Rasperry Pi Media Player - Questions...

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

oHUTCHYo

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Hi,

It seems my WDTV is now old news and the Rasperry Pi now seems to be a stable platform to build a media centre on.

Questions;


Cheers
 
- Looks like I can buy a pack here: http://thepihut.com/products/media-center-kit-for-the-raspberry-pi Opinions?
£56 seems to be an OK price for the package.

-Will it play 1080P content with no issues, I have MKVs that could be as large as 20-30GB streamed from my ethernet networks
I found playback of large files can be hit or miss - sometimes i can stream a 20GB rip without issue, other times i get the odd stutter; generally it's ok though. Yet to have an issue with anything around the 4-10GB mark.
Certainly overclocking helps a lot.

-Is there a way for it to ouput 5.1 via optical rather than HDMI?
Possibly by using an external DAC but i'd recommend having a look on the XBMC/Raspbmc/OpenELEC forums to see if anyone has managed this.

-Any other tips?
If you're going to overclock the PI then i recommend getting some heatsinks; they're only a few pounds off the auction site.
A decent class 10 or using a quick USB flash drive and doing a 'USB install' will help a lot with media coverflow and general navigation.

One thing i will say is - don't expect everything to be silky smooth. Even after tweaking my Raspbmc install to death, i still get the odd (once in a blue moon if i'm honest) stutter when browsing films using coverflow.
Similarly the UI for plugins is a bit pants - so navigating plugins like ITV Player, 4OD or iPlayer can be a little painful at times although this isn't an issue with RPi rather XBMC itself.
 
The Pi cannot play full size Blu Ray MKV's over ethernet, there isn't enough bandwidth and it will buffer every 3-5seconds or so. This is on anything over 25GB give or take.
 
Thanks guys, really helpful. As much as I'd like to experience XBMC/OpenELEC I think I may just stick to my plain looking WDTV. I did play around with custom firmware and movie sheets on that but ended up frustrated and going back to OEM firmware :(
 
I found with ny 2 locally the can play full rips, anything over 20 GB they stuggle over my network so I need to use handbrake to bring size down.
 
When you get to that size of file, SMB overheads (if your files are stored on a Windows device) can begin to cause issues - switching to NFS as a file sharing protocol can reduce this overhead, and higher bitrates can play without struggling.
 
Trick said:
Not true.
Click to expand...

Yup - there are plenty of XBMC Pi users (i've never tried as all my material is well below that) streaming 30GB+ rips without issue, granted it might take a little tweaking but it's certainly doable.

As Confused mentioned, using NFS shares over Samba certainly helps with keeping overheads down.
 
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Also note that the Pi doesnt decode DTS through hardware so relies on CPU decoding, if you cant passthrough the DTS to your surround sound then this takes about 30-40% CPU load meaning that large 1080p MKV's are pushing close to 100% CPU load, whereas if its passed through its almost 40% less.

As said, NFS helps too.

As for the package, you may have most of it laying around. HDMI cable can be had for £1, you can use a phone charger, just make sure its a good one. network cables are pennies too. Cases are on eBay for about £3. Its worth investing in a IR remote too, I use a Xbox 360 remote and soldered on a IR receiver, cost about £3 for the receiver.
 
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