Video Pi

Video player that plays files from a USB stick. Designed for art installations and similar presentations. No maintenance or remote control required.

Video Pi is a software package for the Raspberry Pi mini computer.

https://video-pi.ooooo.page

Features

supports a wide range of video formats
plays all video files from a USB stick in a loop
turns on automatically when connected to power
HDMI and S-Video video output
HDMI or 3.5mm jack audio output

Supported hardware

Supported and tested:

Raspberry Pi 4
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

Supported but not tested:

Raspberry Pi 5
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B

Not supported:

Raspberry Pi 1

Installation

Install Raspberry Pi OS on your Raspberry Pi by following the installation guide.

It's recommended to use the 2023-05-03 bullseye armhf image, because certain newer versions don't play HD video smoothly.

Feel free to update software after the installation.
Download the Video Pi package and its dependency udevil:

video-pi

udevil-0.4.5
Transfer the downloaded packages to your Raspberry Pi, for example on a USB stick.
On your Raspberry Pi:
1. Install the packages:
```
sudo apt install ./udevil_*.deb ./video-pi_*.deb
```
2. Run the Video Pi installation program (as regular user):
```
video-pi-install
```
  It will:
  - Set a black wallpaper.
  - Hide the top bar.
  - Hide the trash and devices desktop icons.
  - Disable the built-in USB stick automounting, which could conflict with Video Pi's automounting system based on udevil.
3. Disable screen blanking:
```
sudo raspi-config nonint do_blanking 1
```
Reboot your Raspberry Pi.

User guide

Starting Video Pi

Make sure the HDMI or S-Video cable is connected before you power on the device.
Plug in the power source.

When the computer finishes startup, it will show a desktop with black wallpaper and no icons.

Video playback

To start playing videos, connect a USB stick with your video files. Video Pi will play all the files in alphabetical order. When it finishes the last file, it will start again with the first file without a break.

When a USB stick is connected before the device starts, Video Pi will start playing the videos immediatelly after starting up (you don't need to disconnect the USB stick and connect it again).

To play the videos in particular order, name your files with numbers or lowercase letters. Non-latin characters (with diacritics, in cyrillic etc) as well as special characters (punctuation etc) are discouraged.

Video Pi supports Full HD (1080p) video resolution.

The loop (repeat all) function is always on.

Image slideshow

You can put image files on the USB stick too. Each image will be shown for 5 seconds by default. You can change the slideshow interval by editing the /etc/video-pi/video-pi.sh file.

If you put only image files (no video or other files) on your USB stick, an image viewer program will be used for the slideshow feature, instead of a media player program. The image viewer supports additional formats such as animated GIFs, AVIF and HEIC.

Changing audio volume

Disconnect your USB stick.
Connect a mouse and move the cursor to the upper right corner of the screen.
In the top panel that appears, click the blue speaker icon with the left mouse button.

Switching between HDMI and 3.5mm jack audio output

Disconnect your USB stick.
Connect a mouse and move the cursor to the upper right corner of the screen.
In the top panel that appears, click the blue speaker icon with the right mouse button.

FAQ

Video playback is not smooth

Make sure your power supply is strong enough. Turn off wifi, turn off bluetooth, disconnect mouse and keyboard. If the power is low, you will see a gray notification or a yellow lightning icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
Try different encoding options when rendering your videos. Videos transcoded in VLC with the setting Video for MPEG4 1080p TV/device are tested to play well.
Use a more powerful Raspberry Pi model. Full HD videos with high framerate might need Raspberry Pi 4 or newer.
Lastly, you can try overclocking your Raspberry Pi.

Uninstallation

On your Raspberry Pi:

Run the Video Pi uninstallation program:
```
video-pi-uninstall
```
It will restore your desktop configuration from a backup made when installing Video Pi.
Uninstall the Video Pi package and its dependency udevil as root:
```
sudo apt --purge remove udevil video-pi
```

Support and getting involved

If you have an idea on how to improve Video Pi or if you need help using it, send me an email to:

videopi at mailbox dot org

Buy Video Pi

If you don't feel like installing Video Pi yourself, I can

lend you a Raspberry Pi with Video Pi installed for a daily price,
or I can sell it to you.

In either case, I will help you with the initial setup.

Contact:

videopi at mailbox dot org

Acknowledgements

Video Pi uses:

udevil to trigger an action when a USB stick is connected,
VLC media player,
pqiv image viewer.

Building from source

Install and start Docker.
Install and set up QEMU to be able to build and run ARMv7 Docker images.
Build the Docker image:
```
make docker-image
```
Build the video-pi and udevil Debian packages in Docker.

Set the key_id variable to sign the packages.
```
make docker-build-video-pi docker-build-udevil key_id='<gpg key fingerprint>'
```

License

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.