[Tangerine]

I just bought an Android box to run Kodi as I had a monitor lying around which is bigger than my MacBook Pro's screen and with it hooked up to my stereo, it seemed like a better option for watching videos. I don't use it to watch anything streamed, I copy stuff onto a USB 3.0 stick and watch from there - so it isn't a network issue. The videos are various different kinds; mkv, mp4, avi and none are particularly high definition - the maximum I normally watch is 720p but the problem is with all videos including lower resolution videos and ones that I have made at 1080 25p.

When I first hooked it up, there were occasional video and audio stutters and thanks to a quick search online, I found that switching 'Adjust display refresh rate' to Always in Settings > Videos > Playback, the video aspect of the problem was sorted but the audio aspect continues and is very irritating to the point that I have to have subtitles switched on all the time in case it stutters at a crucial moment of dialogue.

I have tried a lot of things which may or may not have improved things slightly; in Settings > System > Audio output, I reduced the number of channels from 5.1 to 2.0 as I am using the stereo A/V output into my hifi. I have tried all the different resampling quality settings and even enabled passthrough even though I know it ought not make any difference. I also disabled automatic updates to reduce other processes. It might be relevant to say that the stutters seem to happen mainly, but not exclusively, when there are audio peaks such as when there is loud music and to address this, I disabled 'Maintain original volume on downmix - this seemed to make things better but not for long. The problem does not occur on other devices and when I rewind and play the section again, it always plays properly - so I am fairly convinced that it isn't the file. I have just disabled hardware acceleration even though it ought, if anything, make things worse with my hardware but I am yet to see any improvement. Additionally, I have noticed that between dialogue, when there ought to be silence, the background noise often increases.

My hardware profile says the following:

CPU: ARMv7 rev 5 (v71)
BogoMips: 48.0
Hardware: Rockchip RK3229
Revision: 0000

[edit] I forgot to mention that I am using Kodi Jarvis 16.1.

As a Mac veteran, I'm not a native Android user so most of this means nothing to me so I would be very grateful for any help.

[wrxtasy]

Putting it to you straight - you have bought a cheap piece of crap. Rockchip devices are NOT recommended for Kodi at all.

It needs Firmware support from the manufacturer to be compatible with Kodi. Something Rockchip did not want to do a long time ago.
You best bet now is the Freaktab Website.

Best advice send it back from where it came from and get a nVIDIA / AMLogic box / whatever device with decent Firmware support.
And by decent Firmware support I mean devices from this thread from developers and sellers that actually know what they are doing:

START HERE - Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated Oct 2016)

Unsupported Kodi devices from sellers that "Ship and Forget", that come packaged with rubbish Firmware packing a Pirate payload will receive No sympathy or help from Knowledgable Kodi developers. They frankly are a complete waste of everyone's time.
Firmware is the sellers responsibility not Kodi's.

[Tangerine]

Well, thank you for your frank reply.

I think I occupy a lonely position in the market in that all I want to do is watch media from a USB stick and having looked at the devices you mentioned, they seem to focus on streaming capability and to be equally frank back, I did try out media streaming on the device I have, a Dolamee D5 (which, as a complete novice, meant absolutely nothing to me) and it was capable of allowing me to watch streaming media from all corners of the earth. But I haven't had a television for over a decade and I'm not in the slightest bit interested in it. I only reached this point because a friend gave me a Raspberry Pi 2B which I thought I could use as a media player but even booted from a Kodi drive the audio output from the A/V socket was pitifully low no matter what was tweaked and I felt that I had committed myself to the idea and looked for an inexpensive alternative and knowing nothing when everything seemed to have similar specifications at a similar price and nobody around to advise, I made a stab in the dark. Ironically, I told the friend who gave me the Raspberry Pi about my purchase and he bought an identical one which does not have the problems that mine have.

It seems like I am bearing the brunt of the bad feelings which are held towards people who use their boxes for different purposes.

I'm glad I asked, though, it's surprising what you can learn when you walk into a room and ask the wrong question.

[wrxtasy]

No its not bad feelings at all. We just tell it like it is these days to save everyone's time.

Buying a media player is all an education process, pretty much all users on the forum have bought at least one "Crap" media player device in our time, myself included.

Its also why the START HERE thread was created to hopefully prevent these Snake Oil Salesmen Android pirate sellers from selling rubbish Android Boxes to another Kodi victim !

If your a Newbie, you really need a media player Kodi device that comes with proper seller/manufacturer and Kodi community support.
Those are the most important factor in choosing any Kodi box.

If you want a properly working budget Kodi media player. Ditch Android all together and stick with LibreELEC on the RPi's or S905 AMLogic devices.
OR else just buy a $69 Xiaomi Mi Box - which will be far easier to use with its Android TV OS interface.

[Tangerine]

You are probably right but just for the record, I have sorted the problem out. When I first got the box, in an attempt to boost the fairly low audio output (but nowhere near as low as the Raspberry Pi), I had adjusted the volume amplification settings via the audio button on the HuD to 40dB to roughly equal the levels of my hifi's other inputs - probably a level mismatch. I had forgotten that I had done this and I gradually adjusted it down and it reached a point at 25dB where the problem stopped.

Anyway, since then, the box works like a dream and I would highly recommend it. I remember hearing a programme on the radio about twenty years ago about audiophiles and people who did things like putting their speakers in sections of concrete sewage pipes and one guy had paid £100 (probably £200 nowadays) for a power cable; yet he only had about half a dozen CDs (which were then the peak of audio fidelity). I had a second hand AKAI system (which I still have) and about 200 CDs (now about three times that) and I wondered who got the most enjoyment from their music and who got the most enjoyment out of owning the best kit.

I get that the Kodi community needs to distance itself from developers of add-ons of dubious legality but if people can buy a fully functioning box for £25 (and the reviews I have read for the one I have are very hot), then try not to insult their intelligence.