Media Centre

Requirement

A Media Centre (for those who prefer the European spelling)...

Display a variety of visual media and streams on an HDMI display
listen to audio, both accompanying the visual media and from audio only sources
- initially played through a stereo amplifier, but optionally later with output to a 5.1 receiver
navigate media using either a dedicated media remote OR a keyboard/mouse combo wirelessly connected by radio or IR
view the media navigation using a "ten foot display"
access locally stored media and internet streams
Connect a Blu Ray drive to play pre-recorded Blu Ray and DVD disks
- optionally to burn additional discs from various sources

Software

Note this is primarily about the installing the server software. See other options above

Dedicated Distros

Kodi = eX-BMC project

This used to be known as XBMC (Xbox Media Centre) but rebranded as Kodi.

Intro - see http://kodi.wiki/view/Raspberry_Pi
Remotes - http://kodi.wiki/view/Smartphone/tablet_remotes
- more options see remote control section in [https://github.com/artmg/lubuild/blob/master/help/use/Music-and-multimedia.md]

The Distros:

OpenELEC
- [http://kodi.wiki/view/OpenELEC]
- Barebones Kodi
- quite mature and pretty popular
- supports very wide range of h/w platforms
- minimal install, based on JeOS for maximum efficiency
- extended through "plugins" - traditional OS packages are not available.
- for install procedures see MuGammaPi Media Centre
LibreELEC
- recent fork of OpenELEC
- similar software but different ethos (that's why project split)
OSMC (was Raspbmc)
- [http://kodi.wiki/view/OSMC]
- Pi-centric Kodi on Debian with no Desktop
  - might be expanding to include other hardware platforms?
- Simple quick and automatic XBMC-style media center
- easy upgrades and access to software repos
- for install procedures see below
XBian
- Pi and Cubox -specific
- based on debian
- has various options pre-installed and allows extensive customisation
- includes SuperRepo
- volume is btrfs so allows snapshots
- fits on 2GB
GeeXboX
- seemingly less active and less popular
Kodibuntu
- best of both worlds - full browser included (and ANY other software too)
- what is it's value over Lub + Kodi on top ???

Plex

RasPlex
- Plex front end for Plex server
- old fork from XBMC (from way back)
- split front- and back-ends
  - front end is light, leaving the backend to do the grunt work
- only needs 2GB card
- remote via LIRC or using Plex App on Android/iOS
- see [http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easiest-raspberry-pi-media-centre-rasplex/]

other

The article Audio Hub covers sound-oriented software stacks like Volumio (was RaspyFi), PiMusicBox and others.

OSMC

install options

direct install from OSMC site (used below)
Install via NOOBS now fully supported

prepare SD card

OSMC site's linux installer loads specialist SD creator, which then asks for root. This creates a 255MB FAT32 partition to expand on SD

See Disks # Distro Images for more information.

initial boot

10 minutes of unattended install Choose Country Accept license done

Settings

Check DST on clock

skin

The style of the interface can be changed by using different skins. OSMC uses ????? whereas RaspBMC uses Confluence.

addons

Add-ons are additional software to allow Kodi to do more.

Iplayer ( + settings / enable subtitles)
You Tube

Lists of "current top 10 addons" often crop up, like http://www.htpcbeginner.com/best-kodi-addons-2015-for-cordcutters/

Addons are either scripts or plugins, written in Python - http://kodi.wiki/view/Python_development

addon repos

The default repository for OSMC addons is ... ????

There are additional addon repos, such as the list in http://kodi.wiki/view/3rd_party_add-on_repositories and there are also agregator repos like https://superrepo.org/

manual addon installation

If you don't want to fully trust an entire repo, but just wish to install a single addon

http://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Install_add-ons_from_zip_files

Settings - Addons - .. - install from zip file

Of course you will not get the updates, as you would with a repo, but you do retain full control.

If you wish to push the file from another computer you can use SCP

scp Downloads/plugin.video.pluginname.1.1.1.zip [email protected]:.

Iplayer

Using BBC Iplayer assumes you have a UK-based ISP. Some people claim to use proxy-type internet services to circumvent this, but this is of course against their terms of service. Also their terms of use now state that you must have a valid TV license in order to access older programmes via the IPlayer service.

BBC have recently modified their feed service from Dynamite to Nitro www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/internet/entries/bc82562e-ea9d-4655-982d-e6219b2c877b which has broken the most common iplayer plugin (written by https://github.com/joolswills JoolsWills).

The get_iplayer linux command line download https://squarepenguin.co.uk/guides/tv-download-guide/ is apparently still working, but not exactly a ten-foot-interface way of watching TV. The official BBC iplayer website does work, but a browser is not something that Kodi currently offers, and the web interface is more touch oriented than TV remote controllable.

There is an alternative to the broken iplayer plugin, mentioned at http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=221699&pid=2023859#pid2023859 which you can install using manual addon installation

other notes

other software

RPi Foundation sell codecs for h/w decoding HD MPEG2 and VC1 https://osmc.tv/help/wiki/pi2-codec The purchased key is bound to the device serial #

devices

keyboard

If you have issues with keyboard mappings, first consider standard keyboard shortcuts http://www.htpcbeginner.com/15-xbmc-keyboard-shortcuts/

will obkey fix specific issues? http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=210939

apparently, where the OS has shortcuts defined, Kodi will not see OnKey events See how to resolve this for Ubuntu - http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=215696

media remote

drives

USB ports can perform faster RW than SD card, so consider booting from SD to s/w installed on USB drive Also despite Pi only has USB 2.0, a USB 3.0 media drive may throughput more
https://osmc.tv/help/wiki/pi-usb

OpenELEC / LibreELEC

OpenELEC turns a generic piece of hardware into a dedicated Kodi appliance. Rather than using an existing distro with Kodi pre-installed, it is a custom built Linux Embedded OS. There are generic 64/32-bit builds for most common graphics chipsets, as well as a Raspberry Pi build.

There is also a recent fork called LibreELEC, created during a hiatus in OpenELEC development. Consider looking at both when investigating issues or features.

See [http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Main_Page] also Read me on Source pages [https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv]

Both distros are basic linux OSes with packages directly added at compile time [https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv/tree/master/packages]. For more on how to compile or develop the system see [http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Development_workflow] and [http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Compile_from_source].

Partitions

For information about installing OpenELEC as Triple Boot on top of Windows and Ubuntu, see [https://github.com/artmg/lubuild/blob/master/help/configure/Disks-and-layout.md]

Installation

credit - [http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Dual_Boot]
see also [http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Manual_Installation]
Copy Files
add to grub
ensure the partition was set as BOOTable

download OpenELEC

http://openelec.tv/get-openelec

circa 150MB

Open the archive and copy the files to the SYS partition

add to GRUB

see Dual Boot article

If you have issues getting the grub options to appear, install the grub-customizer utility which may help you find them

#!/bin/sh
#
# /etc/grub.d/40_custom
# credit - http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Dual_Boot
#
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
#
# If you want this entry to be the Grub Default, 
# create it as /etc/grub.d/08_openelec
menuentry "OpenELEC" {
   search --set=root --label OE_SYSTEM --hint hd0,msdos9
   linux /KERNEL boot=LABEL=OE_SYSTEM disk=LABEL=OE_DATA quiet
}
menuentry "OpenELEC debugging" {
   search --set=root --label OE_SYSTEM --hint hd0,msdos9
   linux /KERNEL boot=LABEL=OE_SYSTEM disk=LABEL=OE_DATA debugging
}

hardware compatibility

If you try to start OpenElec and get the following error:

A start job is running for Xorg Server

Started Xorg Server / Fluxbox / Started Kodi Media Center
Reached target Kodi Mediacenter interface
 
failed to start xorg.
is your GPU supported?

If could be that you do not have the right GPU support. Version 6 open OpenELEC did not have integrated support from legacy NVidia drivers, including ION, so there was a separate build for these, the OpenELEC Nvidia_Legacy Builds. From Version 7 these legacy drivers have been re-integrated into the Generic build.

OpenELEC Upgrades

If you want to perform an offline upgrade:

download the Update .tar file for your hardware and version from [http://openelec.tv/get-openelec/]
check you can ssh to the OpenELEC box (see below)
use SCP to copy the file to the folder /storage/.update/
see [http://wiki.openelec.tv/index.php/Updating_OpenELEC#Using_SCP_or_SSH] for more details

For the moment OpenELEC and LibreELEC upgrades are inter-changeable, allowing flexible movement. This may change as the forks diverge.

Browsing

OpenELEC's unofficial repo has @lrusak's Chromium web browser [http://openelec.tv/forum/chromium-browser/79727-chromium-updated-now-with-netflix-support]

However it is currently only supported on x86 hardware (not on ARM systems like the Pi) [http://openelec.tv/forum/chromium-browser/80484-does-chromium-for-open-elec-run-on-arm]

Services

UPnP / DLNA

Settings / Services / UPnP / Allow control of XBMC via UPnP: CHECK
(also Services / General / Device Name)
help - [http://kodi.wiki/view/UPnP/Client]
Issues:
- UPnP/DLNA Service does not appear
  - SSDP cannot see server
  - tried also enabling AirPlay - no change
  - what does kodi.log show?
  - try exiting and restarting Kodi
    - option to start Kodi only after the network is available (OpenElec)
    - [http://openelec.tv/forum/134-usage/75765#157229]
  - others having similar? [http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=214187]
  - try workaround in [https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/upnp-dlna-not-working/8020]

ssh

Probably enabled by default. This is the simplest way to gain command line access to OpenElec.

# default password is openelec
ssh root@MyDeviceName

Diagnostics

HDMI and Video

tethering

In v6.0 and 6.0.3 the tethering seems to fail on authentication from the client.

It may be an issue with a specific wifi card, but dmesg on client shows ONLY authentication issues.

lspci | grep -i wireless
find /sys | grep drivers.*05:00.0

Tried a workaround to dhd config op_mode options - no difference. Seems to also need static IP. Tried also with Static IP, the authentication worked but the services were not available. Manage to authenticate, ping with 0.1 is ropey, ssh to 0.1 fails. Ping to 1.1 fails .

v7 Beta 3 (6.95.3) seems to still have issue (although some report it now works [http://openelec.tv/news/22-releases/176-beta-openelec-7-0-beta-1-released]). Now trying 7.0.0 [http://openelec.tv/news/22-releases/181-stable-openelec-7-0-released] which includes new WLAN drivers.

On full version 7.0.0 Tethering now works, at least with the ath5k drivers in use.