I’ve used a Windows PC as part of my entertainment center since before “HTPC” was a thing and finding a suitable keyboard-and-pointer required explaining what I was trying to do.
Now I have a TV wall mounted in the guest room and want some way to provide content. It is intended for my Chinese mother-in-law who is not at all tech-savy.
The various products I’ve seen seem to be too dumb, not allowing playing files from network shares (only dlna) or adding additional subtitle files. I figured a Raspberry Pi based project would let me do “everything” since it’s an open computer like I’m used to using. But, I still need a good solid “canned” media player app that a non-tech user can handle once I set it up.
Hard requirement: it must be locallized in Simplified Chinese (PRC). It would be very desirable to be able to switch languages on the fly trivially even by someone who can’t read the current menus! That is, a dedicated button or special sequence.
It must play Chinese CCTV Internet feeds.
Youtube, YouKu, etc.
Play files located on my network server, often in mkv format. And, use external subtittle files.
Play a disc located on a different machine on the network (the Raspberry pi doesn’t have a disc reader, unlike my primary HTPC. But other PCs are handy and networked.). And again, add a 3rd-pary subtitle file when playing the disc.
I have a gigabit Ethernet cable run to where the TV is, so hard connection is preferred over wireless. That’s another reason I’m looking at the Raspberry Pi instead of a commercial media player dongle.
Is there a Raspberry Pi solution for me?
