INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer  (Read 61345 times)

drmimosa

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 687
Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« on: May 02, 2014, 12:56:26 pm »

I just finished up a pretty cool project this weekend and want to share this with the forum. I put together a Linux-based Raspberry Pi Audio Streamer that works great so far...DLNA, Airplay, NAS capabilities, Spotify (via airplay from iPad), and local FLAC playback are all up and running. It was a fun project, and in fact the resulting capabilities are much broader than I had initially hoped. I initially planned for a silent DLNA box but once it was up and running Airplay and Local Hard Disk Playback were easy extras.

The Raspberry Pi is a $35 SOC based computer installed on a small credit-card sized circuit board. This tiny computer easily bests the desktop giants that I had as a student in the mid-90s, for 2% of the cost...still kind of blows my mind!

Pictures attached. If anybody would like to duplicate this project here's the hardware, resource links, and rough guide to the software installation.

Hardware:

Raspberry Pi Model B
5v Micro USB cable and powersupply (from old HTC phone)
8gb SD Card
Ethernet cable
USB cable (to connect to DAC in stereo)
Case (I used a plastic box from Office Depot)
External Hard Drive and powered USB hub (optional for local file playback)

Software:

Volumio Operating System (1.2 Beta)
PC on local network with Win32DiskImager for OS install and Putty for setup via SSH.
GMediaRenderer
(Edit: there is a better DLNA renderer, upmpdcli from http://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/index.html see below for details)
Shairport

Raspberry Pi has many linux image files available for the operating system. I selected the Volumio build, which is an offshoot from the Raspyfi project started a few years back. The OS is optimized as much as possible on the Raspberry platform to provide good quality audio via USB, and includes a webinterface for setup and local playback. You can do all setup via SSH, at no point do you need the Raspberry Pi plugged into a monitor with this OS.

Once you assemble the hardware, download the system image and flash the OS onto the SD card using Win32DiskImager.

http://volumio.org/get-started/

After the image has been transferred to the SD card, plug in the SD card, ethernet, USB DAC, and power cable to the circuitboard, which will automatically boot when you plug in the power supply.

You can now open up the web interface using another computer on the LAN with the following link:

http://volumio.local/

You can select audio output and test the sound using the Shoutcast stations provided in Volumio's webradio folder. Also, go to the Network settings in the top right corner and write down the ip address. If you attach local storage (you need a powered usb hub for this because of the limitations of the Raspberry Pi's usb power), you can set up playback from the drive here. File navigation is limited to folder structure, so you definitely need DLNA and Airplay.

DLNA and Airplay take a few more steps:

Using putty to log into an SSH session with Volumio. User name is 'root' and password is 'volumio' by default.

From here, you have to do a few manual software updates in order to get DLNA and Airplay working. This is all done via the command line, but doesn't take much technical knowledge beyond cut-and-paste!

For DLNA Renderer setup, here are the command line steps to install GMediaRenderer:

Quote from: MagnusT at http://www.raspyfi.com/forum/wish-list/dlna-player-renderer/
From the how-to's at:
https://github.com/hzeller/gmrender-resurrect/blob/master/INSTALL.md
and
http://blog.scphillips.com/201…..revisited/

$ sudo apt-get install autoconf automake libtool
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install libupnp-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly \
gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-alsa
$ sudo apt-get install git
$ git clone https://github.com/hzeller/gmrender-resurrect.git
$ cd gmrender-resurrect
$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Then I had to edit one line in the start/stop script. So start the editor with:
$ sudo nano scripts/init.d/gmediarenderer
and change one text line from this:
DAEMON_USER="pi:audio"
to this:
DAEMON_USER="root:root"
Then exit with ctrl-x and save

$ sudo cp scripts/init.d/gmediarenderer /etc/init.d
$ sudo update-rc.d gmediarenderer defaults
$ sudo shutdown -r now

Now RaspyFi should show up on any DLNA controller you use.

If you don't see the device appear as a zone under MC, go to options and search for dlna controller and make sure the box is ticked.

I added Airplay because I wanted access to the Spotify library as well as MC playback. An Apple Device + Shairport seemed the easiest route to accomplish this. Volumio is supposed to have this capability installed already, but the software is out of date and you have to rebuild the Shairport package installation. I followed the following steps on the SSH command line interface with no problems:

http://volumio.org/forum/tutorial-update-shairport-the-airplay-daemon-latest-t654.html#p2393

That's it! Hardware cost is very low, sound quality is excellent. Gapless playback works from JRiver.

My subjective evaluation is that sound is good for Airplay, even better for lossless JRiver DLNA, and best from Volumio Local FLAC playback. This may be do to some optimization that Volumio employs for the Linux sound output, perhaps the other two methods don't have the same level of software output. In any case, sound quality sounds very good to me but I can't verify that it is bit-perfect (UPDATE: there is an occasional (every 20min or so) low volume pop, very faint but of uncertain cause.)

Pictures attached below, happy to help with any questions.
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13447
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2014, 01:55:44 pm »

Curious about why you used another debian based distro as opposed to the raspbian default?
Logged

Hendrik

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10661
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2014, 02:30:47 pm »

Volumio is supposed to be specifically designed for audio operations, so at the very least it comes with stuff pre-configured properly and may make things easier, I assume.
Logged
~ nevcairiel
~ Author of LAV Filters

drmimosa

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 687
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2014, 02:38:35 pm »

Curious about why you used another debian based distro as opposed to the raspbian default?


Volumio is supposed to be specifically designed for audio operations, so at the very least it comes with stuff pre-configured properly and may make things easier, I assume.
Exactly.

The Volumio distro seemed like a good starting point. I also have an extra backup drive and liked the idea of having a local webpage interface for file playback from the box. Also wasn't sure if DLNA streaming would work but so far it hasn't had any problems.

Raspbian would probably work just as well with the Gmrender and Shairport packages, but I haven't tried it. This setup works pretty well and I'll probably leave it and see how it fares over time. It basically has to last me until the JRiver Linux NUC's appear on the market!
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13447
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2014, 10:19:01 am »

I have been running the gmediarender on the pi for a month or two. It seems ok.
I haven't given it very strenuous testing yet.
Logged

Mbare

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 17
  • One (proud) audiophile checking in.
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2014, 04:46:11 pm »

Thanks a bunch for the template for installing a DNLA Renderer on the Raspberry Pi. I followed it to the letter, discovering along the way that I had to write "sudo" before most of the commands you had written (possibly cause I wasn't logged in as root?), other than that everything seemed to work out OK. I've installed Volumio on the Pi and got that working and I've also installed the HiFIBerry Digi-card and that works as well. This specific Pi is gonna be an important part om my headphone-setup, because I have a DIY headphone amp built by my bro and the Beyerdynamic DT 880 cans and we plan to use the Pi with Volumio and HiFiBerry to send digital signals to a DAC and then to the headphone amp. Therefore it would be really interesting to get DNLA working on it, cause then I could use other remotes on my phone than I can do with MPD.

Anyways, the Raspberry shows up in Media Center on my HTPC, but when I try to play anything on it, I get an error message saying: "There was a problem controlling the selected DNLA device. Double-check your device, server and network settings". I'm quite sure the problem is with the gmediarenderer as I've tried the RaspBMC on the Pi earlier and there DNLA worked as a charm. Any clues to where I should start searching? I'm quite noob when it comes to Linux, just to be clear on that.

Edit: spellchecking.
Logged
Room-correction saved my hi-fi. HTPC, Audiolense and JRiver Media Center, RAKK-DAC, Heretical buffer, Hegel poweramp and Magnepan loudspeakers.

drmimosa

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 687
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2014, 03:19:03 pm »


Anyways, the Raspberry shows up in Media Center on my HTPC, but when I try to play anything on it, I get an error message saying: "There was a problem controlling the selected DNLA device. Double-check your device, server and network settings". I'm quite sure the problem is with the gmediarenderer as I've tried the RaspBMC on the Pi earlier and there DNLA worked as a charm. Any clues to where I should start searching? I'm quite noob when it comes to Linux, just to be clear on that.

Glad to hear that you are also giving this project a shot! I am also learning Linux as I go, so I'm pretty much in the same boat. Here's what worked for me and a couple suggestions for figuring out what is going wrong.

1. Double check that Volumio works for playback of local files or webradio. It sounds like this already works for you, but check all the settings for hardware sound output on a web browser from a computer on your LAN at volumio.local/ and confirm playback. Also, confirm the ip address of the box from the network window.

2. It also sounds like you connected via putty OK.  After you connect to the correct ip address, always login using "login as:root" and "password:volumio"

3. Make sure you follow the directions from MagnusT very carefully at http://www.raspyfi.com/forum/wish-list/dlna-player-renderer/ . It may be worth breaking all the dependency installations into separate commands like this to be sure everything you need is installed.

Instead of:

$ sudo apt-get install libupnp-dev libgstreamer0.10-dev \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly \
gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-alsa

Type:

$ sudo apt-get install libupnp-dev
$ sudo apt-get install libgstreamer0.10-dev
$ sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-base
$ sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-good
etc.

It won't hurt to do this again even if you have already done the command, the apt-get install command should skip anything that is already installed.

Then double check that you edited the config file with the command sudo nano scripts/init.d/gmediarenderer . I put DAEMON_USER="root:volumio" in instead of the suggested edit and it worked.

4. Check playback using another DLNA server/controller such as Bubble UPnp

5. If it doesn't work try, without the HiFiBerry card and see if it works with sound output from the raspberry pi (not great quality but then you know to focus on the HIFiBerry setup.) If it does work, great.

6. Go to JRiver Options/Media Network/Add or configure DLNA Servers and play around with the DLNA settings. They have to match the hardware output for your USB Dac or in your case the HifiBerry. My DAC worked with the output setting "mode:original" and "format: PCM 24 bit". These setting vary with hardware devices, for example my TV only worked over DLNA with one specific output setting.

[edit] 7. Try rebooting the device. Actually, do this first before trying any of the above, it might fix the problem automatically.

8. If all else fails do some network troubleshooting. Here's an example of a bad router causing DLNA problems: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=86467.msg612377#msg612377

Good luck!! I'll try to post additional help or ideas, its going to be a busy week and I'll probably revisit this thread over the weekend. Post a picture when you get it up and running, it would be cool to see the DIY headphone amp.

-Phil



Logged

Mbare

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 17
  • One (proud) audiophile checking in.
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2014, 03:21:30 pm »

Thanks!

I don't know if I solved the problem or just found another solution without really solving the problem (most likely the last), but you asked me to try another UPnP, so I did - I tried J River on my server - and then it worked. :) And Bubble UPnP works on my Android as well, so I can select Volumio as renderer, J River on my server as library and voila! Still can't get it to play through the HTPC, but I don't care about that since all my music is on the server and the server is on 24/7 and is therefore way better to use as the library. Happy, happy. :)

I also found this page:
http://blog.scphillips.com/2014/05/playing-music-on-a-raspberry-pi-using-upnp-and-dlna-v3/

And therefore upgraded Gmediarenderer to version 1.0 instead of version 0.10. Dunno what, if any, changes that makes, but having a newer version can't be bad?

I also stumbled upon this page:
http://www.coraline.org/non-fiction/raspi-upnp-renderer

Where there is a suggestion that you can also install the BubbleUPnPServer as a wrapper for the renderer, but I didn't do that because I haven't yet had any of the problems they describe in the post. I'll see if I'll do it later.

Anyways, UPnP is now up and running on my Pi, and digital signals are flooding through the SPDIF on my HiFiBerry Digi card. I guess the next step will be to go totally audiophile and try to listen to any differences while streaming music through either Volumio directly (which uses MPD) or the GMediaRenderer. On the other hand, if I can reliably hear any differences in steaming a purely digital signal, I dunno what to believe.
Logged
Room-correction saved my hi-fi. HTPC, Audiolense and JRiver Media Center, RAKK-DAC, Heretical buffer, Hegel poweramp and Magnepan loudspeakers.

drmimosa

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 687
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2014, 09:12:10 am »

mbare, sounds great! Nice work getting this running.

FWIW I control the DLNA audio from a PC running JRiver with no problem. If you got it working with BubbleUPnp, you should be able to monkey with JRiver DLNA options until you get MC working as a controller with the Pi as a renderer.

Curious if you find any significant sound differences between gmediarender and Volumio output. I find the volumio is slightly better, perhaps there is something in the gmediarender sound output that makes a change to audio output. I'm not clear if gmediarender DLN1A uses ALSA output or MPD output...I'm also not clear what the difference between these two would be, there is a lot to learn about Linux audio.

In the end this serves my purposes well. Between this Raspberry Pi box and the Chromecast I have basically cut the wired connection from the AV system to my main computer (previously I had a media laptop jimmyrigged as an HTPC). Although I miss the Theater View, I am really happy with this box for audio and Chromecast for video!

The small pops I had above in audio described above are gone for some reason after I shuffled around some power strips and usb power supplies. The only complaint I have is that the box needs an occasional reboot. Sometimes if the box is used for Airplay, the dlna or local output won't work until I reboot. Reboot is easy however from the Volumio webpage, so keeping a bookmark handy on phones and tablets solves this. I would like to eventually learn how to script a 3am reboot into the operating system.

Thanks for posting the above links and for the update. Hope the Pi continues to rock out!

Logged

AndyU

  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 363
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2014, 06:38:26 am »

Splendid work drmimosa! When all is said and done the amount of information that needs to be transferred for audio is pretty small, so a small solution like the Raspberry Pi feels right. You do not need Windows 8 to transfer a cds worth of data in an hour, anymore than you need a Sherman Tank to carry your golf clubs to the next tee.
Logged

astromo

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2239
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #10 on: June 15, 2014, 04:06:27 am »

Just got my R-Pi built and have loaded up Volumio 1.4.

This is delving into areas where I haven't neen in years. Holy Flashback, Batman!   :o

I don't have a sensible soldering setup so the HiFiBerry that I've had shipped, will have to wait. Just doing what I can in the meantime to evaluate how this little baby can do stuff and in the meantime get my familiarity with Linux a bit beyond irrational fear. So far so good. drmimosa's advice has been going well so far. Much appreciated.

The long term plan is to source a cheap intel platform and build a Linux version of MC, so that I can get members of the fam' sorted with a cheap digital music platform in such a way that they've got something that works without me needing to be around to tweak it. By that time, who knows, Linux MC may have found it's way into the video world or there might be an ARM version floating around.

I have faith. Even if it looks a little like this -  8)


[EDIT: I'd also add that the Bitvise SSH client that I found via www.putty.org made the job of doing the command line edits a lot less hassle than I was expecting.]
Logged
MC31, Win10 x64, HD-Plex H5 Gen2 Case, HD-Plex 400W Hi-Fi DC-ATX / AC-DC PSU, Gigabyte Z370 ULTRA Gaming 2.0 MoBo, Intel Core i7 8700 CPU, 4x8GB GSkill DDR4 RAM, Schiit Modi Multibit DAC, Freya Pre, Nelson Pass Aleph J DIY Clone, Ascension Timberwolf 8893BSRTL Speakers, BJC 5T00UP cables, DVB-T Tuner HDHR5-4DT

drmimosa

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 687
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2014, 02:50:32 pm »

Really nice work on this thread, I hope everybody gets as much enjoyment out of this project I have!!

Astromo, I just saw your post and investigated the new release of Volumio, version 1.4. Look like some great development of new features, including native DLNA and better airplay (possibly eliminating the need for the gmediarender and shairport steps above.)

http://volumio.org/volumio-1-4-now-upnpdlna-support-much/

I'll give this build a shot on my RPi box soon, looks promising.
Logged

astromo

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 2239
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #12 on: June 16, 2014, 03:47:20 am »

Really nice work on this thread, I hope everybody gets as much enjoyment out of this project I have!!

Astromo, I just saw your post and investigated the new release of Volumio, version 1.4. Look like some great development of new features, including native DLNA and better airplay (possibly eliminating the need for the gmediarender and shairport steps above.)

http://volumio.org/volumio-1-4-now-upnpdlna-support-much/

I'll give this build a shot on my RPi box soon, looks promising.

Have you been reading my mind? I was thinking that I might have been overly enthusiastic and somewhat blind with implementing your good advice because it occurred to me that it pre-dated v1.4. So, I'm thinking that I should reflash the v1.4 image and see how MC goes in recognising the unit.

For anyone who's a noob at Putty and Linux and such, I put together a protocol documenting my trial and error effort of tapping around with a white cane to expand an SD card via a Windows based virtual machine. I found some sketchy advice around how to go about doing the job but nothing much by way of a fully worked example. Just bits and pieces with plenty of gaps. If it helps others around here, then it would give me some satisfaction to know that my effort is of use to someone other than myself.

Note that even though the protocol referred to is focussed on an Android image, I used the same basic steps to expand the 32GB SD that I'd flashed Volumio onto... can't help myself with this next quip ... easy as Pi ...  ;D
Logged
MC31, Win10 x64, HD-Plex H5 Gen2 Case, HD-Plex 400W Hi-Fi DC-ATX / AC-DC PSU, Gigabyte Z370 ULTRA Gaming 2.0 MoBo, Intel Core i7 8700 CPU, 4x8GB GSkill DDR4 RAM, Schiit Modi Multibit DAC, Freya Pre, Nelson Pass Aleph J DIY Clone, Ascension Timberwolf 8893BSRTL Speakers, BJC 5T00UP cables, DVB-T Tuner HDHR5-4DT

drmimosa

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 687
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #13 on: June 16, 2014, 01:07:59 pm »


Note that even though the protocol referred to is focussed on an Android image, I used the same basic steps to expand the 32GB SD that I'd flashed Volumio onto... can't help myself with this next quip ... easy as Pi ...  ;D

Ha! And if only it were true. I flashed 1.4 and it did not work nearly as well, lots of problems with clicks and pops outputting sound from my usb DAC and also shairport was only static.

But, I back tracked a bit and Re-flashed Volumio 1.2 Beta:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/volumio/files/Raspberry%20PI/

Then I installed this: http://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/index.html. This is the same DLNA renderer used in Volumio 1.4.

Upmpdli works without any pops and clicks, and on first glance upmpdli is a better option for DLNA render point because it goes through the MPD playback engine rather than the what gmediarender uses, which I think is ALSA or native software sound output. MPD seems the best sound quality.

Shairport works after installation from my steps above, but I have to remember to manually stop playback before going back to DLNA playback and vice versa.

I'm going to link this thread to the Volumio forum, looks like they are trying to integrate DLNA via MPD and shairport into the Volumio build but for me it still had these bugs. I like the direction they are going in with the OS, however!

Hungry. gonna eat some pi.
Logged

BigJ

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 24
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #14 on: September 06, 2014, 06:03:28 am »

Very interesting thread. 

Please help me ensure I'm correctly understanding the possibilities and challenges here, as some of the terms and technologies and all things DLNA-renderer and Gizmo are new to me and after reading several threads and links much is still unclear at this point. But I think it's becoming clear now, and I found this thread via Google looking for cheap Renderer options...

Here's the deal: Currently I have MC 19 on an i3 NUC in the Living Room for watching Movies, Shows, and listening to Music (mostly FLAC), all of which is on a couple of NASs, and I also want to have a separate setup in my Garage for Music, and *not* a synchronous copy of whatever may be playing in the Living Room, but a distinct 'stream' or whatever the term is.

So, for example, my girlfriend can be watching some Show in the Living Room on the TV via the NUC/MC box and its Library using the Harmony remote , and I could be in the Garage listening to Music via a headless Raspberry Pi box that's a DLNA Renderer using Gizmo on my Android phone as the interface for browsing and playing whatever Music I want to hear in the Garage.

And this headless Pi box/Renderer (located in the Garage and connected via WiFi) can browse and play from the same Library in the Living Room, and use a USB DAC (or built-in Audio) to output that Music selection to a different stereo in the Garage, and I can just open Gizmo on my phone when in the Garage and browse the same Playlists and such that the Living Room sees?

Is that right? 

If so, this Pi setup sounds pretty ideal, and I was already planning to play with a Pi anyway.

If not, what part(s) have I mistaken?


Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 71209
  • where the buffalo roam
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #15 on: September 06, 2014, 08:18:08 am »

That's right.  You could read the Media Network topic on the wiki to get a better idea of MC's capabilities.

With the Pi, you are using DLNA.  The DLNA topic on the wiki would help.

On Gizmo, you would connect to your Windows server, using the Access Key, then choose the Pi as the destination where you want to play.
Logged

BigJ

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 24
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #16 on: September 06, 2014, 12:56:01 pm »

Thank you.
Logged

gigglez

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 46
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #17 on: December 07, 2014, 10:50:24 am »

We are about to buy a Pi to do video/audio to a projector in our living room. Is anyone running video over dlna with their's ?
Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 71209
  • where the buffalo roam
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #18 on: December 07, 2014, 11:06:23 am »

A Raspberry Pi is probably not going to work for video.  Try an Internet search to see what people think.
Logged

mwillems

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5162
  • "Linux Merit Badge" Recipient
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #19 on: December 07, 2014, 11:16:27 am »

My own experiments with using a Pi for video have been mixed.  If you can find a video format for which the Pi has hardware decoding available you can get reasonable performance (especially if you overclock the Pi and reallocate the video memory split). But as far as I know, the only video format that has hardware decoding support in the default Pi image is H264 (but not all H264 profiles).   If you need support for something else, deinterlacing, and/or serious audio decoding, expect things to get rough in a hurry.  So you'd probably have to transcode/remux all your video to a Pi-capable format if you really wanted to do it.

For some perspective, check out the "What you will (and won't) get" section of this article:
http://lifehacker.com/5929913/build-a-xbmc-media-center-with-a-35-raspberry-pi

It was written a year ago, and things are a little better now (software/firmware marches on), but I wouldn't personalyl want to use a Pi as a media renderer for video.
Logged

gigglez

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 46
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #20 on: December 07, 2014, 12:19:40 pm »

Thanks for the reply.  This is my problem. I just don't know the best solution.  

I wrote this under the media center 20 category.  Probably the wrong place but I had no clue where to write it sorry.

We are using a projector in the living room for a tv. We have Media center running off a desktop pc downstairs (apollo).  I was wondering what the cheapest (best) device to run upstairs to get audio and video to the projector would be.  I was thinking of a Rasberry Pi but I haven't seen any mention of video. I installed dlna mini on my mac but that didn't work. I have a Playstation 3 but when I go in there it doesn't show me the tree view that I see from jriver (apollo) downstairs.  It has its own tree structure and I can't find anything!

 I was then thinking of a NUC I think that would be like running my laptop running its own copy of JRiver. Or Chromecast with a hdmi splitter so I can get audio to my speakers.

Logged

dmarkovi

  • Junior Woodchuck
  • **
  • Posts: 61
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #21 on: December 07, 2014, 08:53:15 pm »

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/PS3

I bought a liva pc and it runs well enough. Depending on the type of videos you are attempting to view you may want something more powerful, like an NUC with an i3 or i5. The problem with running anything android is that I think you will have to use Gizmo to view content, and while functional and quick, it is not pretty at all.
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13447
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #22 on: December 08, 2014, 09:39:10 am »

Thanks for the reply.  This is my problem. I just don't know the best solution.  

I wrote this under the media center 20 category.  Probably the wrong place but I had no clue where to write it sorry.

We are using a projector in the living room for a tv. We have Media center running off a desktop pc downstairs (apollo).  I was wondering what the cheapest (best) device to run upstairs to get audio and video to the projector would be.  I was thinking of a Rasberry Pi but I haven't seen any mention of video. I installed dlna mini on my mac but that didn't work. I have a Playstation 3 but when I go in there it doesn't show me the tree view that I see from jriver (apollo) downstairs.  It has its own tree structure and I can't find anything!

 I was then thinking of a NUC I think that would be like running my laptop running its own copy of JRiver. Or Chromecast with a hdmi splitter so I can get audio to my speakers.
You can change the view under MC's DLNA server settings to be any way you want it to show up on the PS3.
Logged

gigglez

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 46
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #23 on: December 08, 2014, 09:59:27 am »

BOB - You are the BOMB! Thank you so very very much!
Logged

gigglez

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 46
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #24 on: December 08, 2014, 10:11:07 am »

Is there a way to add search to the ps3 view?  I can't find that option. I added my other view and WOW what a difference!
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13447
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #25 on: December 08, 2014, 11:37:05 am »

Is there a way to add search to the ps3 view?  I can't find that option. I added my other view and WOW what a difference!
The PS3 doesn't support the DLNA search function, sorry.
Logged

KoosAmsterdam

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #26 on: February 27, 2015, 06:20:32 am »

I read it and thought what a wonderful option for my Raspberry Pi B. But what I know now is that Volumio version 1.55 holds everything you need. Just load its image, set it up and you are ready to go. In Volumio enable UPNP-control and set a name. No need to yes UPNP/DLNAindexing or -library. It is thus a lot more simple than a year ago with the original post. Beautiful. And a good sound too. I enjoy. 
Logged

Hilton

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1291
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #27 on: February 27, 2015, 07:08:46 am »

I read it and thought what a wonderful option for my Raspberry Pi B. But what I know now is that Volumio version 1.55 holds everything you need. Just load its image, set it up and you are ready to go. In Volumio enable UPNP-control and set a name. No need to yes UPNP/DLNAindexing or -library. It is thus a lot more simple than a year ago with the original post. Beautiful. And a good sound too. I enjoy.  

puke... miniDLNA is garbage.

PS.
Just to clarify this statement. I played around with miniDLNA for months on a hacked seagatewireless to get a portable DLNA server going and it was no end of trouble. It cant maintain a database of the library, so every reboot it has to rescan, which takes forever. And I mean hours on a large library.
I managed to hack the code to get it to keep the DB intact after reboots but it would then suffer inconsistencies and corruption in a very short amount of time and I'd have to rebuild anyway.. Another 2-3hrs without access to music..... inferior support for formats.. and I could go on.
Logged

KoosAmsterdam

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 8
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #28 on: February 27, 2015, 08:23:09 am »

Such a warm welcome for a newcomer like myself: puke. Maybe you'll need to reed more closely what the subject is about: Raspberry Pi as a DLNA renderer. And I added to this you can do it easy with Volumio 1.55. This is clearly in contrast with what you are saying: to get a portable DLNA server ...". That is not what this subject is about, my dear friend Hilton. Your puke does not belong here, or so I think.
Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 71209
  • where the buffalo roam
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #29 on: February 27, 2015, 08:30:46 am »

He's Australian.
Logged

mwillems

  • MC Beta Team
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 5162
  • "Linux Merit Badge" Recipient
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #30 on: February 27, 2015, 09:02:42 am »

puke... miniDLNA is garbage.

PS.
Just to clarify this statement. I played around with miniDLNA for months on a hacked seagatewireless to get a portable DLNA server going and it was no end of trouble. It cant maintain a database of the library, so every reboot it has to rescan, which takes forever. And I mean hours on a large library.
I managed to hack the code to get it to keep the DB intact after reboots but it would then suffer inconsistencies and corruption in a very short amount of time and I'd have to rebuild anyway.. Another 2-3hrs without access to music..... inferior support for formats.. and I could go on.

I thought Volumio used mpd/upmpdcli for its DLNA renderer function, not miniDLNA?  But I'll concede I may be confused as I only did limited Volumio testing.  

I never tried to use Volumio as a DLNA server (JRiver is my server, always and forever  ;D), but Volumio seemed to work fine as a DLNA renderer using JRiver as a controller when I tested it on the Pi, although it wasn't as stable as just configuring mpd/upmpdcli myself.  I found the Volumio DLNA device would disappear at intervals, whereas when I just manually setup mpd/upmpdcli in a minimal Arch installation it became rock stable.

It took a bit more effort than just using the Volumio image, but I'm using a mpd/upmpdcli Pi renderer in my bedroom right now with a little attached screen to show what's "playing now." The basic renderer functions seem pretty good, but I can't comment on the server functionality. 
Logged

Hilton

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 1291
Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #31 on: February 27, 2015, 08:07:26 pm »

Such a warm welcome for a newcomer like myself: puke. Maybe you'll need to reed more closely what the subject is about: Raspberry Pi as a DLNA renderer. And I added to this you can do it easy with Volumio 1.55. This is clearly in contrast with what you are saying: to get a portable DLNA server ...". That is not what this subject is about, my dear friend Hilton. Your puke does not belong here, or so I think.

As Jim said, I'm Australian so I speak my mind. I apologise I thought this post was in the MC on Pi thread. In any case I think I'll stick to MC on Pi.
Logged

Thunder240

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #32 on: February 18, 2017, 10:01:49 am »

I'm thinking about building a Pi to serve as a DLNA renderer for music playback. Can any of you who have tried it confirm that Volumio  v1.X can stream 192/24 PCM? What about decoding 192/24 ALAC and FLAC bitstreams over DNLA? Do any of the other audio renderer software packages discussed in this thread stream 192/24 PCM and/or FLAC and ALAC bitstream?

I'm currently using a Sony Bluray player as a DLNA renderer, but it's far from ideal, not to mention it doesn't output a signal above 48 kHz. It can see and plY the hi res music files, but it downmixes them!

Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 71209
  • where the buffalo roam
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #33 on: February 18, 2017, 10:09:04 am »

Logged

Thunder240

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #34 on: February 19, 2017, 08:31:38 am »

You might find this interesting:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,106807.0.html

Thanks Jim. However I only plan to use this RPi as a renderer,  not as a server, so it may be overkill. I'd like to play around with the open source options for the time being,  but it's good to know that JRiver offers an option that is preconfigured in case I can't get things working satisfactorily myself. Out of curiosity, is the latest build of Id Pi compatible with the Hifiberry Digi+ Pro ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Logged

JimH

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 71209
  • where the buffalo roam
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #35 on: February 19, 2017, 08:46:29 am »

Could you please turn off the Tapatalk ad?  It's under settings for signature in Tapatalk.

The Id Pi is MC + Linux.  It is a renderer.  If you're trying to build a renderer on a Pi, there is no easier way.
Logged

bob

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 13447
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #36 on: February 20, 2017, 11:34:37 am »

Thanks Jim. However I only plan to use this RPi as a renderer,  not as a server, so it may be overkill. I'd like to play around with the open source options for the time being,  but it's good to know that JRiver offers an option that is preconfigured in case I can't get things working satisfactorily myself. Out of curiosity, is the latest build of Id Pi compatible with the Hifiberry Digi+ Pro ?
There are people using the Hifiberry Digi+ Pro however they have to do some hand configuration of the IdPi sdcard mounted on a different computer.
Logged

Purecut

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 103
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #37 on: December 17, 2023, 12:03:01 pm »

I just installed Volumino on a Raspberry 3B+ without doing anything to the configuration myself. Volumino immediately finds the JRiver Media Server and plays my music without any problems. Perfect for a Raspberry as a DLNA renderer under Linux. What more do you want. Perfect

Volumio Build: Volumio-3.569-2023-10-20-pi
Logged

Richard Martin

  • World Citizen
  • ***
  • Posts: 224
Re: Raspberry Pi as DLNA Renderer
« Reply #38 on: December 17, 2023, 01:07:50 pm »

I just installed Volumino on a Raspberry 3B+ without doing anything to the configuration myself. Volumino immediately finds the JRiver Media Server and plays my music without any problems. Perfect for a Raspberry as a DLNA renderer under Linux. What more do you want. Perfect

Volumio Build: Volumio-3.569-2023-10-20-pi

Yes, I've been using Volumio on a Pi for a few years. It's so long since I have had to touch it that I can't remember which Pi or which version of Volumio. As you, very easy to set up and it jus works.

Just remembered, I have a DAC on the Pi, some kind of Hifiberry card, again, I can't remember which, it just works
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up