Roku – A Scott Odyssey

After I setup my Raspberry Pi 2 Saturday I did some research on media center options for the Pi. My primary objective with my Pi was to setup my own media center set top box to replace my aging Google TV. I was never a fan of the Google TV however at the time it was the only device that would let me run Plex with a UI that looked any good. The Roku was horrible and still isn’t so good. Apple TV I used for a while but keep having trouble with the Jailbreak. A few simple searches lead me to Rasplex. Resplex looked easy enough and appeared to have everything I want in Plex client.

Saturday night when I checked my mail I also saw my Pi 2 case had arrived. The Pi 2 case looked much nicer than the original aftermarket clear case I got for my original Pi.

I used nap time Sunday to attempt to set it up. The install was even quicker than my plain vanilla Raspberry Pi install. I had my media content running on my Pi in very quickly. I didn’t get a chance to try out the software more than a few minutes but I liked what I saw enough to move onto the next challenge using a Pi as a media center brings me.

I do not want to use my mini keyboard to control the Pi. I set out to find a Pi compatible IR receiver so I can use my Logitech Harmony One remote with it. That was something I cannot do with my Sony Google TV. It annoys me and MC doesn’t like two remotes. I found a USB IR receiver that what appears to be the perfect solution for me. I also bought a bluetooth USB adapter for the Pi. With those two additional adapters I think I have all the accessories I need to leverage the Pi as my media center.

Once I am able to program my Harmony One to use with the Pi I will give it a test run. All in my costs will be nearly $90. For that price I could have gone out and bought an Android TV device or an Kindle Fire TV. I could also have continued to use my Google TV with no extra cost however I have been actively trying to avoid using google products. The Google TV is the last thing I rely on from Google for my personal use. That is another reason to hope the Pi suits my personal needs.

I am also interested in some additional configurations I can try on the Pi. For example I would like to try out OSMC a Kodi variant for the Pi. All I need to do is swap out the memory card and I have a completely different config without messing up my Rasplex setup. I would also like to investigate some music and video streaming options, however OSMC is up first after I bake in the Plex setup.

I have had an AppleTV since the first generation one came out years ago. When the second-generation one came out I pick that up and sold the original on eBay. I have loved the idea of an AppleTV for years. I have even made my own homegrown media center on several occasions. If you read this blog you’ll read about several of those iterations. The problem is in practice I really haven’t had huge luck with the AppleTVs. The second-generation AppleTV I currently have has been replaced with a Mac Mini running Plex media center. That has been my media center of choice for a while. I have tried the Boxer box, and the Roku. with both of those I was hoping to plug into my media centers the a library, and with the Roku to use it as a front end for Plex. neither of those options worked out very well. All along the AppleTV has been powered on but not plugged into my TV. I would plug it in to music, but not really using it for TV. I have been generally lazy and didn’t want to jailbreak it. The Mac Mini has functioned generally well so I was in no rush to try anything different again. since my move I have had some more buggy experiences with the Mac Mini then the previous two years or so I’ve had it. It wasn’t enough for me to go making drastic changes, that is until I read that the Plex team had made a front end for the jailbroken AppleTV. So I gave jailbreaking a shot. At first I thought I had bricked the AppleTV, but after about two days of leaving it plugged in and I forgot about it. I turned on my TV and it had worked. I got really lucky.

After the small drama in jailbreaking, it was trivial to get Plex installed. After it was installed I ran into some problems with choppiness of the video. I fixed that by tweaking some of the bit rate settings. Since then it has been working perfectly. I got even luckier when less than a week after I had configured Plex Apple announced that Hulu is now available on the device. I covered that in another blog post.

For right now the AppleTV is now my main media center. I still have my Mac Mini. It’s needed to run the Plex server, and host all the videos and music on my Drobo. it is just not plugged into my TV anymore. It has been an pre-smooth experience so far. MC likes it that she can stream music again directly to the AppleTV without me having to plug it in or read it up since it is now always attached to the television.

We still have a TiVo, and use it for a DVR. Longer-term I would love to find a way to use Hulu, the Internet, and my AppleTV to replace TiVo and and really expensive cable bill. We are not quite there yet in trying that out.