TV display

[Steve Woodhouse]

I know I’m flogging a dead horse, but really, if you could just introduce this.

Go to the video below, 1:14 to 1:49.

The image on the TV at 1:40, just give us that please.

Not everyone will either want it use it, but there are surely enough of us who’ll will to make it worthwhile.

Thank you.

 

[Steve Woodhouse]

It's a good solution.

But if anyone else is wondering how to do this, you can get an Amazon Fire TV Stick HD for £25, and use the app on that. £32 for the 4K version.

 

[cvdlinden]

Hi, I recently bought a WiiM Ultra to use with my late 1980's NAIM HiFi gear to bring it up to date. I saw the discussion regarding the "Now Playing" feature shown on John Darko's YouTube channel. I was very interest in this very nice solution using the wonderful Raspberry Pi computer boards. I wanted to have a go at getting this to work with my HiFi setup. I decided to use one of the small Raspberry Pi Zero 2W boards so I bought one together with a nice little case and power supply. It was pretty easy to follow the Github software installation instructions and within an hour or two it was up and running. I wanted to use my old LG 55inch TV to display the "now playing" information. The LG TV internet browser would not work on it's own and only displayed the helpful message "This webpage is not available". I resorted to using a small Beelink mini-PC connected to the LG TV. That worked very nicely. However it would only display the full album artwork when the browser was set to "full screen", otherwise the artwork was cropped. It works perfectly using the mini-PC browser full screen. For those that may be interested my old 1980's HiFi gear is a NAIM NAC62 PreAmp, NAIM NAP90 PowerAmp and Linn Index speakers, all are still working perfectly after all these years! I've attached some photos below showing my setup and results. Overall I'm very satisfied with this little RPi project, so many thanks to the kind software developers who created it.

Nice to see your setup!

Regarding the tv browser(s). Most of them can't resolve the .local address. That's why you're getting the 'web page not available'.
If you click on the settings icon top right, on the mini-pc, you'll find both the current .local address as well as the ip address under 'Server information'. If you use this ip address as the url in your tv browser, Wnp should show up... (untill the ip address changes that is. )

 

[cvdlinden]

It's a good solution.

But if anyone else is wondering how to do this, you can get an Amazon Fire TV Stick HD for £25, and use the app on that. £32 for the 4K version.

Has the Android TV App already been released btw? I was on a summer holiday and haven't followed the developments around that.

Edit: Nevermind, found it https://forum.wiimhome.com/threads/wiim-home-tv-app-now-available-for-android.7417/

 

[DjcTed]

Nice to see your setup!

Regarding the tv browser(s). Most of them can't resolve the .local address. That's why you're getting the 'web page not available'.
If you click on the settings icon top right, on the mini-pc, you'll find both the current .local address as well as the ip address under 'Server information'. If you use this ip address as the url in your tv browser, Wnp should show up... (untill the ip address changes that is. )

Thanks for your kind comments on my old HiFi setup. I'll give the IP address a go tomorrow and see if that works.
Also many thanks for creating the RPi "WiiM now playing" software solution.

 

[DjcTed]

Nice to see your setup!

Regarding the tv browser(s). Most of them can't resolve the .local address. That's why you're getting the 'web page not available'.
If you click on the settings icon top right, on the mini-pc, you'll find both the current .local address as well as the ip address under 'Server information'. If you use this ip address as the url in your tv browser, Wnp should show up... (untill the ip address changes that is. )

Just a quick update on using your suggestion to use the IP address from within the web browser of my LG TV to access the Raspberry Pi.

I did that and got a bit further and the "WiiM now playing" page was displayed in the LG TV browser.
However my LG TV wouldn't let me access the "Settings" dialog to select my WiiM Ultra device.
It seems that the LG TV browser doesn't allow the settings diaglog box to be created and displayed for some reason.
I've attached a picture below - see the little "finger" icon trying it's best to push the settings button!

I'm not too bothered as I can still use my mini-PC to display the "WiiM now playing" stuff.
Just thought I'd report back to let you know.

 

[cvdlinden]

Just a quick update on using your suggestion to use the IP address from within the web browser of my LG TV to access the Raspberry Pi.

I did that and got a bit further and the "WiiM now playing" page was displayed in the LG TV browser.
However my LG TV wouldn't let me access the "Settings" dialog to select my WiiM Ultra device.
It seems that the LG TV browser doesn't allow the settings diaglog box to be created and displayed for some reason.
I've attached a picture below - see the little "finger" icon trying it's best to push the settings button!

I'm not too bothered as I can still use my mini-PC to display the "WiiM now playing" stuff.
Just thought I'd report back to let you know.

Looking at your screen it doesn't seem that your LG TVs (default) browser does a very good job. Now the basic browser on Sony TVs doesn't either. So on a Sony TV you can use the 'TV Bro' app to properly render the Wnp app. I'm not familiar with the LG TVs app eco system and whether there is a proper replacement browser.

Let me check...
Edit: It doesn't seem that the LG TVs WebOS does not have an alternative browser as confirmed over here https://www.lg.com/ca_en/support/pr...JZw0fiIr9lSFugSNt20cmEi_i4809Zbv03UauAc5Oaf2j

Sorry The mini-pc route is the way to go for you. Or tinker some more and try and hookup the RPi's HDMI output to the TV.

 

[DjcTed]

Looking at your screen it doesn't seem that your LG TVs (default) browser does a very good job. Now the basic browser on Sony TVs doesn't either. So on a Sony TV you can use the 'TV Bro' app to properly render the Wnp app. I'm not familiar with the LG TVs app eco system and whether there is a proper replacement browser.

Let me check...
Edit: It doesn't seem that the LG TVs WebOS does not have an alternative browser as confirmed over here https://www.lg.com/ca_en/support/pr...JZw0fiIr9lSFugSNt20cmEi_i4809Zbv03UauAc5Oaf2j

Sorry The mini-pc route is the way to go for you. Or tinker some more and try and hookup the RPi's HDMI output to the TV.

Many thanks for your additional help and quick response, it's really appreciated.

Yes, I think the mini-PC route is a good solution for me right now.
The LG TV is several years old anyway. I've already replaced the backlit LED's when they failed and left me with a blue tinted screen!
So I'll use my Beelink mini-PC until I decide to upgrade the TV at some point.

Once again many thanks for your help and also for the lovely Raspberry Pi "WiiM now playing" project.