Use Raspberry pi 3 for media center

rasp_renegade

Hello, I was wondering if you all would recommend using a Pi 3 for streaming movies and music over the internet, and connected to a TV. Will it perform well?

retropieuser555

@rasp_renegade Yup, just install either kodi if you already have RetroPie on your pi3 or use LibreELEC if you only want to stream videos and music.

rasp_renegade

@retropieuser555

Hey thanks, I will try this out. Ive got it all hooked up and its a bit laggy. The sound card is not boosting enough to my stereo though.

If I get this, will it be enough?
https://www.adafruit.com/product/4037?gclid=CjwKCAiAhbeCBhBcEiwAkv2cYyA1BEtNmBSQR73eCZqmJpBKKiuoha-KmYi5PccO7t_Ktsl7V-m9lBoC8VAQAvD_BwE

Or do I need to go as far as this?
https://www.amazon.com/HiFiBerry-Hifiberry-AMP2-Amp2/dp/B076DLCRHF/ref=asc_df_B076DLCRHF/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309791895009&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11873107630222018911&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033290&hvtargid=pla-523617561319&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=70160276868&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=309791895009&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11873107630222018911&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033290&hvtargid=pla-523617561319

caver01

@rasp_renegade I think most folks that use the Pi as a media center with Kodi are passing the audio to their TV setup via HDMI, so the digital signal is whatever the file/stream content provides. From that perspective, audio and video are in sync when it leaves the Pi, audio is digital source, and the TV or home theater receiver does the heavy lifting with multi channel decoding, amplifying, etc.

If you are not using hdmi for audio for some reason and are trying to get sound from the 3.5mm audio out jack, then yeah, thats not going to be the best experience. You can also look at HDMI signal converters to split off the audio that way which would not require any software or configuration.

retropieuser555

@rasp_renegade I've no idea with sound I'm afraid as I just run my LibreELEC pi through the hdmi of my tv.

Going back to the lag you mentioned, is it this kind of problem? I'm not sure if you mean laggy in RetroPie or in LibreELEC... RetroPie's issue is because the pi is default set to output at 4k I think, but you can change that and there's a few steps in the discussion below:-

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/27299/low-framerate-on-main-emulationstation-menu-pi-4/60

mitu

@retropieuser555 said in Use Raspberry pi 3 for media center:

RetroPie's issue is because the pi is default set to output at 4k I think

A Pi3 doesn't support 4k, the 4k@30fps resolution is only chosen by default by the Pi4.

retropieuser555

@mitu Oh yeah you're right, sorry had my pi 4 brain on

rasp_renegade

@caver01

Correct when piping through the HDMI all is well with sound levels. The only reason I wanted to use the AV jack is so I could play Pandora with the TV off.

I cannot even install Firefox. ???

I got the image from from https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/operating-systems/

"Raspberry Pi OS with desktop and recommended software
Release date: January 11th 2021
Kernel version: 5.4"