[Ned Scott]

This is a very random thread. I run kodi on an i7 desktop, 2 shields, 2 RPi (2 & 3), a shield K1 tablet and a surface. In terms of actually using kodi they all run as well and as fast as I would ever need.

Why would you want a super dooper fast processor for no appreciable benefit other than a higher electricity bill?

Caveat - I also have a wetek Play v1, that is too slow to run kodi acceptably.

Edge cases (insane skins, very demanding video codecs that don't have hardware decoders yet) and some moderate living room gaming (depending on the GPU). The living room gaming thing seems to be getting more popular lately, since you can get reasonable power in a tiny package, rather than a full tower.

[tredman]

This is a very random thread. I run kodi on an i7 desktop, 2 shields, 2 RPi (2 & 3), a shield K1 tablet and a surface. In terms of actually using kodi they all run as well and as fast as I would ever need.

Why would you want a super dooper fast processor for no appreciable benefit other than a higher electricity bill?

Caveat - I also have a wetek Play v1, that is too slow to run kodi acceptably.

Edge cases (insane skins, very demanding video codecs that don't have hardware decoders yet) and some moderate living room gaming (depending on the GPU). The living room gaming thing seems to be getting more popular lately, since you can get reasonable power in a tiny package, rather than a full tower.

I get the gaming thing (but think a Sheild would be much better for this, either light native games or geforce now for taxing games), but going from the OP that's not required, plus the more demanding skins will just make the whole system less reliable.

Maybe I'm just getting old

[Ned Scott]

Meh, GeForce Now requires a subscription and still isn't as good as playing the native game for certain games. Gamestreaming makes more sense locally, IMO.

There's actually a lot of GUI things you can do in Kodi that won't make the system less reliable. You can crank up all of the thumbnails and posters to their highest quality, you can use the higher quality downscaling for artwork, generate thumbnails faster (for files), show more skin animations, get really crazy with ShaderToy, and more. It's an edge case, for sure, but it's actually really impressive what happens when you go "crazy" with raw CPU power and Kodi's GUI :)

but yeah, a Shield is more than enough power for my needs.

[ianuk2005]

This is a very random thread. I run kodi on an i7 desktop, 2 shields, 2 RPi (2 & 3), a shield K1 tablet and a surface. In terms of actually using kodi they all run as well and as fast as I would ever need.

Why would you want a super dooper fast processor for no appreciable benefit other than a higher electricity bill?

Caveat - I also have a wetek Play v1, that is too slow to run kodi acceptably.

Edge cases (insane skins, very demanding video codecs that don't have hardware decoders yet) and some moderate living room gaming (depending on the GPU). The living room gaming thing seems to be getting more popular lately, since you can get reasonable power in a tiny package, rather than a full tower.

I get the gaming thing (but think a Sheild would be much better for this, either light native games or geforce now for taxing games), but going from the OP that's not required, plus the more demanding skins will just make the whole system less reliable.

Maybe I'm just getting old

I think an i7 is overkill but you definetly get a boost with an i3/i5 for fairly standard operation.

The shield is a great device, it has some nice ootions for retro, limited android and remote gaming. But it just doesnt compare to native windows gaming in terms of selection and performance.

A small pc with an new gen i3/i5 and a decent gpu is a good all rounder than can run kodi, native games etc at great speeds.

[danfloss]

You can crank up all of the thumbnails and posters to their highest quality, you can use the higher quality downscaling for artwork, generate thumbnails faster (for files), show more skin animations, get really crazy with ShaderToy, and more.

How? I must look into this as i have never seen such settings

[Ned Scott]

Most of that is in advancedsettings.xml (wiki).

[danfloss]

Most of that is in advancedsettings.xml (wiki).

I'm on it

[PJDavis1970]

Over an x86 system? No way. I'm a huge ARM fan, but there's no way I would recommend any ARM device over what OP is looking at. When people start spending $200-300 USD on HTPCs for raw power, and they don't need apps, then x86 is still the king.

Sorry I disagree. The Q10 pro can play any media content that any x86 system can.
However the Arm chip draws less power. in Short cheaper to run.

If you are using the OS for other things then yes maybe x86, however if you only ever run Kodi on the box then go for the cheaper to run system that can handle anything you throw at it.

I'm sorry, you're wrong. Go try to play a 12 bit HEVC (1080 or 4k, either is fine) file on the Q10. There are lots of those out in the wild. Or some of the more exotic live TV streams that come from official broadcasters. Or a high bitrate 1080P h.264 Hi10P video. There are even some audio codec situations that will bring your Q10 to it's knees.

Even if it did play those formats, OP is asking about GUI speed, especially with things such as PVR guides. A 2016 i5 or i7 NUC will absolutely destroy any ARM box out there.

EDIT: oh, and the only way the HiMedia Q10 plays most video properly is by bypassing the internal Kodi video player. Any device doing that is basically garbage for Kodi, IMO.

I have yet to find anything the Q10 Pro cannot handle. I also have an extremely large library and I get no slow down or stuttering the the UI.

Taking into account the OP as asked for something for the parents who probably are not people who will sit there and bench mark the box. They also do not have 4k yet so again do not need a Ferrari. However having a box that can do 4k 10 bit if they ever update is a benefit.

Yes the Q10 uses the hi media player and not Kodi player but lets face it Kodi is just a jukebox anyway if you want perfect media player performance then why kodi at all as there are much better solutions.

Bottom line is unless you are a benchmarker who wants a system to show off to people then the Q10 Pro is a very very good solution and especially for someone who is possibly not technically minded. Someone who wants a plug and play system.

[wrxtasy]

I disagree, when the Q10 Pro gets out of its beta test Firmware stage then it may be worthy.

I mean cmon, the Q10 cannot even play 23.976fps synced video reliably yet where as Intel (Haswell onwards) is rock solid, even a $25 AMLogic S905 running LibreELEC would have better video sync.

Its not just the GUI experience the Original Poster should be considering here.

I have yet to see a solid review of the Q10's deinterlacing prowess yet either. I would be very surprised if its better than Intel gear.