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[syndromeofadown]

Hi all.
I am considering buying a 'Beelink Mini PC GK Mini Windows 10 Pro, Intel J4125 8GB DDR4 RAM'.
https://www.amazon.ca/Beelink-Windows-Intel-Support-Extension/dp/B093TBLJSW/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=BEELINK%2BJ4125&qid=1634237217&sr=8-5&th=1

The purpose is to replace a pi4 running libreelec which replaced a shield tv. It is for watching movies in an off grid house with limited power (the sun has left, it will be back in March).
The main purpose of the potential upgrade is so I can use MC instead kodi. I am just using libreelec because it is the only software that I can get to play uhd rips and hevc/h265 on the pi.

Can anyone that has experience with these low powered PCs let me know how well they work with video in MC?
I prefer linux but would I benefit from using windows?
Do you think the J4125 will provide acceptable playback of hevc/h265? I am just looking for stutter free video with audio synced properly.

I will probably be using a 1080 screen with it, but there is the potential to swap it with one of my 1440 or 4k screens.

Thanks
 

[BryanC]

I'd wait for the reports on JRVR with similar hardware, since it is a game changer for low-powered hardware.

I'm using an embedded Ryzen APU (R1505G) w/ Vega 3 graphics and it has handled everything I've thrown at it (>100 Mb/s tonemapped UHD remuxes) with JRVR.

You can look up some GPU comparison benchmarks between the R1505G and the J4125.

[jmone]

+1

I'll also be very interested to see how the NUC12 type units go as they will have a much stronger iGPU but I fear they will be expensive (by comparison)

[Hendrik]

The Gemini Lake J4125 in that system is similar to a NUC7 Atom system, which I incidentally tested lately - and its not super great for 4K content. 1080p would be just fine, but anything above... is borderline.

I would definitely recommend to go with an actual i3 or i5 CPU, instead of one of the Atom cores, as well as going to NUC11 or NUC12 (or comparable) for the much faster new Intel Xe GPU. But of course you pay more for those - starting at about double then the one you suggested.

[jmone]

I keep vacillating on if I should pick up a NUC 11 Performance Mini PC Barebone, Core i5-1135G7, Iris Xe Graphics to test or wait for the NUC 12.  I'm just not sure if the Gen11 Iris Xe will work well with UHD HDR HFR content even with JRVR vs waiting for availability of the NUC 12 with may come with the DG2 (Xe-HPG) GPU.  Given the new Gen 12 announcement is only a week away, I guess we will know a lot more shortly. 

[jmone]

FWIW, just did a test on my i9-9900k but using the iGPU (UHD750) and it would play UHD HDR HFR with JRVR.

[syndromeofadown]

Thanks for the replies. They have been very helpful.
I will hold off a bit to buy something. Low power is a priority over 4k, but I also want to future proof any electronics I buy.

[syndromeofadown]

Thanks for the advice from everyone. Instead of buying a low powered low quality mini PC I instead upgraded an existing one.

I use a NUC8 I3 for my music server but the sata SSD in it has been flaky lately, and full. I upgraded the sata drive to a 4TB ssd. Having this and a 2TB M2 drive, I now have a little extra space to use for video.

Thanks jmone for all of your notes on the forum about different hardware. Using JRVR the NUC has played all my test videos with zero issues. Perfect playback of 4k hevc, 4k blurays, and all other videos that should be easier to play. It is connected to a 1080 screen. I remember my 1050ti having issues with 4k down scaling, but no problems with the NUC.

I did some quick testing of different PC's to see how I am doing power wise.
Some measurements of the monitor and PC's together playing video.
22 watts - Pi4 with libreelec
29 watts - dell xps laptop I7 gen 11 (battery full)
27 watts - surface go 2 (battery full)
25 watts - NUC8 I3
23 watts - shield TV 2017

I doubt the Intel J4125 I was considering would use much less power than the NUC. Not enough to care about anyway, and it would not provide as good of playback.

The NUC plays certain blurays that the Pi would not. VC-1 maybe? Movies like the original Dune bluray have issues on the Pi.
There is a night and day difference when playing dvd rips on the NUC. The pi looks awful, where the NUC is great.

I am impressed, and happy to have saved some aging hardware.
By the way, the surface go 2 Gold 4425Y played all of my test files perfectly as well.

[jmone]

Good to hear.  JRVR has certainly breathed new life into my two NUCs.  Looks like I'll get to keep them for some time yet and save some $.

[BryanC]

I'm taking a chance on one of these for about ~$200.



N5105 vs J4125 GPU (Hendrik described the J4125 as "borderline"):



Looks significantly beefier but we'll see! Coming from China so it'll be a few weeks.

[Hendrik]

At least its a very recent model, as long as it doesn't overheat it might do "fine", maybe? The GPU is about twice as fast as the cited J4125
Its hard to judge these embedded/mobile parts as a lot can depend on the entire system configuration.