Field Report: OSMC Alpha 4 on RaspberryPi Model 2 B vs. Model B

I’ve been using Raspbmc for about two years, and I ordered a Model 2 B as soon as I heard about them. I was hoping more RAM and processor power would lead to better video performance. I unboxed it Wednesday night and got into the setup process. Switched to Confluence skin right away because the OSMC skin was slowing me down.

I decided to start using the 2 B with an episode of a television series that I had been watching on the Model B (with Raspbmc) earlier. It did not play, hung up with the timer at 8 seconds in. Tried something else on the NAS drive, and it played properly. Tried a third series, that didn’t play either. Okay, what about that 1080p movie that the B wouldn’t play? The 2 B played that properly.

Then I installed OSMC on a card for the B. Went back to that first episode, and it played straight away. Then I checked the other things that the 2 B would not play, and the B is fine with all of them. I’m rather surprised, and confused.

What should I be doing next?

Had some problems with some 1080p files not playing on my raspberry 2. Sometimes they would play after a reboot, sometimes not. Checked the logfiles and they among other things said it was out of memory when running the 1080p files. Then I set “gpu_mem=320” in config.txt and so far 2 days in all files have played without problems.

I think I can do that with the custom overclocking settings. Certainly worth a try. Thanks.

So not in overclocking settings, but I have made my way to the config.txt and tried that edit. I’ve rebooted, and I’ll see how it goes.

No change. Still not playing my test file. Here’s the edits I made to config.txt, do I need to just get rid of the gpu_mem_256 and 512 lines and replace both of them with gpu_mem=320?

sdram_freq=400
core_freq=375
over_voltage=0
force_turbo=0
over_voltage_sdram=0
arm_freq=850
initial_turbo=0
start_x=1
disable_overscan=1
gpu_mem_256=320
gpu_mem_512=320
hdmi_ignore_cec_init=1
dtoverlay=

Not sure, I removed the gpu_mem_256 and 512. Not sure if that changes anything.

Yes, do that, 512 and 256 don’t apply to pi 2

Tried that. Still won’t play the files I’ve been using for test purposes.

Reading the logs would be helpful to try figuring this out.

Mediainfo for failing files could be quite useful as well.

[code]If your problem relates to a specific video, use MediaInfo to get the details and paste them as “code” in your post.

  1. Download and install Mediainfo from MediaInfo
  2. Run MediaInfo and use it to ‘Open’ the file you want to inspect.
  3. Switch view from MediaInfo menu, select ‘View’ then from the drop down list select ‘Text’.
  4. You can select the text in MediaInfo and then copy and paste then your posting. Remember to use the ‘Code’ option and paste the text into the code box on your posting so that it’s more readable.[/code]

It’s not just one file. There are many files that won’t play on the Model 2 B that will play on the Model B. I don’t know how to find or access the log files as yet.

Have you purchased and installed the mpeg2 or vc1 codecs?

No, I have never purchased any codecs. Never felt that I needed them, seeing how as the Model B could play most of what I threw at it. I’m trying to play mostly 720p mp4 and mkv files.

This is why I asked for mediainfo. mkv is a container that may contain any number of codecs. Mediainfo output will enlighten us on what codec is contained within. If they are in fact mpeg2/vc1 then yes, they may have played before, but they were likely being played by DVDPlayer and decoded in software. Hardware decode using OMXPlayer is going to be much more efficient and preferred but can only be achieved by use of the codecs.

Codec Details from VLC Player for OS X:
Stream 0
Type Video
Codec H264-MPEG4AVC (Part 10) (avc1)
Resolution 1280x720
Frame Rate 23.976216
Decoded Format Planar 4:2:0 YUV

Stream 1
Type audio
Codec A52 Audio (aka AC3) (a52)
Channels 3F2R/LFE
Sample Rate 48000 Hz
Bit Rate 448 kbs

Use of the mediainfo program as I asked would have provided much more relevant information. What you’ve provided does indicate that the codec isn’t necessary but, bitrate and other info would still be useful here. We also have no clue as to what kind of network connection you are using to connect the pi to your LAN. Again, useful info…

And again, as @SimonO indicated, providing a complete, debug enabled kodi log demonstrating the attempt to play a problematic file is how Kodi communicates to us what problem it’s having.

Okay, how about this, then? I’m still working my way through the kodi wiki to figure out the debug log stuff. Network connection is gigabit ethernet.
http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=427031

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 559 MiB
Duration : 20mn 19s
Overall bit rate : 3 843 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-11-16 00:43:03
Writing application : mkvmerge v2.9.8 (‘C’est le bon’) built on Aug 13 2009 12:49:06
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 20mn 19s
Bit rate : 3 387 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.153
Stream size : 482 MiB (86%)
Writing library : x264 core 107 r1766 f9f0035
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3387 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 20mn 19s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 65.1 MiB (12%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No

I don’t see any indication that you attempted to play a file which failed contained in this debug log.

Okay, I was wondering about that myself. I’ll try again.

Perhaps this is more like it: http://xbmclogs.com/show.php?id=427098

Ok, try this…

System>Settings>Video>Acceleration> and disable OMXPlayer while ensuring that MMAL is enabled and try to play the same file again.

Cool. Video’s playing, but audio’s out of whack, so I’ve got to go review those settings. I keep forgetting what my receiver can handle. Okay, no AC3 support, that’s sorted out now.

Thanks. What did I just do?