{"id":496,"date":"2016-05-14T14:35:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T06:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techcoil.com\/blog\/?p=496"},"modified":"2018-09-04T23:39:38","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T15:39:38","slug":"the-steps-that-i-took-to-build-my-raspberry-pi-2-tv-box-via-the-openelec-mediacenter-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techcoil.com\/blog\/the-steps-that-i-took-to-build-my-raspberry-pi-2-tv-box-via-the-openelec-mediacenter-image\/","title":{"rendered":"The steps that I took to build my Raspberry Pi 2 TV box via the OpenELEC Mediacenter image"},"content":{"rendered":"

After I got my new Raspberry Pi 3 to incubate my new WordPress website<\/a>, I freed up my Raspberry Pi 2 for other things. Since my wife had been yearning for a TV box to watch her favourite videos on our TV, I decided to convert my Raspberry Pi 2 into a TV box.<\/p>\n

This post documents the steps that I took to build my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box with an OpenELEC Mediacenter image.<\/p>\n

Getting the hardware that I need for my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box<\/h2>\n

I used the following hardware to realise my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A Raspberry Pi 2 motherboard<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. A Raspberry Pi Model B+ Case Enclosure (Clear)<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. A Samsung 16GB Class 6 Micro SDHC up to 24MB\/s with Adapter<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. A Asus USB-N10 Nano USB Adapter<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. A GE 3' High Speed HD 3D 4k 1080p HDMI Cable<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Getting a copy of the OpenELEC Mediacenter image<\/h2>\n

    After I got the hardware ready on my desk, I proceeded to download a copy of the OpenELEC Mediacenter image for my Raspberry Pi 2. To do so, I visited the OpenELEC Mediacenter download page for Raspberry Pi 2 builds<\/a>. From that page, I downloaded OpenELEC-RPi2.arm-6.0.3.img.gz<\/a> onto my Windows 7 machine.<\/p>\n

    From OpenELEC-RPi2.arm-6.0.3.img.gz<\/code>, I extracted out OpenELEC-RPi2.arm-6.0.3.img<\/code> with 7-zip<\/a>. I then used Win32 Disk Imager to write<\/a> OpenELEC-RPi2.arm-6.0.3.img into the Samsung Micro SDHC card<\/a> via the SD card drive on my laptop.<\/p>\n

    Booting into OpenELEC 6.0.3 on my Raspberry Pi 2<\/h2>\n

    After the Win32 Disk Imager completed writing the OpenELEC 6.0.3 image onto my Samsung Micro SDHC card<\/a>, I pushed the Samsung Micro SDHC card into the microSD card slot on my Raspberry Pi 2.<\/p>\n

    I then connected my Raspberry Pi 2 to my Panasonic VIERA TV via the HDMI cable<\/a>, and the Asus USB-N10 Nano USB Adapter<\/a> into one of the USB ports on my Raspberry Pi 2.<\/p>\n

    I first turned on my Panasonic TV and configured it to get the video input from the HDMI port that my Raspberry Pi 2 was connected to. After that, I turned on my Raspberry Pi 2.<\/p>\n

    Getting past the initial configurations<\/h2>\n

    When the OpenELEC Mediacenter image started running for the first time, it performed a repartition to use all the available disk space on the microSD card.<\/p>\n

    It then rebooted itself and showed a configuration wizard where it asked my input for:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A custom hostname<\/li>\n
    2. My wireless network settings<\/li>\n
    3. Whether to turn on SSH and Samba server, which I chose to do so<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Updating OpenELEC image with the update file<\/h2>\n

      After running the initial configurations, I would have a SSH server running on my Raspberry Pi 2 TV box to receive files from my MacBook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      Since there was an update file at the OpenELEC download page for Raspberry Pi 2 builds, I went ahead to update the OpenELEC image with that update file. I downloaded OpenELEC-RPi2.arm-6.0.3.tar<\/code><\/a> onto my MacBook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      Earlier at the configuration screen on the wireless network settings, I was shown the IP address that my router had given my Raspberry Pi 2. I noted the IP address as 192.168.0.110<\/p>\n

      To perform the update, I would need to send OpenELEC-RPi2.arm-6.0.3.tar<\/code> into my Raspberry Pi 2 \/storage\/.update<\/code> directory. To do so, I entered the following command in my MacBook<\/a> terminal:<\/p>\n

      \r\nscp \/Download\/OpenELEC-RPi2.arm-6.0.3.tar root@192.168.0.110:\/storage\/.update\r\n<\/pre>\n
      When prompted for the password, I entered openelec<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
      Once the transfer had completed, I rebooted my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box to get it to perform the update.<\/p>\n
      Calibrating the video display on my Panasonic VIERA TV<\/h2>\n
      Somehow, my Panasonic VIREA TV was not able to show OpenELEC screen correctly; a large margin was being cropped out of the display area.<\/p>\n
      Thankfully, OpenELEC gives me the option to calibrate my display dimensions.<\/p>\n
      I navigated to SYSTEM -> Settings -> System -> Video output -> Video calibration...<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
      \"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      After choosing the Video calibration...<\/strong> option, I followed through the video calibration wizard to fix my cropped display:<\/p>\n
      I pressed the down and right arrow buttons on my TV remote until the top-left blue marks appear
      \n\"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      I pressed the up and left arrow buttons on my TV remote until the bottom-left blue marks appear
      \n\"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      I pressed the up arrow button on my TV remote to move the blue bar to my desired position
      \n\"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      I pressed the up, down, left and right buttons until the blue box became squarish
      \n\"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      With these video calibration settings, I was able to fix the cropped display on my TV screen.<\/p>\n
      Setting the correct timezone on the OpenELEC image running on my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box<\/h2>\n
      Since I lived in Singapore, the default timezone for my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box was not applicable to me.<\/p>\n
      To correct the timezone for my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box, I navigated to the Appearance Settings<\/strong> screen via SYSTEM -> Settings -> Appearance -> International<\/strong>. I then set the Timezone country<\/strong> to Singapore<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
      \"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      I also navigated to the Network settings<\/strong> screen via System -> OpenELEC settings -> Network<\/strong>. From that screen, I clicked on Timeserver #1<\/strong> and entered pool.ntp.org<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
      \"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      Choosing a font which will display Chinese characters correctly<\/h2>\n
      The default font would caused Chinese characters to appear as square boxes. To ensure that the OpenELEC image display Chinese characters correctly, I navigated to SYSTEM -> Settings -> Appearance -> Skin<\/strong> and changed the Fonts<\/strong> configuration to Arial based<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
      \"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      Installing some video plugins<\/h2>\n
      After I had applied the timezone related settings, I went on to install a few video plugins so that my wife could watch her favourite shows. I navigated to the Video add-ons<\/strong> screen via Videos -> Add-ons -> Get more... <\/strong> to do so.<\/p>\n
      I was then shown a selection list for me to install some video plugins, for example The Wall Street Journal Live<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
      \"Video<\/p>\n
      Fixing Youtube plugin Bad Request errors<\/h2>\n
      The default Youtube plugin was failing me with Bad Request errors. To solve the Youtube plugin problem, I downloaded a copy of the Youtube OpenELEC video plugin fix from RaspberryRabbit's GitHub repository<\/a> onto my MacBook's file system, saving it as plugin.video.youtube-master.zip<\/code>.<\/p>\n
      I then sent plugin.video.youtube-master.zip<\/code> into the \/storage<\/code> directory on my Raspberry Pi 2 TV Box via the scp<\/code> command:<\/p>\n
      \r\nscp \/Downloads\/plugin.video.youtube-master.zip root@192.168.0.110:\/storage\r\n<\/pre>\n
      After the scp<\/code> command had completed, I used ssh<\/code> to get into my Raspberry Pi 2:<\/p>\n
      \r\nssh root@192.168.0.110\r\n<\/pre>\n
      entering openelec<\/code> as the password.<\/p>\n
      Once I was inside my Raspberry Pi 2 TV box, I went on to delete the old Youtube plugin:<\/p>\n
      \r\nrm -R \/storage\/.kodi\/addons\/plugin.video.youtube\r\n<\/pre>\n
      I then rebooted my Raspberry Pi 2 TV box:<\/p>\n
      \r\nreboot\r\n<\/pre>\n
      When my Raspberry Pi 2 TV box successfully rebooted, I navigated to SYSTEM -> Settings -> Add-ons -> Install from zip file<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
      \"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      I then clicked on Home folder<\/strong><\/p>\n
      \"OpenELEC<\/p>\n
      and selected plugin.video.youtube-master.zip<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
      \"OpenELEC<\/p>\n\n