Like I said mine has been fine for a while after fireos updated sometime ago.

Is odroid going to be different? or any s9xx in linux kodi? Odroid and libreelec implement a hybrid cec for amlogic to become more compatible with more tvs. I believe it had alot of issues with toshiba and samsung etc. I believe that meant stop relying on the old aml-cec in the uboot and now rely on libcec in kodi.But i think you can still chose either or.

Price wise our dollar is bad its pricey with peripherals plus its older s905. Is it worth it? With say mibox that has quite a solid build and remote and quite decent wifi vs cheap brands. I'd say no since they seem to offer decent support.

But the thing many don't understand around s9xx is the memory leak. It needs a reboot every day or so to flush memory.Thats why so many recommend 2gb models it takes longer to notice the problem. Can't say if mibox is effected I don't own one.

Last i checked s905 also doesn't allow for usb devices to power on the device when powered down. If you have a box where it works its probably thru its own ir remote. This plagues all s905/x. I read wetek fixed there uboots to do it with there own ir. Honestly I wouldn't care at all its so low powered leave it on 24/7 would be fine. But with the memory leak and the need to power down to slow the effect or swap firmwares etc it has warranted its attention. Fix the leak and no one would care as much.

https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-3584- ... l#pid27078
https://forum.libreelec.tv/thread-4453- ... ml#pid3172

To find the best cheap one look for ones that have had multiple firmware updates from its brand or seek out recommendations at libreelec.
TL;DR

You keep going on tangents.
  1. The OP didn't mention "legit" HD streaming. He wrote "LibreElec" or "OpenElec", so whether "the" device can do "legit HD streaming" or not is irrelevant.
  2. He might be interested in playing BR iso, then the Pi3 would be a good choice. However, almost all Kodi users I know (in real life) don't give a sh!t about BR iso. For subtitled foreign language films, MKV is arguably better.
  3. He's interested in a "cheap" box, so the C2 is out of the question.
  4. He might be interested in 3D so the Pi3 should be an option (personnaly I think 3D is stupid.)
  5. He might be interested in HEVC decoding, in this case the Pi is not even in the same league as many s905-based boxes. Most ppl are interested in HEVC because "4K" rips are huge. Pi can't do 4K period.
  6. The OP might like CEC, in this case I just want to warn him that, unlike what you seemed to imply, the Pi3's CEC doesn't work with my brand new 2016 TV (it does work with my other 10 year old TV)
  7. The OP might have a Harmony for IR, the C2 has a builtin IR receiver that stays up! Better than any usb-based solution.
  8. The OP's setup might have an AVR that supports DTS:X. The C2's passthrough might be a WIP, except a guy I know has the C2 and he said DTS-HD works perfectly for his setup. I'll take that WiP over the Pi3's non-starter. And there are $700 AVR with DST:X.
  9. As for the memory leak. I haven't looked. However, it sounds some what similar like the bug I found on Tegra2's video driver where Nvidia uncessarily used kmalloc() instead of vmalloc(). At one point the kernel ran out of contiguous memory. Nvidia fixed the bug, exactly as I reported, by using vmalloc() for video buffers.
The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Usenet
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Jan 22, 2015
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We have an older AVR, so old in fact that it has mult-channel inputs -- a capability reserved for megabuck machines these days: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-VSX-1016 ... B000HC0BJG

No onboard decoder for the HD streams but that's neither here nor there. Wanted a device to stream our content and purchased a Mini M8S II. Initially the audio passthrough was awol - a monstrous deal breaker IMHO - but a) there is/was a Frankenfirmware available for it that gave/gives root, and b) the manufacturer updated it eventually to fix the passthrough! Works well is cheap and disposable. Oh, AM S905X chipset.

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