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Raspbmc - Some handy tips

Dos_Box
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Dos_Box

Dos_Box

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After a week or so of playing and tweaking my new home media network is up and running. At the back end I have a ZyXel 2 bay NSA320 Media Server which I picked up for a song on Amazon (you can still get them for about £70 on Amazon and some vendors are still asking £100+!) and 2x 1TB drives as JBOB (I know, I know, but I have all the important stuff backed up elsewhere).

And at the front I have a Raspberry Pi brought already in a case running Raspbmc (Raspbmc) which is now performing wonderfully after a week of ironing out niggles and finding out just how to configure it correctly.

As someone once requested I do a 'How to' about this I thought that it would be more helpful to cover some of the more random aspects of the configuration and some gotchas which you have to hunt around to get answers for.

Please be aware though that the latest version of XBMC which has had Raspberry Pi support coded in but is still in RC form so you may experience random issues, although I have not yet found anything that causes major problems (if any tbh),

So in no particular order:

 

1. Setup

Setting up Raspbmc is a doddle, really it is, and it's so easy all I shall do is provide a link to the download and setup page here: Raspbmc » Download

Just follow the simple instructions and you will have it installed and running within 15 mins. This includes the time it takes to download and update itself.

 

2. Configuration

 

Here are a few examples of things you need to consider and may run into is you were not aware of them:

 

a. UPnP and connecting to media sources:

 

This can be a bit of a pain and it took me a couple of days to figure out what I was doing wrong here. Basically, if your media server/NAS box is UPnP enabled do NOT try to connect XBMC to it via UPnP if you want to use the library functionality. What the library feature does is to catalogue your media and download artwork, reviews etc. via 'scrapers', but the process is one way only, so XBMC cannot send information to the box in the form of metadata as it also uses UPnP. You can find out more on this here: UPnP/Media source - XBMC.

I ended up using SMB/Samba and it works like a dream.

 

b. Screen size:

If you are connecting RaspBMC to your HDTV at home you will probably find that it overscans (looks too big to fit on the screen) and you may at first want to look in the Settings-System-Video Output-Video Calibration menu to fix this. This is NOT the place.

You need to look in Settings-System-Skin-Appearance and set it to about -4 this will resize it. The other menu is for video playback size issues when playing movies etc.

 

c. Let it index your media one type at a time

I made the mistake of adding all of my photos, music and video at once then telling it to add them to the library. This will kill it. Just add one type at a time and allow XBMC to index them before adding the next.

 

d. Label and organise your media correctly

 

This bit will save you a lot of time if you do it from the very beginning. This does not apply to photos BTW, but primarily films and to a lesser extent music. What you need to do is to ensure that your movies are stored in individual folders and labelled correctly. There is a good guide here on how to do it: Organising your files

If not done right then the library cannot give them the correct artwork and other metadata. As I found out.

 

e. On-demand TV

You can add the iPlayer and other (UK) catch-up tv players such as 4oD by following the instructions here: Adding on-demand players (about a quarter of the way down the page)

f. Raspbmc specific settings

 

There are quite a few settings specific to Raspbmc. You won't find these in the 'Settings' menu. However, if you hover over the 'Programs' menu you will see the icon pop-up at the bottom of the screen. From here you can do a whole raft of things (I won't go into details) as well as download/install the latest nightly build of Raspbmc or roll it back should you have issues.

 

 

And that's about it (for now) but there are a few other issues I have still not yet managed to resolve such as the CEC/HDMI feature not working for me (this allows your TV to pass on any signals it receives from a remote control to the Pi). As it stands the current version - RC3 - is missing quite a few of the addons such as skins etc. but these will be ported over by the XMBC community in good time. As it stands now it is a very capable media player and I have replaced my old Windows Media PC which cost a small fortune over the years for a whole setup which cost me just under £100 once I'd reused my old drives.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to post them up and I'll try and answer them as soon as I can.

Oh, and thanks to Sam Nazarko who created Raspbmc. He's 18 would you believe!

Edited by Dos_Box
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Rawns

Rawns

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Great tips there mate! This is the only reason I want a Raspberry Pi. I have XBMC running in the front room but this would be perfect for in the bedroom. All I need to do now is get hold of one! :)

 

I guess you've connected it via Ethernet? Presumably Raspbmc will run happily when connected via WiFi?

Dos_Box

Dos_Box

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Great tips there mate! This is the only reason I want a Raspberry Pi. I have XBMC running in the front room but this would be perfect for in the bedroom. All I need to do now is get hold of one! :)

 

I guess you've connected it via Ethernet? Presumably Raspbmc will run happily when connected via WiFi?

 

It will apparently with a compatible card, but if you are streaming HD content you may run into issues. I have mine hard-wired via CAT5. Apparently homeplugs are popular with Raspbmc users because of this.

Rawns

Rawns

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It will apparently with a compatible card, but if you are streaming HD content you may run into issues. I have mine hard-wired via CAT5. Apparently homeplugs are popular with Raspbmc users because of this.

 

I don't really stream much content. Interestingly I did try home plugs about 3 years ago. I thought they would work a treat as I was in a new flat with a single ring main. I got my two devices connected only once at 20Kbps. They went straight back. Maybe the technology is better now and worth a second look.

fiza

fiza

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Hopefully my NSA320 has been delivered today (£64 from Ebuyer -without disks). I will be trying this over the next few days.

@Dos_Box -Do you recommend any type of wireless keyboard to go with the Pi?

 

Ive just purchased some 500Mps homeplugs to connect it all up with.

Rawns

Rawns

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Hopefully my NSA320 has been delivered today (£64 from Ebuyer -without disks). I will be trying this over the next few days.

@Dos_Box -Do you recommend any type of wireless keyboard to go with the Pi?

 

Ive just purchased some 500Mps homeplugs to connect it all up with.

 

If you have an Android smartphone, iPhone or iPad, then you can get the official XBMC remote control which really is seriously awesome (free on Android, around 69p on iOS).

 

I'd be keen to know what plugs you went for, and what kind of performance you get from them once they are up and running. :)

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Dos_Box

Dos_Box

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Hopefully my NSA320 has been delivered today (£64 from Ebuyer -without disks). I will be trying this over the next few days.

@Dos_Box -Do you recommend any type of wireless keyboard to go with the Pi?

 

Ive just purchased some 500Mps homeplugs to connect it all up with.

 

 

I use a Keysonic wireless KB I got from Scan years ago. They really are very good. Mine is an older version of this one: Keysonic KB-ACK-540BT Mini Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard - Scan.co.uk

Gatt

Gatt

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Got my Pi up and running last week and got Raspbmc in it

Thoug I did find that it failed toconnect to my NAS (2008 R2 share) - and got stuck in a username/password loop - eventually solved by SSH'ing onto the Pi and creating a few local mount points...

 

Anyone else find that the menus can be really laggy?

Made the same mistake as @Dos_Box and told it to index my Music, TV and Movies all at once :doh:

Gatt

Gatt

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It is an older (about a year or so) 4GB that I had lying around for now so will prob need to get a bigger SDHC at a later stage...
dezt

dezt

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I noticed the menus were a bit laggy yesterday, but I don't think it would be a class 10 SD Card that the parents are using, probably class 4.
Ric_

Ric_

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Just to throw a spanner in the works, I used Xbian for my parents' one. It seemed a lot more lightweight and I had none of these issues. The only setup difference is that you follow the guide on the Xbian site instead of the Raspbmc one.
Dos_Box

Dos_Box

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@Ric, almost all of the issues I have pointed out are not Raspbmc specific, but XMBC 'issues' with possibly the exception of 'c'.

Oh, and I recommend paying the £2.50 for the MPEG codec if you want to play DVD's via the box, or keep them in their original format if ripped. With Raspbmc you can enter the serial number in the Raspbmc settings applet instead of having to resort to a shell to do it.

Ric_

Ric_

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I just like being awkward @Dos_Box... The laggyness was not an issue though and the screen setup thing ran at first run which was nice (although I didn't have to change anything). The plugins you will need to install on any system and I cannot comment on the decoder license since it coped admirably with 1080p video from the rips I was using.
fiza

fiza

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If you have an Android smartphone, iPhone or iPad, then you can get the official XBMC remote control which really is seriously awesome (free on Android, around 69p on iOS).

 

I'd be keen to know what plugs you went for, and what kind of performance you get from them once they are up and running. :)

 

Thanks for the tip about the Iphone App - works a treat!

The homeplugs I went for were from Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/7dayshop-500Mbps-HomePlug-Powerline-Ethernet/dp/B007MA9NNG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358948921&sr=8-1

They are a 7dayshop own brand variety but I plugged them in last night and they seem to be working well. I haven't tried any large file transfers as I am only just setting up the raspbmc.

 

@Dos_Box

Did you get 40D and 5 on Demand working? I can get Iplayer and ITV working but the other 2 wont load any programmes.

Rawns

Rawns

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Thanks for the tip about the Iphone App - works a treat!

 

The homeplugs I went for were from Amazon. 7dayshop 500Mbps High Speed Mini HomePlug: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

They are a 7dayshop own brand variety but I plugged them in last night and they seem to be working well. I haven't tried any large file transfers as I am only just setting up the raspbmc.

 

No problem. Glad it's working for you! :)

 

Once they are working normally, would you mind sharing how they perform? Transfer speeds etc?

penfold

penfold

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@ Dos_Box

 

...

And that's about it (for now) but there are a few other issues I have still not yet managed to resolve such as the CEC/HDMI feature not working for me (this allows your TV to pass on any signals it receives from a remote control to the Pi). As it stands the current version - RC3 - is missing quite a few of the addons such as skins etc. but these will be ported over by the XMBC community in good time.

 

Are the issues you are having due to lack of support at the moment? I am looking at doing something simialr and have an LG TV with Simplelink and wondered if I could use the TV remote to control the Pi but don't know if it reliant on the SimpleLink software or also requires that the TV is supported too.

  • 2 weeks later...
penfold

penfold

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Got my Pi up and running at the weekend, and bar the multiple button presses for "Back" & "main menu" my LG TV remote works fine so am pretty happy with gettting it up and running with fairly little work. I do need to set it up all up properly as I had to nick some cables from other places to test it and I now need some additional ones to configure it permanently.

 

One thing I wasn't sure of is the possibility of grouping films together based on genre. I had a quick look online and saw a suggestion of creating folders such as comedy, thriller etc and placing the films in there. What I was looking for is a feature that will scan the films and tag them based on genre (which I thought I read somewhere was possible?) I have tried using normal scans for my music in the past and some of the genres it tagged music with where a bit odd but wondered if improvements had been made.

penfold

penfold

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The other thing I've noticed is that as my Pi is powered from my TV USB it comes on when I turn the TV on. However, if I watch a bit of TV and then want to switch over to the pi input there is nothing detected. I have to pull out the USB and bring it back on manually. Is there a setting somewhere for it to either stop falling asleep or to power it on from the remote?
benjie

benjie

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The other thing I've noticed is that as my Pi is powered from my TV USB it comes on when I turn the TV on. However, if I watch a bit of TV and then want to switch over to the pi input there is nothing detected. I have to pull out the USB and bring it back on manually. Is there a setting somewhere for it to either stop falling asleep or to power it on from the remote?

 

If you have your PI connected via HDMI and it does not detect a TV it defaults to RCA(phono/yellow) connection.

 

You can add the following to your config.txt file in the boot partition to enable the HDMI automatically:

hdmi_force_hotplug=1

 

Hope this helps.

penfold

penfold

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Posted

It detects the TV fine as if I select the input when I first turn the TV on I can access it no problem. For some reason I was having problems with leaving it on while I watched some TV and then switching to the Pi. It just looks like it's gone to sleep and wont wake up.

 

And I sorted the tagging out. It would help if I bothered to turn it on in the first place!!! I was doing it with my TV remote and missed the option as I was having trouble navigating...:getmecoat:

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