I want to try to set up a Raspberry Pi I have as a smart TV box and I was hoping I could find some advice.
My main requirements are:
- can run Moonlight
- can be controlled from a Bluetooth game controller (that should also work in Moonlight)
What would be nice:
- can run VLC or Plex or something
- can support AirPlay
- can be used for some actual streaming services like Netflix
Any suggestions?
- No SBC that I know of can handle 4k 120Hz HDR output, so getting the most of moonlight is not possible.
- Low latency decode requires some work to get running
- AV1 encode/decode has even more latency, do you will be running higher bitrate h264, which in turn means wired network connection is recommended.
- Streaming services limit 4k and/or HDR access on a lot of content to locked devices. E.g. Netflix only guarantees 720p sdr when watching in a browser - how much more you get depends on the deal with the copyright holder.
Tl;dr; a long, active fiber HDMI cable + USB over IP might be cheaper, better and easier. That’s what I ended up buying despite the cable length being 60m (200ft).
4k 120Hz HDR is what current gen consoles can output right now and what is becoming common even on mid-range TVs (quality of HDR aside). I’d expect you’d want most of that experience or future-proof solution that would allow that when you get a new TV.
But you also need a tv that’s powerful enough my monitor isn’t even that powerful.
Honestly, you might be looking at a ShieldTV.
I considered this, but ended up going HTPC instead. The Shield is just too old and now they’re loading it up with more ads you can’t get rid of. Screw that.
I bought one last year, and even though I was hesitant because of its age, it can handle all the content I throw at it (4k 10 bit hdr h265, etc). As for the the ads, I solved that by installing a third party launcher.
The only issue I have with this setup is that I haven’t found a good replacement for YouTube yet. A revanced for android TV would be amazing.
One of my requirements was Steam (either locally or Steam Link) and EmulationStation. The Shield cost nearly the same money as the AMD Ryzen mini-pc I’m using, so I just decided to go with the more powerful device so I could run light to moderate Steam games at 1080p in addition to In-Home streaming. I use my gaming PC for WFH, so on days I work my kids wouldn’t be able to play games from Steam unless it was local.
I think out the door I spent about $230 for a Ryzen 5000 series APU machine with 512GB of SSD and 16GB of RAM. With the shield at ~$199, I went for the more DIY solution, which isn’t for everybody, but I’m an tinkerer.
Dont. They are notoriously bad at such things. Lack of Hardware acceleration mainly. These old Chips and problems with single-board-complications are just not worth it at such high prices.
An Intel N100 MiniPC will have much more compute with less complications.
https://dietpi.com can be configured for Kodi. Youll be limited to 1080p H264 for streaming, as long as your Plex server can transcode to that format you should be OK.
It’ll probs support any xinput-compatible pad, too.
Not sure about moonlight support on Pi/Linux but again you’ll be limited by the decode.
- Assuming you have a Pi4B, by the way.
You would most lilely be looking at a Kodi setup.
Look up LibreElec, super simple all in one image, kodi has a ton of plugins for everything you’d need. You’ll probably need to add some extra repos to get everything you want, but it’s all pretty easy to figure out with searches
