Pine64 - the next *big* thing?

Check it out here - http://pine64.com/

Looks like a pretty beefy platform for something like OSMC.

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Nope, it is AllWinner and both nazarko and popcornmix have confirmed that Allwinner is bad choice for Kodi as it is no good for hardware acceleration.

Indeed.

When AllWinner wish to play ball with the open source community, they will get much better vendor support. I don’t see that changing for a while though, with recent moves from AllWinner going as far as renaming symbols in ffmpeg.

Without modern kernel support and good open source support, we would not be able to deliver the experience that people have come to expect from OSMC on this new piece of hardware.

Sam

Here is a good rule of thumb is its Allwinner cut and run

Interesting - had no idea - thanks for the heads up!

interesting, their FAQ claims support for hardware accelerated (GPU) 4Kx2Kp30 H.265 decode, and 1080p60 H.264 high-profile encode and decode:
http://pine64.com/faq-pine-64#toggle-id-5

Is this not something Kodi can use?

The hardware can theoretically do this, although I’m not convinced a Mali 400-MP can actually decode 4K30. It can definitely handle a 4K framebuffer at 30Hz, but that’s not the same.

The problem isn’t hardware capability, but rather as I said, vendor support. AllWinner are not interested in working with the open source community, so Kodi developers do not particularly care about working on it. CedarX is open source, but I do not know if it exposes enough functionality for Kodi

The Pine64 is cheap because the SoC provider are using IP and not playing fair game with open source:

The Raspberry Pi would be cheaper if the Raspberry Pi Foundation did not have to release any source code and did not maintain firmware or the kernel.

I would recommend a Raspberry Pi if you are shopping in the ~$20 range. If you want H265, then I would wait for the Vero 2.

Pine64 supporting 4K decode is great. But without the software to realise it, it’s just another unfounded claim. I would not purchase the Pine64 on the basis that it may one day support 4K video playback on OSMC.

I will never support AllWinner hardware with OSMC until they change their attitude. Of course, nothing prevents someone from forking OSMC and producing some unofficial builds.

Sam

I have a pi 2 already :smiley: Unfortunately, it’s not powerful enough to decode 10 bit h264 or h265 @ 1080p or even 720p, which is actually the main draw for me. I am not concerned about 4K in the slightest bit, although it’s definitely a plus if the hardware can handle it.

I understand your reasons for not wanting to support Allwinner though.

A Vero 2 can do 8-bit H265.

Sam

I have forwarded the concern regarding the infringements Allwinner are doing to the Pine project. It will be interesting to see what the answer might be

lol that is a well know fact and its a GPL Violation not infringement and im 100% that they know of those facts and frankly dont give a shit Allwinner SoC are cheap as shit and thats why they suck the sooner the users realize that the better of the community is…

so just dont believe the hype when you hear the words RPi Killer cause in most cases its not…

Are the specs for vero 2 available somewhere? When is estimated release?

The Vero 2 will launch on 30th December. Specs will be released soon.

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Someone recently mentioned OSMC on the Pine 64 forum. I made a link to this thread and it will be interesting to see if there are any responses from the Pine 64 team themselves: OSMC compatibility.

Sam

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hehe OSMC on a Sunxi kernel it will be a cold day in hell is my guess before Allwinner gives up their GPL violation :stuck_out_tongue:

Please use our forum search. I’ve moved this post to the existing thread that clearly addresses your question.

I’ve gotten KODI to work on my Pine64 by running it on top of the rooted Lolipop build. the newest stable Lolipop release (released like 5/3/2016 or something) can output in 1080p.