Is anyone taking a serious look at RaspberryPi?

[geogecko]

Subscribed.

So what are you using to record with? I've got two HDHR's, and after stumbling upon the Rpi, I started looking at what could be done to replace my Sage setup.

This looks very promising, especially for the price.

[emveepee]

My YouTube videos were using NextPVR as a backend, but there are several others if you follow the link I provided a couple of links back.

Martin

[wayner]

Originally Posted by geogecko

So what are you using to record with? I've got two HDHR's, and after stumbling upon the Rpi, I started looking at what could be done to replace my Sage setup.

Why not continue to use Sage as the backend. I see no reason to ever stop using Sage at the server side as it can handle all content, at least until 4K video comes out.

[Fuzzy]

There's nothing saying Sage couldn't even handle 4K. :-) The network encoder plugin allows it to be made to work with basically any system, as long as that system can be made to record to a file that can be played back.

[geogecko]

Ok, so I see that when you say backend, you are referring to another machine, basically like Sagetv service. So you are essentially using the Rpi as a media extender.

I can continue to use Sage as my backend, but thought, or maybe was hoping, that the Rpi could handle everything (I thought that is what PVR support in XBMC was for, but it appears that is just a way to interface with a backend). Is the Rpi not powerful enough to handle pvr duties?

So just so I understand this correctly, if I use sage as my backend, am I still able to schedule recordings and what not from the XBMC sage plugin?

[wayner]

I really doubt that you can do everything on a Pi - don't forget that it uses a smartphone SOC and the only interface for hard drives, etc is USB.

I personally believe in the client server model as I have seven TVs in my house all with extenders so yes, I am just talking about using the Pi as an extender and having Sage running as a server. I haven't yet used the Sage XBMC addin so I don't know what functionality it has. Playing back pre recorded files shouldn't be an issue. Stuff that is more challenging is stuff like scheduling recordings, watching live TV and watching currently recording TV.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by geogecko

I can continue to use Sage as my backend, but thought, or maybe was hoping, that the Rpi could handle everything (I thought that is what PVR support in XBMC was for, but it appears that is just a way to interface with a backend). Is the Rpi not powerful enough to handle pvr duties?

You can probably run the TVHeadend backend on the RPi. I personally wouldn't run a PVR backend on more powerful Atom mini-itx solution with SATA so a crappy processor with USB doesn't entice me to consider it. For live tv dvb/atsc maybe but for that it's probably simpler to plug an antenna into a tv.

Martin

[RedR]

Far as skipping forward or back in a show/movie with XBMC, that is a known bug, has been awhile, and will be fixed sooner or later.

I believe TVHeadend is supported in XBMC/Raspbmc currently. At the very least a plugin for it. Take a look at the forums for XBMC and Raspbmc, lots of discussion on TVHeadend.

And their is talk about a client server model for XBMC, again future feature/discussion.

As to my current setup, I am very happy with my Pi running Raspbmc as a replacement (MediaMVP) for my media extenders. I've managed to final my setup for two Pi's now. Old SD recordings look good on the HDTV's, and HD looks wonderful! The only issue I have run into is DTS. Without having a hardware decoder (via passthrough HDMI->TV->AVR) the Pi just does not have the horsepower to do it alone. Since only a handful of my rips have DTS, this problem has already been resolved. I suppose the skip forward/rewind issue w/ XBMC is a slight thorn, knowing it'll be fixed sooner or later is enough for me.

I've also got both (34 and 45 button) Hauppauge remotes working. Along with the SageTV plugin, the WAF is through the roof compared to the old MVP's. Total cost per setup, $70.

[geogecko]

That sounds great! I think I'm going to buy one to play with on the side then. I was looking for an Extender on eBay, but not having any luck, and this sounds way cheaper, granted a little setup will be required.

I'll do some more reading to get more informed. I see you are using an IR receiver plugged into GPIO. I was thinking for the living room of getting one of those wireless mini keyboard mouse combo, the little one that looks almost like a remote. I'm guessing a remote would be better for everyday navigation though. Does someone sell that little cable you have for the receiver, or did you make it? Not sure what remote I would use. I do have an old mediaMVP remote I could use, I guess.

The DTS shouldn't be an issue for my living room...well, except I don't have HDMI inputs on the AVR...is HDMI the only way to get the sound out of the Pi? Is there an HDMI splitter, lol? Spits out HDMI w/o sound, and then coax out for encoded sound...

As for your DTS issue, one would think there would be a little box that takes in encoded audio, and spits out stereo RCA... I would probably also need something similar for my room extenders w/o AVR's.

[geogecko]

Something similar to this, maybe...

http://www.ambery.com/hdautorcasts.html

Of course, that drives up the cost of this solution another $100...

[RedR]

Far as DTS/HDMI/audio typically folks connect their AVR via the TV digital audio out. Thus Pi -> HDMI -> TV -> TV digital audio out -> AVR. Otherwise I believe there are ways to enable both HDMI and analog audio outputs on the Pi.

Far as remote options, you have a few listed, as well quite a few more listed on the forums that are known to work. Some are GPIO, some USB IR. I originally wanted something like you are talking about, like the iPassPort. Being untested on the Pi, and having 3-5 Hauppauge remotes laying around, I just bought a TSOP IR receiver module, used an old CD audio cable for a PC DVD drive and walaa! You can find em form 1-5 bucks. So far, after initial setup, I've never had a use for keyboard or mouse. Most wireless keyboards will require a powered hub, and wanting to keep it cheap and simple I avoided that route. I can do almost anything with both Pi's via SSH if needed.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by geogecko

Something similar to this, maybe...

http://www.ambery.com/hdautorcasts.html

Of course, that drives up the cost of this solution another $100...

this:
4X1 HDMI® Switcher w/ Toslink & Digital Coaxial Port (Rev.2) w/ 3D support.
might be more in line with what you are looking for. I've never used it, but reviews seem good. Basically, perfect for using HDMI sources, with a non-HDMI receiver - not as ideal as just upgrading the receiver, but a whole lot cheaper.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by geogecko

That sounds great! I think I'm going to buy one to play with on the side then. I was looking for an Extender on eBay, but not having any luck, and this sounds way cheaper, granted a little setup will be required.

I would still recommend buying an extender - if you keep an eye on the Marketplace version of these forums you should be able to buy an HD-200 for about $150.

Don't forget that when you buy a Pi you are geting a bare circuit board without anything, not even a case or power supply. So when you add in a power supply, case, USB hub, SD card, IR capabilities then you are probably already at $100.

If you want something that works I would buy a used extender. If you want to play around a bit I would try out a Pi.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by RedR

As to my current setup, I am very happy with my Pi running Raspbmc as a replacement (MediaMVP) for my media extenders. I've managed to final my setup for two Pi's now.

Did you get a static IP working on the Pi or did you even try? I was playing around with Raspbmc a few weeks ago and this is one thing that I could never get working. I tried chaning it in the network plugin for XBMC but it would never take and this seemed to be a common problem on the Raspbmc forums.

[RedR]

Yes though in a round about way.. I just locked it in on my router as I found the same on the Raspbmc forums re static IP for the Pi. I just took a glance at the forums and found this thread suggesting static IP issues via Raspbmc settings GUI has been resolved in the last couple weeks. I have not tested this, and likely will not since the router solution works for my setup.

On a related note, I do want to point out the forums suggest using the IP vs host name for setting up your library in Raspbmc (ex. \\192.168.1.50\... vs \\SageServer\...). So to avoid any possible burps, I did this and have not had any issue until setting the SageTV plugin on Raspbmc. The plugin does require the host name and not the IP (at least for SMB shares) in the configuration for the SageTV recording folder. When I tried to use the IP all seemed to work, it just would not play any videos. Figured this out thanks to the XMBC SageTV plugin thread on these forums.

[geogecko]

Question. Does the plugin work with SageTV 6? I never got around to buying v7 before the buyout.

[Fuzzy]

upgrades to v7 are free: V7 Upgrades for SageTV for Windows

[that_kid]

Originally Posted by RedR

I've also got both (34 and 45 button) Hauppauge remotes working. Along with the SageTV plugin, the WAF is through the roof compared to the old MVP's. Total cost per setup, $70.

I need to know how you did this. I'm in the process of moving over to xbmc and using mythtv as a backend. So far it's been great, some learning to be done but my Pi has been working great and my other clients are now running xbmc and WAF is great. It would be nice if Sage could be setup as a xbmc PVR backend. Still the one big thng sage won't do is mux recording and this is huge for me, especially with the number of extenders I have.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by RedR

On a related note, I do want to point out the forums suggest using the IP vs host name for setting up your library in Raspbmc (ex. \\192.168.1.50\... vs \\SageServer\...). So to avoid any possible burps, I did this and have not had any issue until setting the SageTV plugin on Raspbmc. The plugin does require the host name and not the IP (at least for SMB shares) in the configuration for the SageTV recording folder. When I tried to use the IP all seemed to work, it just would not play any videos. Figured this out thanks to the XMBC SageTV plugin thread on these forums.

We should maybe see if we can get the guys to change that so that it can use either as I would trust IP address more than names.

I have found some of the networking on the RPi to be a bit flaky. When I boot up into Raspbian I have trouble getting my Windows drive to mount automatically from the mapping in the fstab file. But if I copy the entry in the fstab file and run it in the command line then it works properly.

But this may be due to trying to connect the Samba share before the network card is ready since I have set up this Pi to boot up without requiring a password. Windows has this problem as will if you set it to not use a password you may get a Could not connect to network drives error unless you change a registry setting.

On a related note - has anyone found a good case for the Pi? I have one of these cases:

But it is much bigger than it has to be and it doesn't hold the Pi very securely as it tends to pop out of the holders when you plug in cables.

[that_kid]

Interesting read about named based shares having issues. I found this especially true when trying to use Openelec. With Raspbmc named dffs shares worked great but not with openlec. It would be nice if they get the static IP issues ironed out too, I'm using the shared db setup and at one point had issues where the first Pi boot didn't connect to the db server. After some investigation I found that enabling portfast on that switch interface fixed the issue.

I'm still searching for a good case, I'm considering building my own out of plexiglass. It's going to be mounted to the back of the tv so I don't need much as far as a case.