The Rasberry PI and Media Centers

[Bungee]

Although there has been a similar thread already, it's quite outdated so I decided to open a new one.

So, I'm moving to a new place and would like to take advantage of the awesomeness that is the Rasberry Pi. Currently I'm planning on using my PC to stream whatever media via wifi to the RP, using an Android smartphone as a remote for both the RP and the PC. I've been reading some guides and tutorials but also figured I could ask what setups people around here use for their media centers?

Also, I'm totally not up-to-date on current HDTV technology. I plan on using one for both above-mentioned film/media streaming as well as console gaming- what are parameters I should be keeping an eye on there?

[satael]

A good tv does most of the media center's job nowadays. All I need to do is to have whatever I want to watch/listen shared on my pc and my tv will play most of the stuff (just not 10bit or some mkv subs don't work properly) without any additional box. As a bonus you can get a 10m long hdmi-cable and connect your tv to your pc and get a wireless xbox controller for some nice console-like gameplaying  

plus another thing I like about my tv it actually recognizes NTFS so I can connect my external hdd to it without any hassle

[Evil Elvis]

The Pi supports CEC, so you might be able to get away with using an existing remote.  You'll need to buy the mpeg and vc1 codecs if you plan on watching that content, so it can decode them in hardware (licenses are cheap).

Unfortunately it doesn't do native decoding of high-def DTS/Dolby.  This can cause stuttering if you're playing back blu-ray rips.  I'm not sure it can handle high bit-rate blu-ray rips either.

Something to think about.

[Bungee]

A good tv does most of the media center's job nowadays.

Good point, I mostly want to be able to stream audio and video from my PC throughout my apartment wireless to multiple receivers while also being able to control that output remotely. I know this will most likely require multiple hardware/software packages to get it done but I'd of course like to minimize the diversity.

[Draegan]

I use a Roku and PLEX.

[Sky]

If you want to stream Amazon Prime HD movies, you'll need to check their site for approved devices.

A PC is not an approved device 

HD television, yes for the most part (inexplicably, most of Stargate Atlantis season 3 is not available at all in HD). But most movies I've tried haven't been in HD.

[Chimpy]

HD television, yes for the most part (inexplicably, most of Stargate Atlantis season 3 is not available at all in HD). But most movies I've tried haven't been in HD.

That's funny, almost all of the movies I have seen on Prime have been HD.

[Salamok]

If it were me (and maybe Santa will make this so) I would use the Pi as a media server, so basically stack it on top of a large capacity USB hard drive and then it becomes your NAS/media server.  Leave playback up to your TV or PS3 or whatever.

[Sky]

That's funny, almost all of the movies I have seen on Prime have been HD.

Titles?

Almost everything says this: "Available in HD for playback on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Roku or other HD compatible devices" Which means: not on your PC.

[Chimpy]

That's funny, almost all of the movies I have seen on Prime have been HD.

Titles?

Almost everything says this: "Available in HD for playback on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Roku or other HD compatible devices" Which means: not on your PC.

Oh, I don't watch on a PC. I just use a Roku on my TV.

[Engels]

Even HDCP compliant PCs? I know you can't -stream- the 1080p version, but I thought you could download it and watch it then?

[Sky]

Oh, I don't watch on a PC. I just use a Roku on my TV.

Read the whole post then, Chimpy! :)

Engels, download is purchase-only. Prime just gives you streaming, which is not in HD for movies. Great for TV series, but 

[schild]

Just build a small PC. Honestly, streaming devices are still mostly shit. If you don't NEED HD, you can still just get an original XBox and root it in all of 5 minutes and throw XBMC on it.

[Nerf]

Just build a small PC. Honestly, streaming devices are still mostly shit. If you don't NEED HD, you can still just get an original XBox and root it in all of 5 minutes and throw XBMC on it.

Or just build another gaming rig and put it in a small case.  I haven't even turned on my "gaming" pc in 3+ months, I built a pc on a matx board, tossed in a GTX 470 and a Ceton Infinituner card, and have it go through my receiver to my 73" mitsubishi (yeah yeah, bleh DLP, it's big!).  I've got a bluetooth kb with a trackpad on it, and a logitech wireless controller for gaming.  If I get back into MMOs I'd probably switch back to the desktop, but this works great for a whole lot of shit.

Bonus is that I don't have to pay Time Warner $20/mo for a DVR - they get $3/mo out of me for the cablecard, and I've got 2.5Tb of storage with 4 simultaneous HD tuners.  I've been using WMC, but I'm considering trying out some others soon - my Onkyo receiver can be a bit touchy at times when WMC is running, but I've heard Onkyo's in particular have issues with HTPCs and HDMI switching.  If whatever receiver I replace it with after xmas still gets wonky now and then, I'll probably start trying out some of the other options.

Original build was only like $350 - tossed it in an old case, had an old 750gb hdd lying around, picked up a cheap GT430 for like $40 (4 series cards do DTS-HD/master/etc decoding, others dont).  It's gone up a bit since then - I added a 2tb harddrive, the gtx470, and a few other bits.  Most expensive part was the tuner card @ $200ish.

It'll work for your wireless streaming too, if your other PCs are set up to share media center - all your content from all shared PCs would be right there, and I'm sure you can find some kind of android app to act as a remote for it.

[Sky]

Ooh, I like that tuner. After updating the cable modem to ditch that fee, I think the boss will be quite receptive to ditching our buggy DVR.

[Nerf]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815706001

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815706002

Given that you'll need a tuning adapter (which is external) from the cable company anyways, I really don't see a downside in going with the external USB version over the PCIE-1x version.  I've got the internal one, but if I did it all over again it'd be a coin toss over it vs. the external model out now.

Just make sure your cable provider offers CableCards, ATT U-Verse doesn't, however comcast/time warner/FIOS/etc do.  I think U-Verse may be the only one that doesn't, actually.

There's a shitton of stuff you can do to customize the guide, different media center options, etc, etc.  I'm just lazy and the WMC thing works pretty well, sans the receiver issues I mentioned above.

[Trippy]

USB interrupts can be a bit funky at times so I would say the PCI-e version is probably more reliable (it's the one I use).

[Sky]

I've got a funky setup right now, not using HDMI sound. I've got a creative X-Fi that outputs to a box that converts the 5.1 to optical digital to the receiver. Not sure how pissy HDCP would get about that or if the HDMI (for the video) to the tv would fool it.

Need to replace the receiver at some point, this might have to wait until then.

I'd go with Trippy on the USB thing, I've got a ton of USB devices already. Though I'd have to look to see if there is any room along the PCI-e coastline.

[Evil Elvis]

My setup is: Cable box & XBMC > Denon receiver > Television

High def audio over HDMI cables works just fine; no DRM issues.

Note about Cetons: you have to use WMC to record copy-once content. I think only WMC and SageTV support DVR functionality.