I’m just curious, I currently use a Raspberry Pi 3 but it is not the best in handling large video files, I get a lot of freezing. I would like to upgrade. I’ve seen in the threads here that people recommend either the Fire Stick 4K or the N Shield.
Would the Fire Stick 4K performance be much better than the Raspberry Pi? Would be be better to just bite the bullet and get the Shield?
I don't have any 4k content on my Plex server but the Fire Stick 4k has seriously impressed me. I own several Shields and am actually using the Fire Stick 4k full-time. It's able to direct play pretty much anything I've thrown at it.
I use it for Kodi and I want to set up Plex. Price wise I’m leaning towards the FireStick, but I may just go with the Shield.
I have increased the buffering on the Raspberry Pi using the advanced settings, but some videos freeze anyways and barely buffer. (Some videos buffer great - depends on the file size I guess).
If it's Kodi only you need start at the source with a lot of very good info here:
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916
Any of the 4K media players with Gigabit Ethernet will be more capable vs the RPi3
The Plex for Kodi Addon or PlexKodiConnect Addon is the superior way of using Plex vs using the actual Plex App no matter which mediaplayer you use.
There still are too many annoyances and bugs in the Plex App, especially if you need to use subtitles.
Pretty impressed with the firestick 4k. Video and audio quality are quite good. I don't store large video files locally as I mainly stream and use the HD Homerun. The interface is very snappy but blows chunks. There are some bugs like the rest of them, but not too many. I replaced all 5 of my miboxes with them. The hdmi cec controls are much better and the remotes are excellent. I do have 3 shields in my main viewing rooms though.
My Raspberry Pi2 can handle massive 20 gig TS files. A Pi3 should handle large files without much of an issue, unless your wireless. Try the same file, but on a flash drive and see if you get the same problems.
It all depends what you're using it for. If you are using it to play large video files like you mentioned, I'd definitely go for the shield if the raspberry Pi isn't working for you. It's without a doubt the best android box out there and has more than enough specs to handle large files. The fire stick 4k is more of just a lightweight streaming stick, I have one and love it, but like I said it's not that spec heavy, doesn't have tons of storage, and is just a lightweight streamer.