I run the kodi from the app store and it's fast and responsive. I've never had an issue. Even plays 4k lime a dream.

It's the build/old version, IME they're mostly bloated garbage.

Learn to do everything you need/want without them.

Delete all that crap & start with a fresh install & you'll likely be fine...?

Are you using wifi? If so, try a wired connection. Sounds like the wifi (if used) sucks.

I think it's to do with pvr. If I disable pvr kodi runs perfectly. If I use it with pvr, the whole thing becomes very modal and will appear to loçk up for minutes at a time if the pvr backend isn't working 100%.

They really need to run the pvr stuff in a separate thread or something.

This was with DVBlink (which basically became unusable after v16), and also now using mce7 backend.