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)

Controlling Raspbmc


Now that we have installed Raspbmc, we need a way of controlling it so that we can navigate the menus. Raspbmc is a flexible system and can be controlled via a variety of devices, from an Xbox DVD remote to a smartphone.

Control via Consumer Electronic Control (CEC)

CEC allows users to use their existing remote control to control devices connected via HDMI. It is supported by devices that adhere to the HDMI 1.3 standard and up. You may have used this in another form already, such as when controlling a Blu-ray player with your TV remote.

Raspbmc has integrated CEC support provided by the Pulse-Eight CEC driver and may work for your device. When Raspbmc is started, if you see a notification stating that a CEC support adapter is connected, then Raspbmc has detected a CEC compatible device, and chances are, you will be able to control it with the remote that is shipped with your TV. Most recent TVs by major brands support CEC.

Note

For CEC support to work, every device that the...