Video: yes, I modify them by better passive cooling and getting rid of the terrible Android OS. The devices are abandoned by their manufacturer. They run tens of degrees cooler with heatsink and Coreelec. Then they change from hot impractical devices to very fast and powerful H265 video decoders playing everything. Excellent video quality. IR remote also wins from an app IMO.
Audio: Volumio is a free OS for many devices. I paid less than 3 Euro for the app to control the devices. I use Cubox-i I4 Pro 2 GB as these are overlooked, fast, low power, small, look OK and have Toslink, USB, gigabit ethernet, wireless and what not.
In fact both are recycling projects reusing second hand hardware with high price/quality ratio. Both devices are among the smallest on the market and they are abandoned/less popular than RPI (although offering at least some better specifications/features) but both are still supported by alternative software. As I don't howl with the wolves I like to cherry pick suitable and overdimensioned hardware for specific purposes preferably using a free and easy to use OS that gets the maximum out of the hardware.
DIY part is modifying the casing of the Wetek Hub, removing the steel plate serving as bad heatsink, glueing a real heatsink, flashing the free Coreelec OS on the NAND thereby bringing Android to where it belongs: /dev/null. Both devices profit from DIY built linear power supplies 5V 3A.
Attachments
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Video: The Cubetek Himedia Q10PRO and Wetek hub are sold out in India. For the price of the Cubtek Himedia Q10Pro we can get this.
ODROID-N2 4GB CoreELEC Edition – ODROID
ODROID-N2+ – HackerBoards.com
Audio: No one has even heard of the Cubox in India so should I just use the Odroid N2+ for audio? Will Volumio work on the N2+ or would Moode?
Can one access the I2S connections on the GPIO via
16Port I2C GPIO Board – ODROID
AUDIO-GD DIY I2S to HDMI Output Module - Audiophonics
I don't know. I find these in abundance on second hand websites for very low prices and therefor suggested these. Whatever there also is available is of no concern to me as I already filtered what is most easy to use for elderly, most practical to use, smallest, least power consumption, least heat generation etc. All I know is that devices with ugly casings and spaghetti wiring are unacceptable to elderly if not to their partners. In my experience a device would best be invisible , have no cabling at all and with as least user choices and buttons/switches/casings as possible as one will forget the meaning in time. I recently had to advise an elderly man and despite all required possibilities and wishes one just knows only one of the possibilities will be used, that what can be used with least possible effort. Convenience always wins. Even with a high quality aware person he/she will choose what is most easy to use even when when there are devices or a way of working with supposedly better performance. In the cases of elderly couples one can forget about GPIO, breakout wiring, modules, separate DACs etc etc. Best devices are 1 casing with 1 power on/off button, a power on LED and an IR remote.
I support these devices so I know that: people forget power on/off sequences, to switch off devices, which network share to use (and how?) so anything ultra simple to use with built in intelligence to make user choices automatically with internal or direct attached storage has a way higher chance of success. Even amplifiers with more than 2 inputs are rarely understood and stuff is best automated to all switch on at the same time. Sad but true.
Since you come up yourself with ideas you could consider chasing your ideas and find out if these are supported with the suggested OSes. That is how I got to the devices I choose and it is more efficient as well compared to the current way of working
I support these devices so I know that: people forget power on/off sequences, to switch off devices, which network share to use (and how?) so anything ultra simple to use with built in intelligence to make user choices automatically with internal or direct attached storage has a way higher chance of success. Even amplifiers with more than 2 inputs are rarely understood and stuff is best automated to all switch on at the same time. Sad but true.
Since you come up yourself with ideas you could consider chasing your ideas and find out if these are supported with the suggested OSes. That is how I got to the devices I choose and it is more efficient as well compared to the current way of working
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Moode - Rpi only
Volumio - Rpi, PC x86/x64 and Asus Tinker board
The reason for the availability of software for the Rpi is its long term support and popularity, try to get that type of support for a Odroid board.
So I thought about dividing my media into audio and video and using separate boxes for each.
For my video, I am looking at the Nvidia TV shield Pro with Logitech Media Server and an external USB hard drive for local media (La Cie D2 Professional).
For my audio, I am looking at running Daphile on a mini PC like the ASUS PN40 or it's larger brother the VM40B (the larger brother can accommodate a 3.5" hard drive).
Mini PC PN40 | Mini PCs | ASUS India
VivoPC VM40B | Mini PCs | ASUS India
Then there is this (see link below). I don't know how to categorise it but I should have enough juice to run Moode, Volumio, Daphile or anything else I can throw at it.
Seeed Studio’s Odyssey is a mini-PC for big projects and small wallets | Ars Technica
Buy Odyssey Blue J4105 Windows 10 Mini PC Onliine in India | Fab.to.Lab
The advantages it has is that it is powerful enough to run Plex or even be used as a NAS
Cheap and powerfull Plex Media Server!: Odyssey x86J4105 REVIEW (4K transcoding!) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyz91Q_JrBc
It also has a Raspberry Pi compatible GPIO, which means I can use any RPi HAT such as Allo's DigiOne Signature SPDIF transport
https://www.allo.com/sparky/digione-signature.html
or maybe even Ian Canada's FiFo Pi and Transport Pi
https://github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/FifoPi/FifoPiQ3UltimateManualV3.2.pdf
https://github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/TransportPi/TransportPiUsersManual.pdf
What do you think?
For my video, I am looking at the Nvidia TV shield Pro with Logitech Media Server and an external USB hard drive for local media (La Cie D2 Professional).
For my audio, I am looking at running Daphile on a mini PC like the ASUS PN40 or it's larger brother the VM40B (the larger brother can accommodate a 3.5" hard drive).
Mini PC PN40 | Mini PCs | ASUS India
VivoPC VM40B | Mini PCs | ASUS India
Then there is this (see link below). I don't know how to categorise it but I should have enough juice to run Moode, Volumio, Daphile or anything else I can throw at it.
Seeed Studio’s Odyssey is a mini-PC for big projects and small wallets | Ars Technica
Buy Odyssey Blue J4105 Windows 10 Mini PC Onliine in India | Fab.to.Lab
The advantages it has is that it is powerful enough to run Plex or even be used as a NAS
Cheap and powerfull Plex Media Server!: Odyssey x86J4105 REVIEW (4K transcoding!) - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyz91Q_JrBc
It also has a Raspberry Pi compatible GPIO, which means I can use any RPi HAT such as Allo's DigiOne Signature SPDIF transport
https://www.allo.com/sparky/digione-signature.html
or maybe even Ian Canada's FiFo Pi and Transport Pi
https://github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/FifoPi/FifoPiQ3UltimateManualV3.2.pdf
https://github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/TransportPi/TransportPiUsersManual.pdf
What do you think?
Just do it
Yeah, I have been talking to all and sundry and confusing myself more and more.
Options (in increasing order of complexity and dependency on imports).
- ASUS Celeron Mini PC with SSD using an external DC linear regulated 19V/10A power supply. How does this box read from a USB hard disk and send to a DAC?
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Desktop/MiniPC/PN40/E17624_PN_Series_EM_V2_WEB.pdf
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/Desktop/Vivo_PC/VM40B/E10307_vivopc_vm40b_v4_for_web_only.pdf
- Allo products (USBridge Signature with DigiOne Signature) power by Shanti Linear Power supply.
- Thin Mini iTX motherboard and box using a linear power supply and PCIe to USB card from Matrix (if I go this route, should I get the I2S LVDS HDMI card from Pink Faun instead)
Amazon.in: Buy Fractal Design Node 202 Black Mini-ITX Slim Profile Compact Small Form Factor Computer Case with PCIE 3.0 Riser Card Online at Low Prices in India | Fractal Design Reviews & Ratings
Then there is that Odyssey board I mentioned earlier but I wonder if there is a Raspberry HAT that I can use that will give me USB, Coax-SPDIF and I2S LVDS out.
I am just confused as to which path to take. Sorry.
1. Mini PC/NUC - how does one send the audio from the Mini PC to the DAC? Can the USB port on the Mini PC send files to a DAC?
2. Raspberry Pi - Allo is based in India so this seems very viable but I am not sure how it will read files from a USB drive. How does it know a USB drive is attached with files on it?
3. Mini-ITX PC - safest but most expensive route as the PCIe to USB card costs $450 in India (if it is available).
Thanks.
Just buy a Volumio Primo (or similar) and forget about all that links and all that DIY and semi-DIY choices and burning all that hours doubting and confusing everything. You could be using any player for months now.
If you are elderly find something simple that simply just works and sounds OK. A one box affair with internal SSD to copy your content to and with internal good DAC seems best. Even better is long time support and an intuitive app that is suitable for normal people. So a Bluesound 2i or Vault 2i fits your bill. Why make it more complex than necessary?
If you are elderly find something simple that simply just works and sounds OK. A one box affair with internal SSD to copy your content to and with internal good DAC seems best. Even better is long time support and an intuitive app that is suitable for normal people. So a Bluesound 2i or Vault 2i fits your bill. Why make it more complex than necessary?
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