Help Recommended Specs for Youtube 1080p? 4K?

[ROBOCRIPPLE]

I wanted to use my ainol mini-PC instead of my desktop tower for the significantly lower power consumption. I've installed Android-x86 and Xubuntu in it.

When I played a Youtube video, 1080p playback is not smooth, and even if I lowered the resolution to 480p, it skips. Also, the videos look washed out (lower colors). Even Youtube videos appear perfectly smooth on my iPad 2, in HD.

What seems to be causing the decrease in quality of Youtube videos being played in my mini PC? Is it the specs that are now lacking? I can't upgrade the hardware; the ainol "mini-PC" has everything soldered-in, just like a tablet or a smartphone.

Specs:
CPU: Intel Baytrail Z3735F quad core
RAM: 2GB DDR3L
ROM: 32GB eMMC
2x USB 2.0

 

[mikedt]

I suspect it's the video drivers. The Intel Atom Z3735F SoC can certainly play HD and 4K video, provided the OS has the correct Intel HD drivers installed and configured. And the Android-x86 OS you're using doesn't have them, and is only using generic drivers. Same thing for the Xubuntu Linux OS probably, you need to install the correct Intel HD drivers for it. For Android-x86, video drivers have to be specifically built into the kernel for it. Probably be more information about this over on the Android-x86 development forums...
http://android-x86.net/index.php?topic=524.0

This is from my Android Intel Atom tablet, which has the Intel HD drivers, and it plays HD and 4K video perfectly. That's why it's got settings called "Intel Smart Video".

 

[ROBOCRIPPLE]

In that case, I guess I'll re-install Windows 8.1 in that mini-pc...

Only in the original Windows installation, all of the appropriate drivers are installed, including the Intel HD drivers. As for YouTube, I'm not quite sure which app/browser I should play YT videos on.

I have a cheap tablet with Windows 10 installed and Intel HD drivers, and it struggled with YT HD video playback in Chrome, however it is able to play them quite well in Edge. Windows 8.1 doesn't have the Edge browser, at least pre-installed. However, there is a Metro app that does play YT videos. I'll find that out once I re-install Windows 8.1 with the appropriate restore image.

For the most part, Windows is a necessary evil...

There is no way I can install the Intel HD Drivers, wifi, Bluetooth, or on-board audio drivers in Xubuntu. I was able to in Ubuntu 14.04 with the patches from Linuxium. They don't work in Ubuntu 16.04. It seems like he or anybody else doesn't care about most Intel Atom devices anymore, especially considering Ubuntu's rolling releases...

If I want to install a Linux distro on any computer, I'll have to use a real PC. What's so bad about devices like the ainol mini PC? Why don't Linux developers write support for the hardware?

 

[ROBOCRIPPLE]

Well, I re-installed Windows 8.1, going through the Chinese-language interface to change the language to English. I tried to play Youtube videos in 1080p in Chrome, and I had the same results as my tablet: stopping and skipping. They did, however, play well in Internet Explorer and Hyper for YouTube, the app that I was talking about.

For these two devices, I have to change my browsing habits. Instead of simply watching YT videos on Chrome, which I normally do, I'll have to watch them in Hyper or IE.

What happened? Google recommends watching YT videos in Chrome, yet they struggle to with an Intel Atom CPU and 2GB of RAM.