"In flight entertainment" on your bus

[dbsoundman]

Hi all, I just mentioned my little setup in a separate thread and thought I'd start documenting what I've done here for those that might be curious.

The goal was to have a small media server on the bus to which my passengers could connect via wifi and stream movies and TV shows on their mobile devices without any special apps. The media would all be local to the bus so I didn't have to use mobile data. Think "in flight wifi".

What I used:
- Raspberry Pi (I had a 3B hanging around but I would recommend getting a 4)
- 256 GB USB drive

What it does:
- Provides a wifi hotspot with password
- Redirects clients to the media server application if they open a web browser and type "watch.tv" in the address bar
- Hosts as many movies and TV shows as I could fit on said 256 GB drive

How it does:
- USB drive is used for media storage; again, as many TV shows and movies as I could fit. You'll want to find video formats that don't need "transcoding", I've found that MKV and AVI formats work well. I chose to sacrifice playback quality for file size; more lower definition content rather than a small amount of HD content.
- Uses RaspAP to provide a simple to manage wifi hotspot. RaspAP gives you a web browser interface to set up the wireless network name, password, and other parameters.
- Has a custom dnsmasq configuration file to redirect clients from "watch.tv" to the media server's IP address
- Has custom iptables rules to redirect clients on the media server's IP port 80 or 443 to the media server's port (Emby uses a nonstandard port number) (I don't have the details on this in front of me but I can get them later on)
- Uses Emby as the actual media server. Emby sorts media automatically (if you have an internet connection) and provides a great web interface for watching content without the Emby app on client devices.

I'm currently reworking my system as I found it would overheat in the Florida heat, so once I put it back together I'll document more of the configuration here for others to use if they'd like. In the meantime I'm happy to answer questions, I'm sure I forgot something in my brief explanation!

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by dbsoundman

Hi all, I just mentioned my little setup in a separate thread and thought I'd start documenting what I've done here for those that might be curious.

The goal was to have a small media server on the bus to which my passengers could connect via wifi and stream movies and TV shows on their mobile devices without any special apps. The media would all be local to the bus so I didn't have to use mobile data. Think "in flight wifi".

What I used:
- Raspberry Pi (I had a 3B hanging around but I would recommend getting a 4)
- 256 GB USB drive

What it does:
- Provides a wifi hotspot with password
- Redirects clients to the media server application if they open a web browser and type "watch.tv" in the address bar
- Hosts as many movies and TV shows as I could fit on said 256 GB drive

How it does:
- USB drive is used for media storage; again, as many TV shows and movies as I could fit. You'll want to find video formats that don't need "transcoding", I've found that MKV and AVI formats work well. I chose to sacrifice playback quality for file size; more lower definition content rather than a small amount of HD content.
- Uses RaspAP to provide a simple to manage wifi hotspot. RaspAP gives you a web browser interface to set up the wireless network name, password, and other parameters.
- Has a custom dnsmasq configuration file to redirect clients from "watch.tv" to the media server's IP address
- Has custom iptables rules to redirect clients on the media server's IP port 80 or 443 to the media server's port (Emby uses a nonstandard port number) (I don't have the details on this in front of me but I can get them later on)
- Uses Emby as the actual media server. Emby sorts media automatically (if you have an internet connection) and provides a great web interface for watching content without the Emby app on client devices.

I'm currently reworking my system as I found it would overheat in the Florida heat, so once I put it back together I'll document more of the configuration here for others to use if they'd like. In the meantime I'm happy to answer questions, I'm sure I forgot something in my brief explanation!

my RPI didnt like the florida heat either.. so I changed cases to a Heat sink case and then put the heat sink case in a box with a couple fans.. (one in one out) in the DEV bus I put the pi inside the A/C cabinet.. since that bus is a literal hotbox I have the A/C on almost anytime im driving in warm weather..



in the redbyrd this gets trickier as the RPI is for the glass-cockpit project and was back-packed behind the touchscreen.. so far ive done OK with it in the dash cavity where the switches are and in a Heat-sink case.. but that bus hasnt been driven down to florida with the pi inside there yet.. I dont yet have dash A/C in that bus.. the bus unit is on the ceiling at the rear (6 window bus)... im activerly working on installing dash air in which case I'll likely put the pi near where it gets A/C..



the heat-sink cases for me were a game changer.. a metal fan case with heat sinks on all 4 chips might also work.. I have yet to try that.



im using RPI 4's , they are much faster for media and for any kind of heavier processing than the 3's. I run the aarch64 versions of Linux on them so you get 64 bit kernel.

[Spaznaut]

What display are you all using for playback and where are you mounting yours?

[dbsoundman]

Originally Posted by Spaznaut

What display are you all using for playback and where are you mounting yours?

The pi doesn’t have a display, I’m using my mobile device or laptop to watch, connected over wifi.

[cadillackid]

for me and my switch panel I have a pi 7 inch and pi 10" display that plugs into the display ports inside on the pi board.. the touch screen uses an internal header or a USB port..