Radxa x4

[mvallevand]

My use case is for tuner testing in my home lab so right now I need to bring it from the backroom with all the wires to my office to set it boot from Windows, Linux or LibreElec. It will be great to have the ability to send the WOL and choose remotely. I'll let you know how it goes.

Martin

[fla]

After an update of raspberry pi OS kodi is no longer doing hardware acceleration on my pi3 and the live TV is now jumpy as hell (including NextPVR New Client). I'm looking for an inexpensive minimalist client and found this thread.

Setup:
small screen 1080p hdmi TV
client can't easily be reached so needs to boot automatically into kodi after pretty frequent power failures (wake on Flirc USB would be nice)
Watch a little news or hockey playoffs so no fancy requirements.

PXE boot LibreELEC is mentioned earlier in the thread. That sounds interesting as I have a UPS protected server and the client has no UPS so this would reduce risk of power failure corruption I assume.

An N100/N150 PC or this Radxa X4 device sounds promising. A pi 5 isn't cheap as pi's used to be for what they do.

Any tips greatly appreciated!

[SickBoy]

Not sure if things have changed in the last few months, but right now I think one weakness of the Radxa specifically is a lack of nice case options. For a client, for that reason... personally I'd be looking at other N100/N150 options. I wouldn't want something that wasn't fully enclosed sitting out in an uncontrolled space where little fingers could potentially get stuck where they don't belong.

Mine is a server and is wallmounted in my mechanical room with my other "network closet" things, so that's less of a concern for my use case.

[mvallevand]

With my copper heat sink there aren't many moving parts to worry about and it's not too hot to the touch plus I am not concerned since there are no kids to worry about.  Now with so many USB devices there is a lot those little fingers can do even with a case.

I use it more that  my Chuwi boxed N100.  From that little box I can choose internal (Windows - SSD or Linux emmc) plus netboot LibreElec so it is great for the home lab not worrying about a permanent server.  I was really lucky that my RF remote has an F7 key that works to select the boot drive.   My only regret was only buying 4GB so I don't have to worry about too many.   If I wasn't triple booting for sure a bundled PC is more convenient and probably cheaper.

My JetKVM ordered in January, in the "March batch" still hasn't confirmed shipping. Lots of noise on Discord about shipping but I am still eager to get it.

Martin

[fla]

I think one weakness of the Radxa specifically is a lack of nice case options.

I'm sensitive to sound so a good case with quiet cooling is important.

If I wasn't triple booting for sure a bundled PC is more convenient and probably cheaper.

The Radxa sounds like fun (nice picture) if I still had the energy to tinker like I used to. I guess the monitor base acts like an extension to the heat sink as I was imagining it pointing upwards not downwards.

Too bad those JetKVM things don't do audio or they could be used for streaming over the LAN.

I'm probably only going to use kodi so a cheap mini PC with LibreElec would do. If you know a mini PC that can wake on USB from hibernate so my remote can wake it up let me know. Hibernate is better than standby in case of power failures.

Thanks guys, I'm always impressed by the responses here!

Edit:
Quick question: Since my nextpvr server is much more powerful than the pi3 client, is there a setting to let the server decode live TV (from an HDPVR2) at the cost of LAN bandwidth?

[mvallevand]

I guess the monitor base acts like an extension to the heat sink as I was imagining it pointing upwards not downwards.

Good eye, in the back room I have the copper side up but when testing LE here I do have it on the steel plate it is on one or two degrees lower but what the heck.

Too bad those JetKVM things don't do audio or they could be used for streaming over the LAN.

NextPVR does this already, the JetKVM has to transcode the HDMI anyway

I'm probably only going to use kodi so a cheap mini PC with LibreElec would do. If you know a mini PC that can wake on USB from hibernate so my remote can wake it up let me know. Hibernate is better than standby in case of power failures.

I don't know any Linux box that supports USB power up.  Some boxes can power on via the bootloader.and IR.   I don't use CEC but some can open with CEC too.

Quick question: Since my nextpvr server is much more powerful than the pi3 client, is there a setting to let the server decode live TV (from an HDPVR2) at the cost of LAN bandwidth?

I added a transcoding option in Kodi for Live TV quite a few years ago but why bother transcoding h264 on the LAN?

Martin

[fla]

why bother transcoding h264 on the LAN?

I'm sure my technical lingo is wrong. Here's what happened.

• Some raspberry pi OS (bookworm) updates installed in my pi 3 (don't know what)
  
• After that, no video at all was playing for live TV (audio was fine)
  
• I unchecked "Allow hardware acceleration with DRM PRIME" in kodi and video is back
  
• Video is now terribly choppy and CPU usage is way up
  
• NextPVR New Client has the same problem
  

My understanding is the pi 3 is doing something by CPU now instead of GPU. Could a setting on the stronger NextPVR server handle some processing locally to ease the burden on the weaker pi 3. If the data going over the LAN increases that's fine.

I absolutely want to upgrade the pi 3 client with better modern hardware so rolling back the pi OS updates is not my goal. A workaround to make the pi 3 usable again while I shop around for new hardware would be nice.

[mvallevand]

If it worked before you forgot to install the mpeg2 license key in config.txt that is required for h/w playback.

Martin

[fla]

Does this mean it should work?

Code:

$ vcgencmd codec_enabled MPG2 ; vcgencmd codec_enabled WVC1
MPG2=enabled
WVC1=enabled
$

It worked for months with bookworm on the pi 3 but sluggish when the guide was overlayed on top of video. Just small package updates every week or so and it stopped working recently.

I don't want to hijack this Radxa x4 thread but help is super appreciated.

[mvallevand]

You did already hijack the thread and I am sorry I responded. The keys to look for would be decode_MPG2=0x12345678 and decode_WVC1=0x12345678 You can find more info on setting those via an Internet search.

I steer it on topic by noting that even the latest RPis have to use software decoding. The RPi4 no h/w mpeg2 1080p h264, the RPi5 no h/w mpeg2 or h264. The Radxa X5 N100 is quite capable with Intel UHD Graphics.

Martin