Nomad HQ (name tbd)

[Jstudner]

Overview

This is a concept for a potential upgrade path from the ESP32-based Nomad project. After seeing interest on Reddit, it's clear there's demand for better video quality, especially 720p and 1080p playback. The idea is to use a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W while retaining the same core approach: offline media streaming via a self-hosted captive portal in a small and cheap format.

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Hardware Concept

• Mainboard: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
• Storage: USB flash drive or SSD via USB hat, could even support external hard drives (dynamic library mapping / discovery?)
• Cooling: Passive cooling or a small fan if needed
• Power: USB or GPIO header, With a USB Dongle Expansion Board like this one it will be the same "USB Format" that Nomad uses currently.

There is no native M.2 hat for the Pi Zero 2 W. However, if anyone knows a way to interface M.2 storage via GPIO or USB, that could allow for very compact high-capacity builds. Otherwise, a USB SSD or compact flash drive is likely the most practical solution. I would really like to be able to lay a m.2 ssd across the top length of the board so everything fits nice and clean in a small package.

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Video Streaming Capabilities

The Pi Zero 2 W doesn’t support 4K at full speed, but it can handle higher resolutions than the ESP32. Estimated capabilities:

Resolution	Expected Performance	Estimated Concurrent Streams	Notes
480p	✅ Smooth	3-4	Equivalent or better than ESP32
720p	✅ Good	2-3	Well within capability
1080p	⚠️ Moderate	1-2	Low-to-mid bitrate should work fine
4K	❌ Limited	0-1	Likely only low frame rate/bitrate

Streaming will still use HTTP with Range headers via a local web interface, just like the current ESP32 build. These estimates are extremely rough, and actual performance could be better or worse, if anyone has input ill happily update this.

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Storage Support

Thanks to the Linux base on Raspberry Pi, much broader filesystem and capacity support is available:

• File systems: exFAT, NTFS, ext4, others
• No 4GB file size limit
• Can store multiple high-resolution movies
• Swappable USB or external SSD storage

It also allows for a more traditional UI, while short term testing will probably keep the same software from nomad the headroom I get from using a proper linux capable system is huge, A custom UI with actual metadata / Support for standard plex or jellyfin media files, even actual genres and recommendations are probably on the table with the larger version.

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Form Factor Goals

• Small, USB-like form factor
• Portable and battery-friendly
• Ideally plug-and-play with USB power banks
• Uses local hotspot (no internet required)

This won’t be quite as tiny as the ESP32-S3 setup, but still very compact if kept to a minimalist hat + storage board stack.

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Open Questions

• Is there a compact M.2 solution that can work via GPIO or USB?
• Would a CM4 or other small SBC be better suited while keeping size low? - I am avoiding raspi 5 and others cause I am broke, but those could also be small and power friendly options in theory.
• Are there tricks for improving 1080p streaming on low-spec hardware? I really want 4k, but seems like I need an even bigger board.

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Community Feedback

This is still an early idea based on comments and interest. If you’ve built something similar, have suggestions, or want to experiment with the concept, feel free to chime in. All ideas welcome, especially hardware alternatives, performance benchmarks, and form factor experiments.

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[Jstudner]

A hat like this could be neat, Offers several USB outputs and an ethernet port. I could probably have a jellyfin server run off of this, probably even cut down version of the arr stack and just like that you have a proper media server but itty.