Planning first HTPC/Media Center with Raspberry Pi

[Gaboris]

Hello LTT forums!

 

So I got my first NAS with ZyXEL's NAS326 that I've been setting up and messing around with for a while now and am really liking so far.

 

Originally I just planned to use it as a more advanced backup storage than my old HDD connected through a USB dock, but while messing around I kinda ended up uploading all my parent's old movies as a safe keeping method, but after I also connected my mother's smartphone to it so she can watch them anywhere I got the urge to go even further and started looking into a WiFi based HTPC for them to use on their TV.
 

After checking out reviews, guides, benchmarks and my local retail offerings since there are only a few RPi retailers in Hugnary I came up with this setup as a first try.

 

Raspberry Pi 3A+

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-3-model-a-plus/

It's just as powerful at the 3B+, but I have no "real" use for wired Ethernet or extra USB ports so this compact little thing is more appealing.

Also it might be "too much" for just an HTPC/streaming box and maybe a Pi Zero would be enough, but if it doesn't work out in the end I'd want to have the overhead in case I want to use it for something else.

 

The official 3A+ case
https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-a-case/

Personally I love this design, but I'm getting it mainly because I can't get anything else that fits the 3A+.

 

The official Pi power brick

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-universal-power-supply/

They say that the Pi 3 is power hungry and might not work off of just any USB plug or adapter and since the fixed EU plug isn't sold separately I have to go with this one.
 

Things that I'm not sure about are:

- System compatibility

Probably going to install OSMC to run Kodi without the extra hassle of keeping a full distro running or having to mess with keeping things updated, but is there anything that would cause a problem?

The lack of the Ethernet port, memory being limited to 512Mb, WiFi not being strong enough to stream off of NAS or it just doesn't support connecting to a LAN NAS out of the box or the likes?

- Cooling

The case I can get has no ventilation what so ever so even if I got a set of heat sinks they might not help, but if they do are there any meaningful differences between all the sets they sell online? Is there a point to buying one of those single copper blocks compared to a dozen of those aluminium grills they sell in bulks? Same with those flat copper plates that are meant for the chip on the underside of the board.

I just don't want it to fry in case my mother wants to re-watch all the seasons of GoT in summer... or just general problems with thermal throttling.

 

- Control

I can guess that there are a lot of options for controlling or at least connecting to the Pi, but the ideal thing would be to use a remote. Heck, the shop I'm looking at sells a mini remote with the Pi's own IR sensor, but again the case has no holes for it so I'm kinda bummed out about that.

Are there any HDMI passthrough options that could allow the Pi to use the TV as a sensor or something? I know about CEC and our Panasonic actually supports it with Viera Link, but so far I got the impression that that's about the system being able to control other devices and not "detect" the remote through a device. Did I get that wrong?

 

Luckily most things about RPi are quite straight forward by now and after just a few guides and store listings I'm pretty confident I'd be able to set things up, but what I'd be interested in is anyone that has any experience with some of the pitfalls and maybe help with these questions I had.

 

Also I'd just like to have this thread be here in case someone else thinks about doing the same and would like to find people talking about it. I know I would've loved to find something about this before.