Downsides using RP3 as Media Center?
#1
I'm thinking to buy a Raspberry Pi 3 to use it as a media center because my Smart TV lacks many many features.

I own already a RP1 but it's slow speed drives me crazy.

So some of my questions are:
1) Does KODI UI runs smoothly on a RP3 ?
2) Does 1080p H.264 videos plays as they should without dropped frames from a USB external HDD?
3) What are the downsides you have found so far? (if any)
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#2
I have 3 Raspberry Pi 1Bs and they perform adequately with a bit of tweaking.
HTPCs: 2 x Chromecast with Google TV
Audio: Pioneer VSX-819HK & S-HS 100 5.1 Speakers
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#3
Have only had mine for 2 weeks now, but:

(2016-10-22, 18:08)DeckardCain Wrote: 1) Does KODI UI runs smoothly on a RP3 ?
Yes. I am using the Transparency! skin which is fanart-heavy and it works great.
Obviously something like Confluence (or Estuary in Krypton) will be snappier, but I have no complaints so far.

(2016-10-22, 18:08)DeckardCain Wrote: 2) Does 1080p H.264 videos plays as they should without dropped frames from a USB external HDD?
I play mine off a NAS via ethernet (most files are 2GB-3GB) and haven't had any issues.

(2016-10-22, 18:08)DeckardCain Wrote: 3) What are the downsides you have found so far? (if any)
x265/HEVC won't play, which is a shame - but I knew that before buying.
I'd love to be able to use my Sky Go subscription, but without MS Silverlight it's a no-go so I need to keep a laptop handy.
Netflix won't work, but a €40 Chromecast and your phone/tablet takes care of that.


I also plan to setup a dual-boot system (LibreELEC & Retropie) to allow me to play retro games
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#4
Sorry to hijack, but what resolution do you get with netflix/chromebox?
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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#5
(2016-10-22, 22:49)nickr Wrote: Sorry to hijack, but what resolution do you get with netflix/chromebox?

I have a 2nd gen Chromecast which claims max output at 1080p
https://support.google.com/chromecast/an...6409?hl=en
Netflix also claims that it will output 1080p using the cast method
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23924

Not sure how to confirm it though

edit: 2nd Gen
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#6
Thanks.
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#7
(2016-10-22, 23:43)nickr Wrote: Thanks.

no probs. Thank you guys for Kodi Smile
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#8
@DeckardCain, from the Hardware START HERE Sticky thread Post#2

Q. I want a Kodi media player, priced around $100 or less for use with my 1080p TV, that will play any 1080p content I throw at it with few limitations ?
  • RPi3: runnning LibreELEC Kodi. The Gold standard in Software support and with Kernel drivers for all manner of attached external hardware.
  • Entry level 8bit 1080p Frame Packed 3D, and can decode all 5.1/7.1 HD audio to output as Multichannel PCM (>2.0) including FLAC.
  • Plays nearly all 1080p content you throw at it. To decode Bluray VC-1 content, a licence has to be purchased separately.
  • Major limitations - no hardware HEVC(h.265) decoding, relatively slower micro SDHC only storage.
  • No 5.1/7.1 Dolby True HD, DTS-HD MA/HRA Audio passthrough (bitstreaming) and comparatively slow older hardware that developers have impressively taken as far as it will go. Smile
  • Direct competitor in this space is the ODROID C2.
  • LibreELEC / Kodi Jarvis running on various AMLogic S905 platforms - A/V playback has now surpassed the RPi3 in virtually everything but Frame Packed 1080p 3D video.
  • Users report Kodi is faster on AMLogic devices vs RPi3 when running LibreELEC as well.

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#9
(2016-10-22, 19:34)zerocool_ie Wrote: x265/HEVC won't play, which is a shame - but I knew that before buying.

from a quick test, my Pi3 running LibreELEC seems to handle low bit rate x265 @ 720p perfectly, but 1080p is unwatchable
(not a bit rate expert Smile )

Plays well
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Plays but unwatchable (tearing, stuttering)
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Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
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Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.024
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#10
I've loved using the RPI3 as my main media centre since it first came out (used an RPI2 prior to that)..

Unfortunately, I've recently come across a major flaw that will mean that I'm going to have to go back to my original plan to build a REAL HTPC...

Apparently, the RPI is unable to recognize two external drives with the same label name. This has become a major problem for me as I have invested in multiple WD Mybook drives after getting frustrated with multiple issues accessing network attached drives from the pi for my KODI setup.

While I attribute the network issues to windows 10 and the drive label issues to WD, the issue has me frustrated to the point where it tips the scales in favour of a full blown HTPC which will have more solutions to this and future issues just by virtue of the fact that more things are meant to run on it.
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#11
(2016-10-24, 18:48)crutzulee Wrote: Apparently, the RPI is unable to recognize two external drives with the same label name. This has become a major problem for me as I have invested in multiple WD Mybook drives after getting frustrated with multiple issues accessing network attached drives from the pi for my KODI setup.

Not really a Pi specific issue. This will be linux and will affect all non-Windows Kodi platforms.
I'm sure there is a solution. I'm not an expert but I suspect you want to add entries to /etc/fstab using the UUID of the disk, rather than the label.

This sort of thing.
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#12
(2016-10-24, 18:48)crutzulee Wrote: I've loved using the RPI3 as my main media centre since it first came out (used an RPI2 prior to that)..

Unfortunately, I've recently come across a major flaw that will mean that I'm going to have to go back to my original plan to build a REAL HTPC...

Apparently, the RPI is unable to recognize two external drives with the same label name. This has become a major problem for me as I have invested in multiple WD Mybook drives after getting frustrated with multiple issues accessing network attached drives from the pi for my KODI setup.

While I attribute the network issues to windows 10 and the drive label issues to WD, the issue has me frustrated to the point where it tips the scales in favour of a full blown HTPC which will have more solutions to this and future issues just by virtue of the fact that more things are meant to run on it.
I'm fairly sure that if you unplug the drives, connect them to a windows pc and change the labels everything will work with the new labels on the pi. You can do the same thing via putty but I can't remember the commands offhand (depends on the format of the drives).
What you can't do (apologies if I've mixed your post up with someone else's) is change the labels in windows while they're connected to the pi.
Edit: all my usb drives are formatted / labelled in windows, they all mount fine in openelec or libreelec at /media/labelname.
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#13
(2016-10-24, 19:00)popcornmix Wrote:
(2016-10-24, 18:48)crutzulee Wrote: Apparently, the RPI is unable to recognize two external drives with the same label name. This has become a major problem for me as I have invested in multiple WD Mybook drives after getting frustrated with multiple issues accessing network attached drives from the pi for my KODI setup.

Not really a Pi specific issue. This will be linux and will affect all non-Windows Kodi platforms.
I'm sure there is a solution. I'm not an expert but I suspect you want to add entries to /etc/fstab using the UUID of the disk, rather than the label.

This sort of thing.

Yeah... as I said, i know it's not the PI's fault but I think anyone that's thinking of using it as a serious HTPC should consider this drawback when making a decision. The WD Mybook drives are quite popular and with four USB ports, it's reasonable that many people will want attach multiple drives to avoid network issues.

It's a shame because some really smart people have made this an inexpesive alternative..
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#14
As above, changing a label should sort it - takes 10 seconds.
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#15
(2016-10-22, 19:34)zerocool_ie Wrote: I also plan to setup a dual-boot system (LibreELEC & Retropie) to allow me to play retro games

Take a look at this. http://www.matthuisman.nz/2015/11/recalb...mages.html

I used the images there to get the dual boot of recalbox and kodi. both can be updated separately as well. Was a very easy setup.

As for RPI3 as a media center, pretty much what zerocool said. I'm running on a RPI2, and have no issues. Even with a 1080p x264 video thats 16gb in size. Just use ethernet, and adjust the video cache for Kodi, and you'll be golden. As for retrogames, RPI3 should be very good for all consoles up to the n64.
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Downsides using RP3 as Media Center?0