01-26-2017, 09:27 PM
A noob's first effort!
Spent most of the trying different SD cards and readers trying to find out why the computer said my cards are 32G and empty and the recommended image writer kept say I had 0Kb free. Switched to Win32DiskImager and all went well with flying colors.
Found out that the HDMI to VGA adapter that came with the Pine does not work and system would not boot. Booted within minutes once it was connected to 1080P HDMI TV. Used the ethernet connection for first boot, then switched to WiFi. Everything seemed to going well. Video playback from YouTube was good and synced. No jitters.
I am using the IR remote for now. In the middle of testing phone rings so I just hit the mute button on the remote. When I go back to testing I have lost volume control that I had previously. Before I could set it at any level now it is either all the way off or wide open using the volume control buttons. Don't know why I lost control.
I did some brief testing with Kodi using KodiMaster build. I will say this do not attempt this without 2G. CPU usage while less than 50% most times the memory was down to only about 970M. Kodi will play and plays well but at times is sluggish in responding to commands. Lot of icons and graphics in the menus take time to load. You could cut it back to just text and save some time. Video playback was good with no buffering so that was a good sign. I did hear a low growl like a fan or hard drive at time when the Pine was straining to load something in Kodi. Didn't track it down but it is probably in the audio. I don't hear it in other apps.
I haven't tried Netflix or Hulu yet, but did try my favorite Playstation VUE that I use for live TV. It did install but when I went to run it I got an error message that it would not play in rooted devices so I guess using it for VUE is out of the question.
Compared to my normal box an Amazon Fire TV, Pine would get a C grade. Passing but just barely. But hey for about 1/3 the cost what can you expect.
It's late and I am tired so that is it for now. Tomorrow I will move it to a 4K TV and see what happens when really pushed. Still wonder what happened to my volume controls with the IR remote. Might try a fresh image and leave the mute button alone but someone will eventually push it.
Spent most of the trying different SD cards and readers trying to find out why the computer said my cards are 32G and empty and the recommended image writer kept say I had 0Kb free. Switched to Win32DiskImager and all went well with flying colors.
Found out that the HDMI to VGA adapter that came with the Pine does not work and system would not boot. Booted within minutes once it was connected to 1080P HDMI TV. Used the ethernet connection for first boot, then switched to WiFi. Everything seemed to going well. Video playback from YouTube was good and synced. No jitters.
I am using the IR remote for now. In the middle of testing phone rings so I just hit the mute button on the remote. When I go back to testing I have lost volume control that I had previously. Before I could set it at any level now it is either all the way off or wide open using the volume control buttons. Don't know why I lost control.
I did some brief testing with Kodi using KodiMaster build. I will say this do not attempt this without 2G. CPU usage while less than 50% most times the memory was down to only about 970M. Kodi will play and plays well but at times is sluggish in responding to commands. Lot of icons and graphics in the menus take time to load. You could cut it back to just text and save some time. Video playback was good with no buffering so that was a good sign. I did hear a low growl like a fan or hard drive at time when the Pine was straining to load something in Kodi. Didn't track it down but it is probably in the audio. I don't hear it in other apps.
I haven't tried Netflix or Hulu yet, but did try my favorite Playstation VUE that I use for live TV. It did install but when I went to run it I got an error message that it would not play in rooted devices so I guess using it for VUE is out of the question.
Compared to my normal box an Amazon Fire TV, Pine would get a C grade. Passing but just barely. But hey for about 1/3 the cost what can you expect.
It's late and I am tired so that is it for now. Tomorrow I will move it to a 4K TV and see what happens when really pushed. Still wonder what happened to my volume controls with the IR remote. Might try a fresh image and leave the mute button alone but someone will eventually push it.
