(2015-02-03, 05:41)patseguin Wrote: I'm looking for feedback on how well it rubs Kpdi, particularly OpenElec. Is it able to handle heavier skins now? Also does it do 3D and HD audio?
Update: I am looking at a B+ kit and I hadn't realized that the Pi doesn't have Gigabit. Does this severely impact performance streaming 1080p or even 4K video?
I wouldn't look at a B+ kit now. Wait for the Pi 2 - it may be available in your area already!
I don't think the Pi 2 will output 2160p (aka 4K) - pretty certain that the HDMI output system doesn't handle that resolution. Be interesting to see if modest bitrate 2160/24p H264 stuff plays and is downconverted. Technically the Pi handles Level 4.1 H264 only (which is the same as Blu-ray), but there are reports that some stuff encoded at levels higher than this may play, but they can't claim all stuff at these levels will. (Level 5.1 is the lowest that includes 3840x2160 at 24/25/30p).
Anything running at a bitrate greater than about 50Mbs (the max bitrate that Level 4.1 can handle officially) would concern me in Ethernet terms - but I'm sure others have checked with higher bitrate stuff. (Technically Level 5 can go to 120Mbs and Level 5.1/5.2 to 240Mbs)
The Pi 2, like the Pi 1, can't bitstream HD audio. This is because the HDMI subsystem in the SoC supports 5.1 at 48kHz and 96kHz but only 4.0 at 192kHz. For HD Audio to be bitstreamed you need the bandwith that would carry 5.1 at 192kHz - so the Pi just can't do it.
HOWEVER you can losslessly decode Dolby True HD 48 and 96kHz tracks to PCM 5.1 48kHz and 96kHz in Kodi, and there are reports that the Pi 2 now has the CPU power to do this (the Pi 1 didn't). So you can replay Dolby True HD tracks losslessly if they are 48/96kHz, though the rare 5.1 192kHz tracks will be resampled. (PCM 2.0 192kHz stuff will be lossless) DTS HD MA/HRA is different as there is no decode in ffmpeg (which Kodi is based on), so you are left with DTS core bitstreaming unless you can offline decode your DTS HD content to another format on a Windows PC (where decoding is possible using a number of third party tools which use a non-Open Source decoder)