Raspberry Pi and streaming machine in living room

bulletv1 · 28 Oct 2014 at 15:26

Hi,

Thinking about ripping all my dvds and blu rays onto my pc/nas and was thinking about using my raspberry pi that i used for a week when it came out. I've seen RaspBMC XBMC which i'm thinking about using. If i managed to get all that working and connected via hdmi to my amp from the pi would 5.1 work fine on the films that have it and also. Is it easy?

Thanks.

Drukk · 28 Oct 2014 at 15:43

I've been using Raspbmc and a PI for a head end unit for streaming off a NAS for awhile now but the big problem for me was sound. Still have n't managed to get multiple audio from it. That said, if you are connecting to the TV through your amp using HDMI then it should work. If you use the TV remote to control the PI though it may not feed the signals correctly back through your AMP.

The PI will output 5.1 and I have had it working but it can be hit and miss.

bulletv1 · 28 Oct 2014 at 15:52

Well my setup will be Pi -> HDMI -> STR-DN1040 (5.1 setup) -> HDMI -> Bravia TV

Is it hit and miss due to the formats and ripping or the pi?

Drukk · 28 Oct 2014 at 16:07

bulletv1 said:
Well my setup will be Pi -> HDMI -> STR-DN1040 (5.1 setup) -> HDMI -> Bravia TV

Is the hit and miss due to the formats and ripping or the pi?

The PI with Raspbmc does n't seem to be very good at switching between audio formats, atleast for me it has n't been but I'm using an hdmi to optical out converter. Looking at the specs of your amp I think it should work fine. Just not sure about the TV remote working if you were going to use that.

bulletv1 · 28 Oct 2014 at 16:42

Was thinking about getting a media remote for it. Unless my universal remote works with it. Well think I'll give it a go not going to cost me anything to try.

What do you use to rip?

Drukk · 28 Oct 2014 at 17:12

bulletv1 said:
Was thinking about getting a media remote for it. Unless my universal remote works with it. Well think I'll give it a go not going to cost me anything to try.

What do you use to rip?

I used handbrake to rip. You can also use a phone to control the PI if the remote does n't work, I use the Yatse App on my android phone, that works pretty well.

For the PI I installed PLEX server on my NAS and installed the plex addon for Raspbmc, it just makes everything look nice and adds background art etc.

Like you say, you have everything anyway so give it a go and see.

.:SAmSuNG:. · 28 Oct 2014 at 18:58

Yatse is decent for the pi. Probably more responsive than the tv remote on my main system through cec. Only problem is you have to pull and insert the power to turn it on each time if you shut it down.

Drukk · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:06

.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Yatse is decent for the pi. Probably more responsive than the tv remote on my main system through cec. Only problem is you have to pull and insert the power to turn it on each time if you shut it down.

I never bother shutting it down unless it crashes!

.:SAmSuNG:. · 28 Oct 2014 at 21:30

I'm not sure my nas drives will sleep if I keep it on as the database is hosted on it?

bledd · 30 Oct 2014 at 14:45

^Mine go to sleep on my Synology, I never turn my Pi off.

bulletv1 · 30 Oct 2014 at 15:00

If I get it to work at an acceptable level (might just rip the DVDs so I can hide them in the attic) I might buy a little switch I can get from a guy I know who owns a pi shop. Any smart black cases out there anyone recommends so it fits in nice with my amp and ps4 etc?

.:SAmSuNG:. · 30 Oct 2014 at 16:55

bledd. said:
^Mine go to sleep on my Synology, I never turn my Pi off.

Is that with the database on the nas also?

meandu229 · 30 Oct 2014 at 17:04

bulletv1 said:
Was thinking about getting a media remote for it. Unless my universal remote works with it. Well think I'll give it a go not going to cost me anything to try.

I use FLIRC which is a usb IR reciever. Its very fast and works great with my universal remote. Very recommended as its 100% customisable too so you can task any button on your remote to any task.
Cost is ~£20

bulletv1 · 6 Nov 2014 at 10:27

meandu229 said:
I use FLIRC which is a usb IR reciever. Its very fast and works great with my universal remote. Very recommended as its 100% customisable too so you can task any button on your remote to any task.
Cost is ~£20

I picked up a £7 "PC Remote" from my mates pi shop. Has all the controls i need on it and a mouse control and it seems to work alright. Might get that FLIRC once i've got everything up and running properly. Going to use my 32GB memory stick for the moment and then get a synology NAS.

If any what RAID configuration do you lot use? I was thinking about getting a 3 disk bay and using RAID 5