LibreElec has been my home media center (currently running on a modest Orange Pi PC) for many years now. Every now and then I need to update to the latest version, which involves a fresh SD card and some bit of configuration. The following is just some notes to myself (maybe it will help you also?)
Currently updating my system from LibreElec 10 to 11.
YouTube Setup
This involves setting up the YouTube Data Api and some keys (5 of them!). A bit laborious without copy-paste (todo: is there an easier way?)
Here is a link to a walk-through that helped me (2023)
https://www.firesticktricks.com/youtube-kodi-addon.html
Note: they did omit the step where you have to “publish” the app on google cloud account, it doesn’t work it it’s just set to “testing”.
Other Addons (my favourites)
- TVO*currently not working, requires an updated version from the repository?
- TVO Kids
- Red Bull TV
- Crackle TV
- Nasa TV
Additional Repositories
Not everything is available in the Kodi default repo. Installing addons like Netflix and Showmax require an extra step
Example walk-through for Netflix: https://howtomediacenter.com/en/install-netflix-kodi-addon/
Samba and SSH
To do any serious configuration (see below), the media center needs at minimum a static ip set up, and additionally I like to set the firewall and samba file sharing (handy for accessing media files over the network).
Remote Control setup:
My Orange Pi PC comes with an IR receiver, which is pretty easy to configure in LibreElec. I have an old DVD player remote which I use for this. Nowadays I just have to copy the config file over to the new installation and set it with one command (over ssh):
Here is the link to the docs for setting up a new remote: https://wiki.libreelec.tv/configuration/ir-remotes
Docker:
LibreElec is able to run Docker containers in the background which gives it a whole additional functionality. The three containers I always install first are Portainer for managing containers, Pi-Hole for network-wide ad blocking and Transmission torrenting (for downloading large OS images overnight, use with the transmission-remote app in F-Droid store).
Pi-Hole setup instructions (with Portainer): https://homenetworkguy.com/how-to/install-pihole-on-raspberry-pi-with-docker-and-portainer/ – after installing “Docker” addon and installing Portainer via the command line:
docker volume create portainer_data
docker run -d -p 9000:9000 -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v portainer_data:/data --restart always portainer/portainer
Set up Portainer by using the browser, go to libreelec network ip eg: 192.168.8.11:9000 – assuming static IP is set up already.
The OrangePi PC is pretty low on specs, so it doesn’t handle any massive background services, but there are Docker containers for loads of useful things like ZoneMinder security, Jellyfin media streaming app, Home Assistant home automation and much more.
Other things:
Change the time to correct timezone.
Set the audio source (mine was set to HDMI out by default) settings -> audio, set to ALSA
Add some other addons like TMDB metadata addon (for local file naming and info).
Set media file locations (on HDD) and scan to add metadata (using addon). This applies to music as well as video. Takes a long time (todo: is there a way to copy the old data across?)