[bs0d]

I'm learning about media center setups and put together an HTPC from a box of an older Sony desktop which is quite bulky. I also recently picked up a Raspberry Pi 2 and imaged OpenELEC on the SDHC card and was quickly running Kodi. The advantage is obviously in the compact size. If a person is just looking for something to play their media collection, why wouldn't the Raspberry Pi be a go-to solution? What are the biggest reasons to not go that route?

Less configurable
Wireless issues
Slow for streaming?
No game controller drivers?

If you've made the decision in the past, why did you go with the HTPC, or why did you chose a Pi instead?

[shabuboy]

Pi2 (+ other set-top-boxes with limited storage) is probably an option for people with a NAS/Network shares. Otherwise you need directly attach storage, which is not ideal, since you would have to find a way to get your content there.

Personally I think full HTPCs are a thing of the past, unless you are a gamer and/or have a very specific need, or want an all-in-one-box device (NAS, media player, media storage, torrent client, Plex server, + any other apps), believe it or not, there are quite a few out there. Still surprise people go this route as well but then, I am old, had my share of games in the past, these days I can watch paint dry and will be just fine!!! With a drink on my hand of course!

A NAS with a set-top-box or a small NUC/Mini PC are the most popular options these days I think...

[Ned Scott]

Pi 2 is excellent. If you need something in the $50-60 range (depending on what parts you might already have), it's really hard to beat. My parents have used Kodi on a Raspberry Pi and didn't even know it.

[TRaSH]

I use both,
PI2 in the bedroom direct connected with HDMI to the tv,
And use the tv remote (CEC) to control it.
In the living room I got a HTPC that looks like a Blu-ray player and it blends perfect in with the rest of my components (receiver, cable box, center speaker).
Fully support of all HD audio formats (True-HD, DTS-MA, etc)
Fully controlled with a official MCE receiver with my Logitech harmony.
I wouldn't want a small format all in one box that looks ugly between my components.
And most of them are limited which audio formats they support or a half working remote.
All my media is stored on a MicroServer.
I'm not a gamer and don't run a torrent client on the HTPC.
The HTPC runs on OpenElec.

Still waiting for a decent looking mediabox that fully support all audio formats and can pay all video formats without a issue and a fully supported remote/receiver.
And using standard size width (43 CM).
Even the OpenElec supported wetek doesn't support bitstreaming.

If you connect it straight to your tv then the Pi2 or the wetek is perfect.
If you store your media on a nas.

[PANiCnz]

The reasons not to use a rpi are pretty specific and limited to less common use cases. If you don't know what these are they probably don't apply to you.

An rpi is likely a lot better than an old bulky pc.

[TRaSH]

And use much less power also

[wrxtasy]

The reasons not to use a rpi are pretty specific and limited to less common use cases. If you don't know what these are they probably don't apply to you.

An rpi is likely a lot better than an old bulky pc.

The reasons are not really that specific. I'm one of those users that has changed camps from a RPi2 to an ODROID-C1 both running OpenELEC / Kodi 15.1. This is due to the fact that the C1 can Hardware decode 1080p HEVC and that the C1 has superior deinterlacing capabilities for Broadcast TV. It's noticeably quicker as well.

I don't care about HD audio, nor 3D MVC stuff the RPi2 offers.
The link in my signature provides further comparisons.

[noggin]

The reasons are not really that specific. I'm one of those users that has changed camps from a RPi2 to an ODROID-C1 both running OpenELEC / Kodi 15.1. This is due to the fact that the C1 can Hardware decode 1080p HEVC and that the C1 has superior deinterlacing capabilities for Broadcast TV. It's noticeably quicker as well.

To be fair - I think the differences between the Pi 2 MMAL Advanced deinterlacing (now that we have that at 1080i) and the Odroid C1 deinterlacing are relatively minor, and the Odroid, to my eye, is introducing some artificial sharpening, which won't be to everybody's tastes (I am not a fan - I like to see the picture as broadcast without processing wherever possible) and can't be disabled.

When the Pi 2 only supported MMAL Bob at 1080i I would say the C1 did a better job (with the edge effect caveats). Now the Pi 2 (with a small amount of overclock) can support MMAL Advanced (and this has had a bug removed) I'm not sure the difference is as marked in vertical resolution terms (which was the main issue).

The C1 has fewer tweaks to worry about in certain cases (the Pi 2 still has two players - OMX Player and MMAL - and the two perform differently on different sources) and the C1 does do a good job with Live TV. I'm just not sure that it is entirely fair to say the C1 is better for broadcast TV. I'm also not convinced that the C1 is better than the Pi 2 at deinterlacing with current Pi 2 dev builds.

I don't care about HD audio, nor 3D MVC stuff the RPi2 offers.
The link in my signature provides further comparisons.

It isn't just HD Audio that the C1 doesn't support - it doesn't support PCM multichannel, which means any non-DD/DTS audio (even non-HD Audio like AAC 5.1) has to be transcoded (i.e. compressed AAC 5.1 has to be decoded to
PCM and then re-encoded to DD within Kodi) if you want multichannel output. No clean output of Freeview HD multichannel audio, no FLAC 5.1 etc. without decoding. To anyone with an HDMI AVR this is an issue.

The Pi 2 has 8 channel PCM output. It can decode AAC 5.1 (which is a common audio surround format on TV in Europe), FLAC 5.1/7.1 to PCM multichannel and output in this format without requiring a re-encode to DD, as well as handle HD Audio codecs like DTS-HD MA/HRA and Dolby True HD.

Personally I'd argue that HEVC is a niche use case at the moment (apart from DVB-T2 HEVC 4K tests I've got none in my collection), whereas HD Audio is pretty widespread. Anyone who uses their HTPC for watching their DVD and Blu-ray collection ripped to a server, and uses an AVR, will appreciate the HD Audio functionality, and anyone in the UK with an AVR watching Freeview HD will appreciate 5.1 AAC decoding to PCM multichannel.

[bs0d]

Thanks for all the feedback (keep it coming).

A few thoughts from the responses so far:

With regard to audio, couldn't you have the Pi 2 setup to passthrough if your HDMI is connected to a receiver which could handle the digital audio processing?

Why is directly attaching storage to a Pi 2 not ideal? I connected an external HDD via USB and the playback seems fine so far. Is it not ideal due to the power off limitations with a Pi?

[wrxtasy]

I agree to disagree with Noggin, run some fast action sports - interlaced Broadcast TV on the C1 and you will see the difference when it uses Advanced Motion Adaptive Edge Enhancing deinterlacing. I actually did not even need to buy a dedicated power supply either. Just used an old phone charger. This is not at all possible on the RPi2, especially when you start talking Overclocking with the RPi2 development builds.

And this is even before we get to the picture quality color banding I see on the RPi.
This is very evident on the opening OpenELEC logo, with blue color banding plainly shown on the background sphere.
Anyone know what is causing this, or is just my TV ?

If you need HD Audio Passthrough, and you have the supporting 5.1 or 7.1 Audio equipment, you would still not get a RPi2 but stretch the budget instead and get a Chromebox or its many derivatives. It will run rings around a RPi2.
After all you want those loverly DTS/True/HD Audio blinken bling lights on your AVR to light up and show its mighty HD audio prowess in plain sight, anything less (like PCM) just spoils the fun

[popcornmix]

And this is even before we get to the picture quality color banding I see on the RPi.
This is very evident on the opening OpenELEC logo, with blue color banding plainly shown on the background sphere.

OpenELEC boots with a 16bpp framebuffer. It's there for a second. This has no effect on the GUI or video playback.
EDIT: Add framebuffer_depth=32 to config.txt if it bothers you.

[wrxtasy]

Ah thanks Popcornmix, always puzzled me especially when I really could not see any noticeable differences when video was played. The C1 does boot with a 32bpp framebuffer which show the difference.

[d'Wooluf]

Well the Pi is cheap, so when that perfect Kodi box comes along we won't feel the pain quite so much (and we can probably repurpose the Pi). It seems to be getting better with each build and I find the peformance more than acceptable (having come from the Apple TV). Having to research and get all of the bits separately is a pain, but then it makes it uniquely yours. I've bonded with mine.

[TRaSH]

What about the chromebox like the one from Asus,
That one seems to support all video and audio formats if I'm not mistaking.
When installed with OpenElec.

[noggin]

What about the chromebox like the one from Asus,
That one seems to support all video and audio formats if I'm not mistaking.
When installed with OpenElec.

The Chromebox supports AVC/H264, MPEG2 and progressive VC-1. It doesn't support interlaced VC-1 and doesn't support HEVC/H265 via VAAPI (though it can software decode some HEVC). The Chromebox doesn't support MVC 3D. It does bitstream HD Audio - DTS-HD MA/HRA and Dolby True HD.

The Pi 2 supports AVC/H264, MPEG2 and VC-1 (I haven't tried interlaced vs progressive but haven't heard of any interlaced issues). It doesn't support HEVC/H265 via hardware but has optimised software decoding - so should do some HEVC stuff (though I suspect the Chromebox will do higher resolutions/bitrates). The Pi 2 does full MVC 3D decode and has Frame packed output. The Pi 2 doesn't support HD Audio bitstreaming, but there are OpenElec builds that support lossless decode of True HD and DTS-HD MA/HRA to 5.1/7.1 PCM - so unless you are an Atmos/DTS:x user or have 5.1/7.1 concerns the Pi 2 does a pretty good job.