babooshka.tv old-school tv-box video player

.This simple and lightweight package could turn your RPi into a video player. The package is designed primarily for your grandparents, for whom the use of a computer is a difficult task. You can upload your home kittens-kids videos or add videos from Youtube/Vimeo that you like.

The package is fully written in bash.

Wiring

Pi Zero IO Pinout

The yellow LED connected to +3,3v via 470R

GPIO 0  BCM17   LED green, booting  
GPIO 2  BCM27   LED red, video status

Lowering resistors are required for all diodes (Red LEDs normally brighter, so I would recommend ~470R for yellow and green and about 1K for red)

Infrared interface

GPIO 3  BCM22   IR TX  
GPIO 4  BCM23   IR RX  

    38kHz -- standard 

    +-----------------------+ 3
    |                       +---------------------o +3.3V
    |      ______________   |
    |     /                 |
    |    (                  | 2  
    |     \______________   +---------------------o GND
    |                       |
    |                       | 1
    |               data -> +---------------------o GPIO 4 (BCM23)
    +-----------------------+


    950nm emitting diode (e.g. TSUS5400)

                     +5V
                      o
                      |
                     | |  51 Ohm (depending on MOSFET maybe not required)
                     |_|
                      |
                     _|_
                     \ / 
                     ---  IR LED
                      |
                      |
         ___      |---'
  o-----|___|-----|       MOSFET
         10K      |->--
    GPIO 3 (BCM22)     |
                       |
                    ----- GND
                     ---
                      -

Analog Audio

GPIO 1  BCM18   R AUDIO
GPIO 23 BCM13   L AUDIO

Picture taken from here, thanks :)

Analog video pin

Picture taken from here, thanks :)

Setup

Download, copy to microSD and install oficial Raspberry Pi OS Lite image

The procedure of adding a login and password for your access point, as well as the ssh configuration is omitted. It is assumed that you know how to do so :)
If you not sure, ddg it.

Further operations are performed on device.

ssh <your RPi device>

Update repository list and install dependencies

apt update  
apt install mc fbi omxplayer sox

Try to install freefonts (required by omxplayer)

apt install ttf-freefont

By some reason recently freefonts package has been removed from official RPi repository. So in case of unsuccess just copy included freefonts to /usr/share/fonts/truetype/...
do it with sudo

cp -r freefont /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont  
chown root:root /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont  
chown root:root /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont/*

IR interface setup

apt install lirc

edit /etc/lirc/hardware.conf

# Run "lircd --driver=help" for a list of supported drivers.  
DRIVER="default"

# usually /dev/lirc0 is the correct setting for systems using udev  
DEVICE="/dev/lirc1"  
MODULES="gpio_ir_recv"

edit /etc/lirc/lirc_options.conf NOTE! add new line in the end of the file !!!! known bug

driver        = default  
device        = /dev/lirc1

First try to find you device using

irdb-get find YOUR_DEVICE

If you did it, copy YOUR_DEVICE.conf to /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.d/ In case of unsiccess try to find and copy here: List of devices supported by Lirc 'from the box'. However, you always can record your own, see below...

Copy template lircd.conf

cp /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.dist /etc/lirc/lircd.conf

Make changes in /boot/config.txt to set up PAL video output and run appropriate kernel overlays for IR interface:

disable_splash=1

# disable_overscan=1

framebuffer_width=720
framebuffer_height=576

# enable PWM audio (add this line)
dtoverlay=pwm-2chan,pin=18,func=2,pin2=13,func2=4

# uncomment for composite PAL
sdtv_mode=2

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
# hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# Uncomment this to enable the gpio-ir module
dtoverlay=gpio-ir,gpio_pin=23,gpio_pull=up
dtoverlay=gpio-ir-tx,gpio_pin=22

Make IR works as TX and RX simultanoiously

This part taken from this GitHub comment thank you @elmicha :)

Add these rules in /etc/udev/rules.d/71-lirc.rules to get stable /dev/lirc-rx and /dev/lirc-tx device names:

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="lirc", DRIVERS=="gpio_ir_recv", SYMLINK+="lirc-rx"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="lirc", DRIVERS=="gpio-ir-tx", SYMLINK+="lirc-tx"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="lirc", DRIVERS=="pwm-ir-tx", SYMLINK+="lirc-tx"

Change the device and listening address in /etc/lirc/lirc_options.conf:

device        = /dev/lirc-rx
listen        = 0.0.0.0:8766

Copy lircoptions.conf to lirctx_options.conf and edit these lines:

device        = /dev/lirc-tx
output        = /var/run/lirc/lircd-tx
pidfile      = /var/run/lirc/lircd-tx.pid
listen        = 0.0.0.0:8765
connect      = 127.0.0.1:8766

Create /etc/systemd/system/lircd-tx.service (from the output of systemctl cat lircd) and edit it like this:

[Unit]  
Documentation=man:lircd(8)  
Documentation=http://lirc.org/html/configure.html  
Description=Second lircd, the transmitter  
Wants=lircd-setup.service  
After=network.target lircd-setup.service lircd.service  

[Service]  
Type=simple  
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/lircd --nodaemon --options-file /etc/lirc/lirc_tx_options.conf  

[Install]  
WantedBy=multi-user.target  
Create /etc/systemd/system/lircd-tx.socket (from the output of systemctl cat lircd.socket) and edit it:  

[Socket]  
ListenStream=/run/lirc/lircd-tx  

[Install]  
WantedBy=sockets.target  
Also=lircd-tx.service

Create /usr/local/bin/irsend and make it executable

#! /bin/sh  
exec /usr/bin/irsend --device=/var/run/lirc/lircd-tx "$@"
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/irsend

Start lircd-tx (with sudo)

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl start lircd-tx
systemctl enable lircd-tx

Enable RX (with sudo) systemctl enable lircd.service systemctl enable lircd.socket

systemctl restart lircd

NOTE: there maybe the Warning of duplication of "begin remote .. end remote", it is fine. Ignore it.

Reboot and check status :)

systemctl reboot

systemctl status lircd.service
systemctl status lircd.socket

Test IR

Send some command. replace vendor and command with your

irsend SEND_ONCE SONY-TV KEY_1

Read RX

irw

Record your own (if you have no compatible remote control or incomplete config)

systemctl stop lircd.socket
systemctl stop lircd.service

record with own key names
irrecord --disable-namespace

systemctl start lircd.socket
systemctl start lircd.service

Force raw record mode (normally not required)

irrecord -f -d /dev/lirc0 ~/lirc.conf

IR remote setup and button assignment

If everything went fine and your remote reading by Raspbery, you have to choose buttons that you going to use for Babooshka control. Here is a list of current commands:

• next
• prev
• forward +10min
• backward -10min
• play/pause toggle
• pause on switching-off
• stop
• audio track switch
• subtitles switch

This is how they marked in remoteir.sh

To assign comands you need to edit "ARRDOWN", "ARRUP" and so on in remoteir.sh. Change it for that you see in irw stdout when pressing buttons.

irw

Main package installation

cd /home/pi/
git clone <this repo> (see above)
cd BABOOSHKA.TV/

Make sure that all .sh files inside are executable (have x flag)

ls --all

if required make them chmod +x *.sh

Early stage systemd service (launching led driver and creating splash image)

Create /etc/systemd/system/splash.service file and add there

[Unit]  
DefaultDependencies=no  
After=local-fs.target  

[Service]  
StandardInput=tty  
StandardOutput=tty  
ExecStart=/home/pi/BABOOSHKA.TV/early_init.sh  

[Install]  
WantedBy=sysinit.target

Activate the service

sudo systemctl enable splash.service

On boot launcher

Add this line to /etc/rc.local

sudo -H -u pi /home/pi/BABOOSHKA.TV/start.babooshka.sh > /dev/null &

reboot and test :)

systemctl reboot

if everything has been done properly, you will see the splash babooshka.tv logo

• add testing video in ~/BABOOSHKA.TV/VIDEO/ directory
• check playlist (that the video link has been added)
• click PLAY on your remote
• if something went wrong, see Debug section below

Cosmetic polishing

Edit /boot/cmdline.txt. Make sure that you have console=tty3 quiet consoleblank=0 and logo.nologo, this is my cmdline:

console=serial0,115200 console=tty3 quiet consoleblank=0 loglevel=1 root=PARTUUID=6c586e13-02 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait logo.nologo

Disable blinking cursor (probably not required)

vt.global_cursor_default=0

Remove tty login service to eliminate blinking cursor

sudo systemctl disable getty@tty1

Additional software

If' you're going to watch videos from YouTube, Vimeo and so on, this packages would be required. Most porbably probably would beed to install youtube-dl globally. So do that with sudo -H .... It would be recommended wor futher compatibility.

apt install mkvtoolnix python-pip
pip install -U youtube-dl

Usage

converting video. Note -level 3.0 option! it is required for RPi HW codec. I've been breaking by brain until found that RPi HW codec can't play low profile (or maybe it is driver limitation). However here is some technical details, if you interested in.

ffmpeg -i FILEIN -vcodec libx264 -preset slow -level 3.0 -b 700k -s 720x404 FILEOUT

upload new video from local PC

scp <your_super_cool_kitten_flick.mp4>  <babooshka>:BABOOSHKA.TV/VIDEO/

download new video from youtube (on device)

youtube-dl -f 'bestvideo[vcodec=avc1][height<=720]+bestaudio/best[abr<=120]' --merge-output-format mp4 -o '%(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s' <youtube link>

click PLAY button and enjoy :)

Debug

tail -F /tmp/babooshka.log

Known bugs

• Not changing the state on finish (WATCHED) if video has been resumed (time of resuming is disregarded)

Todo

• WiFi auto-reconnect, probably sudo iw dev wlan0 set power_save off would be helpful
• youtube-dl, autoupdate
• youtube-dl download from downloadlist
• check free storage space
• auto removing of old videos + commenting in playlist
• splash info, Nth video from COUNT videos
• Make a single package

Extras

Download this nice babooshka.tv sticker and logo

Publications

Babooshka tv, как самодельный видео-показатор сместил «точку сборки» моих пожилых родителей [ habr.com, 15.07.2020, rus ]

License

Copyright © 2020 Dmitry Shalnov [interplaymedium.org]

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this files except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Donate

If you would like to contribute to a project, you can always help with a penny. See donation links on the main page.