[siennamediatest]

I am a PSW in a long-term care home. I kept getting tired of seeing people with dementia struggling with media tech- DVD players, smart devices, and cable TV are all way too difficult for both residents and their caregivers to reliably use. I set up an Rpi 3 with Kodi, timers addon, and youtube addon. I made custom youtube playlists with old TV and movies, music, etc. Bought a bunch of super simple remotes and drilled holes to put in a lanyard, which makes it harder to misplace. On the remote, 'power' pauses the program, and the screensaver shuts off the monitor automatically. Both channel buttons do the same thing, which is to advance to the next video in the playlist. Playlists are on timers, because residents can't always remember how to turn things on, and caregivers may be too busy to attend to their TVs. QR code opens the web interface directly to the youtube plugin page, where more playlists can be selected. GPIO buttons are for caregivers, so they can adjust volume, play/pause, or select two favourite playlists to play. The entire interface is disabled except for subtitles. 

Major issues: -low RAM of rpi 3 or unreliability of the youtube plugin does cause occasional crashes -changing to the next video is a bit slow 

I made a site julietcomputer.com that explains my design. Ultimately, I'm hoping to make something that's reliable enough to work on an institutional level which will require a custom OS and possible custom board design. But Kodi and this community really helped me get started and troubleshoot a lot of stuff. Thanks to everyone who helped answer some of my forum posts.

[Atreyu]

Interesting project, going to read up on your site.
As for the memory issues, i moved from Pi's to Odroid models long ago and never looked back.In this case you might want to look at the C4 (or later) model(s) to increase stability/performance.

[siennamediatest]

I'm a bit too broke to try/test more SBCs. What's a good starter odroid? I found rpi so much easier in terms of working up to date OS images and various how to guides. But if Odroid works solidly with kodi and armbian it good be a good one to check out. You recommend N2 plus?

[Klojum]

What's a good starter odroid? I found rpi so much easier in terms of working up to date OS images and various how to guides.

There are RPi 4 with more internal memory onboard, upto 8 GB. The problem is, they have been out of stock for such a long time. But compared to a RPi3, the v4 is already quite a step forward.

I have no Odroid experience myself, others will have to step in here.

[Atreyu]

Rpi4 is very suited as well, but stocks seem to be low indeed.
N2(+) is on the somewhat expensive side, that's why I mentioned the C4 model. Still using those as well and they never fail me.
I did use pi3 a long time ago and they always proved to be underpowered / not completely stable

[MrCrispy]

Hello, just saw your post and I just want to say thanks for what you are doing, this is such a great idea and will help so many people. I'm not in a position to help financially or know enough technically, but I will share your site with others. This is a project that definitely needs more support and I wish it was popular.

[ashlar]

I commend you for the initiative, with all my heart.