RPi 3 As Media Center And Torrent Box

[nipunkx]

Is it possible to stream the movies that I download using RPi 3 (stored in a pen drive/hard disk connected to RPi) to LED TV by means of Upnp or DLNA? (My TV does support UpNP and DLNA)

 

[Appys]

Yes, in kodi enable library sharing via upnp or else enable samba.did you buy it already?

 

[sam9s]

Is it possible to stream the movies that I download using RPi 3 (stored in a pen drive/hard disk connected to RPi) to LED TV by means of Upnp or DLNA? (My TV does support UpNP and DLNA)

Yes use BubbleUPnP to achieve that, easily ....

 

[nipunkx]

My friend is coming from US by end of July, so I was surfing through Amzon and found this link:
https://www.amazon.com/Vilros-Raspb...530720&sr=1-13&keywords=Vilros+Raspberry+Pi+3

Its an RPi3 Package for 67.99 USD. Will come around 4750 INR. I am getting a 32GB sd card and a HDMI cable.
Confused whether I should go for it or get it from any local Indian dealer from Amazon.in.
Can you guys please suggest if its a good deal?

 

[sam9s]

its ok but there are lots of things that are worthless, like I dont think you will need a 32 GB CLass 10 card for any purpose Rpi is used for. Plus heat sink another unnecessary accessory. If you go seperate I think you should be able to get all under 4000. All you need is Rpi3, case, card and charger. or try this

http://www.amazon.in/Raspberry-Pi-M...1467618735&sr=8-2&keywords=raspberry+pi+3+kit

 

[Ajay_k73]

Yes use BubbleUPnP to achieve that, easily ....

Sam, I do not understand exactly his question and your answer. Will you elaborate further please?

If movies are in USB drive which are connected to RPi and RPi is connected to TV (Through HDMI) then we won't require uPnP or DLNA

If movies are in android phone then using BubbleUPnP we can able to play through RPi. In that case TV does not require uPnP or DLNA.

So what exactly his scenario?

 

[nipunkx]

So what exactly his scenario?

Ajay, let me clarify my scenario.
I will connect a 128 GB pendrive to RPI and using any torrent plugin of OPENELEC, I will download and store movies to the pendrive.
Now the scenario is, if there is no wired connectivity between TV and RPI3, but both using same wifi network and since RPI3 is having inbuild WIFI, will I be able to stream movies stored in the pendrive to TV using UPNP functionality available for OPENELEC? If i can stream KODI as such even better.

Forgive me if there is any thing foolish in the query.

 

[sam9s]

Sam, I do not understand exactly his question and your answer. Will you elaborate further please?

If movies are in USB drive which are connected to RPi and RPi is connected to TV (Through HDMI) then we won't require uPnP or DLNA

If movies are in android phone then using BubbleUPnP we can able to play through RPi. In that case TV does not require uPnP or DLNA.

So what exactly his scenario?

I just answered his query actually, and the ans was yes ... But yes if Rpi running Kodi is connected to TV via HDMi, there is no need for DLNA.

Ajay, let me clarify my scenario.
I will connect a 128 GB pendrive to RPI and using any torrent plugin of OPENELEC, I will download and store movies to the pendrive.
Now the scenario is, if there is no wired connectivity between TV and RPI3, but both using same wifi network and since RPI3 is having inbuild WIFI, will I be able to stream movies stored in the pendrive to TV using UPNP functionality available for OPENELEC? If i can stream KODI as such even better.

Forgive me if there is any thing foolish in the query.

Now that you have explained it more explicitly, I have to ask (apologies I think I should have asked it earlier). Is you Rpi running Kodi connected to TV via HDMI, if yes then you would not need DLNA/UPnP. You can directly browse your media files on ext hadd via Kodi and play it. Tell me if this is not the case here.

 

[nipunkx]

Now that you have explained it more explicitly, I have to ask (apologies I think I should have asked it earlier). Is you Rpi running Kodi connected to TV via HDMI, if yes then you would not need DLNA/UPnP. You can directly browse your media files on ext hadd via Kodi and play it. Tell me if this is not the case here.

Sam, that is the best case scenario where I will connect RPi to TV via HDMI port and browse the media files via Kodi and play.

The worst scenario was the one I asked. Where I will have to keep RPi in a different room long away from TV room and its not feasible to run a HDMI wire. Hope in such situation UPNP can be activated in OPENELEC to get the movies streaming over wifi?

 

[haisaikat]

Guys, I have a question here since I was thinking of setting up a similar download box using deluge on raspbian.

The question is around using a Pendrive vs a Hard Drive. Pendrive comes cheaper than a hard drive and I see the VFM size is 32GB for ~ Rs 500. Now my question is how long a 32GB pendrive will last considering continuous read-write for P2P File sharing applications. Side by side I see that on amazon.in there are refurb hard drives being sold for a few 100 rupees more with higher capacity. The difference is that those are 3.5 inches and that calls for a separate power supply but wondering how much a pen drive will last we may have to rethink this aspect. Moreover the concept of a 24x7 download box for a home / personal user will only come when the download speed is such that it will take several hours for a file to download and hence we may think of putting several files for download at once where a 32GB hard drive will have limitations compared to a higher capacity hard drive. Suggestions welcome

I had a second question about RPI write speeds where someone mentioned 64mbps. So is it mbps or MBps? My internet connection is 3 mbps day and 6 mbps night but with peering I get upto 10 MBps from file to file which is ~ 80 mbps. So thought of asking this. Again its not a big putdown considering convenience and power saving but thought of asking. Also is it for single download or all downloads combined?

One third question, will you not think that an RPI 1 / 2 will save more power due to slower processor speeds than an RPI 3 considering download box alternates?

 

[sam9s]

Sam, that is the best case scenario where I will connect RPi to TV via HDMI port and browse the media files via Kodi and play.

The worst scenario was the one I asked. Where I will have to keep RPi in a different room long away from TV room and its not feasible to run a HDMI wire. Hope in such situation UPNP can be activated in OPENELEC to get the movies streaming over wifi?

Yes that can be achieved, (your TV should be able to act as UPnP renderer) via UPnP, Bubble UPnP is the best out there, purchase it if possible its hardly couple of 100 bucks and its worth it. Make sure UPnP is selected under OpenELEC settings.

 

[nipunkx]

Yes that can be achieved, (your TV should be able to act as UPnP renderer) via UPnP, Bubble UPnP is the best out there, purchase it if possible its hardly couple of 100 bucks and its worth it. Make sure UPnP is selected under OpenELEC settings.

Thanks a lot Sam. You simply rock! :clapping:

 

[sam9s]

The question is around using a Pendrive vs a Hard Drive. Pendrive comes cheaper than a hard drive and I see the VFM size is 32GB for ~ Rs 500. Now my question is how long a 32GB pendrive will last considering continuous read-write for P2P File sharing applications. Side by side I see that on amazon.in there are refurb hard drives being sold for a few 100 rupees more with higher capacity. The difference is that those are 3.5 inches and that calls for a separate power supply but wondering how much a pen drive will last we may have to rethink this aspect. Moreover the concept of a 24x7 download box for a home / personal user will only come when the download speed is such that it will take several hours for a file to download and hence we may think of putting several files for download at once where a 32GB hard drive will have limitations compared to a higher capacity hard drive. Suggestions welcome

Thats a very subjective question, solid state drive life depends on various factors, usualy the number of read/write cycles performed, it also depends on the type of memory used, good high quality pen drives uses A grade memory and hence will have better read write cycles and last long. I however would not want any critical data left on pendrive. Sure it can be used as torrent box, but the data should be copied immidiately.

Also I would never suggest a used HDD reason I already explained abovem you will bever know how may read/write hits the HDD have taken irespective of the age of the HDD.

I had a second question about RPI write speeds where someone mentioned 64mbps. So is it mbps or MBps? My internet connection is 3 mbps day and 6 mbps night but with peering I get upto 10 MBps from file to file which is ~ 80 mbps. So thought of asking this. Again its not a big putdown considering convenience and power saving but thought of asking. Also is it for single download or all downloads combined?

I dont know from where did this data come from, Rpi write speed 64mbps???? Rpi is an SBC, just like a normal desktop, read write speed, will depend on the memory card you have inserted in it. Class 10 mem card has a theoretical speed of 10MBps, Class 2 has 1MBps. And why are you mixing broadband speed with Rpi mem card speed. Both have no relation what so ever, you can have a 100mbps broadband connection and can still use class 2 mem card (1MBps speed) to download a file on it.

Hope that made some sense.

One third question, will you not think that an RPI 1 / 2 will save more power due to slower processor speeds than an RPI 3 considering download box alternates?

Marginal difference, so insignificant that it would hardly make any difference. All are below 5 W is all I know. Pi 2 B+ is 2.xx W I guess I dont remember, but 1-2W here and there would not make a difference, even if you are running it 24x7.

 

[regeHA]

Guys, I have a question here since I was thinking of setting up a similar download box using deluge on raspbian.

The question is around using a Pendrive vs a Hard Drive. Pendrive comes cheaper than a hard drive and I see the VFM size is 32GB for ~ Rs 500. Now my question is how long a 32GB pendrive will last considering continuous read-write for P2P File sharing applications. Side by side I see that on amazon.in there are refurb hard drives being sold for a few 100 rupees more with higher capacity. The difference is that those are 3.5 inches and that calls for a separate power supply but wondering how much a pen drive will last we may have to rethink this aspect. Moreover the concept of a 24x7 download box for a home / personal user will only come when the download speed is such that it will take several hours for a file to download and hence we may think of putting several files for download at once where a 32GB hard drive will have limitations compared to a higher capacity hard drive. Suggestions welcome

I got the USB because I wanted to limit the read/write cycles on the SD card, which is more prone to breakdown/limited number of cycles than USB. I'd go with USB and simply use WinSCP to transfer files to PC overnight. Hardly takes much time. The idea of using Pi was low power consumption, so why add an externally powered HDD. Also, the prices are coming down... even a 128 GB pen drive is relatively cheaper now than from a year ago.

I used my pen drive 24/7 for 6 months, no issues.

I had a second question about RPI write speeds where someone mentioned 64mbps. So is it mbps or MBps? My internet connection is 3 mbps day and 6 mbps night but with peering I get upto 10 MBps from file to file which is ~ 80 mbps. So thought of asking this. Again its not a big putdown considering convenience and power saving but thought of asking. Also is it for single download or all downloads combined?

I meant transfer speeds and not read/write speeds. Apologies for any confusion.

Bits is always internet speed so 60 mbps is megabits per second, bytes are always file size i.e. 700 MB CD. You would not interchange them. In theory you could always mutiply or divide by 8 to convert between mb and mB, but all ISPs (including US) list speeds in megabits.

The Pi gives a max transfer speed of 65 megabits per second. In theory its limited to 100 mbps (ethernet + USB shared BUS) but I've never gotten that speed. Maybe with m.2 one might, but I'm using SSD and getting those speeds.

One third question, will you not think that an RPI 1 / 2 will save more power due to slower processor speeds than an RPI 3 considering download box alternates?

Really not much of a difference. Go with Pi 3 for inbuilt wireless.

 

[haisaikat]

Thats a very subjective question, solid state drive life depends on various factors, usualy the number of read/write cycles performed, it also depends on the type of memory used, good high quality pen drives uses A grade memory and hence will have better read write cycles and last long. I however would not want any critical data left on pendrive. Sure it can be used as torrent box, but the data should be copied immidiately.

Also I would never suggest a used HDD reason I already explained abovem you will bever know how may read/write hits the HDD have taken irespective of the age of the HDD.

read my point at the end

I dont know from where did this data come from, Rpi write speed 64mbps???? Rpi is an SBC, just like a normal desktop, read write speed, will depend on the memory card you have inserted in it. Class 10 mem card has a theoretical speed of 10MBps, Class 2 has 1MBps. And why are you mixing broadband speed with Rpi mem card speed. Both have no relation what so ever, you can have a 100mbps broadband connection and can still use class 2 mem card (1MBps speed) to download a file on it.

Hope that made some sense.

Isn't the relationship between speed of broadband and mem card write speed obvious? I mean if I am downloading a 15 Gig file at peering of 80 mbps and my mem card write speed is just 1MBps ~ 8 mbps then the added advantage of download speed I am unable to realize correct? Had it been reverse then that is more of a normal scenario where some softwares even reduce effective write cycles by using a cache to increase life of the medium.

combining the above two, I am thinking whether to invest in a costly pen drive which costs almost ~ 1000 rupees or spend ~ 3500 rupees for a 500 GB hard drive. what is unknown is probably the relative longevity of the two. If a ~ 1000 rupees pen drive lasts 1 year then I would go for pen drive option and take advantage of decreasing pen drive costs YoY to buy another pen drive after a year of may be greater capacity, after all I do not need 500 GB entirely for a download box.

 

[haisaikat]

I got the USB because I wanted to limit the read/write cycles on the SD card, which is more prone to breakdown/limited number of cycles than USB. I'd go with USB and simply use WinSCP to transfer files to PC overnight. Hardly takes much time. The idea of using Pi was low power consumption, so why add an externally powered HDD. Also, the prices are coming down... even a 128 GB pen drive is relatively cheaper now than from a year ago.

I used my pen drive 24/7 for 6 months, no issues.

thanks, that's the statistics I am looking for, this helps. what make and size and for how much? for file transfer I would probably use a samba program install on the pi so that I can run samba shares.

I meant transfer speeds and not read/write speeds. Apologies for any confusion.

Bits is always internet speed so 60 mbps is megabits per second, bytes are always file size i.e. 700 MB CD. You would not interchange them. In theory you could always mutiply or divide by 8 to convert between mb and mB, but all ISPs (including US) list speeds in megabits.

The Pi gives a max transfer speed of 65 megabits per second. In theory its limited to 100 mbps (ethernet + USB shared BUS) but I've never gotten that speed. Maybe with m.2 one might, but I'm using SSD and getting those speeds.

Now that is clear, Ethernet download + usb write =100 mbps so one will impact the other one. Probably then no point in buying high speed pen drives

Really not much of a difference. Go with Pi 3 for inbuilt wireless.

I will probably go with project folks selling sparingly used RPI2 on OLX for ~ 1500 (bargain price). I usually prefer less wireless and more wired since my home is wifi G (old school WRT54GL + 9 dbi antenna optimized for range and not throughput). But overall your posts gave me the insights I am looking for.

Only one last thing, what power supply are you using? SMPS based or transformer based?

 

[regeHA]

thanks, that's the statistics I am looking for, this helps. what make and size and for how much? for file transfer I would probably use a samba program install on the pi so that I can run samba shares.

Now that is clear, Ethernet download + usb write =100 mbps so one will impact the other one. Probably then no point in buying high speed pen drives

SanDisk 128 GB, USB 3.0. USB 2.0 will suffice, but do note it will half the 60 mbps for transfers... so you are looking at double the transfer time at 30-35 mbps even via network or when you unplug and plug into a PC or USB hub.

USB 3.0 pen drives cost nearly the same as USB 2.0 and considering the faster speeds I'd recommend USB 3.0.

I will probably go with project folks selling sparingly used RPI2 on OLX for ~ 1500 (bargain price). I usually prefer less wireless and more wired since my home is wifi G (old school WRT54GL + 9 dbi antenna optimized for range and not throughput). But overall your posts gave me the insights I am looking for.

Only one last thing, what power supply are you using? SMPS based or transformer based?

I'm using Pi 2, very happy with it.

I'm using an SMPS mobile charger for power supply, albeit a good quality one from Sony. 5V, 2.1A.

 

[Ajay_k73]

Yes that can be achieved, (your TV should be able to act as UPnP renderer) via UPnP, Bubble UPnP is the best out there, purchase it if possible its hardly couple of 100 bucks and its worth it. Make sure UPnP is selected under OpenELEC settings.

I don't think this way it is possible. He want Miracast like feature. While using Buble UPNp we can stream music/video but can't cast the screen.

 

[regeHA]

I don't think this way it is possible. He want Miracast like feature. While using Buble UPNp we can stream music/video but can't cast the screen.

Screen casting is native to all Android phones since version 5. Just need a Chromecast.

 

[Ajay_k73]

Screen casting is native to all Android phones since version 5. Just need a Chromecast.

Here in this case. we are not discussing about phone. We want to play content using rpi (may be using kodi) and play it on TV (Which is not a smart one) and not physically connected to rpi.

Just tried different thing, I am able to push media from my windows 7 PC to my smartphone. it plays perfectly. Reverse thing does not happened. The same we want to achieve using rpi.