I have a Raspberry Pi model b with 512 Mb Ram.

1. In order to find the reason of the problem, I have activated the logging on XBMC: In  Settings -> System -> Debugging, toggle the Enable debug logging setting.
2. I have opened a Smart Playlist and started a movie. I only got the sound but no video.
3. I have looked into the log file, whose path depend on the distribution:
   • OpenELEC: /storage/.xbmc/temp/xbmc.log
   • Raspbmc: /home/pi/.xbmc/temp/xbmc.log
   • XBian: /home/xbian/.xbmc/temp/xbmc.log
4. In that log I found this:

The problem was “Insufficient Resources”. Googling on that I found a simple solution: add more ram for the GPU.

1. Open a telnet session to the Raspberry Pi and log (user: pi, password raspberry on RaspBMC)
2. Edit the config.txt file which is located in /boot.
3. Set gpu_mem_512=256 (instead of the current value 128)
4. Restart the Rasberry Pi using the command: sudo reboot

If editing the config.txt file using “telnet” is not easy, possibly “ftp” the Raspberry to “get” the file, edit this one on Windows and “put” it back.

Regarding the codec problem that can occur, it’s usually for mpeg2 video as one has to purchase the mpeg2 license and configured the raspberry pi. See this blog for details.

About logging: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Log_file/Easy

About Raspberry pi : http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Raspberry_Pi/FAQ

256MB version

For older RaspberryPi, with 256 MB of RAM, 4 splits are available:

• 240/16 – The most RAM size ARM can get (240MB) with mimial GPU memory. It’s the best for general computing when you don’t need 3D graphics or hardware video acceleration. It has enough memory to handle 1920x1200x16bpp framebuffer resolution. While 32bpp is also working, it’s not recommended since it leaves very small amount of free memory for GPU.
• 224/32 – This one is deprecated in favor of 240/16 split. It has 3D and hardware video decoding build in but since there is not enough memory to actually use it, there’s little point in using it. Unless you have some problems with 240/16 split or want to use 32bpp framebuffer at highest resolution. It is possible it will be deleted in the future.
• 192/64 – You need at least 64MB of GPU split to use hardware video acceleration or 3D graphics. It may not be enough GPU memory for hardware accelerated video playback at highest resolution or if you need a lot of GPU memory for things like textures.
• 128/128 – The most RAM GPU can get. Use it when you need a lot of memory for 3D graphic card and hardware accelerated video playback in high resolution. This split is needed for RaspBMC to work properly or to play fullHD video content with omxplayer without problems.

512MB version

New versions of RaspberryPi has 512 MB of RAM. You have 4 additional splits designed for this version:

• 496/16 and 448/64 – like 240/16 and 192/64 split for 256MB respectively but with 256MB more RAM available for ARM. Since GPU has only 16 MB/64MB or RAM, all the limitations from240/16/192/64 still apply.
• 384/128 – Similar to 128/128 split for 256MB – you should get all the graphic chip features but with reasonable amount of ARM memory. This will probably be the most universal split right now.
• 256/256 – Some bonus graphic card memory if you really need it, like for big textures and similar things. While 256MB of ARM memory is bigger than you could possibly have in older RaspberryPis, I don’t think this one will be used on many occasions.

Mine is in a black case bought from RS components. I also bought there a power supply and a HDMI cable. The big advantage of using a Raspberry pi is that

• It has a very low power consumption (about 1-2 watts at idle)
• It is really small 85.60mm x 53.98mm x 17mm (invisible behind the TV)
• It has a HDMI with Audio with CEC support (you can pilot XBMC on the Raspberry Pi with the TV remote control)
• It comes with codec license for MPEG4 & H.264 (hardware accelerated)
• Licenses can also be bought here to play back MPEG2 or VC1.
• The Model B comes with 512MB Ram (Only 256 on the Model A)
• It boots a Linux from a SD card (= silent) in about 50 seconds (depending on the distribution). There are 3 distributions of Linux with XBMC targeting the Raspberry Pi (see the wiki here). Some Install Guides:
  • Raspbmc (The one I am using)
  • OpenElec
  • XBian
  • Look at this comparison (and read also its previous version)
• A 2GB SD is enough, but I use a 16GB class 6, the only SD I had
• There are 2 USB slots that I use for a keyboard and a mouse. That can be expanded with a USB hub (There is only one USB port on the Model A). A USB HDD can be plugged to add extra storage if required.
• There is a 10/100Gbs Ethernet Port (No Ethernet port on the Model A) with supports of various power management wakeup features, including Magic Packet, Wake-on LAN (WOL) and Link Status Change. UNFORTUNATELY, albeit Pi’s Lan chipset does support WOL, the Pi’s lack of power management (ACPI) means it doesn’t support this Lan chipset features
• It does not need a fan cooler (= silent)
• The Model B uses a standard power supply capable of supplying 5V 700ma (the Model A requires 5V 300ma)
• The GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s
• It can be easily overclocked (and overvolted to increase stability) up to 1000MHz (without making the warranty void !). By default the Raspberry Pi runs as 700Mhz and is overclocked at 800Mhz by RaspBmc…
• Overall real world performance is something like a 300MHz Pentium 2 with great graphic performances.

site: http://www.raspberrypi.org (Look at the quick-start-guide and the FAQ)

RaspBmc: http://www.raspbmc.com (Look at the FAQ)

XBMC for Raspberry: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Raspberry_Pi/FAQ

buy: http://raspberrypi.rsdelivers.com/default.aspx?cl=1

• Download Linux Live USB Creator, a.k.a. Lili, to create a bootable USB Key with a linux (Could also try Unetbootin USB Creator ?…).
• Download an ISO of XBMCbuntu from here.
  • Version 12 RC 3 of XMBCbuntu is not yet supported by Lili. In addition this version does not include DXVA support yet…
  • To boot another linux, for any purpose, download an ISO for i386 compatible with Lili (When using UNetbootin downloads itself the selected Linux image).
• Create the bootable USB Key following the how-to.
  1. Choose a USB flash drive in the dropdown list.
  2. Select the ISO of XBMCbuntu downloaded previously.
  3. Choose the size of persistent data (usually between 250 MB and 2 GB).
  4. Check all the options.
  5. Click the lightning button to start the creation.

Tested on an HTPC Acer iDea 510:

• First try failed. It stops with “load fallback graphics devices [Fail]”
• Fix:
  1. Open the file syslinux\txt.cfg
  2. Search and Replace “quiet splash” with “quiet splash vmalloc=256M”
• Second try: great !!! There is much less “lag” than in Windows 8 Pro + Media Center Pack

• The remote control works fine so far. Including Shutdown (power-off).
• Configuring the System to use Suspend instead of Shutdown works fine only once.
  • Suspend is really immediate (less than 1 sec).
  • However, I didn’t find yet how to configure the remote to wake-up the HTPC.
  • Pressing the power button on the HTPC wakes up XBMC is less than 2 sec
  • Trying again to Suspend the HTPC will result in a black screen with the cursor blinking… A hard reboot is required
• During the use of XBMC, I was able to play HD movies from a SMB Shared Folder of my Synology.
• Sound plays in 2.0 (stereo), also for movies in 5.1 (with downmix), but default volume is really low compared to the default volume in Windows 8. Within XBMC, I have to boost the Volume Amplification. So it’s not the best possible sound.
• Sound doesn’t play correctly at all in 5.1 (although I have a 5.1 system and the movie is in DTS 5.1) ?!
• I didn’t succeed yet to view any movie using UPnP. I can configure such a source, but don’t see any list of movies in that source ? (To be investigated)
• During the shutdown, I noticed an error “Killing all remaining process [Fail]”. When shutdown is initiated from the remote control, XMBCbuntu asks to press enter to power-off after the error message here above.