[awp0]

Hello awp0,
Thank you for the reply back, I do understand that building the well performing XBMC/RasPi solution would be more challenging than installing and configuring Plex. But you do feel that even with the old 3.0GHz Intel Xeon processor I would be able enough to handle all the transcoding load that would be required?

Thanks,
HI

With a raspi there should be no need to transcode. I guess it comes down to this: Do you need Plex or Roku for any other reasons? If not, then you could just install XBMC on the raspi and use it without Plex. There would be no transcoding at all, so you wouldn't worry about your 3.0GHz server. It just becomes a file server, which could be handled by a tenth of that processor.

So your choices are:
1) Plex server connected to a Roku running Plex client: This is what you have now and it's not performing well.
2) Same as option1 with an upgraded Plex server: Will likely (but not definitely) solve your problem. Buffering can be caused by a lot of things. We're assuming that the Plex advice you received is correct and the problem relates to transcoding. But without more info then it remains just an assumption.
3) Plex server connected to raspberry pi running XBMC with the Plex add-in: Will likely (but not definitely) solve your problem. Unclear whether transcoding would be avoided for all formats (shouldn't be required, but who knows how the Plex server and add-in software works). If you don't need Plex for any other reasons then this may be unnecessarily complex.
4) No Plex at all. SMB or NFS shares connected to a raspberry pi running XBMC: Should solve your problem, assuming it's not a network problem or some kind of exotic codec or some other unlikely issue (hard drive dying, whatever). No transcoding would ever happen here because there is no transcoding engine. If you don't need Plex for other reasons then this is a great solution and probably the most likely to succeed IMO.

By the way, you could also test options 3 and 4 at the same time to see which one you prefer. There's no reason to uninstall the Plex server. It can run happily in the background while you're testing option 4. Hope this helps!

awp0,

Responses to the 4 choices you wrote down,
1) Yes, this is not performing well
2) Based on the feedback from Plex superusers I would safely say that weaker server is indeed the issue, I do not see any other bottleneck.
3) I would like to try this and as I asked pecinko with the PleXBMC add-on will XBMC try to play the file first and if it has issues will it ask plex to transcode it so that XBMC can play it?
4) I am too inclined to go this route, now for step 2, what all I need to buy and how much would I be spending? RasPi, 8GB SD Card, case to hold RasPi, adapter, maybe licenses for MPEG-2 and VC1? I do have extra HDMI and LAN cables


Thanks for all your responses and breaking up my issue systematically.
HI.

So if you want to give it a go, then get these parts:
1) Raspberry Pi model B
2) Small SD card. The faster the better. 8 gigs is fine, maybe even overkill for your purpose. Mine runs on a 2 gig card. You could optionally validate the card at this website: http://elinux.org/RPi_SD_cards
3) 5-volt power adapter with a micro usb cable. I like to use old iPhone chargers (with a standard micro USB cable). Most smartphone power adapters would work. Make sure the charger can supply at least 1 Amp.

All of that should come in under $60.

Optionally:
1) A case (many available)
2) A thumb drive that you could use to improve performance. Many people have noticed performance improvements by moving their "storage" partition to a thumb drive, which has faster read rates. This is an advanced topic, but just something to keep in mind.

Then choose either raspbmc or openelec distributions of XBMC for the raspberry pi. Those respective websites can guide you through the installation. There are many raspberry pi performance tweaks that can be used to speed things up. Just keep that in mind when you first start using it.

[popcornmix]

Here is a sample...

Yes, no problems there. That's H.264 video with DTS audio - very common for HD videos.

[happyindian]

Here is a sample...

Yes, no problems there. That's H.264 video with DTS audio - very common for HD videos.

Thanks for the reply, I think I will give this one a try.


HI