2018-02-02, 01:02
Thought I will post my experience as I am currently using:
- RPi3 with LibreELEC 8.2.3 and LibreELEC 9.X
- Alfawise H96pro plus 3/32 with LibreELEC 8.2.2
So what can I say, we have already almost 200 pages of a thread. I bought the Rpi3 just recently and after tweaking and fine tuning (not w/o the hassle) now I can say that I have ditched my H96pro plus box in the corner and would probably use it for Android apps and for 10-bitHVEC. I do not own a 4k TV so RPi3 fulfill all my needs.
Compared to how much effort I have invested into my H96pro plus, the Rpi3 and LibreELEC experience is like riding a luxurious car as to the road with H96 is mostly running barefoot on a rocky path
But! At the end now with 7.1.2 Android`s rom from Superceleron (Freaktab) things are more even out, even some of the S912 boxes are making it to be named 4k Krypton devices without a hassle...
But I would say - if you are like me - use up to FULL HD, then RPi3 definitely is the better and smoother experience, a lot of support around as it`s reference Kodi hardware, LibreELEC 9.X beta roms almost daily, in general a more consistent Kodi experience.
p.s. Update: Thought to give the S912 box another go, what can I say, it really rips the lammas ass, as it was fashionable to say in a music player a (not so) long time ago Overall playing all kind of video content, jump right in to Kodi`s menu, no tearing at all, very smooth compared to RPi3 where by jumping to main menu while playing results in tearing (at least for me). Both boxes wired to 1GB network, but RPi3 hits the 100mb limit as to the H96pro plus box runs at 1gb.
I am booting LibreELEC from a not so fast 4gb micro SD card but then using the Android box eMMC (internal nand/flash memory) which is quite fast and handles all library updates quite OK.
So I am a little puzzled now, with "just" a Full HD TV (no 4k), when I have to weigh out Rpi3 vs H96pro plus - there seems to be more advantages for the S912 box. Given also the fact that S912 LibreELEC development is quite good (final 8.2.2.3 build and a lot 9.x Kodi 18 builds already in place)...
Probably the "biggest" problem (if you are into streaming netflix) is that you can not get it done right on H96pro plus, no proper certification and etc, but same is applies for RPi3. There is also the famous u-boot problem where by powering off the H96 box from it`s own remote, you can not power it on, you have plug out/in the power cable to boot it. Well, Rpi3 is kind of the same, once is powered off there are no easy way to power it on. Saw some people handle the power on via HDMI CEC, by wiring some pins from the GPIO but it`s not a quick and dirty solution.
So best thing is leave both devices on and don`t care. Rpi2 was supposed to burn ~1-2$ of electricity per month, the Rpi3 power supply is a little bit more powerful but it will not make a huge difference. Also I am running a not modded H96 pro plus meaning that in Android while using Kodi (using actually FMTC) box can get up to 90 celsius. With LibreELEC it runs 60-80 which is okayish. On my RPi3 I got just heatsinks but it runs around the same temp like the H96 pro.
Now the goodies - the H96pro plus has 3 GB of RAM and I am using it with 600MB of cache via advancedsettings.xml - cause I always have like 2 - 2.5GB free of memory. The H96 pro plus can do HD audio, meaning you can butter your ears withDolby TrueHD and DTS HD-Master audio, while the Rpi3 can not do those. Well that seems to be "partially true", you can read more details here. So let`s say you wont be losing to much in the sound area, especially if you equip your Rpi3 with a nice external audio interface (like hifiberry or others).
So probably the bigger advantage besides performance and speed is that S912 can do 8/10bit 1080p H265 decoding where to Rpi3 can not do 10 bit hvec 1080, but will cope with 8 bit 720/1080 - or so I ve seen on my box. And of course the 4k thing - no chance with RPi3, but a go with AML S912(H96).
Probably the worst thing with AML is that there are so many boxes, so many variations on the same SoC, so if you wanna go with S912, better choose a box that is approved or semi-approved for doing what you need it to do in the first post of the thread.
- RPi3 with LibreELEC 8.2.3 and LibreELEC 9.X
- Alfawise H96pro plus 3/32 with LibreELEC 8.2.2
So what can I say, we have already almost 200 pages of a thread. I bought the Rpi3 just recently and after tweaking and fine tuning (not w/o the hassle) now I can say that I have ditched my H96pro plus box in the corner and would probably use it for Android apps and for 10-bitHVEC. I do not own a 4k TV so RPi3 fulfill all my needs.
Compared to how much effort I have invested into my H96pro plus, the Rpi3 and LibreELEC experience is like riding a luxurious car as to the road with H96 is mostly running barefoot on a rocky path
But! At the end now with 7.1.2 Android`s rom from Superceleron (Freaktab) things are more even out, even some of the S912 boxes are making it to be named 4k Krypton devices without a hassle...
But I would say - if you are like me - use up to FULL HD, then RPi3 definitely is the better and smoother experience, a lot of support around as it`s reference Kodi hardware, LibreELEC 9.X beta roms almost daily, in general a more consistent Kodi experience.
p.s. Update: Thought to give the S912 box another go, what can I say, it really rips the lammas ass, as it was fashionable to say in a music player a (not so) long time ago
Overall playing all kind of video content, jump right in to Kodi`s menu, no tearing at all, very smooth compared to RPi3 where by jumping to main menu while playing results in tearing (at least for me). Both boxes wired to 1GB network, but RPi3 hits the 100mb limit as to the H96pro plus box runs at 1gb.I am booting LibreELEC from a not so fast 4gb micro SD card but then using the Android box eMMC (internal nand/flash memory) which is quite fast and handles all library updates quite OK.
So I am a little puzzled now, with "just" a Full HD TV (no 4k), when I have to weigh out Rpi3 vs H96pro plus - there seems to be more advantages for the S912 box. Given also the fact that S912 LibreELEC development is quite good (final 8.2.2.3 build and a lot 9.x Kodi 18 builds already in place)...
Probably the "biggest" problem (if you are into streaming netflix) is that you can not get it done right on H96pro plus, no proper certification and etc, but same is applies for RPi3. There is also the famous u-boot problem where by powering off the H96 box from it`s own remote, you can not power it on, you have plug out/in the power cable to boot it. Well, Rpi3 is kind of the same, once is powered off there are no easy way to power it on. Saw some people handle the power on via HDMI CEC, by wiring some pins from the GPIO but it`s not a quick and dirty solution.
So best thing is leave both devices on and don`t care. Rpi2 was supposed to burn ~1-2$ of electricity per month, the Rpi3 power supply is a little bit more powerful but it will not make a huge difference. Also I am running a not modded H96 pro plus meaning that in Android while using Kodi (using actually FMTC) box can get up to 90 celsius. With LibreELEC it runs 60-80 which is okayish. On my RPi3 I got just heatsinks but it runs around the same temp like the H96 pro.
Now the goodies - the H96pro plus has 3 GB of RAM and I am using it with 600MB of cache via advancedsettings.xml - cause I always have like 2 - 2.5GB free of memory. The H96 pro plus can do HD audio, meaning you can butter your ears withDolby TrueHD and DTS HD-Master audio, while the Rpi3 can not do those. Well that seems to be "partially true", you can read more details here. So let`s say you wont be losing to much in the sound area, especially if you equip your Rpi3 with a nice external audio interface (like hifiberry or others).
So probably the bigger advantage besides performance and speed is that S912 can do 8/10bit 1080p H265 decoding where to Rpi3 can not do 10 bit hvec 1080, but will cope with 8 bit 720/1080 - or so I ve seen on my box. And of course the 4k thing - no chance with RPi3, but a go with AML S912(H96).
Probably the worst thing with AML is that there are so many boxes, so many variations on the same SoC, so if you wanna go with S912, better choose a box that is approved or semi-approved for doing what you need it to do in the first post of the thread.
