RPi4 1GB sufficent replacement for RPi0W?

kaadk · April 8, 2022 at 8:32 PM

Last year I got LibreELEC up and running on a Pi 0 W as a standalone media player in our RV. No streaming, no internet connection, the default skin, just playing local files off a 256GB thumb drive. This worked fine, the UI was sometimes a little laggy, but playback generally worked alright for our needs. The problem was that a 256GB thumb drive couldn't hold our whole library. My SO commented that "I thought this was supposed to let us bring all our movies? Why is there only these on there?" (She was unhappy with my selection of Harry Potter, Fast and Furious and Star Wars.)

So, this year, after some digital cleanup and rearranging of files, I was able to free up a 4TB WD passport we had, formatted it to exFAT, and loaded up literally all of our digital copies, every movie, every TV show, every MP3 and music video, a little over 2TB worth. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised that my LibreELEC install on the Pi 0W was able to handle it and updated the libraries accordingly. It looked like everything was a go, until I tested playback. During playback, it dogged, then lagged, then finally froze. I'm not doing anything different than I did with the 256GB stick, this is still the same local playback, the same disconnected Wifi, and all my copies are encoded the same way (handbrake's Apple1080p preset) as they were before. The only differences are that the drive is externally powered (which should be a good thing) and the sheer volume of media in my library now.

So, I don't have proof, but I'm guessing it's the lack of RAM on the Pi 0 W compared to the library size that's doing me in. I figured I'd pick up a new Pi to replace it, but it seems everything's out of stock other than a Pi4 1GB model from my local dealer. I can get on a pre-order list for a 2, 4 or 8 GB, but all are not expected until the latter half of the summer, so halfway through the camping season. I'm not sure if I should bother with the 1GB model. It will be more powerful than my Pi 0 W, with twice the RAM, but that might not be enough still. The Pi4 build is a different package than the Pi0 build and if it requires more RAM, then I'll still be in an underpowered boat.

Alternatively, I could wait for an 8GB model to become in stock and just downsize my library back to the 256 GB stick again until then.

What is everyone's opinion on what I should do?

**chewitt** · April 9, 2022 at 3:42 AM

Our normal response would be that the 2GB RPi4 is the minimum RPi4, but that's considering 4K support which you probably don't/won't need in a space constrained RV installation. It has newer/better/more-efficient design and considerably more CPU grunt which is always a good thing. It also allows you to run LE10/LE11 so is more future proof (we already dropped support for Pi0W) and you'll have native HEVC hardware decoding. As long as it's not a crazy price it would definitely be an improvement. Then again, so would an RPi3B+ which you might be able to pick up cheaper/easier somewhere. Not as future proof, slower, and similarly 1GB RAM constrained but still a worthy bump.

kaadk · April 12, 2022 at 10:13 PM

Thanks for the input. It's good to know that a 1GB could possibly work, but your comment about "As long as it's not a crazy price" had me re-thinking. The price wasn't jacked up like most of the pis, but they did insist on it being part of their 'extreme' kit, which included a lot of stuff I didn't really need. I think I'll just downsize the library and wait until a better deal rolls around. But thanks for the input!