PI model B as HTPC (the real lowdown)

[mmkw43]

Ok, so I bought a PI model B and put Raspbmc on it. It's ready to go and it would be great to replace my P4 HTPC with it eventually because I'm a green freak and love to be frugal on my power consumption.

THAT is the only reason to switch for me because I also believe "don't fix it if ain't broke".

So c'mon be honest --

Can I really have this perform as an HTPC without headaches and a lot of digging to get questions answered?

Here's what I want to do --

Watch OTA TV, youtube and browse the internet as well as I can now with the P4 with my wireless keyboard and mouse.

[jamesh]

Well, I believe it can do most of the things you want to do. But it wont have the same performance as a P4, which is a faster processor, EXCEPT, the Pi will be a better decoder of H264 (or other video formats with the right codecs) as its is fully HW accelerated up to 1080p30

I use one with OpenELEC 9XBMC) but I only do streaming over a wireless LAN from the PC or PVR already inthe house, not used it for OTA TV or YouTUbe.

I'd suggest its worth a dig around these forums, a google, or perhaps even just get one and try it out.

[efigalaxie]

I have openelec running on a dual core Dell Studio Hybrid. I am running it all off a 8gb usb thumbdrive.

To be honest, I have looked at Youtube videos of the RPI v2 running Raspbmc. On those videos, the thumbnails seem to refresh quicker and the thing seems not to freeze up. I have a suspicion that my issue is the thumbdrive I am using on my pc. However, I bought the Canakit from Amazon and bought a 16gb usb 3 thumbdrive. I intend to split the stuff and have my library stuff on the thumbdrive and have the OS on the 8gb SD Card that comes w/ NOOBS. My library is on a NAS. I will hook up using the Ethernet port. I already have that there and am currently using it on the current installation. I am using a flirc adapter for a remote and a 2.4 ghz adapter for a keyboard when needed.

I intend to use a powered hub intended for the ps3 to hold run the flirc and the keyboard adapter.

I intend this for streaming my local video and music only. I have a roku3 for the rest.

I bought two setups. My Father in law is hooked on the boxee box.....I did that. But Boxee is kind of gone. He has 4 of them, but eventually they will die. So I want to set this up for him as a late Christmas gift.

Am I missing anything or is my thinking wrong??

[efigalaxie]

I intend for the Pi to only run either Openelec or Raspbmc for watching movies from my local network. I have a Roku3 for my streaming needs. The only internet work it will need to do is in downloading metadata for the items in the library. I also use a wired Ethernet connection. I ought to get my stuff soon, so we will see.

[ghans]

General browsing is a bit slow. And forget things which use Flash or worse , Silverlight.

ghans

[CCitizenTO]

Well, I believe it can do most of the things you want to do. But it wont have the same performance as a P4, which is a faster processor, EXCEPT, the Pi will be a better decoder of H264 (or other video formats with the right codecs) as its is fully HW accelerated up to 1080p30

I use one with OpenELEC 9XBMC) but I only do streaming over a wireless LAN from the PC or PVR already inthe house, not used it for OTA TV or YouTUbe.

I'd suggest its worth a dig around these forums, a google, or perhaps even just get one and try it out.

For the record I have an older model v1.0 with 256mb of ram and it ran youtube like a champ last time I used it as a general purpose computer. Though i think I only streamed a standard def video not a high def one.

[jamesh]

Well, I believe it can do most of the things you want to do. But it wont have the same performance as a P4, which is a faster processor, EXCEPT, the Pi will be a better decoder of H264 (or other video formats with the right codecs) as its is fully HW accelerated up to 1080p30

I use one with OpenELEC 9XBMC) but I only do streaming over a wireless LAN from the PC or PVR already inthe house, not used it for OTA TV or YouTUbe.

I'd suggest its worth a dig around these forums, a google, or perhaps even just get one and try it out.

For the record I have an older model v1.0 with 256mb of ram and it ran youtube like a champ last time I used it as a general purpose computer. Though i think I only streamed a standard def video not a high def one.

Indeed - got iPlayer and YouTube working on OpenELEC last night on 256ModB. iPlayer a bit stuttery - wireless+ADSL link not helping. YouTube, once you got to the video, played back fine. Search was painful due to using a remote though a keyboard would be easy.

[Duderino]

Well, I believe it can do most of the things you want to do. But it wont have the same performance as a P4, which is a faster processor, EXCEPT, the Pi will be a better decoder of H264 (or other video formats with the right codecs) as its is fully HW accelerated up to 1080p30

I use one with OpenELEC 9XBMC) but I only do streaming over a wireless LAN from the PC or PVR already inthe house, not used it for OTA TV or YouTUbe.

I'd suggest its worth a dig around these forums, a google, or perhaps even just get one and try it out.

For the record I have an older model v1.0 with 256mb of ram and it ran youtube like a champ last time I used it as a general purpose computer. Though i think I only streamed a standard def video not a high def one.

Indeed - got iPlayer and YouTube working on OpenELEC last night on 256ModB. iPlayer a bit stuttery - wireless+ADSL link not helping. YouTube, once you got to the video, played back fine. Search was painful due to using a remote though a keyboard would be easy.

I agree the search with the Remote is not great but it works..

I am using Openelec on my Pi and i don't want to give it away .. the video content streams from a Hdd connected from my Router to the Pi without any problem.

I over clocked the pi to 1000 mhz and it with those settings i can watch 1080 content without any lags. Installing plug-ins or themes with that setting is in the other hand not possible without the device freezing. It's not a problem for me.