Raspberry Pi - $35 Linux computer

Nate--IRL-- · 1 Jul 2012 at 11:45

Yep be sure to use the Official XBMC remote for android - the other unofficial one does not work.

Nate

RomanNose · 1 Jul 2012 at 13:56

I am getting 1080p smooth with omxplayer, using a capture card by the way.
Raspbian r3,3.1.9+

rexehuk · 1 Jul 2012 at 13:59

I'm suspecting my issues are power related... 700mA blackberry charger.

Just switched over to 1AMP HTC One charger and see it a bit speedier... going to grab a 2AMP I think for this.

Evilpaul · 1 Jul 2012 at 14:11

Here are a few settings I've found over a bit of messing with OpenELEC (more than likely apply to Raspbmc as well) that should improve some stuff:

1) Do not use Samba, if possible use NFS or FTP share instead.
2) Wait until media indexing has completed before trying to play any files
3) In Settings->Video->Playback enable "Sync playback to display" and set "A/V sync method" to "Audio clock". This should help with buffering issues when having to down-sample audio.
4) In Settings->System->Video Output set the "Refresh Rate" option to something appropriate. (e.g. 24.00 if you are displaying on a TV instead of a monitor.)
5) In Settings->System->Audio Output enable pass-through for the audio types your TV or receiver can handle. Down-sampling audio will push the CPU on the Pi to the limit.
6) Turn off any of the services you don't use. (e.g. AirPlay, Zeroconf, UPNP, etc.)

rexehuk · 1 Jul 2012 at 14:48

Evilpaul said:
Here are a few settings I've found over a bit of messing with OpenELEC (more than likely apply to Raspbmc as well) that should improve some stuff:

1) Do not use Samba, if possible use NFS or FTP share instead.
2) Wait until media indexing has completed before trying to play any files
3) In Settings->Video->Playback enable "Sync playback to display" and set "A/V sync method" to "Audio clock". This should help with buffering issues when having to down-sample audio.
4) In Settings->System->Video Output set the "Refresh Rate" option to something appropriate. (e.g. 24.00 if you are displaying on a TV instead of a monitor.)
5) In Settings->System->Audio Output enable pass-through for the audio types your TV or receiver can handle. Down-sampling audio will push the CPU on the Pi to the limit.
6) Turn off any of the services you don't use. (e.g. AirPlay, Zeroconf, UPNP, etc.)

Cheers, going to kill the install and start fresh using those. Was previously accessing shares via network with login credentials (SMB).

On further look, RASPBMC is broken with NFS shares

.

Going to give OpenELEC build a go

SKILL · 1 Jul 2012 at 22:57

rexehuk said:
On further look, RASPBMC is broken with NFS shares

Works perfectly on RC2, not upgraded to RC3 yet (really need to) but NFS works for me and seems the best option (just a shame the only linux setup I have right now is a VM but that will be changing 'soon'

badcompany · 1 Jul 2012 at 22:59

rexehuk said:
Bit miffed.

Got Raspbmc installed... and it seems to be very slow? Playing 720p TV series MKV and it isn't smooth at all... pauses etc.

CPU usage looks to be 50-70% idle :/

Is OpenELEC more stable?

thats what i got.

Evilpaul · 1 Jul 2012 at 23:06

rexehuk said:
On further look, RASPBMC is broken with NFS shares .

Have a look at this XBMC wiki page on NFS:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=NFS

If your using a Synology or Qnap NAS then it takes a bit of fiddling to get it working correctly.

Guru · 1 Jul 2012 at 23:37

Touch wood mine is still handling everything I throw at it

Harvey616 · 2 Jul 2012 at 00:53

Just been having a play with my raspberry pi and it is great.

Aside from media centres, what are people using them for? I am thinking about using it as a small file server and possible Proxy server.

boxman2000 · 2 Jul 2012 at 10:50

SKILL said:
Works perfectly on RC2, not upgraded to RC3 yet (really need to) but NFS works for me and seems the best option (just a shame the only linux setup I have right now is a VM but that will be changing 'soon'

Found a few bugs with RC3 such as fastforward doesn't work great than 2x and skins/screen resolution settings don't save down.

Bit annoying issues but I'm sure they'll get sorted soon! Just loving the minimalistic setup.

PiKe · 2 Jul 2012 at 10:53

I want my Pi

jaybee · 2 Jul 2012 at 12:39

Who is running their Pi off of a USB port from a TV? I read that it should use a 700ma power supply, but most USB ports will supply 500ma. I don't know what my TV dishes out or how to measure it. I cannot find it in specs anywhere.

boxman2000 · 2 Jul 2012 at 13:41

jaybee said:
Who is running their Pi off of a USB port from a TV? I read that it should use a 700ma power supply, but most USB ports will supply 500ma. I don't know what my TV dishes out or how to measure it. I cannot find it in specs anywhere.

Dumb question but is the USB port on a Sky HD box able to power a Pi? That would be handy if so!

Need to find a good case now - anyone got any pictures of their cases?

Evilpaul · 2 Jul 2012 at 13:51

jaybee said:
Who is running their Pi off of a USB port from a TV? I read that it should use a 700ma power supply, but most USB ports will supply 500ma. I don't know what my TV dishes out or how to measure it. I cannot find it in specs anywhere.

If tried running my Pi from the USB port on my Toshiba telly that is labelled for the optional WiFi dongle. It all worked, but about 30 seconds after putting the telly into standby mode the power stops to the USB port. This would be perfect if you were just running XBMC, but for anything server like it's not so good.

boxman2000 said:
Need to find a good case now - anyone got any pictures of their cases?

This is my Yoctopuce case:

jaybee · 2 Jul 2012 at 13:53

Yeah +1 for case recommendations. I want cheap as possible as it will be out of view and is more to just protect it.
I have read on a few google searches of a lot of people having success with running the Pi via a USB port on a TV or some such other device. A lot of devices simply supply 5v and whatever current desired from the plugged in device. I have seen people with Samsung and Sony TVs saying it works fine via usb ports. However, maybe when you do intensive things on the Pi and it demands more power it could cause issues. Only one way to find out I guess. Going to plug it into my TV USB port tonight and try it out.

jaybee · 2 Jul 2012 at 13:59

Evilpaul said:
If tried running my Pi from the USB port on my Toshiba telly that is labelled for the optional WiFi dongle. It all worked, but about 30 seconds after putting the telly into standby mode the power stops to the USB port. This would be perfect if you were just running XBMC, but for anything server like it's not so good.

What model Tosh TV? I have a Tosh 32RV635DB and will try this tonight. I want to run XBMC or RaspBMC so for me this sounds perfect.

As if things could not get any better, I have discovered that CEC compliant devices are working with Raspberry Pi's so you can use your TV remote control to control XBMC commands direct via HDMI. If this all comes together, it could be that I can velcro a Pi to the back of my TV and power it off the USB socket, plug it in via HDMI and it turns on and off with the TV and is controllable via the TV remote to watch HD movies.
£30 ish makes HTPC's and various media products pretty much obselete overnight.

Dist · 2 Jul 2012 at 14:24

Just got a email from Farnell about new orders, so I finally got to place mine. No update on when they will have more stock though, they just said in the mail that they expect them to be shipped around august, depending on where I am in the queue though.

boxman2000 · 2 Jul 2012 at 14:51

jaybee said:
I want to run XBMC or RaspBMC

Same thing, just RaspBMC is ported with Debian to run as standalone piece of software.

jaybee · 2 Jul 2012 at 14:58

boxman2000 said:
Same thing, just RaspBMC is ported with Debian to run as standalone piece of software.

Sure. Thanks for clarifying. So SD Card...class 10 best? Cheapest?

EDIT: Went for the Samsung 8gb Extreme class 10 SDHC card for £6.88 as recommended on here