xbmc Pi build questions

[BrettB]

Really liking my Pi Build.

Problems yes. NextPVR as backend has to be the solution. Not that there was a problem!

We all know how powerful NextPVR is as a PVR.

Amazed by the Pi. Love the look of xbmc (sorry NextPVR afficiandos).

I've only have about 2 days of playing with mine, but I would agree that it looks pretty nice. The only thing that I am really missing is the TV show art. I haven't yet been able to figure out if that is because the NextPVR add-on interface just doesn't support/supply it, or if I don't have something configured correctly.

[mvallevand]

If you want art + metadata create a video library source your recordings folder, and if they are named right you should end up with TV Shows on the main menu.

Martin

[BrettB]

If you want art + metadata create a video library source your recordings folder, and if they are named right you should end up with TV Shows on the main menu.

Yes, that looks very nice!

[pBS]

what i'm wondering is WHY a Pi needs an mpeg2 license? not every mpeg2 decode implementation needs licensing, or how does ffmpeg/mencoder get away with it?
i have atsc so would need to play mpeg2 on a pi, but not keen on extra licensing/$$ for an open source hardware device..

is it because of the hardware decoder chip? can other mpeg2 decoders be used? [software based]

[mvallevand]

Since the answer depends on the country I guess RPi decided you need the license for h/w accelerated mpeg decoding. If they were putting it on every chip they might need to pay the chip maker. H/W players are more rigidly controlled and licensed than software. MP3 players going into Germany and even the EU are often blocked. One of the reasons that the products shipped directly from China appear so cheap is that they don't have any licenses. It is also something all those licensing bodies and you might be asked to pay one day by customs.

FOSS software like lame and ffmpeg avoid the problem by not distributing binaries, but products that did shipped for commercial purposes would need to license it. I suspect paying users like Plex have to pay

VLC is a good example of binary distribution since the binary is legal in its source country. It may not even be legal to use it in some countries without paying mpeg-la etc but they place the burden on the user to comply with their countries rules.

Martin

[pBS]

ahh, yes i see that on the forums..just struck me as odd in this case..
nice thing is, the encoder is also included, so a Pi could made into a hardware transcoder device..
[h.264 encode is already included free, mpeg2 encode comes with decode license]

i still think that public standards should be free, and individual implementations [actual code] should be licensed..but good luck with that..
not enough productive discussion happens on the subject, so business gets to call the shots, w/no one to represent the consumer..

at least it's cheap enough to add...i'm surprised they didn't think anyone would use mpeg2 from the start...lol

[BrettB]

at least it's cheap enough to add...i'm surprised they didn't think anyone would use mpeg2 from the start...lol

You have to remember that the Pi Foundation's mission in building the device was to make an extremely inexpensive piece of hardware that STUDENTS could use to learn computers (both hardware and software). For those users, mpeg2 wasn't that important--especially since H.264 WAS included. And the licensing cost to include it with EVERY Pi would have increased the cost from something like $35/ea to $37/ea (about a 6% increase). So, the designers opted to not include it. Fortunately, they were able to make it an optional, low-fee license add-on, so those of us that want/need it, can get it. Microsoft (and other vendors) effectively does the same thing by only including certain codecs and software which it must license in more expensive software versions.

[pBS]

my biggest concern is if the mpeg2 decoder can handle Interlaced material..
does anyone know if it can deinterlace interlaced mpeg2 material? i have lots of ATSC content in 1080i format...
[and actually lots of my h.264 is interlaced]
on my phone,[S3] the h.264 decoder handles interlaced fine but not mpeg2, which it decodes with software and can't deinterlace fast enough even with a quad core..

[steeb]

Slightly steering back to my initial ponderings :eek:

Can anyone offer me further advice?

The Pi refuses to play LiveTV via NextPVR add-on. It does not crash, just thinks it is playing it!

Test recording also displays the same behaviour which would indicate there is a problem playing the .ts file.

I can playback other formats via old downloaded stuff fine form other formats UNLESS they are legally owned DVD's ripped to storage for safe-keeping into .vob's.

I would add at this time I am running the Pi on a composite video output not hdmi.

Running xbmc add-on via recent Frodo build on a PC all works OK.

I realise that this is probably not this forum for my questions but which forum does anyone think I may get some help and as friendly advice on? Being early days much of this is still very unclear

Do I go to RaspPi forum? Openelec? xbmc?

cheers muchly all

steeb

[BrainStormer]

you could try installing RaspBMC (There is a new update that came out yesterday. so download the new installer and install that. Once you turn on LiveTV in settings. Then click ok when it says no pvr addon activated select nextPvr Addon, then config. Then set the ip of your npvr server. then click enable.

Sometimes you need to restart xbmc for it to take effect so reboot.