[poplap]

I have been testing pseudo tv lite on the Rpi2 and it works though the gui is a little slow, though that might have to do with the gui frame rate being limited when playing videos. Its not the fastest to start up or exit but once inside it does well enough and still changes channels about the same speed as my TV which is a rather fast one. Just make sure to set it to raspberry pi unders the settings->tweaks->Operating System. I am still messing around with it so I can't say too much about it right now and I am also only using the lite version (don't need streams, though youtube movie trailers would be a nice touch) so I can not say much about the performance of web streams.

[hewligun]

Is this what you guys would recommend as the purchase for a setup?

http://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-...berry+pi+2

[mentat]

I have been testing pseudo tv lite on the Rpi2 and it works though the gui is a little slow, though that might have to do with the gui frame rate being limited when playing videos. Its not the fastest to start up or exit but once inside it does well enough and still changes channels about the same speed as my TV which is a rather fast one. Just make sure to set it to raspberry pi unders the settings->tweaks->Operating System. I am still messing around with it so I can't say too much about it right now and I am also only using the lite version (don't need streams, though youtube movie trailers would be a nice touch) so I can not say much about the performance of web streams.

Is this what you guys would recommend as the purchase for a setup?

http://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-...berry+pi+2

That's the kit that I've been using since CanaKit first released the RPi2 in Canada... and it's been working great.

http://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-starter-kit.html

The WiFi works fine on OpenELEC 5.0.8 (@2.4GHz only) but I'm close enough to my router to use Ethernet.

I've not tested PseudoTV Lite, but I'm planning to give it a try (Thanks to @poplap for this post).

Thanks.

[hewligun]

I have been testing pseudo tv lite on the Rpi2 and it works though the gui is a little slow, though that might have to do with the gui frame rate being limited when playing videos. Its not the fastest to start up or exit but once inside it does well enough and still changes channels about the same speed as my TV which is a rather fast one. Just make sure to set it to raspberry pi unders the settings->tweaks->Operating System. I am still messing around with it so I can't say too much about it right now and I am also only using the lite version (don't need streams, though youtube movie trailers would be a nice touch) so I can not say much about the performance of web streams.

Is this what you guys would recommend as the purchase for a setup?

http://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-...berry+pi+2

That's the kit that I've been using since CanaKit first released the RPi2 in Canada... and it's been working great.

http://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-starter-kit.html

The WiFi works fine on OpenELEC 5.0.8 (@2.4GHz only) but I'm close enough to my router to use Ethernet.

I've not tested PseudoTV Lite, but I'm planning to give it a try (Thanks to @poplap for this post).

Thanks.

Thanks for the prompt response. Will that be enough space to run kodi with a few addons? Also is openELEC the preferred os for kodi?

[forest]

Will that be enough space to run kodi with a few addons? Also is openELEC the preferred os for kodi?

If you're just using your Raspberry Pi as a media player, OpenELEC is just right. It's optimized for that purpose, tuned for the hardware, and has at least one developer who is also on the Kodi team. Yes, an 8GB microsd card is more than enough.

[hyankov]

I've owned a MK809 III for some time now and I hate its guts! Random reboots, overheating, sometimes Kodi crashes so bad on it, it loses its entire configuration (thank god for the backup plugin), online streaming never works properly, extremely unstable WiFi connection, etc... IT IS DRIVING ME NUTS.

So nuts, that in fact I've impulse-ordered a Raspberry Pi 2 B after a quick glance at those links (1, 2). Specifically, this bundle. As far as I can tell, the case is crap, but the rest of the bundle might be alright. Not a whole lot of options on the UK Amazon really.

I hope very much that it will take away the frustration. What I am basically wishing for is a stable Kodi experience, without crashes and reboots and my two favorite plugins (banned from the forum, but let's just say that they are web-stream / seed related) would finally run smooth.

I see that the Pi comes with 4 USB ports, I would immediately occupy 3 of them: external HDD, WiFi adapter, wireless keyboard.

Also, a question: It won't be possible to port my entire Kodi configuration from the MK809 into the Pi, right?

[nickr]

You have already mentioned kodi backup, so you know the answer to the last question.

There are places other then Amazon to buy if you don't like that case. The flirc case is nice.

Avoid wifi. Go wired.

[da-anda]

it is possible if you manage to backup your user data folder. move everything to the PI (when using OE the user data folder is shared via smb for easy remote access) and you are done.

[wrxtasy]

- MIMO usb WiFi such as Netis WF2123 Wireless N300 (dual band 2.4/5Ghz - even better) and
- Samsung 8 or 16GB PLUS Micro SDHC with Adapter - up to 48MB/s - UHS-1 Class 10
- 2.0Amp/5V Power Supply

for best results on the RPi2.

[hyankov]

Thanks for the advice! I was not sure if the backup is OS-specific or not. So, in such case, I could just install the Backup addon on the new system and use it to Restore from a backup created by the old system. As long as the Kodi versions are the same on both...

As for the WiFi vs Cable, is it really that huge of a difference? I am not going to be streaming 1080p. I think the most bandwidth-hungry operation I would perform is watch a 720p YouTube clip.

[wrxtasy]

Personally I ditched my 2.4Ghz usb WiFi as I was getting interferance issues whenever a Microwave Oven operated in the house.
This is why Dual Band 2.4/5Ghz WiFi is better if you have a compatible modern WiFi router.

Also I watch high bitrate mpeg2 1080i Live TV and had buffering issues, plus video startup response times are better with Ethernet.
Just get the best WiFi gear you can even if is extra $ - as you will always want to stream something with higher bitrates in future.

Thats a certainty.

[hyankov]

Please help me understand the following...

How come the MK809 III looks like it has faster hardware, compared to the Pi 2, but performs worse?

The MK809: 1.8Ghz, 2GB ram
The Pi 2: 900mhz, 1GB ram

and still, without doubt, the Pi is a better HTPC? Is it all a software issue with the dongle?

[wrxtasy]

Pick any or all of the following...

a) An overclocked 1.4Ghz Quad Core SoC running at 1.8Ghz that is likely poorly engineered.
b) An inadequate tiny heat sink, or maybe none at all.
c) Poor thermal engineering design in such a small package
d) Badly written Firmware that does not respect a safe themal limit and throttle the CPU's in time.
e) Very poorly designed, tiny WiFi antennas in these Rockchips sticks. I had a very early model 3 years ago and it sucked.
d) Piss poor quality control out of the manufacturing factory
e) Relying on a 3rd party, such as the guys on Freaktab to write half decent Firmware for such devices.
f) Using purchasers of such devices to be Alpha stage testers of the devices, when these devices should never have been released to market.
g) Slick marketing to those that value Fast Flashy Tech specs and slick Websites over proper support such as that provided by the Open source Kodi and RPi communities.

Suggestions:
- grab Firmware if you can from the Freaktab website and Underclock the thing so it does not overheat.
- with that Firmware make sure it supports an External WiFi usb dongle
- if not get a usb to Ethernet adapter.
- Run Over It With a Car !!!

[hyankov]

Thanks, but I am done with this little pile of crap. By the way, turns out that most of my issues with the dongle were because of the terrible power supply that came with it. It says 2A, but I am sure that if I measure it it will come to no more than 1A. Because I don't have a better supply, I have done a little trick where I supply power via two separate cables, out of two power supply (one is the 'original' 2A and another is a 1A iPhone supply). Performance is immeasurably better, but I have already decided that I am getting a Pi.

I have cancelled my order for the Pi bundle, I will 'build' one myself, for a number of different reasons. Just a quick related question: should I get a 16GB or 8GB SD card for the OpenELEC? I am going to use an external USB hard drive, which stores most of my movies. But for day-to-day operations, such as backup, cache and installation of a number of Kodi plugins, would the 8GB suffice? My calculation is: ~6GB for the actual OpenELEC (that's what they say on the site), ~2GB of plugins (very overestimated), ~3GB of backups and ~2GB for cache (I don't know if that much is used actually, just a wild guess). Sooo... 16GB?

Thanks for your responsiveness.

[nickr]

Pi: well documented and the ability to access hardware acceleration.
Pi: has plenty of support from soc maker
pi: has a member of kodi team who works for rpi foundation.
Pi: runs Linux not android