In January, I posted about picking up a Raspberry Pi, and touched on what I planned to do with it - since it's been 6 months since that purchase & post, I've decided to check in on how it's going.
If you don't know - the Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized micro-computer built with the intention of teaching basic programming to kids (and new programmers). As it's intended to be fiddled with, there have been a wave of great projects for it - networked hard drives, mini-robots, LED signs, home automation, theatre PC's and much, more.
When I purchased mine, I only really had one main intention for it: a multi-purpose Home Theatre PC that was cheap and had a variety of options. I wanted it to make it easy to have quick access to media that had a nice interface ("girlfriend friendly", if you will). I think in a lot of aspects the Raspberry Pi has fulfilled this request, although I have come across a fair few downsides & limitations.
The Positives
It's Cheap.
- The actual board --- ~£25
- Spare 8GB SD Card --- Free!
- USB WiFi Dongle --- £5
- USB Hub with power supply --- £10
- 500GB USB Hard Drive --- £40
Total: £80
While £80 is obviously higher than the initial "Wow,a £25 computer!" excitement - £80 is still very good for a PC that can playback full 1080p HD without a hickup. Which brings me next...
It's played every file I have
My biggest annoyance with having a PS3/360 has a Media Centre is that it could only play certain filetypes - to play I had to convert them - which can be very time consuming and a tricky split for my aging PC. The Pi pleased me by playing any format I've thrown at it without a problem. 1080/720p HD .mp4 & .mkv without an issue - leaving me very pleased with the quality. As well as the older (and bigger) .avi files - no issue. XBMC automatically scales each video to supply the best quality. A lot of older content does look very pixelated on my 40" TV, though.
Wireless Drag and Drop
I have linked my Raspberry Pi to my home network - making it accessible via my main PC where I obtain my media. Meaning I can obtain media, access the Raspberry Pi's file-system & copy it to the Pi from my computer, without having to fiddle with the Pi's setup. What's great about this is that the Pi will scan new content and automatically organise & attach information to the media such as cover art & synopsis.
Add-Ons
I have installed software called XBMC - Xbox Media Centre. software designed to be installed on the modified original Xbox's with the intent of having a home theatre. XBMC's since been ported to other systems, but the name's stuck!
Anyway, third party developers are able to create and upload their own add-ons. So far, I only installed Project Free TV, 4oD, iPlayer & TVCatchup. There are plenty more available in a variety of genre's - but I do like that these addons are free available.
- It's easy to use once configured
- It uses low power
- It's silent
- It's very small
- I can control it with an app on my phone
- I can send YouTube videos from my PC to play on the TV
- It supports AirPlay
Negatives
There are a bunch of negatives which I have come across - some understandable - (it is a £25 PC of course), some which are irritating - and some which are down right embarrassing when you have company!
It can be very laggy
I'm running RaspBMC on a 512MB Rapberry Pi - initial bootup takes ~30 seconds; which is fine - I want to leave it on all the time anyway so I can instantly add media. But the menu's can often be quite laggy depending on what theme you have. I'm currently running "Quartz Light" which is a mimic of the Apple TV interface optimised for the Raspberry Pi. There are so many beautiful, convenient skins out there, a lot of which are simply too much for the Raspberry Pi to handle, I tried some.
There have been times where I've been navigating to watch something and the interface simply freezes, before responding after a bump. It's something that isn't too annoying but after it repeatedly happens...
The WiFi Drops
This is something that never used to happen - and it's not something I'm specifically blaming the Pi for as it could be some settings I've changed myself, or how my internet is now configured - as I control the Pi with my phone over WiFi - if I leave the Pi inactive for a certain while, the WiFi seems to sleep and I'm unable to wake it up with my phone - so I have to reboot the Pi and it tells me off "The Pi was not shut down properly!"
Of course, this leads to another wait while the Pi reboots, then scans my media etc. - it's something that is irritating if I want to come home and watch something without fuss - or even worse when Charlotte and I want to watch a film, I feel very awkward!
It is obviously, limited
While the Pi is open to so much, it does have it's limitations. as mentioned the user interface lagging - streaming TV from TVCatchup has been iffy (my actual freeview box is a pile of crap...) and streaming seems to be very hit and miss from Project TV. A lot of the graphic intense stuff seem to hold it down everywhere but the actual video playing.
Conclusion
It's a great device, I'm not going to fault that. I think with every flaw it has I do have to take in consideration it's cost & admire how much it can do for how little I paid. When I brought it I wasn't expecting it to be an absolute powerhouse of a PC but it has done what I originally wanted it to do.
Whether I keep it as my main Theatre PC or replace it with an Android box - or maybe even buy a small "conventional" PC to use as a Home Theatre PC, the Raspberry Pi is going to continue serving me very well.
Although, I do like the idea of turning it into a retro gaming station...
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