Control Raspberry Pi/Send SSH Commands (Where To Start)?

[th0r4z1n3 27]

This is my digital poster display: 

http://www.plastiquefreak.com/digital-movie-poster-display-part-3-a-taste-of-pi/

I'm using a Raspberry Pi unit to control each of them. I'm looking for a way to send a command to them to dim, or turn off, the poster display during movie playback... but I honestly have no idea where to start. Lol & face palm at the same time.

Is it possible to send an ssh command using CV? Sorting through all the non-relevant information is getting a bit time consuming, and am hoping someone can at least point me to a good starting point.

Edited December 26, 2016 by th0r4z1n3

[Ragnarok 193]

5 hours ago, th0r4z1n3 said:

This is my digital poster display: 

http://www.plastiquefreak.com/digital-movie-poster-display-part-3-a-taste-of-pi/

I'm using a Raspberry Pi unit to control each of them. I'm looking for a way to send a command to them to dim, or turn off, the poster display during movie playback... but I honestly have no idea where to start. Lol & face palm at the same time.

Is it possible to send an ssh command using CV? Sorting through all the non-relevant information is getting a bit time consuming, and am hoping someone can at least point me to a good starting point.

You absolutely can send SSH. I'd use the Python module pxssh to do it. You can also run any command line from an Action File if that's easier. Check out our guides for examples. Now, all that said, I'm not sure how you'd be able to manipulate your displays to dim/turn off on command. If it were me, I'd use either MoviePoster (Windows) or PseudoCinema Poster (Kodi Add-on) to create the posters. It looks like the setup you have for the Pi just plays random posters you feed it, where both of the mentioned applications actually connect to your Kodi install and play posters for movies in your library, and even show now playing information. We also have a direct line to both of those developers, so we might be able to get them to add the dim/turn off functionality if it doesn't already exist in the applications.

[th0r4z1n3 27]

7 minutes ago, Ragnarok said:

You absolutely can send SSH. I'd use the Python module pxssh to do it. You can also run any command line from an Action File if that's easier. Check out our guides for examples. Now, all that said, I'm not sure how you'd be able to manipulate your displays to dim/turn off on command. If it were me, I'd use either MoviePoster (Windows) or PseudoCinema Poster (Kodi Add-on) to create the posters. It looks like the setup you have for the Pi just plays random posters you feed it, where both of the mentioned applications actually connect to your Kodi install and play posters for movies in your library, and even show now playing information. We also have a direct line to both of those developers, so we might be able to get them to add the dim/turn off functionality if it doesn't already exist in the applications.

I looked through the guide, but to be honest I was pretty clueless where to start. I looked under the RPi section but there wasn't anything there lol. Thanks for the starting point, either of these should be a great place to start. I only need to send a single command to turn them off "/opt/vc/bin/tvservice -o" (-p to turn on), so as long as I can muddle my way through setting that up it should work splendidly. Thanks for the help, all the search results for "ssh raspberry pi kodi" just seemed to return results for controlling Kodi when it's installed on a Pi... cool but not what I needed and a LOT to sort through lol.

I looked at the MoviePoster app before I went with the Pi set up. I liked the way it looked but it didn't quite fit the bill for what I was doing. IIRC I had to run a cable from my Kodi box all the way around the room to the other displays, and I don't think I had the ability to run two different poster displays (however that could have been a limitation of the number of video out options I had on my pc, it's been a while).

I've never heard of PseudoCinema Poster, I'll have to take a look at that, but I'm fairly happy with my current setup... minus not being able to dim them lol. I like seeing posters for movies that I don't currently own, as well as ones I do, as they often remind me about movies I haven't  gotten around to buying yet.

Once I get a bit more time I think I'm going to look into a way to have the RPi's automatically add something like "now playin" to the top of the images to see if I can get away from having to stretch them so much to fit the screens, but that's a discussion for another day, and probably a Pi forum.

Thanks again Man!

[Ragnarok 193]

No problem boss. Check out the guide for Actions. It should have most of the information you need. We don't have Pi guides yet. Want to be the first to make one?

[th0r4z1n3 27]

2 hours ago, Ragnarok said:

No problem boss. Check out the guide for Actions. It should have most of the information you need. We don't have Pi guides yet. Want to be the first to make one?

If I can figure out how to do something, I'm more than happy to contribute.

[DexDeadly 17]

Hey th0r4z1n3,

The latest version of the MoviePoster App for Windows actually can now just be run on a machine and left running.  You can then just load a browser on your Pis to play your posters.  It now has a built in WebServer.  It works great.  I use it currently.  The app automatically I believe has the options for dimming and the like within it.  The app you just put in where your Kodi box is on your network and monitors the connection for now playing and the like.  I did a demo video showing this app here.   Sorry for the shaky video :).  The application also has options for custom posters as well.  

If you do continue and create your own I"d be more then happy to help!  I have some pis so I can test and what not. 

[th0r4z1n3 27]

Bumping an old thread, sorry. Between various other things in life I haven't really had time to delve into working on integrating my Pi setup the way I wanted to, and I decided to redo my quaint little theater setup, so I decided to give the MoviePosterApp a try. @DexDeadly Do you have any info on how you got it to run on a Raspberry Pi?

I was just going to install Windows on a Pi, and install the MoviePoster app on it. I'm assuming that would work, but figured I'd ask someone who has it actually running on one.

[DexDeadly 17]

Hey @th0r4z1n3 so I never installed MoviePosterApp onto a pi.  They came out with the newer version where I was able to run it on my windows server and then I used the pi to run in a kiosk mode and display the posters.  Works well.  The only issue i did run into was when it tried to do cinemagraphs within the Pi OS it skipped and stuttered badly.  I don't believe I tested this on a Pi 3 though and maybe just my original B.  When I used an old laptop I had laying around for testing purposes with windows 7 I was able to run cinemagraphs over the webserver no problem.  

[th0r4z1n3 27]

Never mind, I'm a dummy... lol

Edited January 3 by th0r4z1n3

[DexDeadly 17]

@th0r4z1n3 - how you making out with your project?  

[th0r4z1n3 27]

@DexDeadly very good, I had a couple of issues with my initial test but those turned out to be some pretty simple self-inflicted issues lol. I initially tested it at work using my phone as a hotspot to connect my Pi to my laptop, and apparently my phone didn't have the bandwidth to do it, so it left me with some questions that weren't really relevant to project. Once I got home and connected everything to my home network everything went fine using an old B+ and the browser that came on Raspbian, but I couldn't find any info on how to run that in full screen/kiosk mode. 

Most of the tutorials I could find all relied on using Chromium in kiosk mode, but the old B+'s aren't powerful enough to run Chromium, so I could only get it to work intermittently. It would work but would randomly freeze on reboots, so I ordered a couple of 3 B+'s, they should be here in the next day or so. I don't foresee any problems once those arrive... hopefully lol.

You said you were able to run the webview on an old B? I am a bit curious on how you went about that, I could think of a couple of other uses for the 3 B's once they arrive if I could get it working on one of the old models. Do you remember what browser you used? I'm looking at maybe Matchbox (I think that's the name IIRC) or Uzbl as they're both supposed to be pretty light weight and customizable. 

Right now it looks like I'm going to use the FullPageOS distro, which boots directly into Chromium(?) in Kiosk mode if I remember correctly. I've read a LOT of different documentation over the last few days so I might be mixing up the browser. 

[DexDeadly 17]

Hey @th0r4z1n3 self inflicted are always fun.  You just do a nice face palm, laugh and keep going.  I'll see if I can find what I used to walk through but I was using the epiphany web browser.  As mentioned in my video this is what I used on an original pi3.  I have yet to try the newer pi3s with a browser in kiosk mode to see if this resolves the issue with the stuttering on cinegraphs.  I haven't tried anything else and its been a while since I have gotten back to playing more with this project.  

[th0r4z1n3 27]

I got everything up and running pretty easily, I like how well it interfaces with Kodi, but my only issue is that the webview doesn't dim when playing a movie... so now I'm back to my original question again lol. I can SSH into my Pi's to send a command to put the TVs on/off via CEC on the screens, but I need to find a way to automatically send this command from my Windows/Kodi box to the Raspberry Pi's. I'm assuming the process would go something like this: Kodi to PuTTy, PuTTy via SSH to Pi, Pi to CEC on the TV... but I have no idea how to string these events together at this point lol.

[DexDeadly 17]

Hey @th0r4z1n3 thought I replied, Did you get it to work?  Your line of thinking to me is right.  Kodi to trigger the ssh.  Let me know, I might be able to try messing with that soon if you haven't figured it out.

[th0r4z1n3 27]

@DexDeadlyI had a couple of little bugs that I was ferreting out at the same time, I got them all sorted out except the CEC thing. I had to step back for a minute to get a fresh perspective on it, it was getting to be a bit much trying to sort it all out at once.

I installed cec-client(?) on my Pi, but wasn't able to get any of the commands to execute via SSH from my laptop. I've got to take some time to read up on the documentation for that, it just wasn't as straight forward as I assumed it would be... or I was just overlooking something extremely simple lol. I also need to read up on how to get Kodi to execute SSH commands, it's just not something that I've had to do before. 

I'm finishing up a RetroPie build right now, and have a couple of other projects to tie up, and plan to come back to this. Other than the not dimming thing though this has worked swimmingly so far, I'm so glad I revisited this post and gave it a try. And thanks for suggesting it... even if it did take me a while to jump on board lol.

Edited February 22 by th0r4z1n3

[DexDeadly 17]

@th0r4z1n3 Sorry for the delay, would definitely love to see how you have made out with it so far and where you are at with it.  It's always a good idea to walk away and come back for a fresh perspective.