Rasberry pi or bannana pi or humingborad
#1
Which one is the best to go for, basic xbmc needs.There are loads of these types of pi boards coming out so we spoilt with choice.
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#2
Raspberry Pi is by far the best supported. It may not be the most powerful, but it has a "works out of the box" solution.

Hummingboard could be interesting - but is still quite leading edge. There are OpenElec builds for the Cubox-i, and the Hummingboard is very similar. (The irony that they made the Hummingboard case compatible with the Pi, and then the Pi B+ comes out with a new board design that means new cases...) You might want to look at the Cubox-i if you want a boxed solution?

Banana Pi is based on Allwinner chipset, which historically hasn't been well supported with OpenSource drivers - and those that were released had incomplete codec compatibility ISTR. There appears to be a renewed interest in the platform though.

Bottom line - Raspberry Pi works today and has huge amounts of support.
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#3
(2014-07-30, 14:38)noggin Wrote: Raspberry Pi is by far the best supported. It may not be the most powerful, but it has a "works out of the box" solution.

Hummingboard could be interesting - but is still quite leading edge. There are OpenElec builds for the Cubox-i, and the Hummingboard is very similar. (The irony that they made the Hummingboard case compatible with the Pi, and then the Pi B+ comes out with a new board design that means new cases...) You might want to look at the Cubox-i if you want a boxed solution?

Banana Pi is based on Allwinner chipset, which historically hasn't been well supported with OpenSource drivers - and those that were released had incomplete codec compatibility ISTR. There appears to be a renewed interest in the platform though.

Bottom line - Raspberry Pi works today and has huge amounts of support.

so if you would choose out the box xbmc solution now, you would go with the pi+ over the others? even if they have better specs than pi?
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#4
Yes. I'd go with the Pi at the moment unless you enjoy tinkering or like being at the cutting edge.
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#5
CuBox-i or Hummingbird is better long term option in my opinion, despite it's alpha status it is quite usable and stable running Openelec or Geexbox but thats not to say you wont encounter some glitches.

More codecs supported via hardware decoding then the R-Pi and much faster in operation.

However getting a CuBox-i is another issue, I think they make them in small batches and due to high demand there is a long waiting time, I waited at least 2 months for mine.
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#6
(2014-07-31, 14:56)Starstream Wrote: CuBox-i or Hummingbird is better long term option in my opinion, despite it's alpha status it is quite usable and stable running Openelec or Geexbox but thats not to say you wont encounter some glitches.

More codecs supported via hardware decoding then the R-Pi and much faster in operation.

However getting a CuBox-i is another issue, I think they make them in small batches and due to high demand there is a long waiting time, I waited at least 2 months for mine.

great, how are you finding yours with xbmc and where did you order it from?
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#7
Been using Openelec for the past month or so and it's been my primary playback system, no problems of any kind but then again I'm using ideal videos H.264/mp4/mkv so nothing goes wrong.

Bought it direct from the SolidRun website if you have a paypal account, not sure were else you can get them from.
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#8
(2014-07-31, 15:02)Starstream Wrote: Been using Openelec for the past month or so and it's been my primary playback system, no problems of any kind but then again I'm using ideal videos H.264/mp4/mkv so nothing goes wrong.

Bought it direct from the SolidRun website if you have a paypal account, not sure were else you can get them from.

great, how much did you pay for shipping and how long did it take to arrive? Would you say its better to but this over pi? I just want out of the box solution that I can stream content via xbmx without too much probs, I am not fussed about 1080p content, 720p is fine to me.
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#9
(2014-07-31, 15:02)Starstream Wrote: Been using Openelec for the past month or so and it's been my primary playback system, no problems of any kind but then again I'm using ideal videos H.264/mp4/mkv so nothing goes wrong.

Bought it direct from the SolidRun website if you have a paypal account, not sure were else you can get them from.

What is the de-interlacing and scaling like? The RPi usually scores highly in that regard compared to other ARM SoC solutions - and Android.
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#10
whats the best remote to use with pi, are these any good.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Remote-Control...1291516897
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#11
Thats preference. I use a Virgin Media Tivo remote for my xbmc. Once mapped xbmc is superb with it.
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#12
(2014-08-04, 17:46)yaqh Wrote: whats the best remote to use with pi, are these any good.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Remote-Control...1291516897
Thats the remote I use, its super light, lots of keys, and battery lasts for around half a year easy! I love it to bits.

If you want to get the best out of the remote you would need to learn to map keys (really easy) to get other functions. I also use a GPIO ir reciever and done away with the USB reciever. But without all that I still recommend it. The keys have good feedback.
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#13
(2014-08-04, 19:25)MediaPi Wrote:
(2014-08-04, 17:46)yaqh Wrote: whats the best remote to use with pi, are these any good.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Remote-Control...1291516897
Thats the remote I use, its super light, lots of keys, and battery lasts for around half a year easy! I love it to bits.

If you want to get the best out of the remote you would need to learn to map keys (really easy) to get other functions. I also use a GPIO ir reciever and done away with the USB reciever. But without all that I still recommend it. The keys have good feedback.

great.how do use the gpio ir,where can i get it from and how does it work.
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#14
there are few reviews saying their pi stutters and freezes sometimes is this true?
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#15
(2014-08-04, 20:40)yaqh Wrote:
(2014-08-04, 19:25)MediaPi Wrote: [quote='yaqh' pid='1765822' dateline='1407167179']
whats the best remote to use with pi, are these any good.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Remote-Control...1291516897
Thats the remote I use, its super light, lots of keys, and battery lasts for around half a year easy! I love it to bits.

If you want to get the best out of the remote you would need to learn to map keys (really easy) to get other functions. I also use a GPIO ir reciever and done away with the USB reciever. But without all that I still recommend it. The keys have good feedback.
I wont bother with a GPIO IR reciever, it has a USB reciever of its own. I have my own reason for wanting one but really get the remote and your good to go and then you'll need to learn how to set the buttons on remote to do what you want, things like context menu (not that hard)

can I ask why you are only limiting yourself to these boards?

By the time you get all the parts (depending on what else you need) your close to the price of say amazon fire tv, or maybe even a NUC.

Theres a guy on this forum who got a Pi with openelec setup with a sdcard. He was having trouble and I mentioned to first do a reinstall and then overclock it and then if its still slow buy the Noobs sdcard. He went out and brought an sdcard and a USB3 stick. I'm pretty sure he didnt shop around either and probably spent quite abit on that.

Reason why I'm saying this is because the Pi is amazing and has amazing playback, in some cases it beats the NUC. BUT tally up on how much each parts going to cost you then compare that to a FTV (if you live in america) or a NUC.

If the difference in cost is small I would get the NUC. It has a build in ir reciever wireless and bluetooth.
great.
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