pre-install question

[julius02]

Hi guys. I am about to install xbian... have tried raspbmc and openelec however not been the best experience (dts playback of 12gb files)

My pre-install question is:
when playing back various files on raspbmc and openelec, i seemed to be able to play everyting i threw it at in terms of video codec's. do these versions of xbmc therefore include the licence keys for h264 & vc1 or is it more a case that software decoding was at play? i did not purchase these licenes and i know a few of the files i have were h264 & vc-1.
the only problem i encountered was dts playback that kept glitching every few minutes.
will i have a better expereince with xbian and 24bit dts audio?
thanks

[rikardo1979]

do u have external dts decoder hooked on hdmi or do u downmix to stereo ?

[julius02]

(8th Jan, 2013 01:36 AM)rikardo1979 Wrote:  do u have external dts decoder hooked on hdmi or do u downmix to stereo ?

I don't have dts receiver so will be down mixing to stereo.

[rikardo1979]

Let me try to explain

As you probably know, Raspberry Pi have some limited hardware and it was never meant as media device primary. So its pretty amazing what it can achieve.
But there are some limitations.
XBMC on Raspberry Pi went a really big mile since started and it can play almost everything you throw to it.
But keep in mind that there are so many factors what can cause issues with playback, especially playback of HD stuff with high bit rates and files of big sizes.
The main hardware factors are
- inappropriate PSU
- slow SD card
- additional hardware plugged into USB ports directly (drain power from RPi)

Also the software make a big difference, and XBMC is still in Beta state so there still may be some issues in.

So back to XBian
If you flash the latest XBian you should be able play your files smooth even over the network. I personally use external DTS decoder but I've also tested the playback of HD 1080p/DTS 5.1 down mixed to stereo ( average size +/- 10GB mkv ) and all is playing smooth, no stutter or glitches.
This is stream over SMB/LAN network from my server. I've also tested bigger files more like 25GB +/- mkv, and this was smooth too, but it is not guarantied.

So I would say, give it a try and I'm pretty sure you not going to be disappointed

[raspberry_pd]

Hi

h264 is built into the Raspberry Pi for free. VC-1 and MPG2 cost a little extra and AFAIK no distribution bundles them. Individual usesr need to purchase one or both and add them to their systems.

It is quite possible that DTS and Dolby Digital licenses to enable the completed GPU-assisted decoding of those codecs that is already baked into XBMC/omxplayer, will be available soon. See this thread for details:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=15546

It is my experience that a 1920x1040 DTS 5.1 file from a NAS box over wired network via SMB protocol, plays smoothly since the release of XBian 1.0a4. I really do not know why. However there is still room for improvement and hopefully the GPU-assitance licenses will fill that gap.

I think you will find XBian a very satisfying Raspberry Pi based boot-to-XBMC distribution. I also tried Raspbmc then OpenELEC many moons ago before adopting XBian.

[julius02]

(8th Jan, 2013 02:49 PM)raspberry_pd Wrote:  Hi

h264 is built into the Raspberry Pi for free. VC-1 and MPG2 cost a little extra and AFAIK no distribution bundles them. Individual usesr need to purchase one or both and add them to their systems.

It is quite possible that DTS and Dolby Digital licenses to enable the completed GPU-assisted decoding of those codecs that is already baked into XBMC/omxplayer, will be available soon. See this thread for details:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=15546

It is my experience that a 1920x1040 DTS 5.1 file from a NAS box over wired network via SMB protocol, plays smoothly since the release of XBian 1.0a4. I really do not know why. However there is still room for improvement and hopefully the GPU-assitance licenses will fill that gap.

I think you will find XBian a very satisfying Raspberry Pi based boot-to-XBMC distribution. I also tried Raspbmc then OpenELEC many moons ago before adopting XBian.

thanks for the replies. my bad, i mean vc-1 and mpeg 2 to buy, of course h264 is included as default. this is what i don't understand, i have played vc-1 files back and they seem to be okay but i have not purchased any licences?

also the files in question have 6 channel dts @ 24bits. i am playing back via usb

[rikardo1979]

DTS will play fine as I mentioned but DTS HD MA will be decoded as DTS only and I'm not sure about DTS 24bit (maybe u can share some file, if u can PM please) but it might be decoded as DTS only too (multichannel is supported of course)

And about the VC-1 files, I doubt you would be able to play it without licence. Are you sure you was playing such file ?
Can you post .nfo details of the file ?
-thx-