Using Raspberry Pi with Raspbmc & Humax HDR Foxt2
You may also be able to use open ELEC but I haven’t tried this as for some time as I found raspbmc worked better for me.
You will need:
A Humax HDR FOX T 2 with DLNA Enabled, networked (mine is via ethernet)
Optional – for HD content – Custom Firmware Installed and auto-unprotect package installed
(I’m not covering how to do this on this post, I’m assuming you have already enabled DLNA and tested it on your PC/Mac via VLC or whatever your program of choice is)
Raspberry Pi (again networked - mine is via ethernet)
Power Supply with enough amps for the pi – most problems people experience are due to power supplies that do not provide enough current.
2gb or greater SD (class 6 or above recommended but will work with slower card)
SD Card Reader – note my Dell internal reader wouldn’t produce a writable image – I used a usb SD reader and it worked no problem.
HDMI Cable
One of the following for control of XBMC:
- TV that supports CEC (control of device via tv remote / hdmi)
- USB Keyboard
You will also need to buy mpeg2 license keys for streaming of non HD content, read later on how to get the serial number off your raspberry pi (needed to purchase the keys).
One of the following (to access terminal and get serial number of pi to purchase keys for mpeg2):
- Usb Keyboard
- SSH client on your pc / mac / tablet mpeg2 keys)
Getting Raspbmc
http://www.raspbmc.com/download/ - go for the gui launcher version.
Once downloaded connect SD card to PC
Run the and run the gui as administrator (right click) if on vista / 7.
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Select your SD device – and click install,
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Note – this will download & install a base installer to your sd card that will boot on the raspberry pi then connect to the internet & download then partition your SD card – windows cannot read more than the 1st partition on removable media – to be able to use your sd card again there is a restore device for formatting button on the raspbmc installer.
Linux / Mac’s don’t have this limitation.
It will tell you when it's completed
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Safely remove the SD card from windows and put it in your raspberry pi
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Connect you pi up to your TV, I’m careful and always connect everything then power on the power supply.
After a few seconds you’ll go from rainbow boot screen, to linux loading, to the installer – it will do all it needs and take 10 – 25 mins depending on the speed of your internet connection and the speed / Size of the SD card you are using.
Eventually after several restarts youll be in XBMC now we need to get the serial of the cpu so you can buy the keys.
On your USB keyboard press S, then select Exit
At this point my tv goes into standby so turn it back on with the remote, then press ESC on the keyboard
You now need to login with the following details
Username: pi
Password: raspberry
You will be asked to set your regional information, locale etc and finally thrown back to the shell.
Now type
cat /proc/cpuinfo
you will get all the information about your pi including the serial number
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type
exit then press return twice and you’ll be back in XBMC on your pi
press S then this time choose shutdown, power off your pi.
Now you can go to
http://www.raspberrypi.com/license-keys/ on your pc/mac/tablet and buy your key for mpeg2, I purchased VC1 as well.
The keys can take up to 72 hours, mine were 12 hours, my friends almost instant.
once you have the keys we need to add them to the SD card so making sure the pi is powered off remove the SD card and put it back in your PC and you will see a 60/70MB partition
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In here is a file called config.txt, we need to add the keys – DO NOT USE NOTEPAD on PC! The linux files have a different line feed / carriage return and it can cause problems.
Open the file with WordPad or NotePad ++ (
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/)
Add your license keys (I have 2, one for MPEG2 and one for VC1) then save + close the file
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Safely remove the SD card and insert into the raspberry pi and power it on.
Now we can stream some recordings!
Using the USB Keyboard arrow keys and return, move to VIDEOS and press return
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move to files and press return
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move to add videos and press return
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Right arrow to move to BROWSE them press return
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move to UPNP Devices and press return
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Select your HDR FOX T2 Media Server and press return (I have Media Tomb running as well – please ignore that)
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Select My Contents then press return
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Select My Video then press return
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Press left arrow on keyboard and select OK
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Move press DOWN arrow on keyboard and select OK
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XBMC can automatically scrape the internet for information & thumbnails, I don’t bother so just move down to exclude this folder from scans and press return then down to OK and press return
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When the warning appears select no then press return
You’ll never have to do that again! You now have HDR-FOX T2 Media Server listed under videos
Press return to select it. Using the arrow keys and return find the file you want to play and press... you guessed it RETURN!
After a few seconds your file will play, you will see a stutter for the first few seconds
Proof
Alien 3 in HD from Channel 4 HD:
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Aliens in SD:
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Total Recall / Runing Man HD
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If you get audio only for SD content then your license key isn’t working, make sure you use notepad ++ or wordpad, I did have my keys issued twice as the first were incorrect.
I haven’t listed it here but my TV remote works, I can also enable subtitles.
The Humax built in DLNA server doesn’t enable fast forward or rewind, this is a limitation of their implementation not the pi, I tried mediatomb and that didn’t allow it for me either.
