Raspberry Pi buying newest one

roytom
roytom Posts: 354 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
I'd like to try the Raspberry Pi and I've been trying to get the cheapest possible options.

There's loads on eBay but I'm not sure what I need to look for. I want to only buy from a UK seller as I don't want to wait for it. The Raspberrys bundled with everything possible like keyboards are expensive, so I'm avoiding them. But I would also like a plastic case for it.

Any advice gratefully received
Thanks

Comments

  • mksysb
    mksysb Posts: 354 Forumite
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    I guess it depends what you want to do with it. If you need the extra features of a Pi 4 you may need a case with cooling as it runs hotter, and you may need the Pi power supply as it's more fussy about power. Otherwise you could look at the Pi 3.
  • A.Penny.Saved
    A.Penny.Saved Posts: 1,832 Forumite
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    I was looking at them myself to use as a media player for H.265/HEVC playback in particular. The Pi 4 does get very hot so will need a fan to move some air to keep it cool otherwise it will throttle the clock to cool itself down.

    There are 3 different memory versions 1GB, 2GB & 4GB with a £10 difference between them.
    Pi 4@ThePiHut
    ThePiHut Pi 4 cases
    An aluminium case with fan>
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/RLTech-Raspberry-Model-Heatsink-Compatible/dp/B07V8SGR6K/
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 8,904 Forumite
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    If your aim is use it as a media server (Kodi or Plex) to stream media from a hard drive or network drive or whatever to an app on your Smart TV you don't need a Pi4 for that, a Pi3 will work quite happily.

    However that being said the Pi3 can do h.265 but in its default state will probably struggle over 720p - because its support is software, not hardware, so it has to do more work. LibreElec should have everything you need built in to do it on the Pi4 on the hardware side.
  • Frozen_up_north
    Frozen_up_north Posts: 2,420 Forumite
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    The UK distributors are Farnell and RS. Plus Pi Hut.

    I’d be wary of eBay and Amazon 3rd party sellers, some appear to buy from the above and re-sell for a profit. Anyone can buy from the above.
  • psychic_teabag
    psychic_teabag Posts: 2,865 Forumite
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    Neil_Jones wrote: »
    If your aim is use it as a media server (Kodi or Plex) to stream media from a hard drive or network drive or whatever to an app on your Smart TV you don't need a Pi4 for that, a Pi3 will work quite happily.

    However that being said the Pi3 can do h.265 but in its default state will probably struggle over 720p - because its support is software, not hardware, so it has to do more work. LibreElec should have everything you need built in to do it on the Pi4 on the hardware side.

    If you're just streaming the video to an app, the pi doesn't need to decode it at all, (does it ?) so its ability to decode would be irrelevant.

    I use a first-generation pi as a media server. To play to a local hdmi device it does of course have to decode. The foundation sells a separate license to enable the hardware mpeg decoder. (Since they have to pay the patent license.) Without that, as you say, it would struggle to decode fast enough.

    http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/ (for vsn 3 and before - not needed / available for pi 4).
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