Raspberry pi 5 build

I ran software transcoding tests on my bare RPi5 with the Pi foundation's SC1148 active cooler.

While my RPi4B was unable to software transcode 1080i source content, and had limited success on 720p and 480i content, my RPi5 was able to transcode 1080i/720p/480i content at 1-8Mbit quality.

The 15 minute load for transcoding 1080i at 8Mbit is ~3.5 at <60C. A single 1-6Mbit stream is fully usable with the load dropping to about 1.3 for a 1MBit stream.

The RPi4 hardware transcoding has several problems that the RPi5 software transcoding solves.

Agreed with others on economic Intel Quick Sync Video hardware transcoding platforms.

My RPi5 fills my needs to reliably stream at 1-6Mbit through my 9Mbit uplink.

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So I just recently got a Pi 5 and put OpenMediaVault on it with Channels DVR Linux version and two 12TB drives running on a USB dock. So far it can handle 4 recordings from my HDHomerun tuner and record a Philo stream plus playback to another PC all at the same time. I am very happy with it. I bought the 8GB CanaKit.

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That's good to know, I have made a"spare" RPi 5 my "backup" channels recorder. I'm still using an iMac as the main recorder which works very well.

The backup 4GB RPi 5 has an Argon NEO 5 Case with a Kingston - NV2 M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe 2TB SSD. I run an rsync script twice a day to copy everything from the iMac Channels SSD to the RPi which only takes a few minutes. When the iMac is not in use, setting up the RP1 up takes about two minutes and works well.

When running comskip with two cores on the RP1 the Neo fan runs, but I don't hear it. The RPi temperature peaks at about 58C with the fan running

I am currently running on a Raspberry Pi 4 -8. I was thinking about upgrading to a Pi5, but I can't justify the expense. I can buy a Windows 11 mini computer for $300 or less and I believe it is more powerful than the R5. But don't really know.

Best to go with a PC .. PI's are overrated.

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Pi’s make no sense anymore. Just get an n95 mini computer.

Running Linux :grinning:

I know this is an older thread but I have a Pi4 running for a couple of years with no issues and recently sourced a PI5... Will there be a channel's image for the PI5 and I should wait for it or just do the linux install?? I prefer the image as it is all managed by you all.

Please advise if you have time and thank you.

It’s unlikely. We don’t think Pis are a great platform anymore. The prices just aren’t what they used to be.

For the same amount of money, you’re better off with an intel n95 mini pc at this point. And you’re gonna get a much better computer for Channels DVR Server.

The Pi 5 does not even have a hardware transcoder anymore.

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I have found that when a show overlaps with another show that is being recorded, there is a short interruption of a show or shows that are being recorded. I believe this is a problem with the Pi not being powerful enough to handle the situation. I was using my desktop computer for a few months while waiting to get a Pi working and my desktop is a high end powerhouse gaming computer. I never had an interruption while I was using my desktop and I was still using my desktop as I always did. So, that leaves me to believe the Pi is great for most situations but not powerful enough in some situations. And, as mentioned earlier, the Pi has become a not so good price point and with limitations. I build gaming computers and just for the heck of it I put one in place to run Channels and did not get one interruption notice. As an aside, I also get program recording started late with the Pi although it was set to record one minute early,

I have decided that my Pi is no longer powerful enough to handle my recording needs at this time. Now that the BS shortened network season is over, it will probably work okay. I have a couple of Windows 11 computers sitting around (I build desktop gaming computers) that are very powerful which I can use as my Channels server and also other functions. They are a little large, but are almost silent and would set along my UPS okay. I think the Pi days are pretty much over as the Pi 4 is limited and the Pi5 has become way too expensive to justify building. I can also buy a fully functional Windows 11 Mini-computer for less than $300. Anyway, these are just my rambling thoughts FWIW.