Book Image

Raspberry Pi Media Center

By : Sam Nazarko
Book Image

Raspberry Pi Media Center

By: Sam Nazarko

Overview of this book

<p>Low-cost and high-performing, with a massively diverse range of uses and applications, the Raspberry Pi is set to revolutionize the way we think about computing and programming. Using it as a Media Center allows everyone to have a low-cost device that is always on, attached to their TV. <br /><br />Imagine controlling your TV with your smartphone, dynamically streaming content that you have on various devices across your home, as and when you want. Raspberry Pi Media Center will show you how to configure the complete experience using readily available and accessible tools, so that you too will soon be enjoying your media from the comfort of your own sofa. <br /><br />With this practical guide, you’ll discover how you can transform your Raspberry Pi into a powerful media center. Using Raspbmc (based on the XBMC distribution), you'll be shown how you can deploy and configure your own media center, including coverage of all the essentials from controlling your device with a TV remote or smartphone, to the creation and customization of your very own media library (including the conversion of any existing collection). You'll even be able to stream multimedia from your devices or directly from the Internet!</p>
Table of Contents (17 chapters)

What is PVR?


Personal Video Recording (PVR), with a TV tuner, allows you to record as well as watch Live TV. Recordings can be scheduled manually based on a time, or with the help of the TV guide, which can be downloaded from the TV provider (by satellite/aerial or cable), or from a content information provider, such as Radio Times via the Internet. Not only does PVR allow you to watch Live TV, but on capable backends (we'll look at what a backend is in a moment), it allows you to rewind and pause live TV.

A single tuner allows you to tune into one channel at once, while two tuners would allow you to tune into two. As such, it's important to note that the capabilities listed earlier are not mutually exclusive, that is, with enough tuners it is possible to record one channel while watching another. This may, depending on the software you use as a backend, be possible on one tuner, if the two channels are on the same multiplexer.