I'm used to the wonderful quality of the Sigma Designs decoders in devices like the Dune or Popcorn Hour. Playing MKV files on these devices from my server results in fantastic quality. And it should....these things cost a few hundred bucks.
So when I think about the Raspberry Pi, Cubox, Banana Pi or Odroid, I wonder what I would be giving up video-quality-wise, going with a sub $60 board.
Has anyone done a comparison with Rasplex/Pi against the likes of the above STB's? Or even a WD Live? Or any commercial media streamer?
I like the idea of using a Pi2 for PHT, but if the quality isn't up there, I may have to go with a NUC or something with a better video decoder.
Has anyone done a comparison with Rasplex/Pi against the likes of the above STB's? Or even a WD Live? Or any commercial media streamer?
I like the idea of using a Pi2 for PHT, but if the quality isn't up there, I may have to go with a NUC or something with a better video decoder.
Rasplex plays high bitrate, full 1080p video with DTS (not HD) and DD audio passthrough to capable receiver, same quality as any PC client that costs 20x the price. Plays MKV, H.264, AVI files natively and MPEG2 and VC1 files with a licence which costs a couple of dollars from raspberry.org. Next version will also play back AAC5.1with capable receiver.
I got two rpii running rasplex they play 90% of the files I try and play but I am not sure if it is the pii or my server transcode speed. It does not really matter 1080p or not just sometimes it will not play l, will be out of sync, or stutters. But my Samsung 52" has a smart hdmi and controls it with the factory remote, and I know LG , and Sony tv models will do the same.
The picture quality of the Sigma players is a bit better. They are better in scaling the colors, means less solarisation or color banding effects than the Pi on some files. But they are very close and I think about 90% of the people will not see it.
But for me the Pi is the best in picture quality when it comes to pc solutions and the gui and the handling are far ahead of all Dune, Popcorn Hour, Samsung etc. boxes.
Thanks hwf. I'd hate to take a step down in quality. I know Intel video (NUC?) has a great reputation in the HTPC crowd. I need to do my research and see if I can find something to fill in the remaining holes. 'Make sure the option looks good, runs PHT, support 24p and HD audio. I believe the Chromebox might be the ticket?
I'll use Pi's on all my other TV's.
I wonder if anyone has put the Videocore IV through the HQV test? I couldn't find that anywhere.
A Raspberry Pi 2 is only $35. Why not take the the plunge and give it a try so that you can see for yourself whether the picture quality is up to your standards ? That's really the only way to know you don't have much to lose.
If you don't like it, you can always resell it or find another use for it.
I personally feel playback on plex devices are better quality than my dedicated WDTV and SageTV HD300 device (both are pretty good to begin with). I feel the differences are not due to the chipset, but probably due to the ffmpeg library the plex client is using. I don't have popcorn hour or dune so can't comment on those.
I use the SageTV extensively to playback recorded TV shows and MKV movies. When I play back TV shows using a plex client on a MacMini, I feel the picture quality is a bit better (for both 720p and 1080i recorded content). Perhaps the software is doing a better job of scaling or deinterlancing. For MKV movies the differences are slightly more sutble, but I do feel Plex on the MacMini is a bit better than my WDTV or Sage in terms of playback quality.
I recently got a Raspberry Pi 2 (my first raspberry), and just set it up as a plex client using RasPlex. Playback has been flawless and just as good as what I got with the mac-mini. It also seems faster than my (somewhat old) macmini during playback. For example, when I press 'i' during playback, I got no studder or frame catching up at all like I do with the macmini. I am very happy with the playback quality.
Why not give it a try and see how you like it? It's a general purpose computer so if you don't like it, you can probably repurpose it to do something else. $35 (ok $43 right now) is a drop in the bucket for videophiles. ;)
FYI, my display is a 60" 1080p Panasonic professional plasma display (no tuner) and calibrated using a i1 spectrometer.
I have a Panasonic Plasma as well. Have you done any tweaks to the XBMC/Rasplex video settings or anything else to make it better for your particular TV?
A Raspberry Pi 2 is only $35. Why not take the the plunge and give it a try so that you can see for yourself whether the picture quality is up to your standards ? That's really the only way to know you don't have much to lose.
If you don't like it, you can always resell it or find another use for it.
Mainly because I don't want to buy 3, 4 of 5 different boxes (raspberrys and chromeboxs and NUC's oh my) when I can gain valuable feedback from people who have done this before me.
Mainly because I don't want to buy 3, 4 of 5 different boxes (raspberrys and chromeboxs and NUC's oh my) when I can gain valuable feedback from people who have done this before me.
But that's half the fun! Trying to find the best thin client of all. (Not in the case of a NUC, but you know what I mean).
Mainly because I don't want to buy 3, 4 of 5 different boxes (raspberrys and chromeboxs and NUC's oh my) when I can gain valuable feedback from people who have done this before me.
I understand, but my point was that $35 is peanuts for most audio/videophiles. I know people who buy HDMI cables that are more expensive than that!
Anyway, I think you can consider that most people here find the video quality of Rasplex perfectly adequate, but only you are in position to compare it subjectively with your existing setup.
I understand, but my point was that $35 is peanuts for most audio/videophiles. I know people who buy HDMI cables that are more expensive than that!
Anyway, I think you can consider that most people here find the video quality of Rasplex perfectly adequate, but only you are in position to compare it subjectively with your existing setup.
Thanks. Although in my case, time is more valuable than money. It's why I'm going Plex and not XBMC!
I have a Panasonic Plasma as well. Have you done any tweaks to the XBMC/Rasplex video settings or anything else to make it better for your particular TV?
Not really. The only adjustment I made in plex was a one tick increase in brightness when I was using the macmini plex client (via DVI input on TV). With the RP2 and HDMI output I did not find this adjustment necessary.
I do have to say, with 2 babies in the house, picture quality is not as high on my list as it use to be. I hardly have time to watch TV, let along watching them with the appropriate sound level. ;) So it's possible that there are differences that I am just not seeing. :)
I've done some basic tests on 480i and 720p material and it's obvious my Sigma based SageTV extender is better than the Pi2. On 1080p material its hard to tell the difference since the Pi does no scaling. Oh well, I'll forgo the beautiful menus and watch movies at home with my local media streamers and relegate the Pi to external shared content or offsite access. I doubt any Linux based PHT client would be better, but I have yet to try the Windows PHT client through HDMI to my plasma TV. It's a shame there aren't any formal comparisons on the web.
I've done some basic tests on 480i and 720p material and it's obvious my Sigma based SageTV extender is better than the Pi2. On 1080p material its hard to tell the difference since the Pi does no scaling. Oh well, I'll forgo the beautiful menus and watch movies at home with my local media streamers and relegate the Pi to external shared content or offsite access. I doubt any Linux based PHT client would be better, but I have yet to try the Windows PHT client through HDMI to my plasma TV. It's a shame there aren't any formal comparisons on the web.
The good thing is that SageTV has just sprung back to live so those of us that were researching a path for when Sage is totally dead have a new lease on life!
Did you get smooth playback of MPEG-2 files from Sage? I have troubles with those and with .ts files recorded by my HD-PVR. Whenever I try to skip around in the file it cause major synch issues and eventually the playback crashes.
The good thing is that SageTV has just sprung back to live so those of us that were researching a path for when Sage is totally dead have a new lease on life!
Did you get smooth playback of MPEG-2 files from Sage? I have troubles with those and with .ts files recorded by my HD-PVR. Whenever I try to skip around in the file it cause major synch issues and eventually the playback crashes.
Yes I know! Best news all year.
I don't bother with those files via Rasplex since I still have Sage installed and a couple of HD300's. I'll use those for home use. My Pi2 only gets used now for access out of my house. Both Sage & Plex point to the same folders with my movies. Only Sage points to the TV recordings.
