Raspberry Pi + openELEC + XBMX = Slow

rossk26

rossk26

rossk26

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Hello,

I've had my Raspberry Pi running XBMC for a few weeks now, and it's not what I expected. The load time between each menu is tedious, and 50% of the links don't work, and the links that do work will buffer every 30 seconds.

I set it all up correctly following online videos etc. And used the openELEC android build for XBMC. I have a class 10 SD Card which is more than enough, and the Pi is plugged into the router via an ethernet cable.

So is this the norm? Are there any fixes?
 
Its not overly fast on mine. Have you compared your speed to youtube videos?
I have heard its faster to run it from usb as the small reads/writes are better suited for some usb flash instead of SD cards. I also offload the db management to a server so the pi doesnt need to keep its own db locally.
 
I do have a set of cheapo £3 stick on heat sinks, but i have no idea how effective they are.

Many other people are using the same setup, minus the sinks, without any problems.
 
I haven't purchased one yet but am still considering it. My concerns are similar to what the OP is actually experiencing.

Since you have changed the config do the menus etc run smooth? How about addons such as the free streaming ones?

Thanks and sorry to hijack the thread (hopefully it helps the OP as well)
 
I run the same setup with a very mild overclock, no heat sinks and mine runs very smoothly. I also use streaming addons with no issue at all. Apply an overclock in the config and make sure there is nothing saturating your home network/bottlenecking.

Seems strange it would be smooth for some and not others without it being a non-pi issue.
 
As mentioned, try Raspbmc. Openelec didnt work well for me either pretty much the same issues you are descibing.

It will never be the fastest bit of kit but should be quite useable.

I use my pi on the bedroom tv, running off a class 10 sd card with no heatsinks and overclocked by the inbuilt Raspbmc profile (fast setting iirc).
 
If you have an Android phone, get Yatse (full version). Makes the browsing super fast.

This is what I do to get mine running optimally..

USB3 stick for db/files
Use Turbo overclock settings
Use NFS shares instead of Samba(Windows)
Disable scrolling news feed on homescreen
Disable navigation sounds
Install as few addons as possible. Right now I only have 'trakt.tv' installed, soon to be removed once I centralise my DB.

The skin I use is Aeon Nox.

It's not as quick as my media centre, but nice and fast compared to older versions of OpenElec
 
It's only being used for streaming via the Mashup or ICEfilms add ons. There's no connection to a NAS and I have no other files on it.

Reason I chose openELEC was because of some videos on youtube comparing it ro raspbmc and it was quicker...
 
rossk26 said:
It's only being used for streaming via the Mashup or ICEfilms add ons.
Click to expand...

Mines setup with Raspbmc for this exact purpose, just streaming online media, and with a mild overclock (roughly 900MHz; 'fast' setting i believe under the overclock options), the standard (what came with it) theme and using a class 6 SD card, it's reasonably snappy.

I would recommend at least taking an image of your current SD card (in case you want to revert) and trailing Raspbmc :)
 
I use the XMBC andriod app on my phone as a remote.

I believe the menu and streams are all 1080p wherever possible. I disabled the RSS feed when I first set it up

I used it last night, and it's a little better (I reduced the frame rate from 60>50). Menu's still aren't that quick, and it's hard to find a link that actually works. But I watched an episode of True Blood and a film in HD which loaded fairly quickly and there was no buffering issues.
 
What skin are you using? I can't remember the name but you need to stick with the default, basic one and for best performance turn off a lot of the images etc.

After all, it is only a Pi.

Having said that I run mine off a USB stick (much faster than SD card apparently) and although it's a bit 'clunky' sometimes, it does the job fine. Something certainly seems wrong with your install, unless you have a 256MB Pi perhaps? :confused:
 
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