My littlest was given a Raspberry Pi B for his birthday, and naturally I'm playing with it!

 

I plugged a USB hard drive in, as a tutorial on PC Pro's website recommended. The drive beeps constantly and the mouse stops working, along with the OS not recognising the drive at all.

 

I wonder - is this because the drive really needs an externally powered USB hub to operate from, and that there's not enough current to drive the hard drive as well as the keyboard and mouse?

Almost certainly. Unless the drive or caddy has its own power, it will take from USB. Without a powered hub the pi is providing all of that.

 

Get a decent USB 2.0 powered hub. List here : http://elinux.org/RPi_Powered_USB_Hubs

Some USB 3.0 hubs will have issues such as not recognising keyboard/mouse.

 

J.

Cheers Vindaloo, I would click on the "like" button but that seems to have gone!

I use mine for RASPBMC hooked up to my TV.

 

Works really well and 1080p playback is buttery smooth.

 

Phil

That's my end goal. Are you using an externally powered USB drive?

I used XMBC  and DLNA to play things and didn't have anything attached. Had to buy the licence for MPEG playback though. Worked well.

That's my end goal. Are you using an externally powered USB drive?

 

I use a network hard drive. But I have also used a portable 1tb drive through a powered hub before with success.

 

Phil

I have 3 , varying flavours from the original 256MB Model B.

 

A powered hub is a must. Even if using a larger Amp PSU.  There is recommended / tested ones on the wiki page.  Although mine are no name wonders and work fine.

 

Mine were flawless media boxes before being replaced by Revo's.

 

Have fun playing.

 

EDIT _ see mr vindaloo posted a link to the wiki page , cool.

I use a network hard drive. But I have also used a portable 1tb drive through a powered hub before with success.

 

Phil

Phil,

 

Is your playback direct from the Pi to a TV via HDMI, or are you using the Pi to stream data from your NAS to a tablet etc?

The Pi is plugged into the TV direct. The pi does all the work of scanning the media library and playback etc.

 

It's perfect for this as it makes no noise (no fans) and uses very little power compared to having a laptop etc plugged in.

 

I then stream over the network from the network hard drive.

 

Plus the Pi supports CEC over HDMI so I can just use my TV remote to control it. You can also get an app on your phone/tablet to control playback from there.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#CEC

 

Phil

Edited 3 December, 201411 yr by Phil-E

Funnily enough that was my next question. I have the Pi connected (at the moment) to a Sharp LC32D12E which should, in theory at least, support Aquos or CEC, but I've not been able to get it to work.

 

Of course, having no internet at home at the moment doesn't help.

Scratch that, I've just looked here http://www.sharp.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/gb/hs.xsl/-/html/product-details.htm%3Fproduct%3DLC32D12E%26 and that model doesn't support Aquos 

That's a shame.

 

But like I said you can get an app to control it over the network from your phone.

 

Or you can plug in a wireless keyboard or I also have an old windows media centre remote and IR receiver that works perfectly with it.

 

Phil

I might just leave the lad to play with his Pi and get my own, to replace the old desktop that's behind the TV at the moment. The main TV has Bravia Link so should be fine. That option would leave me with a connection issue though. The TV has 2 HDMI ports, and they currently have the Sky+ and Bluray player in. The TV also has VGA (which is how my current PC is connected), AV and Component inputs. I could get a HDMI splitter but by the time I've got power supplies for the Pi, powered hub, and a splitter it'll be like a rat's nest back there.

Only 2 HDMI ports. That's a bit poor.

 

I guess your only option is going to be a splitter/switch.

 

I have found that some of my HDMI cables don't work with the CEC (Or simplink as LG calls it).

 

Normally the really cheap poundshop ones though.

 

Phil

I have an original pi, 256MB and the T shirt to prove it . Just got a rev 2?!? off a mate, still in its static bag. That's currently in the lounge on XBMC duty.

One option for the HDMI impaired is a visit to Richer Sounds or similar for a Massive (ly discreet) amp with many channels/HDMI inputs.

Then get a KEF or Tannoy speaker package with active sub.

 

Or if living "far away", Monitor audio or similar with a large REL coffin sized sub.... Might be difficult to describe as "discreet" to the OH unless one has a similarly discreet HIFI bunker under ones garden.

 

Oh yeah, audio quality on pi is not the best and subject to all sort s of interference. Need an add on card or USB sound card to improve matters. HIFIBerry do one decnt (and decently supported) card. Others out there including IQaudio and possibly Wolfson (though taken over so ?able).

 

Audio or media dists... Runeaudio, Volumio, RASPBMC, OPENELEC.

 

Best with a wired ethernet connection for consistency or refer to the above wiki for compatible kit.

Edited 3 December, 201411 yr by vindaloo

For reasons I cannot fathom, someone bought me a raspberry pi for xmas. I literally have no idea what to do with it and it is still in bits. I am not really a computer person which is why I last bought a Mac.

However this connect it to a TV thing looks ok. I have a recent Panasonic Smart TV but their Smart offering is a bit dumb so this could be good. And an old dumb samsung LCD TV which might benefit from smartening up. Where are the best tutorials to start on such a path?

RASPBMC would be easiest.

 

http://www.raspbmc.com/download/

 

That would give you XBMC (now called Kodi) to access your audio and video libraries, plus iplayer etc. Need to purchase the MPEG2 licence if wanting to replay SD video content. Loads of plugins for XBMC. Engadget, HD Trailers etc. Oh, and "the weather".

 

http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/

 

 

 

J.

ok, so if I use XBMC, what are my options for playback? One of the things I like about Plex is that there's a client for phones, iPads, Android, PS4 etc.

 

I see that Plex can be made to work on a Pi 2 with a bit of a hack.

XBMC -> Kodi

 

By default XBMC has remote control ability turned off. (several articles/vids?!? around showing how to enable it).

 

Two options for remote controlling it.

 - Web browser based (Choose your Web UI addon in XBMC. Chorus or AWXi work better then the default one.

 - A remote control app (smartphone or tablet via WIFI). XBMC remote control looks good but doesn't work properly. Yatse XBMC remote used to look worse but work better. They've recently improved the look of it.

I've moved on to OSMC now;

 

https://osmc.tv/

 

Phil

Share your media library directories so they can be seen on your network.

 

Add a wireless dongle to your PI and add the shared directory, no need for a HD that way

I would but I don't have anything that's always on. I'm looking to get rid of the PC I've got as a media server as it makes so much noise.

Sounds like your best option is to use your USB drive through a powered hub connected to the Pi running XBMC/RaspBMC/OSMC(my favourite one so far).

 

You would then put all the "stuff" you want to play on the Pi then add those folders to the Pi's libraries.

 

So if you had a folder with films on it would scan this folder and add it to your movies menu.

 

Then a folder with TV shows would be scanned and added to the library etc.

 

You can set to do a new scan everytime the Pi starts up so it stays up to date.