Media

Centers

Mohammed Hamdan 201400269

Elias Hassan
201400145

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Introduction
A media center is typically an electronic device that is designed for entertainment, it can connect to a
display device like television to display digital media, for example viewing photos, playing music, movies
or TV programs from many sources such as online stores, streaming live content or even from local
storage. Media centers are usually compact and small in size and as it will be connected to a television, it
will need some kind of remote control.
Architecture and Core Technology
Media center is similar to the regular computer, it needs essential components such as, CPU, memory,
GPU, data storage, power supply, input/output interfaces and the motherboard that connects all these
components together. The other thing a media center needs is an operating system to manage
everything. In addition the media center device needs a media player software and a display device with
a remote control to be a fully functional media center. Media centers vary in size and they can be small
enough to fit in your pocket like the Raspberry Pi or smartphones or they can be more powerful and
bigger like the PlayStation and Xbox, this also means that media centers performance varies depending
on the hardware and software.1
Common Platforms (Software and Hardware) Used to Build a Media Center.
There are many different media center platforms, each have a different hardware and software which
makes them perform differently. Every user prefers a different type depending on their needs and what
kind of media they want. These are some common platforms examples:
Device (Hardware)
Raspberry Pi
PC
PC
Apple TV
PlayStation
Xbox
Smart Phone
Roku
Chromecast
Amazon Fire TV

Operation System
Raspbian
Windows
Linux
tvOS
Orbis OS
Xbox OS
Android
Roku OS
Chrome OS
FireOS

To Build a Media Center You Need2 :

Components
Mother Board
CPU
GPU
RAM

1
2

Media Player (Software)

XBMC
Windows Media Center
GeeXbox
iTunes
Media Player Application
Xbox Media Player
VLC
Roku Media Player
Plex
Kodi

Description
To connect all the components together
The brain of the device
Control the graphics
Random access memory for temporary
processes

(Guide To Building An Open Source HTPC / Media Center on Ubuntu, n.d.)

(Gordon, W. n.d.)

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Hard Drive
Power Supply
Operating System
Software
TV/Monitor
Case (optional)
Remote Control (optional)
DVD/Blu-Ray drive (optional)
Controller/Gamepad (optional)

To store data
To power the device
The operating system, to manage everything
The media center software for example Kodi
To view the content
To hold everything together
To control the device from a distance
To play movies/games from DVD/ Blu-Ray
Discs
To play games

Comparing Between Raspberry Pi and Apple TV:

The Raspberry Pi and Apple TV vary in many different aspects, for example size, performance, cost,
operating system and the media player software. This is why we chose to compare them with each
other. This is the comparison table:

Mother Board
CPU

GPU

RAM
Storage

(Raspberry Pi, n.d.)

(Apple TV, n.d.)

Raspberry Pi B+ 3

Apple TV 4th Generation 4

Not mentioned
700 MHz Low Power
ARM1176JZFS Applications
Processor
Dual Core VideoCore IV
Multimedia Co-Processor
Provides Open GL ES 2.0,
hardware-accelerated OpenVG,
and
1080p30 H.264 high-profile
decode
Capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s
or 24GFLOPs with texture
filtering
and DMA infrastructure
512MB SDRAM
External Micro SD card

Not mentioned
Dual core Apple A8 chip
processor with 64-bit
architecture
Apple A8 (PowerVR Series 6XT
GX6450)

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2GB
Internal 32 or 64 GB

Power supply

Micro USB socket 5V, 2A

Operating System
Software
Code Source
Video\Audio format

Raspbian
Kodi (XBMC)
Open
Encode (record) and decode
(play) h.264 (MP4/MKV) out of
the box. There are also two
additional codecs you can
purchase through the Swag
Store that enable you to decode
MPEG-2, a very popular and
widely used format to encode
DVDs, video camera recordings,
TV and many others, and VC-1, a
Microsoft format found in Bluray discs, Windows Media,
Slingbox, and HD-DVDs.

Built in power supply 12V,

0.917A
tvOS
iTunes
Closed
H.264 video up to 1080p, 60
frames per second, High or Main
Profile level 4.2 or lower
H.264 Baseline Profile level 3.0
or lower with AAC-LC audio up to
160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz,
stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and
.mov file formats
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps,
640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per
second, Simple Profile with AACLC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz,
stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and
.mov file formats.
Audio
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320
Kbps), protected AAC (from
iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320
Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible
(formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple
Lossless, AIFF, and WAV; Dolby
Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Plus
7.1.

Photo format

Protocols
Dimensions (Width x Depth x
Height)
Weight
Price
Input\output

Supports raw capturing (Bayer

data direct from the sensor) or
encoding as JPEG, PNG, GIF and
BMP, uncompressed YUV, or
uncompressed RGB photos
GPIO communications protocol
(i2C or SPI)
85 x 56 x 17mm

JPEG, GIF, TIFF

45 g
35$
10/100 BaseT Ethernet socket
HDMI (rev 1.3 & 1.4) Composite
RCA (PAL and NTSC)
3.5mm jack

425 g
32GB-149$ / 64GB-199$
HDMI 1.43
802.11ac Wi Fi with MIMO
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
Bluetooth 4.0 wireless

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Apple's Remote Audio Output

Protocol (RAOP,) RTSP/RTP
98 x 98 x 35mm

4 x USB 2.0 Connector

40-pin 2.54 mm (100 mil)
expansion header: 2x20 strip
Providing 27 GPIO pins as well as
+3.3 V, +5 V and GND supply
lines
15-pin MIPI Camera Serial
Interface (CSI-2)
Display Serial Interface (DSI) 15
way flat flex cable connector
with two data lanes and a clock
lane
Memory Card Slot SDIO

These are hardware diagrams showing some parts:

Raspberry Pi Motherboard Diagram

("Circuit Note", n.d.)

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technology
IR receiver
USB C for service and support
Built in power supply

Apple TV Motherboard Diagram

Comparing Between iTunes and Kodi (XBMC):

In this section, we are going to compare the software for the tow devices that we chose; iTunes for
Apple TV and Kodi (XBMC) for Raspberry Pi.
Kodi (XBMC) is a free and open source media player software, it is available for multiple operating
systems and hardware platforms. It can be used with televisions and controlled using a remote
controller, it can view and play videos, music, such as movies, TV shows by streaming them or
downloading the content and watching it later.

(Apple TV, n.d.)

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Raspberry Pi XBMC Screenshot

Kodi - XBMC (Kodi, n.d.)7

Operating Systems
Formats

Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Android, Kodibuntu,

iOS (jailbroken), Raspberry Pi
Container formats:
AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, FLV, MKV/MKA,
QuickTime, MP4, M4A, AAC, NUT, OGG, OGM,
RealMedia RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMVB, 3gp, VIVO,
PVA, NUV, NSV, NSA, FLI, FLC, DVR-MS and WTV
Audio Formats:
MIDI, AIFF, WAV/WAVE, AIFF, MP2, MP3, AAC,
AACplus (AAC+), Vorbis, AC3, DTS, ALAC, AMR,
FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE), RealAudio, SHN,
WavPack, MPC/Musepack/Mpeg+, Shorten, Speex,
WMA, IT, S3M, MOD, XM, NSF, SPC, GYM, SID,
Adlib, YM, ADPCM, OGG and CDDA.
Video Formats:
Streamable online media, MPEG-1, MPEG-2,
H.263, MPEG-4 SP and ASP, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264),
H.265, HuffYUV, Indeo, MJPEG, RealVideo, RMVB,
Sorenson, WMV, Cinepak, ISOs, 3D, HEVC, WEBM.
Subtitle formats: AQTitle, ASS/SSA, CC, JACOsub,
MicroDVD, MPsub, OGM, PJS, RT, SMI, SRT, SUB,
VOBsub, VPlayer

GUI (Graphic User Interface)

Pictures:
RAW image formats, BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF,
MNG, ICO, PCX and Targa/TGA.
Completely customizable GUI, download
community created skins, create your own skin.

( Kodi , n.d.)

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Protocols
Control

UPnP compatibility
Support for hundreds of remote controls, CECcompatible TVs, or one of the new Smartphone
and Tablet Apps.

iTunes is free closed source media player software, it is available for Windows and Mac operating
systems and for Apple TV devise. It can view and play videos, music, such as movies, TV shows by
streaming them or downloading the content and watching it later.

Apple TV iTunes Screenshot

iTunes 8
Operating Systems
Formats

Windows, Mac OS X
Audio Formats:
HE-AAC (V1), AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), protected AAC
(from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3
VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, and 4), Apple Lossless,
AIFF, and WAV; Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital
Plus 7.1.
Video Formats:
H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second,
High or Main Profile level 4.2 or lower
H.264 Baseline Profile level 3.0 or lower with AACLC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz,
stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels,
30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC
audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v,
.mp4, and .mov file formats.

GUI (Graphic User Interface)

8

Pictures:
PNG
Not customizable, default skin can be used only

( Apple iTu es , n.d.)

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Protocols
Control

TCP and UDP ports and protocols

Apple remote, third-party remotes, Apple wireless
keyboard, Remote App for iOS and Android

Media Center and Gaming 9

The Pla tatio 4 is a great e a ple of a edia e ter, ot o l does it pla videos a d audio ut its
also a gaming device which is why it is more powerful than most media centers and as powerful as a PC.
The PlayStation 4 allows users to either download content from the PlayStation store or by discs and
other external storage devices. The PlayStation 4 can play a wide range of new games in high detention,
it also allows users to play online with other people and allows them to communicate while in-game
using headphones and mics, they can also record and share gameplays using the device itself which is a
new feature for the PlayStation 4.
Chosen Media Center for the Project
We chose the Raspberry Pi to work with for our project because it is the perfect choice for students.
First of all, student can buy it for an affordable price with a lot of useful features such as, it is portable
because of its size, weight and power consumption. Secondly, the hardware is customizable, for
example you can add more storage or even add a touchscreen display. The software of Raspberry Pi is
also fully customizable because it is open source, this gives the user more freedom and options to
choose from. In addition, the raspberry pi is also compatible with many audio, video and picture
formats.
For the software, we chose XBMC because it uses all the raspberry pi features to its advantage.
Moreover, it can play all the popular formats smoothly and in high definition. Also the graphic user
interface is fully customizable and users can choose from premade themes or create their own. The
raspberry pi also uses UPnP protocol and it is compatible with hundreds of remote controls, also it
supports remote applications on smartphones and tablets to be used instead of standard remote
controls.
Conclusion
In this report we discussed the architecture and core technology of media centers, also we mentioned
the common platforms and the components needed to create a media center device. Moreover we
talked about the PlayStation 4 as a gaming aspect of media centers. We also compared between the
raspberry pi and Apple TV in depth and details with their software. In the end of our research we
decided that the raspberry pi and the XBMC is the suitable choice for us as students to do our upcoming
project.

( P4 - PlayStation4 Console , n.d.)

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References
Apple - Apple TV. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2015, from http://www.apple.com/tv/specs/
Apple iTunes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2015, from http://www.apple.com/itunes/
Apple TV. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2015, from
http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800467646_499501_NP_f1d6156c.HTM
Circuit Note: Raspberry Pi Pinout Diagram. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2015, from
http://www.jameco.com/Jameco/workshop/circuitnotes/raspberry_pi_circuit_note.html
Gordon, W. (n.d.). How I Built the Media Center of My Dreams for Under $500. Retrieved November 4,
2015, from http://lifehacker.com/5936546/how-i-built-the-media-center-of-my-dreams-forunder-500
Guide To Building An Open Source HTPC / Media Center on Ubuntu. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 5, 2015, from
http://linuxlookup.com/guide_to_building_an_open_source_htpc_media_center_on_ubuntu
Kodi. (n.d.). Retrieved November 4, 2015, from http://kodi.tv/about/
PS4 - PlayStatio 4 Co sole | PS4 Features Ga es & Videos. ( .d.). Retrieved November 5, 2015,
from https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/ps4/
Raspberry Pi FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2015, from
https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/faqs/#cameraFormats

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