[lug] (Raspberry Pi) media center control?

[Davide Del Vento]

Thanks to both.

Let me reply together

On Fri, Jun 11, 2021 at 11:09 PM MIchael J. Hammel <
mjhammel at graphics-muse.org> wrote:

> > I thought to use a Raspberry Pi for the purpose,
>
> I built my own distro (PiBox) for the RPi that I use to play videos
>

Cool. Do you use VLC for that? Or what?


> One thing about HDMI is it carries audio too.  So if you connect a Pi
> to your stereo via HDMI then your problem is essentially solved.
>

My stereo does not have HDMI, but I connect the Pi with a regular
mini-TRS-to-RCA and that problem is solved anyway.


> > 1) is a  Raspberry Pi 3 adequate for this?
>
> Yes, if you're not an audiophile.  If you are you might need an audio
> HAT of some kind.  Could probably still work in that case.


Well, that part I know. I am somewhat audiophile (not extremist), but for
that I use my SACD reader rather than the Pi. For the Pi I can live with
it, and after all if it's coming off youtube....
The question was more about the software side, such as is a  Raspberry Pi 3
adequate to run VLC, youtube, Vimeo and the likes? Perhaps in a single tab
browser?


> > 2) is there an Android app which decently works as an ssh client,
> > including X-tunneling?
>
> I had one that I setup an ssh tunnel, then used a browser to connect to
> a squid server at home to view some webcams I setup (also running on my
> PiBox disro and a RPi3). I think it's called ConnectBot.  Don't know if
> it supports X-tunneling.
>

It doesn't. Without that, it becomes very complicated to manage.
I found a few that claim they do, but with Apps my experience it's always a
rabbit hole that takes forever to explore and you never end up in the place
you wanted to go (instead you remain when you started).


> > 3) would it be perhaps better to use an old Android device
>
> Can't help you here.  I have an android phone but it's mostly useless
> to me since the only people who contact me on it are my wife and
> daughter, the former of which still lives with me (thankfully).
>

That phone is a computer. Unfortunately people want to use that computer
only to extract money from your wallet in exchange for some eye candy, but
occasionally there are good pieces of software -- very hard to find hence
me asking.

One example of a good piece of software, for anybody playing music live
with an electronic device (e.g. MIDI keyboard) is FluidSynth which has a
(very) poor user interface but is a fantastic app, functionality-wise!!
Used in combination with https://sites.google.com/site/soundfonts4u/ it is
a really compelling piece of software, which gives Kontact (and the likes)
a really hard time for real-time use!!! Different story for making
soundtracks, obviously.


> > 4) other ideas which I may not have considered? (e.g. using the phone
> > with bluetooth audio, but are there inexpensive and small receivers
> > which can be hooked to a regular, old-fashioned stereo system? how
> > about video? I guess HDMI cable is ok, since I don't need much video
> > from the piano and phone itself can be ok).
>
> While I don't control it with the Pi, I have an old stereo with cheap
> (but very good quality) speakers I bought on Amazon for watching TV.
> Turned out the stereo is better than any of the now-popular soundbar
> solutions.  I bought an expensive soundbar and ended up returning it
> because it sounded terrible compared to the cheap speakers hooked to
> the stereo.  I should note:  I'm definitely not an audiophile.  I'm not
> even sure my hearing still works right.  But my stereo is old and
> doesn't do hdmi.
>

Same here. The phone has the capabilities to do what I want (play audio and
video files, either offline or online). It works just fine. Hooking it up
with cables is an ok solution for couch-based activities, but not for
piano-based ones. However for the latter something like
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B016NUTG5K/ should do it. I guess what I am
asking is if anybody tried it, before I waste my time with it.


> Not sure if that helps, but hope so.
>

It does, thanks!


On Fri, Jun 11, 2021 at 11:40 PM Maxwell Spangler <lists at maxwellspangler.com>
wrote:

> On Fri, 2021-06-11 at 21:17 -0600, Davide Del Vento wrote:
>
> I'd like to have some sort of computer attached to my stereo for playing
> some music, mostly audio files which my piano teacher sends me, but also an
> occasional youtube and perhaps even a more occasional video (if I find a
> suitable way to see it, e.g. a mini projector such as
> https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B089W4YNTV/
>
>
> Your query reminds me of where I was 6-10 years ago when I was
> brainstorming different ways to integrate my TV and stereo with my
> computers, a library of mp3 files and stored video files.
>

I'm always late to the party. Back in the days I had a quote in my
signature which said "when a man with a keyboard meets a man with the
mouse, the latter is a dead man" (spaghetti western quote)


> My solution for 2021 is now something I'm very happy with and the key was
> to leverage hardware and software made to do the job:
>

Eager to hear!


> For pure audio I have a set of old Apple Airport Express (from Ebay)
> <https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=apple+airport+express+2nd&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1> that
> let me Airplay from my iPhone to the Airport Express.
>

Mmmm, I have a MacBook Pro provided by my employer (my first ever Apple
device), and frankly I am unimpressed. Perhaps I had too high expectations
with all the hype about Mac, but for the next machine I'll ask to get back
a Linux box. With that experience, I feel zero interest in going to Apple
products.


>  The Airport Express devices were Apple's wireless access points before
> they were discontinued.  Each has a 3.5mm audio jack and the Airplay
> protocol to let iOS devices stream to them and out the jack.  So I stream
> audio from any audio or video app on my phone to an Airport which is
> connected to a room's stereo.  The stereo just takes the audio stream from
> an input jack, amplifies it and plays it out of high quality speakers.
> Works great and with multiple 2nd gen Airports you can stream to multiple
> Airports simultaneously  from one phone... as in stream to multiple rooms
> from one phone in a synchronized fashion.  Downside of this for you, is you
> are probably on Android ?
>

Yes, my devices (especially the spare ones) are all Android.


> For Video or Audio stored on my NAS I have Apple TV and Roku Ultra set-top
> boxes connected to a central HDTV with a Kenwood stereo with speakers for
> stereo audio.
>

This sounds overkill for me. I don't do TV, we watch perhaps 1h of youtube
(or vimeo, or italian TV) per week. And all the files I care to play fit on
an old thumb drive. Perhaps 10 years from now ;-)


> Plex apps exist for iOS and Android too, so I can play that same NAS
> content on my phone or tablets with the need for an actual TV and another
> set-top box.
>

Didn't know about this, and skimmed their website now. It's definitely way
too much and way too complicated than I want.


> Would love to know more about how this compares to what you want to do.
>

Yours looks like a lot of possibilities, too many and too much for me. I
really have only these two use cases:

1) I have a dozen or two of files from my piano teacher. Some are
audio/video, some are audio only. I can play them from my phone, but its
speakers are useless next to my grand piano, hence I want to hook the phone
to the stereo, which I can easily do. But then I need to go from the piano
to the stereo to change file, stop and go back, change tempo and the like.
Not convenient. Hence the idea of bluetooth audio. However organizing a
small but growing library of files on the phone will quickly fill it up,
hence the idea of a Pi (where I'd use VLC) which can easily have more
storage. But it needs a convenient way to be controlled (ssh with
X-tunneling Android app?)

2) I want to watch occasional video from youtube or other website (30 min,
twice a week maximum: must be not time consuming to setup). The phone is
adequate in computing power, however the screen is small and the speakers
are again useless. Hooking it up to the stereo and a projector is doable
and will work ok, but not super-convenient. If I had a Pi set up for 1)
with a convenient way to control it, and if the Pi has enough horsepower
for this use case, then it'd be the way to go.
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