Raspberry Pi as a Media Centre

I decided to try hooking up my Raspberry Pi as a media centre this weekend, using XBMC. It was fairly straightforward, so I thought I would share.

Step 1 - configure SD card

I bought a new SD card for the PI so that I didn't mess up anything else I had done - so the first step was to download and install XBMC on the card. To do this you will need some way of reading/writing to an SD card from your PC - I've got an external USB reader that I plug in, but most laptops have SD slots these days. The process is as easy as downloading a zip file which contains an installer, and then using that installer to download the distribution from the Internet and install it on your card.

Download the raspbmc-win32.zip zip file from http://download.raspbmc.com/downloads/bin/installers/raspbmc-win32.zip

Unzip it, and then click on the setup.exe file. This launches a window which will allow you to select your SD card and write to it. Make sure you pick the right drive as the process will erase any existing files! You will also need to check the 'I accept the license agreement' box.

Once you click install, the setup program will download and install the XBMC distribution from the Internet.

Step 2 - install on the Pi

The previous process just downloads the installer to the SD card, and then when the PI is powered up the rest of the distribution is installed. You will therefore need your Pi connected to the Internet! Just plug in your network, mouse/keyboard, monitor cables, insert the SD card that you have just configured and power on. The Pi will boot up and then download the distribution - this will take some time. You should see a screen something like this ....

It does take some time, but eventually you will get the XBMC splash screen - and that's about all there is to it! You will be prompted to select your language, and then you are installed.

There are various configuration changes you can make (scroll to the right to see the 'Settings' option). I had to change my audio to 'Analogue' because of my antiquated set up at home.

Step 3 - Install Add-ons

There are add-ons that you can install - I wanted to install some video on demand players for UK TV services, such as the BBC's iPlayer. the process is straightforward - download the add-ons as a zip file using your PC and put it on a USB stick, or an external hard drive, and then hook that up to the Pi. If you go to the Videos option on the Pi XBMC screen, there is a tab that appears underneath which says 'Addons' (in fact you get this for most of the menu items). Select Addons and then 'Install from Zip file)'. This will give you a list of file locations on the Pi which should include your USB stick/external drive. Use this to navigate to the add on zip file, and click to install.

Step 4 - Hook it Up

Finally it's time to hook it up to the TV. Mine has a couple of USB ports so I've used this to power the Pi. You can power a Pi successfully using a powered USB hub (which is what my TV supplies. You just have to be careful because it doesn't have the same fuse protection as the 'proper' Pi mains adapter, but for something like this it saves on a cable and plug, and keeps the setup looking a lot neater. The only cables I've got are the network cable to the PI from my router (I could use wireless, but it's in a bit of a dead spot), a USB cable and an HDMI cable. I'm using a wireless USB controller (see below) to control the Pi. I'm going to mount the Pi on the back of the TV somehow - I was going to try velcro, but then realised that there are some bolt holes for a wall mount, so I'm going to try and make some sort of bracket to connect the plastic Pi case to it. If only I had a 3D printer ....

Step 5 - Controlling the Pi

Having gone to all this trouble to have a small foot print media centre and a minimum of cables the last thing I want is some enormous keyboard and mouse cluttering up the place. I found this mini keyboard at CPC in the UK - see more details here. As you can see from the picture below, the keyboard is designed to be a media controller - it's got all the video controller operations in the top left hand corner, and although it has a mouse pad (so you don't need a separate mouse!) I've found that, with a combination of the arrow keys and the video controls, you don't really need it. There's even a power off button which turn off the Pi.