Raspberry Pi + Raspbmc first look

[PatM]

Bought a RPi and wanted to see how it did as a NextPVR client. Haven't actually gotten as far as the NPVR Plugin as I just got it home last night after work.

I found a Debian distro called RaspBMC and it has a nice little windows utility that sets up an SD Card to install RaspBMC. Takes only a minute. http://www.raspbmc.com/

I plugged in the keyboard, mouse, SD Card, and power then watched as RaspBMC spent about 15 minutes downloading parts and installing. There ware a couple of reboots as well.

I walked away expecting the install to take a long time, grabbed a coffee, and came back to see XBMC waiting for me to set it up.

First came pointing at my 8 terabyte NAS (with about 5 TB of videos) and it started scanning the files, grabbing info from iMDB including fanart etc. I knew that would take a long time so I started browsing videos. I started watching some 1080HD videos and was immensely impressed when they played flawlessly despite the background scanning and downloading. The mouse movement was somewhat jerky in menus but nothing close to game stopping. I'll have to see today if the background scanning was a big contributor or not.

Set up the pictures folder and that worked quite fast - some are HUGE jpgs directly from my Canon T1i yet the thumbnails came up almost as fast as they do on my Dual core NPVR box.

Next I realized I hadn't set the screen resolution - it defaulted to 1920x1280 - so I dropped that to 1920x1080. XBMC doesn't seem to have changed the screen res to match the videos I was playing so I got letterboxing. With the 1080 setting they look better. I'll have to check into this later.

I'm very impressed so far - RaspBMC hasn't required any kind of work on my part beyond normal XBMC setting. If the NPVR add-on works this easily then I'll probably replace my current dual cord PC client machine with the RPi. Way less power, far less heat (my bedroom gets stinkin' hot with the laptops, two PCs, 42" LCD TV and Wii U/2TB USB Drive running all day.

I bought the RPi for playing with, not actually to be an NPVR Client. I didn't really think it would play videos so well. Guess I may be buying another RPi next week to actually play with.

[observer_11]

I had also assumed the Raspberry would not cut it as a feasible client device, but maybe there's hope? I'll be curious to see how well it holds up with more extended use (e.g. varying video formats). I am also wondering about remote control options, like do you need to add a USB IR receiver?

[psycik]

Depends on the content. I get stuttering across a network with 1080p based DTS content (when the Raspberry PI has to downmix to Stereo it adds an overhead).

And if I play back something recorded from out DVB-T stream (1080i mpeg4 with AAC audio) it doesn't keep up at all.

[PatM]

I've had no troubles at all playing all sorts of video off my NAS. TV playback is a completely different story (with the NPVR
addon). SD channels play well though sometimes the audio is a bit out of sync (stop then restart the channel and it's OK). HD
channels are almost a complete wash. If I get the video working (frequently just see green or blue screens) then the audio is
WAAAY out of sync - as much as a minute behind and, in one case, about 10 seconds ahead (figure that out!).

I tried XBMC and the NPVR addon on my old timeline laptop (very underpowered to give it up to 8 hours battery life) and HD
channels were perfect. So it's either lack of power on the Pi or some sort of software issue on it.

[RedR]

FYI there was a bug in XBMC that caused stuttering in software decoded DTS playback. This has been fixed and made it into the Raspbmc release version. I am now stutter free on my Pi w/ DTS. You will likely need to do a clean install vs update to get release.

I have a wide verity of videos for movies and TV shows. All setup and scraped in Raspbmc library. So far, 2 months now playback of SD to 1080p content is flawless. Best 60 bucks I ever spent for a media extender replacement!

[Jakesty]

I played with mine last weekend. Not integrated into my NPVR server yet, but connected to the folders and the playback is very good. I'm still learning the navigation which is not that intuitive compared to the older PVR, but I'll learn.

I'm also looking for a good remote to use. I have several I'd like to recycle into the system, but I don't have receivers for them. When I bought the Harmony 300 and 500 they were these universal remotes, and I never did get them set up. Seems I'd need something like HIP, or Event Ghost to get this working, and then an IR receiver like USB-UIRT (which I have as my Blaster and it works perfectly). But for RPi the software solutions are not possible.
Remotes I do have with receivers, Firefly RF and IR, ATI Wonder RF, Hauppauge IR and receiver around somewhere. So for the moment I'm a little cludgy using the wireless keyboard and mouse. WAF won't cut it and the old Beyond TV with Firefly is an excellent remote.

Any suggestions? I've heard you can use an iPhone or iTouch, that's nice, don't have one, nor do I want to use my phone if I did.

[ccihon]

Take a look at Flirc...flirc.tv. This little USB ir receiver can be programmed via Linux, Mac, or windows, and can the be attached to any device as a hid device...keyboard strokes are sent.

I have one working great with both xbmc, which seems the designers intent, and with NPvr. Once programmed should work with Pi or even android devices.

Just wish I could figure out why my windows NPvr client machine refuses channel up or down commands, plus or minus, from this or any keyboard? Works fine on the server machine.

[draygo]

Any luck with mpeg2 ts material?

I've used xbian and raspbmc.

my h264 material plays back fine, but mpeg2 ts stuff gets horribly out of sync. If i skip forward or back it gets in sync for about 30 seconds then goes out of sync.

I installed raspbian and used the standalone omxplayer to play the same files and they have no issues at all.

[Jakesty]

I did look at Flirc, OMG what a cool little cheap item. Like $22 bucks, I'll buy two. They recommend Flirc for XBMC and the RPi, so they will work.

For those that don't know, it's a USB sized key you put into your computer, open the application and train the buttons. Unplug the key and put it into the device of your choosing, the settings are saved. It emulates keyboard control.

Some of the money is donated to a charitable cause as well.

[Dark_Slayer]

Take a look at Flirc...flirc.tv. This little USB ir receiver can be programmed via Linux, Mac, or windows, and can the be attached to any device as a hid device...keyboard strokes are sent.

I have one working great with both xbmc, which seems the designers intent, and with NPvr. Once programmed should work with Pi or even android devices.

Just wish I could figure out why my windows NPvr client machine refuses channel up or down commands, plus or minus, from this or any keyboard? Works fine on the server machine.

Comments on both

1. Flirc - I can't comment on Android, but while it can't be programmed using OpenELEC it does work plug-n-play on OpenELEC if already programmed. I've never regretted purchasing (bought 2, recommended it often)
   
2. Channel Changes - I can't get any keyboard shortcuts to change channels in XBMC without the Buffering 0% lockup. I can get them to work with the OSD. The OSD has a "EPG" button which brings up a guide in the side window. Changing to a different channel has been working pretty well this way. Or pressing back to tune a different channel from the guide. As long as I don't "stop" playback, and use one of the on screen methods I'm getting a pretty consistent experience