RPi1 as a simple video player

Just some notes while setting up a video looper on an old Raspberry Pi 1...

• Download DietPi_RPi-ARMv6-Bullseye and unpack it.
• Burn the .img onto a SD card (2 GB minimum). See dietpi.com/docs/install.
• Move the SD card over to the RPi1 and make sure it is connected to internet at first boot (Ethernet).
• Power up the RPi and from another machine on the same network log in with...

ssh root@192.168.1.107  #edit IP, default password is dietpi

• change password for root and dietpi.
• disable serial/UART.
• In the DietPi-Software, select DietPi-Config and do the following...
  • in Display Options select GPU/RAM Memory Split set GPU memory to 64
  • in Audio Options install alsa and select soundcard: rpi-bcm2835-auto
  • in Network Options: Misc - disable Boot wait for network
  • Exit
  • select Install and Ok.
• As root, continue to install VLC and add user dietpi to audio and video groups.

apt-get update
apt-get install openssh-client vlc
usermod -a -G audio,video dietpi
exit

• Copy over a mp4 file or similar from another machine...

scp mymovie.mp4 dietpi@192.168.1.107:

Finally log in as user dietpi and set up VLC to autostart...

ssh dietpi@192.168.1.107  #edit IP
crontab -l | { cat; echo "@reboot cvlc --loop --audio-desync=-100 mymovie.mp4"; } | crontab -
sudo reboot

This should loop a video file in fullscreen with sound output via HDMI. --audio-desync is optional and can be used to sync the audio to the video track (here audio is adjusted to be 100 milliseconds early). mymovie.mp4 is the file name of your movie.