Home Hardware-and-creative Raspberry Pi Media Center

Raspberry Pi Media Center

By Sam Nazarko
books-svg-icon Book
Subscription
$10 p/m for first 3 months. $15.99 p/m after that. Cancel Anytime!
What do you get with a Packt Subscription?
This book & 7000+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with a Packt Subscription?
This book & 6500+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with eBook + Subscription?
Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats, plus a monthly download credit
This book & 6500+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with a Packt Subscription?
This book & 6500+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with eBook?
Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Access this title in our online reader
DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
Online reader with customised display settings for better reading experience
What do you get with video?
Download this video in MP4 format
Access this title in our online reader
DRM FREE - Watch whenever, wherever and however you want
Online reader with customised display settings for better learning experience
What do you get with video?
Stream this video
Access this title in our online reader
DRM FREE - Watch whenever, wherever and however you want
Online reader with customised display settings for better learning experience
What do you get with Audiobook?
Download a zip folder consisting of audio files (in MP3 Format) along with supplementary PDF
What do you get with Exam Trainer?
Flashcards, Mock exams, Exam Tips, Practice Questions
Access these resources with our interactive certification platform
Mobile compatible-Practice whenever, wherever, however you want
BUY NOW $10 p/m for first 3 months. $15.99 p/m after that. Cancel Anytime!
Subscription
What do you get with a Packt Subscription?
This book & 7000+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with a Packt Subscription?
This book & 6500+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with eBook + Subscription?
Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats, plus a monthly download credit
This book & 6500+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with a Packt Subscription?
This book & 6500+ ebooks & video courses on 1000+ technologies
60+ curated reading lists for various learning paths
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Early Access to eBooks as they are being written
Personalised content suggestions
Customised display settings for better reading experience
50+ new titles added every month on new and emerging tech
Playlists, Notes and Bookmarks to easily manage your learning
Mobile App with offline access
What do you get with eBook?
Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats
Access this title in our online reader
DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want
Online reader with customised display settings for better reading experience
What do you get with video?
Download this video in MP4 format
Access this title in our online reader
DRM FREE - Watch whenever, wherever and however you want
Online reader with customised display settings for better learning experience
What do you get with video?
Stream this video
Access this title in our online reader
DRM FREE - Watch whenever, wherever and however you want
Online reader with customised display settings for better learning experience
What do you get with Audiobook?
Download a zip folder consisting of audio files (in MP3 Format) along with supplementary PDF
What do you get with Exam Trainer?
Flashcards, Mock exams, Exam Tips, Practice Questions
Access these resources with our interactive certification platform
Mobile compatible-Practice whenever, wherever, however you want
About this book

Low-cost and high-performing, with a massively diverse range of uses and applications, the Raspberry Pi is set to revolutionize the way we think about computing and programming. Using it as a Media Center allows everyone to have a low-cost device that is always on, attached to their TV.

Imagine controlling your TV with your smartphone, dynamically streaming content that you have on various devices across your home, as and when you want. Raspberry Pi Media Center will show you how to configure the complete experience using readily available and accessible tools, so that you too will soon be enjoying your media from the comfort of your own sofa.

With this practical guide, you’ll discover how you can transform your Raspberry Pi into a powerful media center. Using Raspbmc (based on the XBMC distribution), you'll be shown how you can deploy and configure your own media center, including coverage of all the essentials from controlling your device with a TV remote or smartphone, to the creation and customization of your very own media library (including the conversion of any existing collection). You'll even be able to stream multimedia from your devices or directly from the Internet!

Publication date:
February 2013
Publisher
Packt
Pages
108
ISBN
9781782163022

 

Chapter 1. Getting Started

First off, I'd like to welcome you to this title. By the end of this book, you will be able to set up a comprehensive media center that will serve you well for years to come. Each chapter will guide you through the basics so that by the end of the book we will have gone from a basic system to a comprehensive and complex one that meets your needs.

In this chapter, we will cover the following:

  • Why Raspberry Pi is a good hardware choice to be used as a media center

  • The equipment needed to build a Raspberry Pi based media center

  • What Raspbmc is, and what it can do

  • Installing Raspbmc onto an SD card using Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux

  • Booting up Raspberry Pi to complete the installation

 

Why use a Raspberry Pi?


The Raspberry Pi is a small, credit card sized computer launched in 2012 for the purpose of rekindling a dwindling interest in Computer Science. The device therefore had to be affordable, have a low power consumption, and a small form factor. These characteristics are also what make the Raspberry Pi such an appealing solution as a media center. The Raspberry Pi is silent, and a quiet system is essential for an ideal media center experience. The Raspberry Pi may seem like a low performance device for education, however it has HDMI output. Its Ethernet capabilities and powerful GPU capable of decoding full HD videos has attracted much attention. Furthermore, as the operating system runs on an external SD card, a type of memory card, the device itself cannot be bricked, and can always be restored to a working state by reinstalling Raspbmc.

 

Equipment needed


You will need some equipment to use your Raspberry Pi as a media center; you may or may not have some of these components already. These components can be obtained from most retailers and are relatively inexpensive:

  • Power supply: The Raspberry Pi requires a micro USB power supply capable of providing 700 mA at 5 volts. As a media center, this supply needs to be reliable, so it is worth picking up a charger capable of at least 1 mA. You can even pickup a charger that is 2 A, but you should ensure that the charger does not exceed 5 volts. It should be noted that not every power adapter will work on Raspberry Pi, mainly because many chargers' output specifications are printed by the manufacturer, rather than regulated independently. A list of good power supplies can be viewed at http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#Power_adapters.

  • SD card: This is the card that the media center operating system will run from. Not much space is needed, even in library mode, so an 8 GB card would suffice. It is strongly recommended that you use a Class 6 or Class 10 SD card. This is usually denoted on the card with a number that is encompassed in a circle. Sandisk Ultra cards are reliable, and recommended. The following screenshot shows a Sandisk Ultra card:

  • Card reader: You may already have this on your computer, but if you do not, you'll need a card reader to install Raspbmc onto your SD card. These can be obtained from most electrical retailers as they are commonly used for digital cameras.

  • Micro USB power cable: It is used for connecting the power supply to Raspberry Pi. If the supply you are using is a phone charger, you might already have one of these.

  • Network cable: An Ethernet can be used to connect and install the software on your device. You may also use this later for streaming media. You can also use a supported Wi-Fi adapter with Raspbmc. Refer to Appendix C, Supported Peripherals, for a list of supported adapters. However, it should be noted that installation is possible without a network connection.

  • HDMI cable: If you wish to use CEC support (discussed later in this book), which allows you to use your TV or AV receiver's remote to control Raspberry Pi, you will need an HDMI 1.3 or later compliant cable.

  • Composite: If you are connecting to a display that only allows composite, you will need this cable. You will also need a 3.5 mm stereo cable to get audio playback on your TV as well.

  • Display: You will need a TV or monitor to use Raspbmc on.

  • Remote: This is entirely optional, as controlling the Raspberry Pi via other means is possible. For a full list of supported remotes, please visit http://www.raspbmc.com/wiki/user/configuring-remotes.

 

What is Raspbmc?


Raspbmc is a highly optimized and dedicated media center for Raspberry Pi. It brings XBMC to Raspberry Pi in a fast and self updating package in an easy-to-use manner. This is because Raspbmc has been built specifically for the purpose of running XBMC. Raspbmc is flexible and allows expansion via the Debian packaging system. For example, it is possible to utilize GPIO (general purpose input output) to configure a custom infrared receiver.

XBMC is an open source media center that runs on all major platforms. It began as a project for playing back media on the original Microsoft game console, and it now runs on many platforms. XBMC is not limited to just media playback, and sports a lot of functionality, such as plugins, add-ons, and media scraping. XBMC's existence on the Raspberry Pi can be greatly attributed to the work of Edgar Huceke and Scott Davilla. You can learn more about XBMC at www.xbmc.org.

 

What can Raspbmc do?


Raspbmc is a full-fledged media center and offers the following capabilities:

  • Hardware playback of HD (up to 1080p) content in formats H264, MPEG2, and VC1, and MPEG2 and VC1 codecs must be purchased separately

  • Playback of multiple music formats (MP3, AAC, FLAC, and more)

  • Streaming content from a computer over a variety of streaming protocols

  • Support for different looks via skins

  • Streaming content from attached hard drives via USB

  • AirPlay support (with compatible iOS devices)

  • Watch and record TV on your device

  • Raspbmc can be controlled via a USB remote, a CEC-compatible device, or via a smartphone

  • Using various plugins, you can use online video and music services such as YouTube, Spotify, and iPlayer

  • Ability to create a media library that automatically downloads TV shows, film information, and FanArt

  • Ability to share this media library across multiple devices, including Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX systems

  • Automatic updating means that Raspbmc is always running at optimum performance and has the latest version of XBMC

Note

Note that this is not a comprehensive list of all the features, and that more are added regularly with Raspbmc's auto-update system.

 

Installing Raspbmc


Raspbmc can be easily installed from Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X. With the help of a computer, you can install the Raspbmc installer on to the card. You will need an Internet connection on your computer for this. This installer will then configure the Raspberry Pi by grabbing the latest version of Raspbmc. The part where the user installs Raspbmc onto the SD card using a computer card can also be referred to as imaging.

The installer for Raspbmc can be obtained from http://www.raspbmc.com/download. As instructions for downloading and running the installer are already available on this page, the instructions given in this chapter will be condensed.

Note

You should double-check you are installing Raspbmc to the right device before imaging. You can reduce the likelihood of imaging the wrong device by temporarily removing devices that you do not want to image, such as USB sticks.

Windows

Installation on Windows can be done by running the application from the Raspbmc website as follows:

  1. Installing Raspbmc from Windows is a simple process. Upon running the program, you will see a screen similar to the following one:

  2. If your SD card is not already listed in the grid, verify whether it is inserted and click on the refresh icon. If you wish to configure advanced options, such as installing to a USB drive, or wireless networking settings, tick the appropriate boxes.

  3. Simply check the SD card that you would like to image, accept the license agreement, and click on the Install button. This process will take up to five minutes, as your computer downloads the latest Raspbmc setup image and writes it to your SD card.

    When this process is finished, you will be given a confirmation similar to the following one:

Mac OS X / Linux

An easy-to-use installer is also provided for other platforms. Let's see how to use the installer for Mac OS X:

  1. The installer for Mac OS X and Linux is written in Python, and running it as per the instructions on the web page should lead you to a screen similar to the one shown in the following screenshot:

  2. Simply follow the instructions to select the correct device to image. The script will then download the setup image and write this to your SD card. When this is done, the device will be safely removed, so it is safe to remove it. Similar to the Windows installer, there will be an option to configure network settings or USB/NFS installs.

Advanced Installation

In the rare instance that the installers do not work on your system, this web page also has an image that can be downloaded if the user wishes to image the card with their own software. Select the Network Image option for downloading. If you do not have a network connection on your Raspberry Pi, you should choose the Standalone Image option.

For Windows, an alternative to the Raspbmc installer is Win32DiskImager or the USB Image tool. For UNIX systems, the following command would suffice, assuming that the filename of the compressed image was installer.img.gz:

gunzip –c installer.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdb

Prefixing the dd command with sudo may not be necessary if you are running it as the root user. Your device may not be /dev/sdb; you can verify the device's path with ls /dev.

 

Booting up the Raspberry Pi


Now that we have imaged the card, we need to prepare Pi for its first boot:

  1. Insert the freshly imaged SD card into the Raspberry Pi.

  2. Attach a network cable or your USB wireless dongle to the Raspberry Pi's Ethernet port and the Ethernet port of a switch or router (note that this is not necessary if you have used the Standalone Image option).

  3. Attach the power supply and connect either the composite or HDMI video connection so we can view the installation's progress on a display.

  4. The connection to the Raspberry Pi should now look similar to the following screenshot:

  5. With everything connected, plug in the charger. You may need to change the input on your display device if this does not automatically change for you.

  6. Unless you installed using the Standalone Image option, Raspbmc will now connect to the update server and install. This usually takes around 20-30 minutes on a home broadband connection, as Raspbmc must download the latest version onto your device. This process is entirely automatic, so feel free to take a break and come back later.

  7. When you return, you'll hopefully be greeted by XBMC, the software at the heart of your new media center-to-be. Congratulations, you have successfully installed Raspbmc!

    Note

    For a few seconds, you may see a rainbow colored screen. This is to be expected and will disappear a few moments later.

 

Summary


In this chapter, we covered what makes the Pi appealing as a media center device, what Raspbmc is and what it brings to the tablet, how to connect your Pi, and how to install Raspbmc. This chapter makes an ideal reference to revisit if you need to reinstall or configure another device at a later date.

In the next chapter, we'll look at how to control Raspbmc, how to navigate Raspbmc's menus, how to change important system settings, installing plugins in Raspbmc (such as iPlayer or TVCatchup), and installing additional codec support (such as MPEG2 and VC1).

About the Author
  • Sam Nazarko

    Sam Nazarko is an 18-year-old student, currently studying Computer Science at King's College London, UK. He has been using computers since the age of four and has developed a huge passion for them. He has a wide range of experience and knowledge about both Windows and Linux platforms at desktop and server level. He enjoys developing tailor-made solutions for clients, which range from C# application development on Windows to C development on Linux, and has expertise in system deployment and administration on a large scale. He has recently been involved in open source development, harnessing his skills in embedded systems development by delivering Linux distributions for Apple TV and Raspberry Pi that deliver XBMC. Sam is planning to launch a technology startup in 2013, which will focus on embedded system development and custom-made solutions.

    Browse publications by this author
Raspberry Pi Media Center
Unlock this book and the full library FREE for 7 days
Start now