XBMC Running On Raspberry Pi

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Posted by Unknown on Wednesday January 25, 2012 @04:51AM from the i'll-take-ten dept.

jones_supa writes "The Raspberry Pi Foundation has a news release about Raspberry Pi running XBMC smoothly, turning the board into a media center the size of deck of cards. Looking at Pi's low price, small size and hardware 1080p support, this could make an interesting HTPC project. Included is a video demonstration of the setup. For this to be possible, the XBMC team created a customized version that targets the beefier Raspberry Pi model."

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Re:Excellent by SJHillman · 2012-01-25 04:59 · Score: 5, Funny

No, I'm just happy to see you.
x264 specs ain't everything by afex · 2012-01-25 05:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

while the specs for decoding video are AWESOME (especially for the price point), what I continually point out to people is that the low CPU can still kill you on some things. I have an NVIDIA ION / Atom D330 HTPC that can destroy the 40Mbps x264 killasample absolutely no problem, yet has trouble on some of the even medium-flashy skins for XBMC.

like i said, performance/dollar this thing is still awesome, but you do still have to think of the whole package.
1. Re:x264 specs ain't everything by ackthpt · 2012-01-25 05:14 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  while the specs for decoding video are AWESOME (especially for the price point), what I continually point out to people is that the low CPU can still kill you on some things. I have an NVIDIA ION / Atom D330 HTPC that can destroy the 40Mbps x264 killasample absolutely no problem, yet has trouble on some of the even medium-flashy skins for XBMC.
  like i said, performance/dollar this thing is still awesome, but you do still have to think of the whole package.
  It's mouthwatering .. waiting is the hard part.. I want one in my car, at my desk, at work, everywhere. Do you think they'll sell these as a six pack? :)
  
  --
  
  A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
2. Re:x264 specs ain't everything by Fallingcow · 2012-01-25 06:35 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Let me guess... you buy Monster cables?
Re:Impressive hardware by chrb · 2012-01-25 05:11 · Score: 4, Informative

There is more to GPU performance than the ability to decode 1080p H264. I believe the OP is referring to this story: $25 Raspberry Pi packs 2x iPhone 4S GPU performance, roasts Tegra 2

Forget teaching kids how to program; the $25 Raspberry Pi computer might just be the home entertainment STB and compact gaming console we’ve been waiting for. The low-cost computer – and its $35 sibling – should deliver double the graphical performance of the iPhone 4S, according to executive director (and Broadcom SoC architect) Eben Upton, telling Digital Foundry that not only does the BCM2835 GPU at the heart of the Raspberry Pi roast Apple’s latest smartphone, but it thoroughly whups NVIDIA’s Tegra 2.
Audio and video format support? by JDG1980 · 2012-01-25 05:12 · Score: 5, Insightful

I know that the Raspberry Pi is specifically advertised as supporting hardware decoding of H.264 up to 1080p30 at up to 40 Mbps. What I want to know is if it also supports VC-1 and MPEG-2 decoding at the same resolutions and data rates. I know that the underlying SoC has this capability, but will it be blocked or omitted from the SDK for licensing/patent reasons? Any of these three codecs can be found on Blu-Rays, and transcoding the rips to H.264 would reduce the quality.
Also, what about bitstreaming the HD audio codecs (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA) over HDMI 1.3? I know Raspberry Pi didn't want to pay for audio decoding licenses, but simply sending the raw bitstream to a receiver over the HDMI link shouldn't present any licensing issues (and is the best quality method to use anyway).
For the Raspberry Pi to be a good media streamer, it needs to be able to do these things.
Re:Excellent by Malard · 2012-01-25 05:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

What's more, we're working on getting libCEC to support the built in CEC support so you won't need the USB - CEC Adapter to get built in remote control support!

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XBMC | Pulse-Eight
Re:Excellent by Gaygirlie · 2012-01-25 06:31 · Score: 5, Informative

You're mixing things: the video plays at full speed, it's the window below it that has 8 fps. Ie. It's as it should be.
Re:Excellent by wagnerrp · 2012-01-25 06:33 · Score: 4, Informative

Recording HD or even SD video can put a strain on a chip and the Raspberry was made to be low priced not high powered. But I have a feeling once you added all the stuff required to make it a fully functional HTPC you'd be better off just getting one the the AMD E-350s and calling it a day.
Recording HD or even SD video hardly puts any strain on a chip, since you would be foolish to record anything that didn't come pre-compressed, either from a digital tuner, or analog encoder. All the chip has to do is shuffle bits from the capture subsystem to the storage subsystem. The question then becomes one of whether the performance of a late-90s PC is sufficient for your metadata needs, running the database, processing guide data, performing scheduling decisions, post-recording analysis of the video, etc...
If you're actually looking for a fully functional HTPC, you're better off getting real hardware, and not some intentionally underpowered system. Electricity is cheap, modern chips idle very efficiently, and it's not like you can't just put the thing in standby or power it off if you're that concerned. Having some real meat behind your HTPC just opens up a bunch of new possibilities, and opportunity for expansion.
Re:Excellent by quarkoid · 2012-01-25 07:09 · Score: 4, Informative

No, it's credit card sized. How many times do you need to be told?
http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Picture-001-copy.jpg
(ignore the border - that's removed after manufacture).