technology DIY Linux-based media device for under $50

[Kaneki 1,073]

I've been recently wanting to watch the many TV shows and movies my brother has on his Plex server at home, alongside stream from sites on my TV, but the Plex app on various platforms won't recognize his server due to the way it's setup. So, I got to thinking, and I had a Raspberry Pi sitting around, so I thought I'd use it as a media device! It's a very good way to create a media streaming device that's highly customizable for under $50-75. It does require some tech knowledge, but I'll list what I'd say you should get, and my progress on making it work.

If you don't know what a Raspberry Pi is, it's a small credit card sized computer, very similar hardware to like what a cellphone has, but only costs $35. You can do an endless amount of things with them, including servers, automation tasks, and so on, but if you want to know more, check out the Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi.

 

What you should have:

1x Raspberry Pi 3 ($35.00 USD from various retailers around the world. I recommend MCM Electronics, as they are an official reseller, and is where I got mine)

1x Raspberry Pi 3 case (various prices from various retailers, but usually no less than $10 USD, an example)

Any MicroUSB cable and a USB AC adapter, but an official plug would be good too (this is the one I use)

1x MicroSD card (and reader) of 16GB or greater (Class 10 or higher speed recommended)

1x HDMI cable (no less than $15 USD on Amazon usually)

 

So, this is what I have so far. I have mounted the Pi to the side of the TV using a set of Velcro dots I picked up at Target a while back, and it seems to hold pretty well. It might depend on your case, but this is what mine looks like (attached photo). I'll post more updates if I remember!

[Techno Universal 2,576]

Yeah we have a Raspberry PI 3 at our house and my younger brother uses it for playing old console games using an emulator OS called Retro PI. It's really technical especially when it comes to the software formatting!

[Celtore 2,770]

Not a bad idea at all; even the pi 1 is more than adequate for that kind of task. I use mine as a little web server and for tinkering around with every now and again. For instance, I used it for automatically checking EB Games for me on the release night of the switch so it could wake me when the order button became enabled.

Although... I have to object on the cost of your HDMI cable! You can buy them sometimes for under $2.50 if you put in a little effort. You might need a slightly pricier cable than $2.50 for 4K support, but there's no excuse going above $5-7 when 3-6 feet of cable will probably do the job.

[Kaneki 1,073]

11 hours ago, Celtore said:

Not a bad idea at all; even the pi 1 is more than adequate for that kind of task. I use mine as a little web server and for tinkering around with every now and again. For instance, I used it for automatically checking EB Games for me on the release night of the switch so it could wake me when the order button became enabled.

Although... I have to object on the cost of your HDMI cable! You can buy them sometimes for under $2.50 if you put in a little effort. You might need a slightly pricier cable than $2.50 for 4K support, but there's no excuse going above $5-7 when 3-6 feet of cable will probably do the job.

Yeah, I just was saying it could be less than that, but some would probably but a higher-end HDMI (for some reason).

I used the HDMI that came with my PS4 because I already had another one I was using with it.

[Kaneki 1,073]

A little update:

I did get the device setup and running, using the LXQt (and later on, MATE) desktop, but I had audio issues so I figured I'd redo the setup to see if I can reconfigure a few things first. I may end up using Arch Linux ARM, just to see how well it preforms, but for now, I'm waiting on a wireless keyboard/mouse to control the device, since it was annoying to use a wired keyboard with it.

Here's some pics of it working (attached):