2016-03-10, 15:03
2016-03-10, 15:22
(2016-03-09, 12:10)Ned Scott Wrote:(2016-03-09, 07:54)mjbxx Wrote:(2016-03-09, 00:09)Ned Scott Wrote: Even in 2016, media players focusing on Kodi, Plex, Emby, VLC, Netflix, HBO, and all of those apps, they don't realistically see any benefit in having more than 1 GB of RAM. It makes more sense when you are running multiple apps at the same time, have some light gaming going on, etc.Not buying this at all. I'll not touch a box with less than 2 GB DDR3 RAM. What's next? Go with 500 MB of RAM and then you're heading into that pathetic Roku OS territory. Do not skimp on available RAM to save a buck. Just add it and charge for it accordingly. Seriously, just look at the difference between the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick regarding RAM and performance.
In other words, it keeps the cost down. If people need more RAM in a WeTek product, then there's the Play 2S. The Hub is meant to be an inexpensive and tiny solution that people can slap to the black of their TVs. It's like an HDMI stick without actually being in stick formfactor.
Okay...
Outside of Kodi, sure, more RAM is important for many games and other things. Kodi doesn't care if you have 1GB of RAM or 16GB of RAM. Some of the best Kodi players I've seen only have 1GB of RAM (Raspberry Pi 2 and 3, Google Nexus Player, various x86 systems, WeTek Core).
The difference between the Fire TV and Fire TV stick has nothing to do with the RAM and everything to do with the CPU. Even if the RAM was a noticeable factor, it should also be pointed out that the Fire TV stick only had 512MB of RAM for applications, and the other 512MB was for the GPU, due to the type of GPU in the stick.
If the rest of the hardware isn't taking advantage of the other specs then it doesn't really matter. It's like putting a jet engine in a scooter. These are purpose built appliances, not desktop computers or general use tablets/phones. What do you think the RAM will be used for in Kodi? At most, I can see people wanting more RAM for cache or live TV buffering to reduce wear on the internal memory. Other than that, I honestly don't think most people will ever see a difference.
The lack of ram on the fire stick makes a huge difference, by the time kodi's booted mine has less than 100mb, this isn't enough to display the EPG or playback live tv smoothly. It also runs out of RAM and force closes even displaying a relatively small library.
1GB just isn't enough for a lot of users who have large librarys. My main x86 box with openelec and 2GB ram even runs out regularly when trying to scroll through my movie library which is around 1500. Kodi just doesn't handle displaying a large library of posters well enough it seems to retain everything you scroll through in memory and doesn't release it when resources get too low. Instead it just crashes.
The only reason i've stayed away from wetek boxes is the lack of RAM, I would love the new s2 but i'm still unsure as only having a 2GB option is still lacking when you compare it to your upgrade options on x86 hardware.
It might not matter for the majority of users but RAM makes a huge difference as you scale up and the more options they include for it the more users they will get.
2016-03-10, 15:45
Have you tried an External Media Scraper and putting Movies and TV series in individual folders with their associated Metadata on a fast NAS or HDD ?
With a large media library it really is the only way to get organised. Makes the Library very Portable then as well to any Kodi device and does not limit your choice of Hardware options. You can easily clone a library as well. No need to do slow metadata rescraping everytime you upgrade, do it once and once only.
I too learnt that lesson a few years back after running into issues such as yours, roll up the sleeves and put the work in and do regular maintenance to stay on top of the expanding Library. You won't regret it.
I use the popular MediaElch, further discussion on this topic needs to go to this thread:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=136333
With a large media library it really is the only way to get organised. Makes the Library very Portable then as well to any Kodi device and does not limit your choice of Hardware options. You can easily clone a library as well. No need to do slow metadata rescraping everytime you upgrade, do it once and once only.
I too learnt that lesson a few years back after running into issues such as yours, roll up the sleeves and put the work in and do regular maintenance to stay on top of the expanding Library. You won't regret it.
I use the popular MediaElch, further discussion on this topic needs to go to this thread:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=136333
2016-03-10, 15:58
I think that if those models will be released in the next 3 months, Wetek have lose the opportunity to introduce a box with the socket S905X with DAC, HDR, VP9 and Android 6.0 and be the first one with this new socket.
2016-03-10, 16:10
(2016-03-10, 15:45)wrxtasy Wrote: Have you tried an External Media Scraper and putting Movies and TV series in individual folders with their associated Metadata on a fast NAS or HDD ?
With a large media library it really is the only way to get organised. Makes the Library very Portable then as well to any Kodi device and does not limit your choice of Hardware options. You can easily clone it as well.
I too learnt that lesson a few years back after running into issues such as yours, roll up the sleeves and put the work in and do regular maintenance to stay on top of the expanding Library. You won't regret it.
I use the popular MediaElch, further discussion on that should go to this thread:
http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=136333
I haven't as i did not think it would make any difference to the RAM issues. Currently everything resides on my N54L with openelec using the default scrapers + mysql. It's also used for playback as well as other clients in the house.
As HDD space isn't an issue and everything get's scraped correctly I didn't think I would have any benefit from an external media manager.
I'd be happy to do the maintanence if this can make a difference as now even my nvidia shield tv is starting to struggle scrolling through the library of posters as it eats up RAM for fun.
2016-03-10, 17:45
(2016-03-10, 15:58)JoBcn Wrote: I think that if those models will be released in the next 3 months, Wetek have lose the opportunity to introduce a box with the socket S905X with DAC, HDR, VP9 and Android 6.0 and be the first one with this new socket.
S905X is not our target due the fact that it doesnt have TS input. As we are in process of certification with Verimatrix DRM & CAS we will probably in future target S905D.
2016-03-10, 18:03
(2016-03-10, 17:45)droidelec Wrote:(2016-03-10, 15:58)JoBcn Wrote: I think that if those models will be released in the next 3 months, Wetek have lose the opportunity to introduce a box with the socket S905X with DAC, HDR, VP9 and Android 6.0 and be the first one with this new socket.
S905X is not our target due the fact that it doesnt have TS input. As we are in process of certification with Verimatrix DRM & CAS we will probably in future target S905D.
Thanks for your explanation
As S905D will take longer to appear I think I will go for Play 2S for now
I was waiting for the Core but I will go directly to the Play 2S
Hope that the it is launched very soon and we know asap the price and availability or you accept reservations
2016-03-10, 18:37
Well our commercial and marketing guys are busy I guess with CabSat in Dubai, but we will try to get some more infos asap.
2016-03-10, 21:47
"PlayReady" is what is catching my eye.
Does this mean that this device can start using my HDHomeRun Prime again in some manner?
Can it act as a Windows Media Center (ugh... I feel ill just typing that) extender device?
Does this mean that this device can start using my HDHomeRun Prime again in some manner?
Can it act as a Windows Media Center (ugh... I feel ill just typing that) extender device?
2016-03-11, 02:30
(2016-03-10, 15:22)ianuk2005 Wrote: The lack of ram on the fire stick makes a huge difference, by the time kodi's booted mine has less than 100mb, this isn't enough to display the EPG or playback live tv smoothly. It also runs out of RAM and force closes even displaying a relatively small library.
1GB just isn't enough for a lot of users who have large librarys. My main x86 box with openelec and 2GB ram even runs out regularly when trying to scroll through my movie library which is around 1500. Kodi just doesn't handle displaying a large library of posters well enough it seems to retain everything you scroll through in memory and doesn't release it when resources get too low. Instead it just crashes.
The only reason i've stayed away from wetek boxes is the lack of RAM, I would love the new s2 but i'm still unsure as only having a 2GB option is still lacking when you compare it to your upgrade options on x86 hardware.
It might not matter for the majority of users but RAM makes a huge difference as you scale up and the more options they include for it the more users they will get.
The Fire TV stick does not have 1GB of RAM. It only has 512MB of RAM. I have never had Kodi crash due to running out of RAM on a 1GB box. It really shouldn't happen even with 512, either. The Fire TV stick also uses Fire OS, which for all I know uses more RAM than other Android versions, especially official Androis TV devices.
Yes, it is possible for people with huge libraries and large fanart will see smoother scrolling with more RAM. People will also see smoother scrolling with a faster CPU. I'm not talking about edge cases or "would be nice" cases. I'm sure an i7 will render raindrop ripples on the Kodi home screen much better than any ARM chip, but saying Kodi requires that is nonsense.
If someone needs a more demanding machine then they should buy one. One size will never fit all. They sell a box with 1GB of RAM, but there's also an upgraded version with 2GB of RAM. Live TV is likely the biggest use case for more RAM. Users needing more performance than that should look to the top-of-the-line Shield TV or the x86 platform options. Still, that is different than saying something absurd like "Kodi needs 2GB or more RAM". That is factually incorrect.
EDIT: I don't mean to be a hard-ass on this. Sorry if this is coming off too strong. It's a fair debate point, and all in good fun :)
2016-03-11, 02:34
(2016-03-10, 16:10)ianuk2005 Wrote: I'd be happy to do the maintanence if this can make a difference as now even my nvidia shield tv is starting to struggle scrolling through the library of posters as it eats up RAM for fun.
A Shield TV should not have any issues with scrolling 2,000 or 5,000 or even 10,000 posters in Kodi. I think there is a larger issue going on here.
2016-03-11, 03:55
Looking at the Play 2S. Does this mean that some random deaf bastard (me) can plug a pair of headphones into the remote and listen that way while the rest of the family listens to the speakers? Any idea what the latency is like?
2016-03-11, 05:17
(2016-03-11, 03:55)dWooluf Wrote: Looking at the Play 2S. Does this mean that some random deaf bastard (me) can plug a pair of headphones into the remote and listen that way while the rest of the family listens to the speakers? Any idea what the latency is like?
I think only one audio device will work at a time. I've only seen the remote at the WeTek office and wasn't able to test it out myself, but other Android devices that have a similar thing (Fire TV, Shield) only use one at a time. That is, headphones or TV audio.