Rich media usage enabler idea - RASPBERRY PI or similar

After some lengthy discussions on the use of digital media, some requirements from members and leaders are:
1-I want to show any video format. I want to now if I bring a church media file it will work. (many smart tv's onsite cannot play all video formats)
2-I want to be able to present my Windows Office/Open Office document without having to bring in a laptop and all the plumbing.
3-I just want to bring my flash drive and use it

There are devices like the raspberry pi that can easily be setup to manage all these tasks and more.

Today we did our conference media using a Raspberry Pi and XBMC.
The playback was flawless and I downloaded the 1080p files. I believe this is the best way to advance the Media Server option for meetinghouses.
I'm happy to write up a solution on how to do it and anyone who would like to implement the Media Server solution can also just pm me.
Essentially a Raspberry Pi is a fully fledged computer and can be configured to show ANY media. It costs around $60 and setting it up is a breeze.
The easiest if just to save your media to a flash drive and plug it in to the Pi and off you go. Easy.
For audio, I just use my portable sound bar. There are a few options.
To take things a step further, each unit can be issued with a media storage drive on a wired network that gets synced from church media servers. Each classroom just needs a CAT6 cable run in and there you have a really nice solution.
PS: I see there is a session this year at LDSTECH conference, talking about meeting house tech, lets see what they share

What operating system does the Raspberry Pi run? I'm assuming Linux?

sbradshaw wrote:What operating system does the Raspberry Pi run? I'm assuming Linux?

Typically, yes. But I've read that the pi2 was capable of running a flavor of Windows 10. (Probably related to the old Win8 RT.)

There is a flavour of Windows now available for the Pi, but to be honest the windowing UI of Linux these days is really awesome and a lot more efficient.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/

one can also get a variety of these little mini computer devices nowadays, I just find the Raspberry Pi is well supported.
Coupled with the great work done here ---> https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=23110 - you got yourself an awesome solution.
Some other devices that can be used is just a simple media player like the WD player or Mede8er or Beaglebones or Apple TV or even this http://www.winbeta.org/news/5-best-wind ... e-watchers

Bottom line, what you want to be careful about is the video codecs that are supported. This is why I like the raspberry pi, it is supported a great deal. My only criticism for the Pi would be that it still uses old ethernet 10/100 and not gigabit LAN 10/1000.

dudleygrantbutt wrote:My only criticism for the Pi would be that it still uses old ethernet 10/100 and not gigabit LAN 10/1000.

Considering that the switches I got from FM via their catalog are not Gigabit (nor are most ISP connections), I don't see that as a big negative.

I think one big advantage of the Pi is that it's kept updated. Other non-PC devices are at the mercy of the manufacturer.

Totally agree. I think it ticks the boxes and its cheap. In fact, I've already even used it as a full on mini PC. Connect a monitor, keyboard and mouse to it and you have a proper PC that can easily do LibreOffice, Internet etc.
Check this out http://www.berryterminal.com/doku.php/berryboot

What would be the possibility of creating an LDS-Meetinghouse version of XBMC/Kodi or similar for the Pi-Zero? I'm thinking:

- Release of the Pi Zero now has the price extremely reasonable ($5), and works as well as the original Pi
- Any XBMC-like interface could use a very simple control (mouse, wii nunchuck, etc.) and could also keep costs down
- Customisation of menus for some of these media-centre software packages would be relatively simple, and might lead to a non-distracting interface
- Such a standardised system could make use much easier - wouldn't it be nice if we could offer a 'downloadable' that members in less-developed economies could find affordable... assuming a cheap TV with HDMI is made available by the church, the extra ~$20 ($5 for pi Zero, $10 for microSD, 5$ for adapter & cable) would be within reach for most wards in any country.
- Costs of USB/microSD have come down enough to make either network mode or a 'lockdown' mode feasible
(When I say 'lockdown' mode, I mean that it could be possible to download all the common church media onto the microSD directly or on USB sticks which the meetinghouse tech updates every conference, and then no network is necessary for the Pi - helpful in increased security, and decreased network traffic on the meetinghouse wi-fi or ethernet -- this would be greatly simplified if there was a hosted set of tarballs by language...)
- Simple interfaces would be easy to localise to the various languages needed.

Anyway, I like the idea of an inexpensive customised solution for all, but am inviting suggestions, pros/cons, etc.

R

The problem with a lot of these ideas is the interface. Either you have to provide a mouse (which will disappear/stop working/etc) or something external.

Most people have a phone or tablet with them. Having something like a Chromecast attached to the back (glued in?) of a TV, I think an ideal solution would be to have a small web server in the building that the user could hit (http://ldsvideos on the local wifi), and choose "play video #12 on TV #3, and it just starts playing on the TV through the Chromecast-like device, from a local NAS on the local network at the building.

Without something like that, you will always be fighting the interface, and loss/theft of other input methods.

Or, have something like a Pi reading touchscreen stuff put on the front of the TV, so the user can use touch (like a touch laptop) to navigate menus to start playing videos. (no mouse needed.)

Just my thought on this.