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giaur
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Maybe I should update my experience - how it runs Android? And Kodi on Android
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2016-03-08, 13:12
(This post was last modified: 2016-03-08, 13:13 by DarrenHill.)
The Pi doesn't run Android, at least with any usability (there are KitKat and I think Lollipop ports around, but the experience is not nice).
But it doesn't need to, OE, OSMC and Raspbian are fine for their jobs unless you're pushing the envelope (4k .265 for example), at which point you're indeed better off with a more powerful box, probably using Android as the OS.
So for very many usage cases, a Pi2 or Pi3 will quite happily fulfil most users needs in this area.
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giaur
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2016-03-08, 13:21
(This post was last modified: 2016-03-08, 13:25 by giaur.)
For you, it does not need Android... for me, Kodi is not enough. I like to have internet browser, maps, skype or other messengers, official YouTube etc. Only Android can turn my tv into real smart tv, way better than official smart tv from manufacturer. I really hate Android TV, regular Android is much better. Other smart tv platforms (like WebOS from lg for example) - hate them even more.
Now I'm impressed how powerful are latest Rockchip chips, especially hardware decoding capabilities - 4k dci/h265 is not any problem and price is low. From other hand, sometimes support is poor, especially (as mentioned in this thread) there are some problems with Kodi.
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Koying
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What you need is proper remote support, for a device attached to a TV.
Otherwise, the experience ranges from cumbersome (keyboard + mouse) to nightmarishly frustrating (airmouse). Try to use ES explotrer with a remote to get what I mean...
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Koying
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2016-03-08, 14:09
(This post was last modified: 2016-03-08, 14:12 by Koying.)
Specifically for RK, the worst part was that I wanted to implement the same level of support as for AML.
They just denied me the sources of their player to allow me to do so, so they actually don't want Kodi to properly support their SoC (or they're just plain stupid, or their player infringe on OS licence. +rkffplayer+ is highly suspicious name for a closed source player).
All RK stuff immediately went to the "junk" closet, and I suggest all Kodi users to do the same...
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fritsch
Team-Kodi Developer
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You have my full support for that :-)
+1
So let's send users to them in the future. Bye Bye RK.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
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giaur
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2016-03-08, 15:49
(This post was last modified: 2016-03-08, 15:49 by giaur.)
Yep, it lags on poor hardware. Many cheap phones, tablets, tons of crap with Android installed. Lags as hell, and then we have opinions like above - Android = lags. Not true. It lags because it's installed on hardware that should not be used. Agree, Linux can run fine on slower hardware, but so what? Powerful tv box with android installed is still the best choice and freedom. Linux desktop is totally useless on tv. Windows is barely usable.
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jjd-uk
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2016-03-08, 16:06
(This post was last modified: 2016-03-08, 16:07 by jjd-uk.)
You misunderstood, by lags I meant the API's available for media apps are not as good as those available for other OS's, so quality of media playback is not going to be on par with what can be done on Linux for example.
So if you have a box you want dedicated to media playback and you are after the best quality then something Linux based is always going to be best, where Android is great and comes into it's own is the sheer easy of use and the app ecosystem, however the trade off is that for now you'll have to accept that media playback quality will be compromised compared to what can be achieved on other OS's, although this is getting better with each new Android version so the gap is slowly closing.
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giaur
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Just updated to 16.1 Jarvis. No video - black screen. Deleted all data - black screen. Uninstalled, installed 16.0 - no video, black screen.
Reboot system, reinstall 16.0 - all is ok.