[NA] DIY home media server

Ok... Pirep time. Santa brought me a Pi. I installed Raspbmc and it works fantastically. Streams are slow to start and the navigation is slow, but I hear that is just the first time time it boots. More to come.

Perfect little media center tho, and the price is right: 30 bucksish, and no monthly fee.
 
Oooh .... very interested to read follow up on this, Nick!

Set my parents up with a Roku for XMas - wanted something dirt simple for them to use and me to support (they're in their 80s - and although not tech illiterate, are tech timid).

Been thinking about doing something for myself (for years), but I'm just not a big media consumer. Still ... if it's something I can get into cheaply and have a little fun with.
 
SkyHog said:
Ok... Pirep time. Santa brought me a Pi. I installed Raspbmc and it works fantastically. Streams are slow to start and the navigation is slow, but I hear that is just the first time time it boots. More to come.

Perfect little media center tho, and the price is right: 30 bucksish, and no monthly fee.
Click to expand...

Tell more, champ, I want a pireporama. Have an idea I could take a cheap NAS box and a RasPi, have a kickbootie little entertainment center at the log shck.
 
SkyHog said:
Ok... Pirep time. Santa brought me a Pi. I installed Raspbmc and it works fantastically. Streams are slow to start and the navigation is slow, but I hear that is just the first time time it boots. More to come.

Perfect little media center tho, and the price is right: 30 bucksish, and no monthly fee.
Click to expand...

You had better luck with Raspbmc then I did but like I said in my previous post openelec was much better for me.
 
SCCutler said:
Tell more, champ, I want a pireporama. Have an idea I could take a cheap NAS box and a RasPi, have a kickbootie little entertainment center at the log shck.
Click to expand...

PIREP - as detailed as I can be after 2 or 3 hours of playing with the Pi.

Step 1 - download the Raspbmc Installer from here: http://www.raspbmc.com/download/ . The download is like 100K, and it only takes a few seconds.

Step 2 - Load an SD Card into a PC, and use the installer to preload the XBMC Installer on the SD Card - this took about 3 minutes

Step 3 - Load the SD Card into the Raspberry Pi. Plug the Raspberry Pi in, and then connect it to your TV using the HDMI port. You are also required to plug in the ethernet cable at this point, because Raspbmc keeps itself updated and has to download the most recent version of the OS. All told, about 3 minutes

Step 4 - Wait for the XBMC installer to complete. This took about 30-45 minutes, and most of the time was just staring at a blue screen with a progress bar and a nice message about "getting a cup of coffee."

Step 5 - You're in. The entire box runs really slow at this point, because it is downloading updates in the background. If you look at System Info, you will see 100% CPU usage. Do not panic - this calms down after about 30 minutes.

Step 6 (Optional, but I strongly suggest it) - Add the Fusion Repo to XBMC following these steps:http://www.xbmchub.com/blog/2012/04/24/fusion-easy-addon-installation-for-xbmc/

Step 7 - Using the Fusion Repo, add 1Channel. This plug in allows you to watch any movie, any TV show, anywhere. Period. Free. Awesome.

All told, it took about an hour to configure, maybe an additional 30 minutes to get the plugins installed. It's awesome. My wife is playing Assassins Creed III right now, but later I will try to get some video of it in action.
 
I need to figure out what I'm going to do for a case for the Pi tho...that's the only part that might make it not a "plug in and go" solution. Looks like you gotta make your own accessories.
 
Nick, can the RPi so equipped be used to pay music from a disk on the network?
 
SCCutler said:
Nick, can the RPi so equipped be used to pay music from a disk on the network?
Click to expand...

Yes. I have not done it yet, however. I did do it on my Laptop which is running XBMC Eden on it.

I have a drive with a bunch of music, videos, and pictures on it, set up as a Samba share. I will hook 'er up tonight (or tomorrow, depending on how long my wife bogarts the TV), and see how it works and report back.
 
Connecting to a samba share is easy, right out of the box. Add a new source, add the smb address and boom. Alternatively, if you have it available for browsing, it shows up s a networking location.

And it's speedy too.
 
Excellent! Thanks for the follow-up PIREP, Nick! I was holding off until after the first of the year to move farther down the road for this one - I saw a few sales for Roku boxes, but it sounds like the Pi actually is a viable solution. When I was looking at ordering the RPi, I think I found a 'package' deal that included a full enclosure. Not sure which website it was, but I think there are only a couple of sites than can 'officially' sell the RPi.
 
Finally plopped xbmc on win 8 then went through two hours of download and configuration and installation and services snafus to get live tv working. Much better than last year, still waiting until next year before I replace wmc7/8.
 
SkyHog said:
I need to figure out what I'm going to do for a case for the Pi tho...that's the only part that might make it not a "plug in and go" solution. Looks like you gotta make your own accessories.
Click to expand...

Go to MCM Electronics and look at what they have available.
 
I have a WiFi picture frame that draws pictures from my Flickr account. It is 7". I'm thinking the pi would be great to use to drive a 24" or 26" display mount in the wall and pull pictures via WiFi from my NAS.
 
EppyGA said:
I have a WiFi picture frame that draws pictures from my Flickr account. It is 7". I'm thinking the pi would be great to use to drive a 24" or 26" display mount in the wall and pull pictures via WiFi from my NAS.
Click to expand...

I like that- would love to set up a Pi to drive monitors on the wall in office lobby... Pictures, weather, that kind of stuff.
 
masloki said:
Finally plopped xbmc on win 8 then went through two hours of download and configuration and installation and services snafus to get live tv working. Much better than last year, still waiting until next year before I replace wmc7/8.
Click to expand...

How did it take you 2 hours to download and configure a system that is essentially plug and play?

There are 3 steps:

1. Download the installer (its like 1MB, if that)
2. Install the image to the SD Card
3. Power on the Raspberry Pi, and follow the only instruction it gives you....get a cup of coffee.

edit: Oh - you put in on a PC, not on a Pi. I misread....maybe its a Windows thing. It works pretty much out of the box on Linux.
 
SCCutler said:
I like that- would love to set up a Pi to drive monitors on the wall in office lobby... Pictures, weather, that kind of stuff.
Click to expand...

I've seen two different USB WiFi plugins. They are dependent on the build having the drivers.
 
SCCutler said:
I like that- would love to set up a Pi to drive monitors on the wall in office lobby... Pictures, weather, that kind of stuff.
Click to expand...

We're looking at doing something similar here at work as well.
 
I'm trying to do this with an old desktop that does not have HDMI. Do those little USB - HDMI converters actually put out a 1080 signal?
 
I think they're about the same price as a cheap card aren't they? Then I could move it to a laptop that gets retired later or something.

I honestly don't know, what's the price difference between one of these and and cheap video card? It's a slim case, if that matters.
 
SkyHog said:
How did it take you 2 hours to download and configure a system that is essentially plug and play?

There are 3 steps:

1. Download the installer (its like 1MB, if that)
2. Install the image to the SD Card
3. Power on the Raspberry Pi, and follow the only instruction it gives you....get a cup of coffee.

edit: Oh - you put in on a PC, not on a Pi. I misread....maybe its a Windows thing. It works pretty much out of the box on Linux.
Click to expand...

All the issues revolved around getting the HDHomeRun to talk via network to whatever bleeping live TV app I grabbed (of which there are 10, with little information as to which one is recommended for compatibility). Then getting the app and XMBC to talk. But really, XBMC should grab one and make it the default and set the typical parameters. i do throw some blame at drivers for Win8, but it did 'just work' with WMC.
 
bigred177 said:
I'm trying to do this with an old desktop that does not have HDMI. Do those little USB - HDMI converters actually put out a 1080 signal?
Click to expand...
They can but many don't. And AFaIK you'll need a USB 3.0 port to plug in one that works well.
 
SkyHog said:
I need to figure out what I'm going to do for a case for the Pi tho...that's the only part that might make it not a "plug in and go" solution. Looks like you gotta make your own accessories.
Click to expand...

Vood is good:


My Pi came today. I have not as yet set it up.

I got Roku HD XS for $55 that is working really well. I'd like a couple more.

BUT the fun thing is ANDROID ON A STICK!


With that I have my IP CCTV cameras on the big screen using IP Camera Pro and have all of my favorite Android apps. The Logitech K400 keyboard/trackpad works great with it.

You can run Goole Movies and Amazon Instant Video and Google Play music and Amazon MP3 player and Plex and DLNA....to get all of your media.

And I still have 5 Tivos an Elgato EyeTV HD to get content.
 
I have been reading this thread with interest. I'd like to have as few components as possible. At first I was looking at running Roku with a Plex server running on Ubuntu. But it seems that Netflix and Hulu won't work with that setup, because Flash and Silverlight do not run on Linux. Is this true? But it should work on XP SP3.

The idea of running Raspberry Pi and XBMC sounds cool, too, but it needs to be easy for the rest of the family to use. We use a Wii now foewatching Netflix on the TV.

Thoughts?
 
Erice said:
I have been reading this thread with interest. I'd like to have as few components as possible. At first I was looking at running Roku with a Plex server running on Ubuntu. But it seems that Netflix and Hulu won't work with that setup, because Flash and Silverlight do not run on Linux. Is this true? But it should work on XP SP3.

The idea of running Raspberry Pi and XBMC sounds cool, too, but it needs to be easy for the rest of the family to use. We use a Wii now foewatching Netflix on the TV.
Click to expand...

:D You're thinking too much. You run NetFlix and Hulu as native apps on the Roku. You don't need the Plex server for those at all. Those apps are installed at the factory but they're also in the Channel Store.,

I've had some trouble with some video files playing on the Roku with Plex. The movie plays but the video goes all purple. My Onkyo AVR has to be power cycled to clear it. I just figured out that it's the video file that's the cause because even when I put it on a directly connected hard drive the purple happens.

Now I doing some video format conversion to see if I can figure out what is messing it up. I'm also going to try replacing the HDMI cable.
 
I just don't understand how anyone could possibly want to watch enough TV to put any effort towards these solutions. Read a book, go fly an airplane, something..anything! TV is just the easy way out of life ;)
 
After spending 9 months and more than a Kalidescape system costs trying to make other crap work (not to mention the time involved in ripping DVDs 4 times) we finally ended up with a Kalidescape system.
 
I actually don't watch much TV at all, but I do enjoy the challenge of setting up a complex multimedia system that is easy enough for my wife to use. When she completely stops complaining, I know it's time to start adding new features :)
 
Challenged said:
I actually don't watch much TV at all, but I do enjoy the challenge of setting up a complex multimedia system that is easy enough for my wife to use. When she completely stops complaining, I know it's time to start adding new features :)
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself. What else are you supposed to do when the snow is blowing, than create problems and try to fix them? Which kind of covers flying to a T aka a solution in search of a problem.:goofy:
 
Got around to downloading XBMC 12 to the trusty old Dell Dimension 4500 desktop last night. It installed easily, and I was able to import the MP3's that were on that PC into the XBMC library easily - it even attached album cover art to most of the files. It seems really simple to use. I added a couple of video 'add-ons' and the video starts streaming quickly and the user interface is simple to use.

I do have a problem with the audio, though. The sound is like it is clipping before it is sent to the TV. I'm using a VGA cable for video and a 3.5MM jack for audio, so it's definitely some 'legacy' hardware trying to use the latest release of the software. I'll have to troubleshoot that more later.

Overall, if I can get the audio issue resolved, I think it will be a good solution for a single-source multimedia device.
 
SCCutler said:
If you come up with some exquisite code, please feel free to share it! :yes:
Click to expand...


So we finally got a couple of Raspberry Pi's in last week. Had the opportunity to get tinker with them yesterday. I was able to get the standard Raspbian image loaded and a 'default' webpage loaded every time the device boots up. It was stupid simple, actually. So if you have one particular webpage you want to show, you can do that 'out of the box'. I haven't explored rotating through a list of different webpages yet, but the first part was so easy, I imagine Python can handle it pretty easily. I also haven't had the chance to tackle displaying .PPT presentations yet. Gotta get some of this boring work done so I can get back to the fun stuff.


Erice said:
I have been reading this thread with interest. I'd like to have as few components as possible. At first I was looking at running Roku with a Plex server running on Ubuntu. But it seems that Netflix and Hulu won't work with that setup, because Flash and Silverlight do not run on Linux. Is this true? But it should work on XP SP3.

The idea of running Raspberry Pi and XBMC sounds cool, too, but it needs to be easy for the rest of the family to use. We use a Wii now foewatching Netflix on the TV.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I put OpenElec/XBMC on a Raspberry Pi last night. I installed the Yahtse Remote Control app on my phone and after a few configuration tweaks (step-by-step tutorials are available), I was controlling everything from my Android phone. I didn't have time to tinker with it too much, but I believe my wife would be able to use it after a fairly quick demo. The GUI is pretty user-friendly, and it's pretty hard to get 'lost' in it - if you do, there is always a 'Home' button available to take you back to the main menu.
 
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