top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now

How-To Guide for DIYers 

So you have a Raspberry Pi and a little bit of know-how... and you want to put your system together on your own. Let's do it. You're going to need a few things, patience and persistence included. These instructions are intended for those with a bit of technical experience, but should be straight forward enough for adventurous newcomers.

Kodi Media Center Setup

Requirements:

  • Raspberry Pi (RPi2 highly recommended)

  • Case (Not strictly required but recommended)

  • Keyboard/Mouse (Wireless strongly recommended)

  • Internet Connection for Pi (WiFi strongly recommended)

  • Power adapter and HDMI cable

  • Class 10 MicroSD card, at least 4GB

 

Step 1: Setting up your memory card

  1. Download OpenELEC (Choose either Pi1 or Pi2 image depending on what you have)

  2. If using Windows, download Win32DiskImager. If using Linux, you'll use dd instead.

    1. Create a Win32DiskImager folder on your desktop

    2. Open Win32DiskImager-0.9.5-binary.zip and extract it to Win32DiskImager folder

  3. Open the OpenELEC zip that you just downloaded and then open the .img.gz file inside

  4. Extract the .img file to your desktop

  5. Insert MicroSD card into computer

  6. Inside the Win32DiskImager folder, double click Win32DiskImager.exe 

    1. If using linux, use something like "sudo dd if=/home/${USER}/Desktop/Pi2OpenELEC.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1M"

      1. Double-check that the "if=" points to the correct image and "of=" points to the memory card you are using, change if you need to

    2. Proceed to Step 9

  7. In "Device" dropdown menu, make sure your SD card is selected

  8. In "Image File" section, click browse button and select the image file you just put on your desktop in step 4

  9. Click "Write"

  10. Once that process is complete, you can eject the card and place it into the Raspberry Pi.

  11. Plug in your HDMI cord. Turn on your TV and go to the HDMI input. Then plug in the power for the Pi.

 

At this point, your Pi should boot up with the Kodi image and go through a brief setup wizard. Go through the wizard, choosing default values (or make any changes you feel comfortable with, such as choosing to install SSH if you know what it is and feel you might use it)

 

Step 2: Setting up your Kodi environtment

  1. Go to System (don't click!), press the down arrow to get to the submenu items, and select File Manager

  2. Click on Add Source

  3. Under "Enter the paths or browse..." click <None>

  4. Type http://fusion.tvaddons.ag

  5. Select Done

  6. Highlight the "Enter name..." box and type Fusion

  7. Select OK

  8. Hit the back button (ESC or Backspace both work too) to get back to your homescreen

  9. Click on System

  10. Scroll down to Add-ons, click on it

  11. Choose Install from zip file

  12. Scroll to Fusion, click

  13. Scroll to start-here, click

  14. Scroll to plugin.video.hubwizard and click

  15. Hit ESC to go back to your home screen

  16. Go to Programs, click

  17. Click the Config Wizard program

  18. Select the Linux option

 

Once that completes, it will reboot your Pi and the background will look different. You'll notice new items on the homescreen. In the Video section, you'll notice an icon for Genesis. That's what we are going to use next to get your favorite TV Shows and Movies to show up on the home screen.

 

Step 3: Adding content to your Library and displaying it on the home screen

  1. Go to Genesis

  2. Select "Search"

  3. Select "TV Shows"

  4. Search for a show you like to watch

  5. Highlight the show in the list of search results and press "C"

  6. Select "Add to library..."

  7. Exit to home screen

  8. Under the System tab, select Settings

  9. Select Appearance

  10. Scroll down to File lists, press the right arrow

  11. Select "Show hidden files and directories," the circle to the right of it should now be blue

  12. Exit to home screen, under Video select Files

  13. Select "Add videos..."

  14. Click "Browse"

  15. Click: "Home folder," then ".kodi," then "userdata," then "addon_data," then "plugin.video.genesis," then "TVShows"

  16. Press the right arrow and click "OK"

  17. In the "Enter a name for this media source" field, enter "StreamTV"

  18. Click OK

  19. A new window that says "Set Content" will automatically open

  20. Where it says "Directory Contains" scroll until you see TV Shows

  21. Make sure "Scan Recursively" is selected (blue dot, not gray)

  22. Click OK

  23. Finally, a dialog will ask if you want to scan for new content now, select Yes

  24. Repeat those steps, replacing "TV Shows" or "TVShows" with "Movies," and "StreamTV" with "StreamMovies"

 

I know that was a lot of work. The hard part is DONE! Now, from Genesis, any time you search for a TV Show or Movie, you can highlight the correct item on the results screen, press the "C" button, and select "Add to Library" and it will automatically show up on your home screen in the appropriate section. Also, if new episodes air of one of the shows in your library, it will automatically be added so you never have to worry about missing an episode.

 

Great work! You did it! Any questions? Leave 'em in the comments.

bottom of page