08 August 2013

rPiTV: Your Google TV with a Raspberry Pi

I got to install the Raspberry Pi TV (rPiTV) on my Raspbian Raspberry Pi.

See here for all the information and installation procedures:

Build your own Google TV Using Raspberry Pi, NodeJS and Socket.io
by Donald Derek
Blog (Explanations) - Youtube (Video) - Github (Code)

rPiTV allows you to watch Youtube videos (and only that) on your TV screen. With your remote control (that's your smartphone), search the video you want to watch and then start/pause/resume/stop the video which will play on your TV.

The rPiTV will first download the video on the SD card then play it with OMXPlayer.

As the space on the SD card is very limited (mine has 4 GB), and as the downloaded video file is not removed after it is played, the SD card runs rapidly out of space... That's why I have connected an external USB hard disk (120 GB) and moved the rPiTV application on it. I also had to use a more powerful power supply (2.5 A in place of 1 A). Of course the whole stuff is now a little bit more roomy...

I made a slight adaptation to play the video in HD 720p (if available) in place of SD 380p.

What is needed:

Hardware

- Raspberry Pi
- SD card (mine is 4 GB Class 6)
- USB HDD (mine is 120 GB)
- USB Hub + Power supply (5 VDC - 2.5 A)

Remark: if you use the USB Hub power supply (5 VDC - 2.5 A) to power the HDD and the Raspberry Pi, then the native power supply (5 VDC - 1 A) is no more needed.

OS

- Raspbian

Softwares

Some of the sofwares which are used:

- Node.JS (platform to run Javascript applications)
   - Socket.io (handle connections via websockets)
   - Express (Web server using Node.JS)
   - Omxcontrol (module to control the OMXPlayer)
- Chromium (Web browser)
- OMXPlayer (Video player)
- Youtube-dl (script to download Youtube videos)

The Raspberry Pi with the three cables.
The Raspberry Pi and the TV.
Raspbian on the TV screen.
rPiTV on the TV screen.
Youtube video playing on the TV screen.
rPiTV remote control (smartphone).
USB HDD (120 GB) and USB Hub added.