Various Methods of Setting Up HTPC Using Raspberry Pi (With Tradeoffs)

With the latest addition of a 50' Sharp HDTV on my living room, I decided to purchase a Raspberry Pi and setup a HTPC. Just for prelude, I had been an avid fan of XBMC ever since version 8.0 and still is even now. Before the HDTV, I mostly watch my movies (approaching 1,000 movies now) on XBMC running on my Core i7 Desktop in my comfy room at 60 FPS using SmoothVideo Project. Having this said, performance is never an issue, i.e. no video stuttering, buffering, etc. I managed to enjoy every last bit of the videos without any quality degradation.

Raspberry Pi, or generally known as the popular embedded computer for setting up HTPC, dare I say, is only having a fraction of computing power when compared to my i7 Desktop. It is comparable to a Pentium II PC in the 90's. Henceforth, I realized that I can no longer put the performance issue in the closet any longer and have to resort to alternatives.

I must say that setting up my ideal HTPC had been a rollercoaster ride for me, and I finally seek one perfect solution that match with my demands. Following just shows some of the possible setups that you might be having now, or attempted.

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HTPC setup - XBMC vs Plex

When it comes in the scene of HTPC, two software often sprung to our mind: XBMC and Plex.

Before you read on further, let me clarify one thing first. I had been using XBMC (in Windows) for several years now and had just fully started to understand and use Plex (in Mac) several days ago. The following review is based on such experience.

Simply put, comparing XBMC to Plex is like comparing Windows to Mac. I found Plex to be much more user friendly. Yes, you heard it right. I personally think that XBMC is more catered to power user who wants the maximum customization possible whereby Plex is more for user that just wants to get things done as fast as possible and in the neat way if possible.

More after the break.

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XBMC Advanced Configuration (Ext Player, DSPlayer..)

XBMC Advanced Configuration

Note: For my own reference only:

Compiling XBMC with DSPlayer
A. Preparing the downloads
1. Download the source files here.
2. Download Visual C++ 2010 Express.
3. Download Direct X SDK June Edition.
4. Extract the tibet20-xbmc-xxxxx download from step 1.
5. Go to projects\BuildDependencies.
6. Run DownloadBuildDeps.bat and DownloadMingwBuildEnv.bat.
7. Wait for it to complete download.

B. Compile the solution using VS2010 Express
1. Go to project\VS2010Express
2. Open XBMC for Windows.sln. If nothing happen when double click right click on it and select VS2010.
3. On the menu bar, select Release (Direct X).
4. Click the Play icon or right click on the Solution Explorer and select Build Solution (F7).

C. Final Build - Building .EXE
1. Go to project\Win32BuildSetup
2. Open BuildSetup.bat. Select 2 when asked.
3. After finished, an .exe file will be created under the same directory. Can also launch by going to project\Win32BuildSetup\BUILD_WIN32\Xbmc\XBMC.exe.

Troubleshooting
* If got libmicrohttpd-5.dll error, copy \Program Files\XBMC\system\webserver from existing working one.

* If there is error when running BuildSetup.bat in Section C, download Nullsoft scriptable install system here.

Can also get the final build for XBMC with DSPlayer here.

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Wiki
HOW TO compile XBMC from source code
HOW TO use an External Player for media playback (use MPC-HC to play video instead of internal XBMC codec)
HOW TO use DSPlayer (associating media files with filters, declaring filters, etc.)
HOW TO use Advancedsettings.xml (created under username\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\)
Setting up bitstreaming for XBMC using DSPlayer
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TV Shows Naming
Custom Directory Structure for TV Shows Naming

Forum Threads
Internal Directshow Based Player (DSPlayer)
Internal Directshow Based Player (User Support Thread) (includes tips and tricks)

Resource
Momogram Graph Studio (used to get GUID for the filters)

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XBMC - A completely unique home theater experience

Do you own a massive collection of HD or DVD movies downloaded from the Internet? Do you properly organized all your movie collection by putting them in a folder tidy and neat? Tired of Media Player Classic, RealPlayer or WMP? Want to show to others how unique you are to others by using software that is not commonly used by others? And most importantly, do you want to show off your amazing collection in a unique sense of way that will just do the 'WOW' factor?

P/S: You would probably like it if you are a huge fan of alternative software that is used and known only by a small community of user which is mostly geeks who just want to be unique in another way. E.g: Foobar2k, Linux, Android OS.

If the answer to the aforementioned question is YES, then I believe you are ready to get yourself aquantained with XBMC, short for XBox Media Center. (Official site)

The coolest thing about it is you can customize it according to your need. Browse through your movie gallore and watch them in a totally unique way that you had never seen before. Forget the traditional way of opening a movie file of going to Windows Explorer -> Disk drive -> Folder -> double click on a movie file. Believe me, your movie watching experience will start with XBMC.

Worried about the trouble you might need to go through to customize the skin? Don't worry, installing skin is easy. Simply download a skin you like from their official site here. Extract the zip file directly to the /skin folder under the XBMC directory. It's a snap!

All movie information can be fetch automatically from various site such as IMDB and TV.COM.

XBMC does not only manage movie, it can manage TV shows, music and pictures as well. Perfectly fitting it's fuction as the full-fledged home theater software.

Heres a skin called Transparency! which I'm using as my main theme for XBMC:

Home Screen


Movie Library


Movie Information


Now Playing


Feeling impressive? Go download it now!!

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