Mastering Media with the Raspberry Pi : Media Centers, Music, High End Audio, Video, and Ultimate Movie Nights

Create and maintain Raspberry Pi-based entertainment systems in a comprehensive and fun manner. Instead of front-loading a bunch of theory and minutia, this book takes a more practical approach of showing what's needed when it's needed. You'll first explore the possibilities and options available. Then you'll learn the hardware and software requirements based on various builds and projects. Finally, you'll be guided through building media centers, music players, recording studios, etc. Mastering Media with the Raspberry Pi presents all of this and more in an easy-to-understand-and-accomplish way, in plain English. What you'll learn: Choose the right Pi model for your project Enhance your media center with peripherals and add ons Get the most from your music and other media Understand the various major media formats out there and how to work with each Who this book is for Students and hobbyists interested in building media centers out of their Raspberry Pis. Contents at a Glance......Page 4 Contents......Page 6 About the Author......Page 12 About the Technical Reviewer......Page 13 Introduction......Page 14 Chapter 1: Which RPi Model Is Right for You?......Page 15 A Brief History......Page 16 Advantages......Page 18 Uses......Page 19 SoC, the Sweet Secret of Success......Page 20 The Raspberry Pi Family......Page 21 Power Basics......Page 22 Use What You’ve Got......Page 25 Buying Online......Page 26 Using What You Have......Page 28 Additional Power......Page 29 What We Learned......Page 31 Working Memory......Page 32 Operating Systems and Processes......Page 33 Card Tricks......Page 34 Creating Cards......Page 35 The NOOBS Card Revisited......Page 36 Making A NOOBS or Other Operating System Card......Page 37 Transferring Operating System Images......Page 39 Hard Drives......Page 40 Connecting......Page 41 Configuring......Page 42 What We Learned......Page 45 Chapter 4: Constructing a Complete Media Center......Page 46 Hardware......Page 47 Placement......Page 49 What We Learned......Page 50 What is a Media Center, Anyway?......Page 51 LibreELEC......Page 54 Features......Page 55 Install......Page 56 Exploring Kodi......Page 62 Returning to Confluence Now and Again......Page 63 Estuary’s Main Screen......Page 64 Settings More Convenient......Page 65 Entertainment Please......Page 66 Movies......Page 67 TV Shows......Page 68 Music......Page 69 Radio......Page 70 Pictures......Page 71 Favorites......Page 72 Weather......Page 73 What We Learned......Page 74 Showing the Correct Time Zone......Page 75 Optimizing Kodi......Page 77 Stopping RSS......Page 78 Resolution......Page 80 Eliminate Unwanted Services......Page 81 Samba......Page 82 SSH......Page 83 Bluetooth......Page 85 What We Learned......Page 86 TV......Page 87 HDMI Hookup......Page 90 Turning on CEC in Kodi......Page 91 Determining if Your TV Supports CEC......Page 92 Sound Outputs and Inputs......Page 93 A Brief History......Page 97 Kodi Main Features......Page 98 Playing Music......Page 99 Music Library......Page 100 Movies and Other Media......Page 101 Media Sources......Page 102 Pictures......Page 103 What We Learned......Page 104 Pictures......Page 105 Navigation......Page 107 External Drives......Page 108 Internal Storage......Page 109 Picture Add-ons......Page 110 Add Picture Sources......Page 114 Adding Video Resources......Page 118 Video Add-ons......Page 121 Basic Playlists......Page 122 What We Learned......Page 126 A Little Inspiration......Page 127 Navigating Music......Page 130 Making a Simple Playlist......Page 132 Clicking on Files......Page 133 Clicking on Add-ons......Page 134 What We Learned......Page 138 Libraries......Page 139 Copyrighted Material......Page 140 Music Tagging......Page 141 Tagging Untagged Media Files......Page 142 Prefer Online Information......Page 143 Downloading Free Music......Page 144 Importing into Kodi’s Music Library......Page 148 Adding Streaming Sources from the Web......Page 151 What We Learned......Page 152 The Video Library......Page 153 Creating a Video Source......Page 154 Scraping Metadata......Page 157 Scanning Content into the Video Library......Page 158 Seeing Metadata......Page 162 Editing Metadata......Page 165 Editing Metadata......Page 167 Adding Metadata......Page 171 The TV Shows Database......Page 173 What We Learned......Page 176 Backing Up......Page 177 Restoring......Page 179 Updating......Page 180 Major Updates......Page 181 Reasons for Upgrading to Kodi 17.3......Page 182 Bummer, Agony, and a Package Provider Change......Page 183 What We Learned......Page 184 Video......Page 185 Manage Sources......Page 186 Video Library......Page 191 Music......Page 192 Pictures......Page 194 What We Learned......Page 195 Twelve Powerful Icons......Page 196 Player Settings......Page 197 Media Settings......Page 198 PVR & Live TV Settings......Page 199 Service Settings......Page 200 Skin Settings......Page 202 Profile Settings......Page 203 System Settings......Page 204 LibreELEC......Page 205 Event Log......Page 206 File Manager......Page 207 What We Learned......Page 208 Chapter 15: Adding Add-Ons......Page 209 Video Add-ons......Page 211 The Add-ons Screen......Page 212 Music Add-ons......Page 213 Picture-Add-ons......Page 215 My Add-ons......Page 216 Download Add-ons......Page 217 What We Learned......Page 218 Streaming......Page 219 Live TV and PVR......Page 221 Live TV and PVR......Page 222 Live TV from the Internet......Page 224 What We Learned......Page 226 The Future......Page 227 Conclusion......Page 228 Index......Page 229 Create and maintain Raspberry Pi-based entertainment systems in a comprehensive and fun manner. Instead of front-loading a bunch of theory and minutia, this book takes a more practical approach of showing what's needed when it's needed. You'll first explore the possibilities and options available. Then you'll learn the hardware and software requirements based on different builds and projects. Finally, you'll be guided through building media centers, music players, recording studios, etc. Mastering Media with the Raspberry Pi presents all of this and more in an easy-to-understand-and-accomplish way, in plain English. This book shows students and hobbyists alike how to get the most from their music and other media and how to leverage the various major media formats out there