I am up to date with Kodi 16.1 and I have really choppy playback of videos both from USB storage and internal storage. I have made a few adjustments with rendering, but nothing makes a difference. No errors, just choppy and pixelated playback. Any suggestions?
You haven’t mentioned what type of content you are trying to play or whether you have a CrystalHD card so it is hard to speculate.
I apologize, I am running OSMC on a Pi3 and take for granted that it will play pretty much anything. I just recently converted an AppleTV1 to also run OSMC.
The movie in question was a 1080 mp4. After a little digging, it looks like the AppleTV1 can’t handle 1080? Is that correct? Does the CrystalHD add this functionality?
You need a CrystalHD card to reliably play back 1080p content.
Looks like Kodi dropped support for the CrystalHD, is this not an issue with OSMC?
Nope. We have re-added it, but you may find regressions with Kodi Krypton after the introduction of VideoPlayer.
Thanks, I will order one up.
You may find that a Raspberry Pi is the same cost / cheaper, if that’s your budget.
Otherwise, ensure you get the 70015 model
You bring up a good point, I was trying to re-purpose an old AppleTV, but the cost of the CrystalHD card is the same for a new Pi 3. Is there anything the Pi can’t do 
Err … last CHD card I bought from Amazon was $17. A PI3 is double that.
So, if I already had an ATV, I would spend the $ on a CHD. But that’s me, I just hate to throw away still serviceable hardware.
Also, big BIG thanks to Sam for helping me keep my ATVs alive. You might not know it, Sam, but there are many people like me who GREATLY appreciate your work.
It depends where you are in the world.
In some countries (EU) you will pay import fees plus a handling fee that may negate this, particularly when combined with the electricity savings.
You are, of course, right Sam. I spend enough time in the US that I sometimes forget that I always order things while here, so I don’t have to worry about shipping charges or taxes.