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.