+- Kodi Community Forum (https://forum.kodi.tv)
+-- Forum: Discussions (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=222)
+--- Forum: Hardware (https://forum.kodi.tv/forumdisplay.php?fid=112)
+--- Thread: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware (/showthread.php?tid=187273)
Pages:
1
2
Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - genka - 2014-02-23
I had an Atom-Ion based setup for a long time, and it has always had issues here and there. I decide to try Raspberry PI, thinking that a single hardware platform without any variations should be well polished. I tried all major RPi distributions, and they all turned out to have problems, mostly with audio and long term stability.
I want to set up a player for parents, who will not be able to do even simple troubleshooting. Is there a reference hardware design, or some setup considered simple and reliable?
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - Dougie Fresh - 2014-02-23
Hardware is like a box of chocolates...
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - 00b5 - 2014-02-23
Ya, there is no reference design.
In fact, XBMC is getting supported on SO much hardware these days, its probably going the other way.
I would have said a Pi is a good choice, but...
If you don't need 24p, i think an older NUC (celeron) running OE is a good choice. You should be able to get away with an external USB flash, or if you are going all in, a cheap mSATA to hold the image.
Where would your parents be getting "sources" for XBMC? If you say addons from the internet, I would argue that is going to be half your issue right there (support for those addons are all dependent on the authors)
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - PatK - 2014-02-23
Go with OpenElec http://openelec.tv/ very appliance like, in one of those new Intel NUC boxes.
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - genka - 2014-02-24
Thanks. Good info about older NUCs. I didn't even think about the live tv sources, you're right, can be another headache.
I tried OpeneElec on RPi- it also has issues, and harder to troubleshoot because unlike the majority of distributions it is not based on Ubuntu. Another learning curve.
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - BigB42078 - 2014-02-24
When you tried the PI did you install it on usb or just a sd card. I run a Sandisk Ultra micro sd in a low profile micro sd adapter. And it's pretty solid even without using the usb drive. Even runs PVR.WMC from my pc upstairs. Yeah a bit slow but solid.
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - genka - 2014-02-25
I have exactly the same SD card setup running Xbian. Overall it works well, albeit slow. I have two problems, both intermittent, which makes it hard to troubleshoot. One is that video files sometimes play with no audio. I have to cycle through the audio tracks or outputs several times to get the sound started. I just upgraded the firmware and hope that it will help. The second problem is that when I turn the TV on the screen stays black. In xbmc.log I see that CEC messages are flying, but I the only way to get the image back is to reboot the Pi. I'm still playing with HDMI options in settings.txt, but this problem doesn't happen every day, so this is a long process.
XBMC on Pi is very close to perfect, I can live with little issues, but they will be a headache for my parents.
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - ozkhan1 - 2014-02-25
Which NUC model is best for 24p?
Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - ilovemymac - 2014-03-02
I like the minix x7 mini with finless rom. I get hdmi and optical audio pass through. You can run Xbmc as a launcher so it is like Linux. I have tried open elec it's good but you need some good hardware and for. $130 or so that won't happen
Just don't get a gbox unit they are horrible. Not sure what people like about the PI I know it doesn't support many of the skins.
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - nooryani84 - 2014-03-02
In my experience, it's usually addons that can break XBMC or cause it to misbehave. If you start having issues with XBMC then you should try disabling the addons one by one until you find the culprit.
For instance last time i took my PC to a LAN party and launched XBMC it would stop responding when I closed it and i narrowed that down to the XBMC Libary Auto Update and Trakt, they couldn't find my network shares since they were at home. Disabling these two addons solved the issue.
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - awp0 - 2014-03-02
(2014-02-25, 03:34)genka Wrote: I have exactly the same SD card setup running Xbian. Overall it works well, albeit slow. I have two problems, both intermittent, which makes it hard to troubleshoot. One is that video files sometimes play with no audio. I have to cycle through the audio tracks or outputs several times to get the sound started. I just upgraded the firmware and hope that it will help. The second problem is that when I turn the TV on the screen stays black. In xbmc.log I see that CEC messages are flying, but I the only way to get the image back is to reboot the Pi. I'm still playing with HDMI options in settings.txt, but this problem doesn't happen every day, so this is a long process.
XBMC on Pi is very close to perfect, I can live with little issues, but they will be a headache for my parents.
Regarding the HDMI issue, that seems pretty common but it's fixable. The first setting that you should try is hdmi_force_hotplug=1. Frankly, I don't know why OE doesn't enable this setting as standard. And the file is config.txt (not settings.txt). Unfortunately editing config.txt is not very intuitive on OE. I always use this guide to refresh my memory: http://htpcbuild.com/htpc-software/raspberry-pi-openelec/openelec-overclocking/
If that doesn't work, you may have an EDID issue and there are some instructions somewhere in raspberry pi sub-forum for resolving that.
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - genka - 2014-03-02
Of course the file is config.txt, my bad. I edited it right and left, even forcibly setting the correct mode with hdmi_group=CEA and hdmi_mode=16. It always has one issue or another. The latest one is completely weird- the monitor starts showing snow, just like an old analog TV with no antenna attached. Changing a different input on my receiver and returning to the correct one gets the picture back. I suspect it could be an issue with a receiver, but have no way to prove it.
I also rebuilt my old Zotac Atom-Ion box with XBMCbuntu. After I sorted out Nvidia drivers and upgraded to the latest build it's been rock solid- one week so far. Maybe it is the answer to my question.
Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - kees667 - 2014-03-03
Not any one box seems to be the box that runs all, never crashes and handles all refresh rates and addons. Where are the days that everyone just bought an asrock 330... ;-)
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - nooryani84 - 2014-03-19
(2014-03-03, 20:38)kees667 Wrote: Not any one box seems to be the box that runs all, never crashes and handles all refresh rates and addons. Where are the days that everyone just bought an asrock 330... ;-)
There are more PCs out in the wild today, more component manufacturers, OS distributions/versions etc... All of this leads to a lot of different configurations/fragmentation. So unless software is specifically designed for one SKU/hardware device, you're very likely to experience an occasional hiccup
I personally think XBMC is extremely stable, in the years I've used it I've rarely experience performance issues or crashes (especially not during media playback, which is the most important thing)
RE: Most reliable and bug free XBMC hardware - trsqr - 2014-03-19
Unfortunately as soon as you throw in things like live TV and PVR, the stability goes down a bit… But that's maybe more of a Linux/driver/backend issue.
Anyway, the recent NUCs are good for 24p, but I feel they're not in that stage yet that you could buy a box for your parents and it would just work… There are both BIOS and driver issues with those models (I own one and really like it, but would not buy one for my parents). The previous generation i3 and Celeron ones don't do perfect 24p, but chances are your parents will never even notice that. They lack an IR receiver though, but you can get some good deals on them now.
Nvidia graphic adapters seem to be well supported. Aren't there any recent products with Nvidia GPUs?