Raspberry PI3 B+

Hi all,
I have just recently installed a Raspberry PI3 B+ with Android and Xibo.
Xibo works like charm but the device itself is a complete disaster.

Raspberry PI3 B+ does not have enough speed to run Xibo smoothly and it also has lot of issues with resolution of the displays because it simply is not capable of using display resolution correctly. It leaves empty on bottom and right side of the screen.

For those who are interested of Raspberry, you will be wasting your time because the device is certainly not worth.
Buying the chip + the cover + the power + the sd card costs as much as a regular android device which does the job perfectly which Raspberry can’t.

Just wanted you to know.

1 Like

Thank you for posting your experiences with Raspberry Pi 3 B+, this is helpful information for the community.

If you have any feedback on other hardware solutions you have tried, any information on the performance and setup would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks.

Hi Dan,
here is an Android device that i can gladly recommend which works very good.
http://www.prodvx.com/products/android-box-pc/prodvx-abpc-543

This device is very good and the cost is as much as the Raspberry (chip, cover, power adapter and sd card).
If anyone interested, this is highly recommended.

Thank you again for the information and the link to the Android box.

I can see on the provided link that the box states it is 4K. Many users have opened posts asking for more information regarding 4K Android Players, if you have tested or used the 4K functionality on this box and have any feedback, this could be helpful information for others in the forum. If you decide to do this, I would recommend creating a new post to help separate the information for others.

There is of course no pressure to do so, and any feedback you give will be considered advice as opposed to an official recommendation, as we are unable to test the device ourselves at this time.

Many Thanks.

Hi Dan,
this device indeed supports 4K, i have tested and using it with 4K screen and also regular screens.
While displaying 4K content, i have also divided the screen resolution to 4x regions and displayed regular content in it. If you use the 4K resolution by dividing it to 4 regions and display video on every region (4x video) than the performance is not enough but for basic 4K use it is pretty good IMO.

Please keep in mind,
this device has only one output which required single 4K screen.
I know some peoples like to connect 4 screens to a device and combine the screen resolution to 4K (for example 4x FULL HD displays), that this device won’t do.

I do lot of 4K stuff and use PC players mostly.

That’s helpful feedback, thank you. Hopefully others will find your feedback helpful too and will consider this information when looking for a single screen 4K solution.

Many Thanks.

I think it’s a bit disingenuous to be down on the Raspberry Pi like that. No version of Android is officially compatible with the Pi. All the ones I’ve seen are experimental or for testing and I’m not at all surprised they don’t handle the screen properly and are not optimised. I’m a big fan of the Pi and I would love there to be a proper version of Xibo for it, but if you want to use the Android version, get a proper Android device.

Hi Pete,
Yes,
you are correct, none of the Android versions does support it properly, the way i see it, nobody currently is interested of making a proper Android package for it because the device is not really as good as we could expect.

I have tested the same device PI 3 B+ with IoT and Linux where none really did satisfy me because the problem is the same, the device does simply not have enough kick in it for handling Digital Signage applications.

However,
The chip, the box (which you certainly need), the power adapter and the SD-Card costs are equal with most Android devices that works properly and handles Digital Signage applications pretty well. I have tested Xibo with several Android devices and the result is simply great. Those tested Android devices does cost pretty much same as the PI 3 B+ which means i personally see no reason of wasting my time with PI3 B+

There of course are peoples who does need PI3 B+ for many different uses and purposes where no one can argue about.

Cheers

  • dan

@Bluebell
Could you please check the status information of xibo on the device? which resolution is it showing?

Hi!
if you are asking the Rasperry’s resolution, it was 1920x1080.

no, the ProDVX Device. Currently, all tested Android Devices run the GUI and all Apps only in FHD and upscale to 4k. Only Video is in true 4k. We have talked about that here:

All known android devices have the same problem. A 4K layout will be downscaled to FHD by the Xibo App and that upscaled to 4k by the the device. Thats bad for text, pdf and charts you add to a layout. So it is very important to me to find an android device which run the app in 4k :slight_smile:

Hi Christian,
We have used the following display,
https://www.necdisplay.com/p/large-screen-displays/x651uhd
which has 3840 by 2160 resolution. We have used a layout with 3840 by 2160 which was including 4 regions where we had, video, clock, weather and ticker text (news feed) which was working great. The resolution of the player was also 3840 by 2160.
We have also been running 4K videos (full screen mode) which were pretty good.

We unfortunately do not have the screen at our office anymore for further testing, we use the current device mainly for regular purpose where we have 1080P screens connected to it.

I can however try to get some more info if i can get a UHD screen.

About PDF,
PDF content never looks good if they are not made with proper tools and proper resolution which in this case is 4K. As far as i can tell, i have not been able to create a PDF that has 4K resolution.

We normally use video and pictures.

Hi!

You have right, it doesn’t exist an official Android version.
The only Android rom that work perfectly with an fluid display in the Raspberry pi 3B + is Emteria Os. Negative point, it is not free.

Otherwise, you can turn you to the Tinkerboard . It’s an raspberry like, it’s more powerful, it have an official Android rom and as it is the same design, all raspberry accessories are compatible. Negative point: it’s more expensive.

My installation is actually composed of two Tinkerboard with Android and Xibo player broadcasting on 65" 4K TVs and four Raspberry on 1080P TVs.

Regards,