On 31/12/12 06:17, Alan McKinnon wrote: > On Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:27:21 +0800 > William Kenworthy <bi...@iinet.net.au> wrote: > >> Hi, I have a working gentoo base system on a new RPI B model. I am >> starting to add X and ratpoison with the aim of using omxplayer to a >> nfs share from my mythbox, but hope someone else has been there >> before me. >> >> In reality, I would like to just run omxplayer on a minimum >> framebuffer, but not sure if it will use the acceleration (google >> hits are ambiguous) as Ive bought the mpeg2 codec licence. >> >> Any hints/guides on how to do this could save me a lot of time :) > > > Hi Bill, > > I have no experience using omxplayer on a Pi connecting to a mythbox, > but i do have experience running several ports of xbmc on a Pi to play > media (I reckon they are comparable), and I will happily share my > conclusions with you: > > It's not worth the effort. > > No matter what you do, no matter what tweaks you try to employ, the Pi > just does not have enough CPU grunt to do the job. Oh, it's fine with > small low-resolution files and straightforward audio, but sooner or > later you'll want to run some media that needs more and the Pi falls > down on that score. It's usually because it has to decode the audio in > software on the CPU. In my case I don;t have kit I can passthrough > audio to (I use a regular TV), so YMMV if you have decent audio kit. > > I eventually gave up trying to coerce my Pi into working and asked > Santa Claus for an Xtreamer Ultra 2 instead (he complied) and all my > HTPC problems are fixed. > > If your intent is to learn something by all means proceed (you will > learn, and lots of it :-). But if you are looking for something to use > that works, it's probably only fair you know up front the odds of > success are not good. > >
Thanks for the conclusions ... I agree in part at least that its underpowered (already mildly overclocking it and using distcc) but its both a learning experience and hopefully will be useful. It will play the files I am interested in (I tested using xbmc), however I am not as interested in gaudy eye candy (which seems to be what xbmc is all about) as in something easy to use - and myth integration was woeful on the version I tried. I have (after an overnight compile) a working X on framebuffer (tested at 720p) using ratpoison - omxplayer is now compiling. I am thinking of a simple ncurses or perltk interface to spawn omxplayer with a seleced file - need nothing more complex than that. I already have a "myth job" transcoding off-air recordings to an ipad friendly 720p with proper descriptive file names so I am aiming to start out with a similar, quite basic setup. I have overcome the versioning mismatch in the various components and the licence is enabled according to a test. Did you use the licenced mpeg2 playback? BillK
