Building a Streaming Media Center

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Materials List

  • A modern Raspberry Pi.
  • A power supply for the Pi.
  • A case for the Pi, preferably with a fan included.
  • A Micro SD Card, preferably one with a Class 10 / 10MB/s write speed or better. You'll also need some kind of adapter to connect it to a PC for formatting.
  • A recent querty remote, such as the Rii i8+.

You'll also need an HDMI compliant television, an HDMI cable, and an active ethernet cable (I've read its possible to achieve a working wifi connection but I have not figured this out yet.)

You should be able to purchase everything on this list except for the SDcard for less than $100. The SDcards will obviously vary in price a great deal depending on the size and speed of your desired card.

Installation

Pi case

All set? Perfect. Start by assembling the Pi case and mounting the Pi into it. The case fan power connects to the pins on the board as follows:

20-211-197wiring.jpg

When you're done, it should look something like this:

S-l1600.jpg

Operating System

This guide focuses on installation of OSMC. The OSMC installer will vary depending on your platform. Installers for Windows and Mac can be obtained from [1]. Linux installations also vary by platform; this guide was used for an Ubunto 15.10 implementation. In gentoo, the latest OSMC disk image can be downloaded from the site. It can then be installed on the sdcard /dev/sdX using dd: 

$ gunzip -c /path/to/OSMC_installer.img.gz | dd of=/dev/sdX

Once the installer is downloaded and installed, insert the MicroSD card in an adapter and connect it to the system via a card reader or USB adapter. Then, start the OSMC installer. Choose your language and the model of Raspberry Pi you are installing it to. On the next screen, choose the latest version. Following that, choose to install on an SD card, then choose a wired or wireless configuration.

On the next screen, if all is well you should see your connected SD Card. Select it for the installation. On the next scree, accept the license agreement. The installer should then create the necessary files on your SDCard. Once completed, it should mention "You're ready for Showtime".

Configuration

Now that the OSMC installation has completed on the SDCard, you will need to perform one additional step if you want to use HDMI for both your video and audio. Remove the SDCard from the system, then reconnect it. Once connected, open the contents. There should be a file called config.txt. Open this with your favorite text editor and append the line 

hdmi_drive=2

Save the file, then remove the SDCard from the system. Pull the card out of the adapter and insert it into the Raspberry Pi. Connect the HDMI, power cable and remote. OSMC will then install on the first boot. Once up and running, you will be brought through a few short screens where the system collects data. Once this is over, you should be able to go into the system settings, choose network, and connect to your wifi. Your system should now be ready for customization.

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