$25 Raspberry Pi running XBMC

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#699930 11-Oct-2012 21:08

iank: Ive had my Raspberry Pi now for a couple of months and it works great. I wonder if anyone knows where I can get a thin HDMI cable from, one like this :
http://www.hypershop.com/HyperThin-World-s-Thinnest-Most-Flexible-HDMI-Ca-p/ht08-white.htm

http://dx.com/s/hdmi+thin

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reven

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#699967 11-Oct-2012 22:18

smbunn: OK so MediaPortal is Free, which to my old brain is shareware. I used it about 6 years ago and recall not having a single day when it didn't fall over, usually with no sound or no picture or a full PC crash.

I will accept that maybe GBPVR and MediaPortal have improved since then, but did just see on the Media Portal site that is is still an Alpha release.

My point was can we get the Raspberry PI to run as a Windows MCE Extender?

first free does not mean shareware. shareware usually implies theres a cost after a trial period, free stuff is usually just called freeware.

6 years ago is a long time for software to change.

mediaportal release many alpha release to a stable version, they have released an alpha version of 1.3, but 1.2 was released a while back as stable. then they will release a stable 1.3 and perhaps an alpha 1.4. they are currently actively working on version 2, but this is also alpha since its a complete rewrite.

version 1.2 of mediaportal is very good.

nextpvr is heavily developed and is highly regarded as one of the most stable PVRs/pieces of software out there. pretty much the best compliment nextpvr/gbpvr ever gets is how stable and reliable it is. its not the prettiest PVR, but it works and it works well.

if you're using xbmc as a frontend, then nextpvr is very very good option for a backend, since you side step the biggest issue with nextpvr, the not so fancy interface (still nice, just not super slick like xbmc/mediaportal/mce).

if you're willing to try out the raspberrypi you should experiment with the PVR backends available. personally i recommend NPVR.

you may have some issues atm with xbmc pvr api version mismatch, they have been updating this between releases of xbmc, was version 1.3 a few weeks ago and now up to 1.5, so pvr addons can be built with any version inbetween those and might not work, easy to identify this issue, and easily fixed. this wont be a problem in about month.

reven

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#701830 15-Oct-2012 22:48

the model b pi now ships with 512mb of ram instead of 256mb

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2180

not sure if this will make a big difference for xbmc.

i probably wont upgrade if it does, but i do need one more pi (or a ouya, not sure which one ill go for yet).

timmmay

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#701868 16-Oct-2012 07:59

I think you'll find it's 512MB, not 512mb. I don't know how much it'll help XBMC, but for general purpose stuff it could help a bit.

dolsen

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#702889 18-Oct-2012 12:47

Has anyone tried this software?

http://sourceforge.net/projects/freenfs/

Looking for a free NFS server for win7 that supports NFSv3 for large file support. Not sure if the above will do, but, it may do. Will check tonight but am wondering if anyone else has tried it?

Blanch

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#710631 1-Nov-2012 20:57

Ugh!! I just got mine in the mail today and it is the 256MB

Ordered 18 weeks ago from RS oh well PVR should work now.

Blanch

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#710744 1-Nov-2012 22:47

Ok just been reading past posts, and I’ve got

Rasbmc down loaded

Micro usb phone charger

HDMI 1.4 Cable

to go to Pbtech tomorrow to buy class 10 Apacer 8GB Micro SD SDHC

anything else?

sub

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#710783 2-Nov-2012 05:45

Blanch: Ugh!! I just got mine in the mail today and it is the 256MB

Ordered 18 weeks ago from RS oh well PVR should work now.

Bummer. I ordered about 6 ago from Element 14, and received mine near two weeks ago, and it arrived with the new 512MB model, and note telling me they've included the new version.

It shouldn't matter too much. There is a huge number of 256MB versions out there, so pretty much all software distribution will main compatibility with them. I suspect it'll be a long time before we see software that only works with the 512MB version.

SumnerBoy

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#710809 2-Nov-2012 08:16

Blanch: Ok just been reading past posts, and I’ve got

Rasbmc down loaded

Micro usb phone charger

HDMI 1.4 Cable

to go to Pbtech tomorrow to buy class 10 Apacer 8GB Micro SD SDHC

anything else?

I bought a Class 10 Apacer 8GB SD card but was having real trouble running Raspbmc off it. Was getting lock ups and weird pixilations on the screen. I tried an old Class ? 2GB card I had in my digital camera and while the UI seemed more stable after a few hours use it crashed and after booting came up with some nasty errors about the file system - I am wondering if it ran out of space after loading all the thumbnails for my movie collection?

Anyway - I read somewhere about running Raspbmc off a USB thumb drive offered much better performance. I had an 8GB thumb drive lying around so tried it out and I haven't had any problems since. Actually that is not true, I have had a couple of 'freezes' but I think that is just due to the Alpha state of the Raspbmc software.

You still need a SD card in the Pi to boot and install, but after that it runs entirely off the USB. Not sure if you can remove the SD card after the initial install, and boot directly from the USB drive? I think you need the SD card in there always tho.

Another thing I found last night was my Panasonic TV is CEC compatible, meaning I can control the Pi from my TV remote - very impressive!

openmedia

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#710846 2-Nov-2012 09:37

I'd check the power rating of your mobile phone charger. I had major issues as the charger I first used wasn't powerful enough

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

SumnerBoy

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#710851 2-Nov-2012 09:44

openmedia: I'd check the power rating of your mobile phone charger. I had major issues as the charger I first used wasn't powerful enough

I have tried two chargers - one a Huawei phone charger (rated at 5V 1A) and the other an iPad charger (rated 5V 2A). Both had the same results with the SD card running the OS. And both seem to be fine running off the USB thumb drive.

timmmay

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#710853 2-Nov-2012 09:49

There's a list of known good SD cards somewhere on the net. I happened to get a Pny card (or something like that) free a week before my Pi turned up, it's on the list and works fine. I use some old 5V 1A charger I found in a drawer.

smbunn

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#711178 2-Nov-2012 22:39

I ordered a new raspberry Pi last week after seeing Element 14 offering them for $48, the same price as the UK. It duly arrived the very next day and was the 512 MB version. It would not boot on any of my 3 SD cards so I contacted Element14 who said since I was in NZ just throw it away and they would send a new one. That arrived yesterday and worked pefectly.

It does have a benefit. Xbian ran at 45 fps in 1920 x 1080p with 128/128 memory split, it now runs at 60+ fps with much lower CPU use with 384/128 memory split favouring the GPU.

This is allowing the GPU to buffer more frames, noticably quicker and smoother in operation.

Blanch

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#711187 2-Nov-2012 23:21

Cheers smbunn I'm playing with my new Raspberry PI (256MB) now

found a Belkin USB power supply in the draw and loaded Rasbmc on to my new class 10 Apacer 8GB Micro SD SDHC it was listed here: http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#SD_cards,

XBMC looks great (not quite as snappy as on the i5-3570K)
Looks like I can't play .TS files recorded with the Ultraplus (PVR) to a WD MyBookWorld (They play fine with windows xbmc)
Surprised to see 4 the record not supported as I uninstalled Mediaportal server on Wednesday (bit of bad luck that)

mattgreen

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#711876 4-Nov-2012 19:39

+1 for avoiding the Apacer class 10 card. My Pi turned up last week. I grabbed an Apacer 8GB class 10 from PB even though I'd heard class 10 cards could cause issues. I could copy the raspbmc image over, but it spewed errors when trying to format the SD card for the install.

Swapped the Apacer into my camera and put the SanDisk Extreme Class 10 into the Pi and it booted and installed first go.

If anything a class 4 or 6 should be a safer bet. For once it appears that faster isn't actually better. I think I'll probably grab a fast USB thumb drive and do a re-install onto that.. It should make things a bit snappier from all accounts.

I'm pretty happy with it as an alternative to PS3/Universal Media Server. XBMC remote from iPhone isn't bad but I think I'll try to get CEC working again (the TV mysteriously stopped recognising the Pi).

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