Upgrading Raspberry Pi?
#1
Hi guys.
I'm currently running Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ with libreelec installed.
Would it be worth it to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi 4? 

Playback is quite smooth with the Pi 3B now, but navigation in Kodi is quite slow, especially heavier skins with lots of artwork really slow down the system so I'm forced to use lighter and minimalistic skins and even then it's not really that smooth. 
Currently I'm only watching shows and movies at 1080p which looks quite alright but I'm guessing the Pi 4 would allow for even better/smoother playback?

I'm curious about your suggestions or experiences!
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#2
(2020-04-07, 11:10)Orbeatle Wrote: Hi guys.
I'm currently running Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ with libreelec installed.
Would it be worth it to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi 4? 

Playback is quite smooth with the Pi 3B now, but navigation in Kodi is quite slow, especially heavier skins with lots of artwork really slow down the system so I'm forced to use lighter and minimalistic skins and even then it's not really that smooth. 
Currently I'm only watching shows and movies at 1080p which looks quite alright but I'm guessing the Pi 4 would allow for even better/smoother playback?

I'm curious about your suggestions or experiences!

The Pi 4B is still very much a work in progress in Kodi terms.  It is definitely snappier - but the last time I checked there was still some slightly niggling UI tearing.  You may be better off looking at S922X solutions like the ODroid N2 or similar boxes running CoreElec.  

The Pi 4B is an amazing little SBC for the price (particularly since the 2GB Kodi-friendly model US$10 price drop to US$35) but it's not quite yet as polished as the previous generation 3B+ etc. (Though it does do hardware h.265 decode). For other solutions - it's speedy little CPU, hardware GigE, USB3.0 connectivity etc. make it a great little solution for a small NAS, TV Headend server etc.  and it's a pretty neat cheap little desktop PC for low-demand jobs.
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#3
(2020-04-07, 13:25)noggin Wrote:
(2020-04-07, 11:10)Orbeatle Wrote: Hi guys.
I'm currently running Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ with libreelec installed.
Would it be worth it to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi 4? 

Playback is quite smooth with the Pi 3B now, but navigation in Kodi is quite slow, especially heavier skins with lots of artwork really slow down the system so I'm forced to use lighter and minimalistic skins and even then it's not really that smooth. 
Currently I'm only watching shows and movies at 1080p which looks quite alright but I'm guessing the Pi 4 would allow for even better/smoother playback?

I'm curious about your suggestions or experiences!

The Pi 4B is still very much a work in progress in Kodi terms.  It is definitely snappier - but the last time I checked there was still some slightly niggling UI tearing.  You may be better off looking at S922X solutions like the ODroid N2 or similar boxes running CoreElec.  

The Pi 4B is an amazing little SBC for the price (particularly since the 2GB Kodi-friendly model US$10 price drop to US$35) but it's not quite yet as polished as the previous generation 3B+ etc. (Though it does do hardware h.265 decode). For other solutions - it's speedy little CPU, hardware GigE, USB3.0 connectivity etc. make it a great little solution for a small NAS, TV Headend server etc.  and it's a pretty neat cheap little desktop PC for low-demand jobs. 
Never heard of ODroid N2. You'd reccomend it over the Pi 4? I'm not really an IT geek or anything, I'll just end up using it only for Kodi.
An upgrade would also be nice to be able to play some 4K content, which the Pi 3B+ obviously doesn't support.
I've ordered a Mi Box S last year which also can handle 4K content, and tried to get Kodi running smoothly on it but it doesn't compare to the Pi 3B+. The colors are overly saturated and it's not quite as stable as the Pi.

I'll look into that ODroid thing. Thanks for your reply.
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#4
(2020-04-07, 13:25)noggin Wrote:
(2020-04-07, 11:10)Orbeatle Wrote: Hi guys.
I'm currently running Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ with libreelec installed.
Would it be worth it to upgrade to a Raspberry Pi 4? 

Playback is quite smooth with the Pi 3B now, but navigation in Kodi is quite slow, especially heavier skins with lots of artwork really slow down the system so I'm forced to use lighter and minimalistic skins and even then it's not really that smooth. 
Currently I'm only watching shows and movies at 1080p which looks quite alright but I'm guessing the Pi 4 would allow for even better/smoother playback?

I'm curious about your suggestions or experiences!

The Pi 4B is still very much a work in progress in Kodi terms.  It is definitely snappier - but the last time I checked there was still some slightly niggling UI tearing.  You may be better off looking at S922X solutions like the ODroid N2 or similar boxes running CoreElec.  

The Pi 4B is an amazing little SBC for the price (particularly since the 2GB Kodi-friendly model US$10 price drop to US$35) but it's not quite yet as polished as the previous generation 3B+ etc. (Though it does do hardware h.265 decode). For other solutions - it's speedy little CPU, hardware GigE, USB3.0 connectivity etc. make it a great little solution for a small NAS, TV Headend server etc.  and it's a pretty neat cheap little desktop PC for low-demand jobs. 
Turns out you need quite a bit of technical knowledge to be able to make that ODroid thing work.. So for me that's not really an option Big Grin.

I think I'll stick with the Pi 3B+ for a while then.
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#5
(2020-04-09, 13:12)Orbeatle Wrote: Turns out you need quite a bit of technical knowledge to be able to make that ODroid thing work.. So for me that's not really an option Big Grin.

I think I'll stick with the Pi 3B+ for a while then. 
What "technical knowledge" do you need for N2 ?
You need an uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to know how to insert an uSD card to the device -> same as on Pi
You have to turn on N2 to install burned image -> same as on Pi
When installation finishes it's thing, you need to setup Kodi to your needs -> same as on Pi
Most video/audio formats play on N2 "out of the box" -> not same as on Pi Wink
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#6
(2020-04-09, 13:48)Sholander Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 13:12)Orbeatle Wrote: Turns out you need quite a bit of technical knowledge to be able to make that ODroid thing work.. So for me that's not really an option Big Grin.

I think I'll stick with the Pi 3B+ for a while then. 
What "technical knowledge" do you need for N2 ?
You need an uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to know how to insert an uSD card to the device -> same as on Pi
You have to turn on N2 to install burned image -> same as on Pi
When installation finishes it's thing, you need to setup Kodi to your needs -> same as on Pi
Most video/audio formats play on N2 "out of the box" -> not same as on Pi Wink 
With the Pi I got a kind of plug and play kit, with a pre-installed SD card.
I'm not seeing that option for the ODroid. 

So this: "You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card" was not needed when I got the Pi Smile.
Also, the ODroid offers SD cards and something called a eMMC module? I've read somewhere that that eMMC thing is faster, would it be recommended to use that?
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#7
(2020-04-09, 15:40)Orbeatle Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 13:48)Sholander Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 13:12)Orbeatle Wrote: Turns out you need quite a bit of technical knowledge to be able to make that ODroid thing work.. So for me that's not really an option Big Grin.

I think I'll stick with the Pi 3B+ for a while then. 
What "technical knowledge" do you need for N2 ?
You need an uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to know how to insert an uSD card to the device -> same as on Pi
You have to turn on N2 to install burned image -> same as on Pi
When installation finishes it's thing, you need to setup Kodi to your needs -> same as on Pi
Most video/audio formats play on N2 "out of the box" -> not same as on Pi Wink  
With the Pi I got a kind of plug and play kit, with a pre-installed SD card.
I'm not seeing that option for the ODroid. 

So this: "You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card" was not needed when I got the Pi Smile.
Also, the ODroid offers SD cards and something called a eMMC module? I've read somewhere that that eMMC thing is faster, would it be recommended to use that? 
OK, you don't have technical knowledge, but you seem to miss some more "knowledge":
Odroid N2 CoreElec edition -> price much higher that Pi4 !
Yes, eMMC although not needed is faster than uSD card. Note that in many tasks you'd not see/feel that speed difference. It' noticeable when updating, archiving or doing tasks that require reading/displaying lots of thumbnails...
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#8
(2020-04-09, 15:53)Sholander Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 15:40)Orbeatle Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 13:48)Sholander Wrote: What "technical knowledge" do you need for N2 ?
You need an uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card -> same as on Pi
You need to know how to insert an uSD card to the device -> same as on Pi
You have to turn on N2 to install burned image -> same as on Pi
When installation finishes it's thing, you need to setup Kodi to your needs -> same as on Pi
Most video/audio formats play on N2 "out of the box" -> not same as on Pi Wink  
With the Pi I got a kind of plug and play kit, with a pre-installed SD card.
I'm not seeing that option for the ODroid. 

So this: "You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card" was not needed when I got the Pi Smile.
Also, the ODroid offers SD cards and something called a eMMC module? I've read somewhere that that eMMC thing is faster, would it be recommended to use that?   
OK, you don't have technical knowledge, but you seem to miss some more "knowledge":
Odroid N2 CoreElec edition -> price much higher that Pi4 !
Yes, eMMC although not needed is faster than uSD card. Note that in many tasks you'd not see/feel that speed difference. It' noticeable when updating, archiving or doing tasks that require reading/displaying lots of thumbnails...  
Yeah I know already that that CoreElec edition exists but it's out of stock! And there's no other vendor selling it as far as I've seen.
So my knowledge regarding that is quite well developed Wink.

But I could give it a try with ordering an ODroid and formatting a SD card..
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#9
(2020-04-09, 16:04)Orbeatle Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 15:53)Sholander Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 15:40)Orbeatle Wrote: With the Pi I got a kind of plug and play kit, with a pre-installed SD card.
I'm not seeing that option for the ODroid. 

So this: "You need to burn a stable Coreelec image to your uSD card" was not needed when I got the Pi Smile.
Also, the ODroid offers SD cards and something called a eMMC module? I've read somewhere that that eMMC thing is faster, would it be recommended to use that?   
OK, you don't have technical knowledge, but you seem to miss some more "knowledge":
Odroid N2 CoreElec edition -> price much higher that Pi4 !
Yes, eMMC although not needed is faster than uSD card. Note that in many tasks you'd not see/feel that speed difference. It' noticeable when updating, archiving or doing tasks that require reading/displaying lots of thumbnails...    
Yeah I know already that that CoreElec edition exists but it's out of stock! And there's no other vendor selling it as far as I've seen.
So my knowledge regarding that is quite well developed Wink.

But I could give it a try with ordering an ODroid and formatting a SD card..  
If you get an N2, buy a new Clas10 uSD card, don't use the working one from Pi. To burn CE image use (Balena) Etcher, the easiest and most dependable burning program with burned image validation.
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#10
(2020-04-09, 20:30)Sholander Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 16:04)Orbeatle Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 15:53)Sholander Wrote: OK, you don't have technical knowledge, but you seem to miss some more "knowledge":
Odroid N2 CoreElec edition -> price much higher that Pi4 !
Yes, eMMC although not needed is faster than uSD card. Note that in many tasks you'd not see/feel that speed difference. It' noticeable when updating, archiving or doing tasks that require reading/displaying lots of thumbnails...    
Yeah I know already that that CoreElec edition exists but it's out of stock! And there's no other vendor selling it as far as I've seen.
So my knowledge regarding that is quite well developed Wink.

But I could give it a try with ordering an ODroid and formatting a SD card..  
If you get an N2, buy a new Clas10 uSD card, don't use the working one from Pi. To burn CE image use (Balena) Etcher, the easiest and most dependable burning program with burned image validation.

Yeah Etcher is a great little program.

You should also mention the MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote is a great addition for CE Kodi devices.

P.S there is a cheaper AMLogic S905X3 chipset device coming from HardKernel called an ODROID C4.
CoreELEC nightlies already have support for it. Wink

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#11
(2020-04-10, 05:08)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 20:30)Sholander Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 16:04)Orbeatle Wrote: Yeah I know already that that CoreElec edition exists but it's out of stock! And there's no other vendor selling it as far as I've seen.
So my knowledge regarding that is quite well developed Wink.

But I could give it a try with ordering an ODroid and formatting a SD card..  
If you get an N2, buy a new Clas10 uSD card, don't use the working one from Pi. To burn CE image use (Balena) Etcher, the easiest and most dependable burning program with burned image validation. 

Yeah Etcher is a great little program.

You should also mention the MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote is a great addition for CE Kodi devices.

P.S there is a cheaper AMLogic S905X3 chipset device coming from HardKernel called an ODROID C4.
CoreELEC nightlies already have support for it. Wink 
Thanks for the help guys! I'll look into it a little further Smile.
Reply
#12
(2020-04-10, 05:08)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 20:30)Sholander Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 16:04)Orbeatle Wrote: Yeah I know already that that CoreElec edition exists but it's out of stock! And there's no other vendor selling it as far as I've seen.
So my knowledge regarding that is quite well developed Wink.

But I could give it a try with ordering an ODroid and formatting a SD card..  
If you get an N2, buy a new Clas10 uSD card, don't use the working one from Pi. To burn CE image use (Balena) Etcher, the easiest and most dependable burning program with burned image validation.

Yeah Etcher is a great little program.

You should also mention the MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote is a great addition for CE Kodi devices.

P.S there is a cheaper AMLogic S905X3 chipset device coming from HardKernel called an ODROID C4.
CoreELEC nightlies already have support for it. Wink

Final question though, would the 2GB Ram edition of the ODroid N2 be sufficient for Kodi? (I guess so, but just checking Wink).
Reply
#13
(2020-04-10, 19:51)Orbeatle Wrote:
(2020-04-10, 05:08)wrxtasy Wrote:
(2020-04-09, 20:30)Sholander Wrote: If you get an N2, buy a new Clas10 uSD card, don't use the working one from Pi. To burn CE image use (Balena) Etcher, the easiest and most dependable burning program with burned image validation.

Yeah Etcher is a great little program.

You should also mention the MINIX A2 lite keyboard remote is a great addition for CE Kodi devices.

P.S there is a cheaper AMLogic S905X3 chipset device coming from HardKernel called an ODROID C4.
CoreELEC nightlies already have support for it. Wink 

Final question though, would the 2GB Ram edition of the ODroid N2 be sufficient for Kodi? (I guess so, but just checking Wink). 

I can say from myself as a 4GB version user that each time as checked while playing 4K HDR rips RAM consumption is between 400-600mb so if you main concern is media playback then 2GB as mor then enough.
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#14
(2020-04-10, 19:51)Orbeatle Wrote: Final question though, would the 2GB Ram edition of the ODroid N2 be sufficient for Kodi? (I guess so, but just checking Wink). 

On CE/Kodi for all functions to work perfectly 2GB Ram is quite enough.
If you want to run Android on N2 and fill it up with all your apps and modern Android games (which btw work perfectly) you'll need 4GB version...
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