Libreelec 10.03 vs Android TV 9

    Hello everybody,

    I have Sony A8H OLED TV with Android TV 9.

    What would be the advantages over Android TV if I build Libreelec box with Raspberry Pi 4 2GB in terms of movie’s quality?

    Thanks a ton for your response!

    I'd expect Sony to do a half-competent job of supporting ATV9 on hardware that will be technically equivalent or superior to an RPi4 so the playback performance on the TV (using Kodi) shouldn't be bad and the TV likely supports more codecs etc. - and doesn't require another box purchase so I'd always recommend you explore the limits of that before adding something more. That said, all 'smart' TVs want to monitor your media consumption habits to provide an advertising opportunity or additional revenue stream for Sony. LE offers a potentially more private way to consume the same media through Kodi. If that appeals, or you invitably reach the point where Sony stopped supporting the OS and providing updates, running an RPi4 (or maybe RPi5 by then) via LE will be an attractive idea. Again, I doubt the RPi4 can beat the TV on playback quality unless Sony dropped the ball on Android.

    Thanks for your very informative post!

    Actually Sony stopped updating A8H since November 2021…

    But as you said, I don’t find any difference in playback between Pi4 and ATV9…

    I do even think the blacks in movies are better on ATV…

    Too pity I didn’t do this comparison before I bought Pi4…

    As I see A8H uses cortex A73 CPU at 1.5Ghz versus A72 on Pi4. But in my case Pi4 is @2.35GHz/900Mhz GPU which makes it considerably faster in this case or am I wrong?

    Greetings!

    A72 in the RPi4 is and older design than the A73 in the TV, but the clock rate is higher and .. likely other stuff like RAM speed. I personally find the choice of remote and its repeat rate, which affects the scrolling rate in the GUI, have a larger effect on how the GUI 'feels' while being navigated than CPU clock rates. I find an RPi4 just fine. Others don't.. /shrug

    Advantagewitch kodi installed on TV?: DolbyVision if you install kodi Maven build 😉

    Disadvantages? No lossless audio from TV, no automatic refresh set. Found this one strange.

    Some 24hz material plays just fine despite kodi seeing only 50/60hz. Others are little choppy.

    Got tcl with android 11 and have dts: X support with kodi. Unfortunately no atmos with truehd.

    If Im watching something and see it choppy or there is truehd audio then switching to good old amlogic 905x with CE 😉 other than that love my kodi on android.