READY TO STREAM? LETS GO!
But oh no! Why won't my videos load?
Chances are, you got a new Raspberry Pi 3, plugged it in with your new n00bs SD card, installed OSMC, and then started having issues immediately. As someone relatively new to the Linux world, and even newer to the wonderful world of IOT devices, I admit that I have been infected by a lifelong Microsoft virus that tricks my mind into believing I can just "plug and play", but we are no longer in a plug and play kind of world. Because of the fact that humanity's introduction to computer technology lacked an integral core foundation to the infrastructure of how it all works, 90 percent of computer users are completely clueless, and vulnerable to being pwned by a huge plethora of exploitation's created by those who DO know how it all works.
Ok so what does that have to do with configurations? Plenty, because if you don't secure your IOT devices, video lag will be the least of your problems. I promise you that, but no worries! I'm going to break it all down for you, and walk you through everything I have done to get the best streaming experience I can out of my Pi 3. That being said, every chip is different, and you may have to tweak your own configs to get a seamless experience.
Everything I'm going to present is a culmination of extensive research I've put it, as well as personally tweaking, and in some cases (completely destroying my OS...hey it happens...) But the end result is a secure, stable, and functionable open source media center that you can use to stream virtually anything, (and gain some bragging rights) as I can say pretty confidently that most of your friends would give up before getting anywhere near a system that works. Sure n00bs makes it easy, but also creates some issues. We want a clean install of OSMC, no n00bs recovery. So lets get started.
Things you will need: (hardware)
It seems like a pretty obvious list, but I want this guide to be easily understood for everyone, regardless of your skill or comprehension level.
Download the image file:
When you hit the power button you will be presented with this screen asking you what you would like to do. Hit the top option (Exit) The next screen you will see is the blue OSMC screen. You will have about 3 seconds to hit esc. Upon doing this you will be presented with the login screen. The default username and password is osmc in lowercase. Once your logged in, follow the instructions in the above link to set a new user name and password.
I can't stress enough how essential this step is. With a default username and password it really is only a matter of time before your system is compromised, and most likely used for malicious and/or illegal activity that could lead to a direct visit to you from the local authorities. They will presume your a guilty criminal and treat you like crud, while you sit there wondering how and why the police just showed up and confiscated your little 35 dollars chip....It doesn't have to happen to you. Don't let it. P.S( don't change the username. There is a known bug that is associated with it) The password is what is important.
Ok no problem! A new password is set up. Can I stream now?
If you made it this far you probably think a good high def movie or TV series is just a click away, and if you were on a computer this would be the case, but we're working with a budget chip here. Your going to be pushing this thing to the max and then some. Don't be discouraged though. I overclocked this little bugger, and ran into all kinds of instability problems!, but I finally managed to get a working config that functions quite well, and that is what I am now going to share with you.
At the bottom of your OSMC selections list you will encounter "my osmc" this is the tab you need to click on. Next you will see some icons. Click on the one that looks like a spedometer, and reads "pi overclock"
BE ADVISED THAT OVERCLOCKING CAN POTENTIALLY CAUSE DAMAGE TO YOUR HARDWARE, SHORTEN THE LIFE SPAN, AND EVEN BURN OUT YOUR HARDWARE.
If you assume this risk then lets do this! Copy these value I give you. I've clocked this chip higher than this with instability , but no overheating. Make sure your using heatsinks. THIS CONFIG HAS NOT BEEN TESTED ON A CHIP WITHOUT A HEATSINK.
"How do I get addons"?
This is where I tell you to google the best kodi/osmc addons. I won't list any because there are some grey areas regarding the legalities of streaming free media. I will keep my opinion to myself in that regards. I promise you will have no problem finding the apps. If you are unsure if the media your streaming has any digital copyright restrictions , you may want to check the laws where you live, and using a VPN is never a bad idea, but that is a whole other tutorial.
I really hope my efforts involved in this tutorial help people get an easy start to streaming with a Raspberry Pi 3. The time and effort is very gratifying. Good luck, and happy streaming!
Chances are, you got a new Raspberry Pi 3, plugged it in with your new n00bs SD card, installed OSMC, and then started having issues immediately. As someone relatively new to the Linux world, and even newer to the wonderful world of IOT devices, I admit that I have been infected by a lifelong Microsoft virus that tricks my mind into believing I can just "plug and play", but we are no longer in a plug and play kind of world. Because of the fact that humanity's introduction to computer technology lacked an integral core foundation to the infrastructure of how it all works, 90 percent of computer users are completely clueless, and vulnerable to being pwned by a huge plethora of exploitation's created by those who DO know how it all works.
Ok so what does that have to do with configurations? Plenty, because if you don't secure your IOT devices, video lag will be the least of your problems. I promise you that, but no worries! I'm going to break it all down for you, and walk you through everything I have done to get the best streaming experience I can out of my Pi 3. That being said, every chip is different, and you may have to tweak your own configs to get a seamless experience.
Everything I'm going to present is a culmination of extensive research I've put it, as well as personally tweaking, and in some cases (completely destroying my OS...hey it happens...) But the end result is a secure, stable, and functionable open source media center that you can use to stream virtually anything, (and gain some bragging rights) as I can say pretty confidently that most of your friends would give up before getting anywhere near a system that works. Sure n00bs makes it easy, but also creates some issues. We want a clean install of OSMC, no n00bs recovery. So lets get started.
Things you will need: (hardware)
- Rasberry Pi 3
- HDMI cable
- 5 volt Pi3 power supply
- TV or monitor for Pi
- a computer (Linux OS's make this a little easier) * OSMC uses Linux platform
- 8 gig minimum SD card
It seems like a pretty obvious list, but I want this guide to be easily understood for everyone, regardless of your skill or comprehension level.
Download the image file:
There are countless tutorials on how to write an image to an SD card so if your not sure how to do it, google how to write image to sd card with (windows, linux, mac ect..) Make sure to google the Distro your using for this. I only use Linux so for me it was as easy as using disk image writer!
So if you are now able to insert your SD card into your Pi 3 and start up OSMC , you've made it about as far as most people, but sadly thats where it ends for the vast majority, they simply do not know what they should do next. If you find yourself just staring at an empty media player like "what do I do now" , You're not alone! It can be a bit overwhelming, but your lucky because much work has already been done!
Security!!!!!!!
Ok we're up and running. Time for some streaming!!!!! Right?....WRONG!!!!!
Linux systems are comprised of excellently tuned and efficient networking protocalls.
In fact the underlying system of any computer is built on unix, and in the beginning, the archaic jumbo computers were designed to communicate with one another; essentially this was their primary purpose. When you have a network of computers communicating, and sharing data, one must consider the security implications involved. If I'm the administrator of a network, and I pay employees to manage the network, I need to have some kind of security blanket right? I mean what would stop an employee with malicious intentions from copying all the sensitive information to a secure drive, and then deleting everything, and demanding payment to recoup the damages. This is pretty synonymous with the ransomware attacks that are happening as you read this.
"What does all this mean? Why should I care or worry? Isn't Linux already secure? what does he mean by security blanket"?
These may be a few questions running through your head. Well, you should care, if you don't just stop wasting your time reading this, and yes Linux is pretty secure, but I will explain.
So lucky for me if I'm a network administrator, because I'm able to set up user accounts, and assign different permissions to different files, and directories in accordance to their users. Simply put, no one can damage the network, or the files on the network if the permissions are set correctly , and the administrator (root) password is secure.
"But dude, I don't want to have a network. I just want to stream some media"!
I get it. As a newbie it may be hard to understand why all that matters. When you start up OSMC, you may not know this , but your logged in as a default user with a default password. What do you think this means? Well if I give a criminal the key to my house, what do you think he will do?
In this case I don't have to give the criminal a key. The key is common knowledge that can be found online, but many unsuspecting users won't know how vulnerable they are.
"So why would OSMC do this? I mean isn't it a major security flaw"? The short answer is yes, but it's not something there is an easy fix for. The implementation of default passwords are common in many different applications, and its the users responsibility to understand this and be proactive. OSMC provides a "plug and play" style media player. You can get it up and running really easy, and having the user credentials set like this makes it even easier, but it's designed with the idea that most of its primary users will have some Linux experience, and really users and passwords are about as newbie as it gets. So don't go expecting a warning on the download page.
Luckily OSMC provides their own instructions on how to change the default username and password. INSTRUCTIONS
If your reading this, you may not know what SSH is. It stands for secure shell, and its an excellent way to remotely control your system, but its not necessary. To use these instructions without SSH, first you need to exit out of OSMC to the terminal. This is where we get into the techy stuff. Don't worry its not that hard. This is how you get to the terminal in OSMC.
When you hit the power button you will be presented with this screen asking you what you would like to do. Hit the top option (Exit) The next screen you will see is the blue OSMC screen. You will have about 3 seconds to hit esc. Upon doing this you will be presented with the login screen. The default username and password is osmc in lowercase. Once your logged in, follow the instructions in the above link to set a new user name and password.I can't stress enough how essential this step is. With a default username and password it really is only a matter of time before your system is compromised, and most likely used for malicious and/or illegal activity that could lead to a direct visit to you from the local authorities. They will presume your a guilty criminal and treat you like crud, while you sit there wondering how and why the police just showed up and confiscated your little 35 dollars chip....It doesn't have to happen to you. Don't let it. P.S( don't change the username. There is a known bug that is associated with it) The password is what is important.
Ok no problem! A new password is set up. Can I stream now?
If you made it this far you probably think a good high def movie or TV series is just a click away, and if you were on a computer this would be the case, but we're working with a budget chip here. Your going to be pushing this thing to the max and then some. Don't be discouraged though. I overclocked this little bugger, and ran into all kinds of instability problems!, but I finally managed to get a working config that functions quite well, and that is what I am now going to share with you.
At the bottom of your OSMC selections list you will encounter "my osmc" this is the tab you need to click on. Next you will see some icons. Click on the one that looks like a spedometer, and reads "pi overclock"
BE ADVISED THAT OVERCLOCKING CAN POTENTIALLY CAUSE DAMAGE TO YOUR HARDWARE, SHORTEN THE LIFE SPAN, AND EVEN BURN OUT YOUR HARDWARE.
If you assume this risk then lets do this! Copy these value I give you. I've clocked this chip higher than this with instability , but no overheating. Make sure your using heatsinks. THIS CONFIG HAS NOT BEEN TESTED ON A CHIP WITHOUT A HEATSINK.
- arm freq 1000
- sdram freq 500
- core freq 500
- init turbo 60
- over volt 3
- sdram overvolt 3
These overclock settings dramatically improved my Pi's response time, and helped with video lag.
"So now were ready to stream right"?
Almost. These settings are adequate enough to get your player going, but your still going to have some buffer issues depending on the size of the stream. This is not a problem with the stream speed or your internet speed, it's due to the video cache setting being too low, and with an addon its been easily fixed.
This is the official website to get the easyadvancedsetting.xml addon. tvaddons.ag (advancedsettings) By installing the addon your OSMC player makes a new file, and changes the "advanced settings" of your media player. If you made it this far without any hiccups then this shouldn't be too difficult for you. I'm not going to list any values to input because this will vary depending on a few different factors. With some googling you can find different values that have worked for others.
"Let me guess we're still not ready to stream......."
Yes! You should be able to use your OSMC player now, but you need to get some addons. I would avoid streaming anything higher than 720p. The player can handle 1080p with these settings, but you will get some lag from time to time; it really is inevitable.
"How do I get addons"?
This is where I tell you to google the best kodi/osmc addons. I won't list any because there are some grey areas regarding the legalities of streaming free media. I will keep my opinion to myself in that regards. I promise you will have no problem finding the apps. If you are unsure if the media your streaming has any digital copyright restrictions , you may want to check the laws where you live, and using a VPN is never a bad idea, but that is a whole other tutorial.
I really hope my efforts involved in this tutorial help people get an easy start to streaming with a Raspberry Pi 3. The time and effort is very gratifying. Good luck, and happy streaming!
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