Streaming media from the internet is getting high popularity due to faster and cheaper internet availability. And because of the COVID-19 pandemic, use of OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar, YouTube has been increased significantly. It also has many benefits over the downloading of media files. Streamed media requires minimum hard drive space and you can set the visual quality according to your internet speed.
As we know that Raspberry Pi is Linux based palm size computer and can do all the tasks which a ‘normal’ computer can do. We previously used the Raspberry PI to setup a Media server, Mopidy Music Server, Minecraft server, etc. Today we will again use Raspberry Pi to stream Amazon Prime Video using Kodi media player software platform. We previously installed Kodi on Raspberry Pi to create a Media Server.
Materials Used
- Raspberry Pi 3B
- Raspberry Pi TFT 5 inch Display
- Micro SD Card (16 GB)
- USB Optical Mouse
- USB Keyboard
- Power Adopter for Raspberry Pi
What is Kodi?
Kodi is an open-source software media centre, which allows us to access all kinds of content, including videos and music. We can run that content on any device like TV, laptop, phone, even in our Raspberry Pi. It comes with its own attractive GUI and it supports some third-party add-ons which we can use for various interesting media streaming purposes.
Kodi is a free to use software as it is distributed under license GNU / GPL 2. It was formerly called “XBMC”. We need to install OSMC OS in our Raspberry Pi in order to avail Kodi features. Let’s find out what OSMC is, and how to install it on Raspberry Pi.
OSMC
OSMC (open source media centre) is a Linux based open source operating system. OSMC allows media playback from the local network, attached storage, and from the Internet. There are many media servers for Raspberry Pi which can be used for media streaming but because of rich features, we have chosen OSMC for this Raspberry Pi Amazon Prime Video project.
After OSMC installation in Raspberry Pi, we can see the interactive Kodi interface in the display and can enjoy the media streaming. It also offers simple and effortless installation in Raspberry Pi in few minutes. Since OSMC runs Kodi, we can also add several add-ons like Amazon prime video, Netflix, etc. as per our requirements.
Installing OSMC in Raspberry Pi
1. Download OSMC
First of all download OSMC from the official OSMC website. Download the disk images for Raspberry Pi from the website which can be later written into Pi SD card.
2. Write the Disk Images into SD Card:
Next, write the downloaded OSMC files into the SD card. For this, you can use an application called “BalenaEtcher” which can be downloaded and installed from here. Select the image file download as shown below, and SD card as the drive options. Then click on Flash to complete the writing process.
3. Boot Raspberry Pi and Configure OSMC:
After successful image writing on SD card, boot the Raspberry Pi for the first time. Here we have to do some configurations which have given below:
- Set your Default Language as per preference
- Set your Time Zone
- Set your Device Name
- Make sure SSH is enabled, if not enable it
- Configure your Networking (Wired or Wireless). Connect to your preferred network in this option.
- Exit the welcome Menu
4. Get the IP Address of Raspberry Pi:
Once all the OSMC configuration is successfully completed, we can now see the OSMC home screen. Now go to Settings à System Info and note the IP address of your Raspberry Pi.
5. Connect Raspberry Pi through SSH:
Now after all the configuration is done, we can now access the Pi Terminals through SSH. For using SSH, download terminal application like Putty. Putty can be downloaded and installed from here.
Put the IP address of Raspberry Pi, which we noted earlier, in the place of IP address as shown in the figure below. In my case, the IP address was 192.168.43.198.
6. Login to OSFC using the Terminal Program:
Now, login the OSFC terminal application using username and password. The default username and password are:
Username: osmc
Password: osmc
After successful login, you can see a screen as shown below:
Installing Amazon Prime in OSMC
1. Download Amazon Prime Video Add-on
To install Amazon Prime, we have to download the Add-on for Amazon prime video. To do so, run the command below through putty after successful login.
wget https://github.com/Sandmann79/xbmc/releases/download/Repository/repository.sandmann79.plugins-1.0.3-leia.zip
2. Install Amazon prime video
- Switch to Kodi Interface, then go to ‘Settings’ and select ‘Add-on browser’ as shown below:
- Select ‘Install from Zip file”.
- Select Root filesystem -> home -> osmc -> repository.sandmann79.plugins
- Install the add-on, go to Settings -> Add-on browser -> Install from repository -> Sandmann79s Repository
- Select Video add-ons -> Amazon VOD, select install, this will install Amazon prime video add-on to OSMC.
3. Configure Amazon Prime Video
- For configuring the amazon prime video, go to Settings -> Add-on browser -> my add-ons -> Video Add-ons -> Amazon VOD and Select Configure. Under General Tab, change “Playback with” to Input Stream. If it has been already selected, then ignore it.
- Under Connection Tab, go to Sign In, and login to Amazon Prime Account with your amazon prime credentials. That’s it, now you can enjoy all your favourite videos or web series with Amazon prime video.
Here we have used a 3.5 inch Pi TFT screen with Raspberry pi but you can use HDMI cable to connect it with your TV to watch it on a big screen.
This is how we can setup Raspberry Pi Amazon Prime Streaming and can watch prime video on Raspberry Pi. A detailed Video is given below.
