Media Centre with Raspberry Pi and KODI

[pinballlooking]

We collect movies and I have a large collection. The binder system does not lend itself to finding movies very fast.

I had a fire stick that streams well but it can not see a large USB drive. It also requires FAT 32 this presents its own issues. When I connected the HD to my router it was not fast enough for Blu-ray movies.



I bought a large HD for this project. WD Easystore 10TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive $189
I ended up using a Raspberry Pi and KODI. Just install LibreELEC it is a very stripped down and used if you just want to run KODI fast. It see the USB HD all on its own very nice.
Download image here https://libreelec.tv/downloads/
So easy boots right to KODI 5-10 min setup.

KODI is in the image so you are up and running supper fast.

I ordered this keyboard
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E565PIQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&ps c=1

but you really don’t need it you can just use Kore android app that is free from the app store. This will control KODI just fine.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....kore&hl=en_US

I have over 175 movies mostly Blu-Rays a few old DVDs on it and it performs well. If you want to conserve time you can just put .ISO images on it KODI can read these.
This saves transcoding all your movies.

I would suggest putting each movie in its own folder and naming it. exactly what themoviedb.org names it eg the movie Armageddon look it up and copy the name Armageddon (1998).
Name your folder Armageddon (1998) and I named the image the same thing Armageddon (1998). https://www.themoviedb.org/?language=en-US
Then when KODI scrapes the www.themoviedb.org it automatically brings in the clip art and movie info.

The Pi does not make that much heat or use very much power. I have instenon home automation so I will connect this to a smart plug and I can just ask Alexa to turn on KODI when we want to watch a movie.
She can also turn it off after you select power off in KODI.

There are no fees with this all open source software. No cost other than the hardware.

Here is a How to
https://www.howtogeek.com/163541/bui...erry-pi-redux/

Use a fast microSD card class 10 it makes a big difference.