So one of the thing which I tried out was to see if the PI Zero can handle video streaming to our TV.
In order to setup the Raspberry PI Zero W as Chromecast, I followed the series of 7 videos below and plugged it into our large TV. However the result was unusable. The video did only play for a second or two before the whole thing stopped and tried to continue playing.
This is not too surprising considering that the PI Zero has only a single core 1GHz CPU while the instructions assume the PI 2 or 3 which has a quad core CPU to handle the stress.
Step 1 : Raspbian Jessie Lite Install Guide
https://youtu.be/R9UDL1JxP7I
Step 2: Raspbian Jessie Lite wifi config
https://youtu.be/N2ZjrBC2bv0
Step 3 : Raspbian update upgrade omxplayer
https://youtu.be/JV7nbAsQKO0
Step 4 : Install youtube download video and python
https://youtu.be/ukujbwn7XiQ
Step 5 : Raspbian Jessie Lite Golang
https://youtu.be/gVhMYRaKGXU
Step 6 : Raspberry pi as Youtube TV
https://youtu.be/dWjfkwz6MWk
Please feel free to sign up or follow my home made hardware projects here …
Looking at the comparison chart
http://socialcompare.com/en/comparison/raspberrypi-models-comparison. I would say any PI with at least 4 cores
Or you could check out one of the alternatives to the
https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-are-the-best-raspberry-pi-alternatives-everything-you-need-to-know-about-pi-rivals/
however you may find much less documentation online.
From the article 🙁
WHAT IS THE BEST RASPBERRY PI ALTERNATIVE DUE OUT IN 2018?
There are some seriously powerful single-board computers coming out in 2018, many of which are based on the hexacore Rockchip RK3399 processor, which pairs beefy 2GHz dual-core Arm Cortex A72 cores with less powerful quad-core 1.5GHz Arm Cortex A53 cores.
A good choice, based on the range’s previous track record, will likely be the Odroid-N1. As mentioned, the board runs on a hexacore processor backed up by 4GB of memory, two USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, will run Android 7.1 and Ubuntu 18.04, can be hooked to 4K displays via HDMI 2.0, has two SATA 3.0 ports for fast storage access, and 40 GPIO pins for connecting homemade hardware. The board, due out around the middle of this year, basically offers most of the specs of the $449 Samsung Chromebook Plus in a $110 board.
The Odroid-N1
However, the $110 price tag may push it out of the realm of Raspberry Pi competitors in many people’s eyes, so a better choice may be holding on for Odroid makers Hardkernel to release the N1 Lite, which they anticipate will be a $75 board, with the same specs apart from having 2GB RAM and no SATA ports.
If you can’t wait, then the forthcoming RockPro64 board has very similar specs to the Odroid-N1, minus the SATA ports, and is due out in March for the lower price of $79. However, in contrast to the general good reputation of Odroid, reviews of a 2016 board from the makers of the RockPro64 criticized the “sparse” software and documentation.
… and
the $46 Odroid C2 is likely a better choice. The C2 is 2 – 10x faster than the Raspberry Pi 3 according to tests, has double the memory of the Raspberry Pi 3, Gigabit Ethernet, supports 4K displays via HDMI 2.0, together with up to 32 channel audio. While it lacks Wi-Fi support, users report the board performs well as a media center, smoothly playing back local 1080p and 4K HEVC files and with support for streaming services such as Netflix — and running the Ubuntu, Android and the media center software LibreElec.
So what is the cheapest Rasberry Pi to use for the alternative of Chromecast?