Just finished building an awesome Raspberry Pi media center

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Just finished building an awesome Raspberry Pi media center - an interest?

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#680874 3-Sep-2012 14:55

There are plenty of cheap commercial cases around, yours looks pretty cool though.

What do you need for this? R Pi, power supply, case, SD card (I'll try class 10), anything else? Is there an easy way to get the Logtech Harmony working with it? Google shows nothing simple and obvious.

mjb

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#680875 3-Sep-2012 14:57

bener: I was thinking of packaging it with a keyboard that includes a touchpad, but the mouse is kind of redundant on XBMC, I use arrows, enter, backspace.

HIGHLY recommended for XBMC:

http://nicegear.co.nz/htpc/motorola-htpc-remote/

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with nicegear - haven't even bought anything from them - this was just shown to me a week or two ago connected to an RPi with XBMC... and it was pretty awesome.

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crackrdbycracku

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#680877 3-Sep-2012 14:59

I'm definitely interested really cool to see one of these things in action like this.

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

timmmay

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#680878 3-Sep-2012 15:00

Can anyone recommend a suitable micro usb power supply, ideally in NZ? Element 14 are out of their recommended one.

bener

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#680880 3-Sep-2012 15:03

Apple TV is only $160 - would be pretty tough to beat when adding a WiFi stick...

The Raspberry Pi is a fully open source setup, far more customiseable - you could run Debian or other Linux installs off other SD cards (OS is run from SD card on these units) - but in the same sense it is probably not suited to the non tech-savvy among us - it's not hard to use but you want to know what you're doing to get the best from it. Apple TV would be more 'plug it in, do what it allows' which includes no external drive support without mods.

I am kind of leaning towards supplying a ready to go, pre-configured Raspberry Pi media center, in a cool case handmade from actual old record sleeves (working on a small 'wooden block' style case too), for people that know a Raspberry Pi media center is what they want. Something a bit different from the norm.

In saying that, it could also be used in a plug-and-play sense, just not as easily as an ATV.

reven

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#680885 3-Sep-2012 15:07

mjb:
bener: I was thinking of packaging it with a keyboard that includes a touchpad, but the mouse is kind of redundant on XBMC, I use arrows, enter, backspace.

HIGHLY recommended for XBMC:

http://nicegear.co.nz/htpc/motorola-htpc-remote/

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with nicegear - haven't even bought anything from them - this was just shown to me a week or two ago connected to an RPi with XBMC... and it was pretty awesome.

agreed, i have two bought directly from pulse-eight.com.

also its raspBMC not raspMC (incase someone tries to google raspMC and gets no where).

why not just buy directly from the official resellers? you can buy it with a case now, sd card, etc? raspBMC has a windows installer which is a single click app.
if you're selling custom cases thats awesome, and more power to you, but selling everything together esp with free software like raspbmc usually piss the developers off (mediaportal i know hates when people sell HTPCs running their stuff on ebay etc).

bener

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#680887 3-Sep-2012 15:10

Timmay - anything 1A+ should be all good, minimum requirements from Raspberry Pi specs states 0.7A. I've been using a 0.7A Samsung phone charger on mine.

Try here: http://www.trademe.co.nz/mobile-phones/accessories/chargers/motorola/auction-508420535.htm

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dontpanic42

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#680890 3-Sep-2012 15:12

timmmay: Can anyone recommend a suitable micro usb power supply, ideally in NZ? Element 14 are out of their recommended one.

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=402171

It doesn't say the Output Amps, but I'm sure it'll be at least 1A, which, as bener has noted above, is more than enough for the RPi.

bener

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#680892 3-Sep-2012 15:12

mjb:
bener: I was thinking of packaging it with a keyboard that includes a touchpad, but the mouse is kind of redundant on XBMC, I use arrows, enter, backspace.

HIGHLY recommended for XBMC:

http://nicegear.co.nz/htpc/motorola-htpc-remote/

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with nicegear - haven't even bought anything from them - this was just shown to me a week or two ago connected to an RPi with XBMC... and it was pretty awesome.

Very nice - might have to get one of these for my one, although my Samsung standard remote is working just fine ATM...

timmmay

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#680893 3-Sep-2012 15:15

Why use those Motorola remotes? A proper HT remote would be way nicer, if it's not too difficult to do. I bought an expensive part to let me PS3 do that.

Thanks for the link to the PS, I'll check it out at home. I wasn't sure if a charger and power supply were the same thing, for things like NiMH cells they're definitely not. I'd rather buy something made to work for extended periods too.

dontpanic42:
timmmay: Can anyone recommend a suitable micro usb power supply, ideally in NZ? Element 14 are out of their recommended one.

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=402171

It doesn't say the Output Amps, but I'm sure it'll be at least 1A, which, as bener has noted above, is more than enough for the RPi.

Thanks, good to know they're easily available :)

bener

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#680895 3-Sep-2012 15:19

reven:
mjb:
bener: I was thinking of packaging it with a keyboard that includes a touchpad, but the mouse is kind of redundant on XBMC, I use arrows, enter, backspace.

HIGHLY recommended for XBMC:

http://nicegear.co.nz/htpc/motorola-htpc-remote/

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with nicegear - haven't even bought anything from them - this was just shown to me a week or two ago connected to an RPi with XBMC... and it was pretty awesome.

agreed, i have two bought directly from pulse-eight.com.

also its raspBMC not raspMC (incase someone tries to google raspMC and gets no where).

why not just buy directly from the official resellers? you can buy it with a case now, sd card, etc? raspBMC has a windows installer which is a single click app.
if you're selling custom cases thats awesome, and more power to you, but selling everything together esp with free software like raspbmc usually piss the developers off (mediaportal i know hates when people sell HTPCs running their stuff on ebay etc).

Your right, raspbmc - my mistake. There is no stopping anyone making their own, I agree and would fully encourage it. If you check my previous comments I did mention selling individual cases separately, and this was the original plan, it kind of expanded once I got one up and running.

I am looking to supply a pre-configured and pre-optimised package so I can't really avoid having some sort of software set up on it. It was more for people that want a pre-tested package with parts they know will work and will be compatible. Not going to be a money maker, just enjoy doing this sort of thing, and it will be great to supply to my customers locally.

Kind of just wanted to show off my new creation too :-)

reven

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#680897 3-Sep-2012 15:21

timmmay: Why use those Motorola remotes? A proper HT remote would be way nicer, if it's not too difficult to do. I bought an expensive part to let me PS3 do that.

Thanks for the link to the PS, I'll check it out at home. I wasn't sure if a charger and power supply were the same thing, for things like NiMH cells they're definitely not. I'd rather buy something made to work for extended periods too.

dontpanic42:
timmmay: Can anyone recommend a suitable micro usb power supply, ideally in NZ? Element 14 are out of their recommended one.

http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=402171

It doesn't say the Output Amps, but I'm sure it'll be at least 1A, which, as bener has noted above, is more than enough for the RPi.

Thanks, good to know they're easily available :)

the motorola remote is designed for xbmc, it has a flip keyboard on the back which is awesome.

it has IR + RF, for IR it can learn your tv remote and you can push a button to toggle between RF (which is for xbmc) and IR.

it really is the best remote ive ever used with a media centre (ive used a lot). the keyboard comes in handy a lot too.

personally i would buy directly from pulse-eight.com, both mine arrived in about 4 working days using the cheapest shipping (around usd$8 i believe)

reven

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#680899 3-Sep-2012 15:25

bener: I am looking to supply a pre-configured and pre-optimised package so I can't really avoid having some sort of software set up on it. It was more for people that want a pre-tested package with parts they know will work and will be compatible. Not going to be a money maker, just enjoy doing this sort of thing, and it will be great to supply to my customers locally.

Kind of just wanted to show off my new creation too :-)

thats cool, not trying to moan or anything, just pointing out that a lot of developers do get pissy when people do this, and you might get bitched at by them.

im not tied to the project so i dont really care. just pointing it out (and i got the impression people in this thread thought doing themselves was a huge task... which it isnt).

timmmay

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#680900 3-Sep-2012 15:26

reven:

the motorola remote is designed for xbmc, it has a flip keyboard on the back which is awesome.

it has IR + RF, for IR it can learn your tv remote and you can push a button to toggle between RF (which is for xbmc) and IR.

it really is the best remote ive ever used with a media centre (ive used a lot). the keyboard comes in handy a lot too.

personally i would buy directly from pulse-eight.com, both mine arrived in about 4 working days using the cheapest shipping (around usd$8 i believe)

I already have the Harmony with the touch screen, and the girlfriend likes that it turns everything on for her, so I'll probably try to stick with that. That one looks pretty handy, but without remote support I might not bother with the Pi.

bener

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#680908 3-Sep-2012 15:36

reven: Thanks for the heads up, it's all good...

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