Auto-play video files from USB drive upon insertion

kmihmisc · October 26, 2016 at 8:17 PM

I'm using LibreElec on Raspberry Pi Zero (RP0). I have a hub attached to the RP0. I want to know how to automatically play video files from a USB drive upon insertion. I saw sample of an autoexec file that may potentially auto-run a playlist and contents residing in the micro-SD card upon booting. But, I need something that is more versatile and dynamic. I need a way to automatically read the mp4, mp3, avi, mkv contents from the USB drive upon insertion to the hub and start playing those files.

**Klojum** · October 26, 2016 at 8:44 PM Official Post

Apart from DVDs, Kodi has no autoplay support for music or videos from inserted USB sticks, external HDDs and the like.

kmihmisc · October 26, 2016 at 9:14 PM

Quote from Klojum

Apart from DVDs, Kodi has no autoplay support for music or videos from inserted USB sticks, external HDDs and the like.

Thanks for your response.

1. If KODI can dynamically auto-play DVDs when inserted, there must be a way to customize that set of codes and make it work for USB drives.

2. Is there a way to use wild-card characters such as "*" to play all videos in a given folder on the SD-card? As an example, is the following possible:
"PlayMedia(/home/pi/.xbmc/userdata/playlists/*.MP4)"
or
"PlayMedia(/home/pi/.xbmc/userdata/playlists/*.*)"

Gaudi · October 27, 2016 at 4:02 AM

What about a cron job to search for files on external mount points and queue them for playing?
I have no idea in coding, but seems like a workaround.

**chewitt** · October 27, 2016 at 6:54 AM Official Post

The correct approach will be to create a udev rule that triggers a bash or python script when removable media is mounted. The script needs to scan the device for playable files and create a Kodi playlist in .xsp format. You can then run a kodi-send "PlayMedia" command to instruct Kodi to play the playlist found at /path/to/playlist.xsp, and then when finished you can use kodi-send "ClearPlaylist" to remove it from Kodi.

**lrusak** · October 27, 2016 at 7:23 AM Official Post

I actually almost have a way to do this using udev, but it doesn't work because udev won't finish until the all udev rules have run, so it's not possible (with the current tools) to do this (that I have found yet).

/storage/.config/udev.rules.d/99-usb-play.rules

Code

IMPORT{builtin}="blkid"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="block", KERNEL=="sd*|mmc*", ENV{ID_FS_USAGE}=="filesystem", \
  RUN+="/storage/autoplay.sh $attr{ID_FS_LABEL}"

/storage/autoplay.sh

Bash

#!/bin/sh


sleep 5
/usr/bin/kodi-send --action="PlayMedia(\"/media/${1}\", isdir)"

I will try to get this to work using bash.

kmihmisc · October 27, 2016 at 11:53 PM

Thanks for your replies. It seems like there are no ready-made solutions for dynamically reading media content and auto-playing after USB drive insertion.

I am trying to run Kodi/Libreelec on a RP0 using minimal extra hardware. I know I must have the SD-card which by default has 2 Linux ext3/4 partitions and cannot be easily read by Windows. So copying media files directly to that SD-card using Ubuntu etc. and creating a playlist that is auto-executed at startup is an alternate option. However, this option does not work for USB drives when inserted after booting.

I can add a cheap micro USB OTG adapter on top of a FAT32 formatted USB drive and directly connect it to the micro USB slot on the RP0. Without a mouse, keyboard or Kore remote, I must rely on the Kodi/Libreelec system to automatically play all media upon insertion of the USB drive.

Is there an easy way to auto-play media files from a FAT32 formatted USB drive while not having any mouse, keyboard or Kore remote to navigate, select and click on media files?

**lrusak** · October 28, 2016 at 2:33 AM Official Post

Why not just turn on SMB and then you can browse the LibreELEC filesystem from your windows computer.

see, Accessing LibreELEC - LibreELEC

kmihmisc · October 28, 2016 at 10:09 PM

Quote from lrusak

Why not just turn on SMB and then you can browse the LibreELEC filesystem from your windows computer.

see, Accessing LibreELEC - LibreELEC

This solution is for a scenario where I'm using only 1 thumb drive which occupies the solo USB slot that the RP0 has, no WiFi, no hub. The RP0 unit will not be on a network.

fTdOmen · October 28, 2016 at 10:39 PM

Quote from kmihmisc

This solution is for a scenario where I'm using only 1 thumb drive which occupies the solo USB slot that the RP0 has, no WiFi, no hub. The RP0 unit will not be on a network.

Is CEC an option?

kmihmisc · November 1, 2016 at 1:46 AM

Quote from fTdOmen

Is CEC an option?

I have not played with CEC much, so honestly I don't know if that is an option. The 720p Insignia LCD TV which I am using is about 6 years old. I am using an universal remote with it. I'll do more research on CEC.

**mglae** · November 1, 2016 at 9:56 PM

Quote from lrusak

I actually almost have a way to do this using udev, but it doesn't work because udev won't finish until the all udev rules have run, so it's not possible (with the current tools) to do this (that I have found yet).

It can be done with some modifications:

/storage/.config/udev.rules.d/99-usb-play.rules

Code

IMPORT{builtin}="blkid"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="block", KERNEL=="sd*|mmc*", ENV{ID_FS_USAGE}=="filesystem", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/systemd-run /storage/autoplay.sh /dev/%k"

/storage/autoplay.sh

Bash

#!/bin/sh
sleep 5

MP=$(printf '%b' $(grep "^${1} " /proc/self/mounts | cut -d ' ' -f 2))

if [ -f "${MP}/kodi.playme" ]
then
/usr/bin/kodi-send --action="PlayMedia(\"${MP}\", isdir)"
fi

This limits auto play to USB drives with existing /kodi.playme file.

**lrusak** · November 2, 2016 at 6:14 AM Official Post

great thinking using systemd-run!

I'm glad you found a solution, I knew I was close!

kmihmisc · November 3, 2016 at 9:53 PM

Below are the results:
[hr]

Quote from mglae
It can be done with some modifications:

/storage/.config/udev.rules.d/99-usb-play.rules
Code
IMPORT{builtin}="blkid"
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="block", KERNEL=="sd*|mmc*", ENV{ID_FS_USAGE}=="filesystem", \
RUN+="/usr/bin/systemd-run /storage/autoplay.sh /dev/%k"
/storage/autoplay.sh
Bash
#!/bin/sh
sleep 5


MP=$(grep "^${1} " /proc/self/mounts | cut -d ' ' -f 2)


if [ -f "${MP}/kodi.playme" ]
then
/usr/bin/kodi-send --action="PlayMedia(\"${MP}\", isdir)"
fi
Display More
I created the 99-usb-play.rules and autoplay.sh files as they did not exist before. I added the codes which you shared - exactly - for both files. Rebooted the system and inserted a USB drive. It did not auto-play the USB contents. The sub-window shows up as usual with "Browse videos" and "Browse music" etc. as options, but no auto-play of contents within the USB drive.
Is there anything else that I need to do to make this code work?

**lrusak** · November 4, 2016 at 12:11 AM Official Post

You need to add a kodi.playme file to the USB drive

otherwise just remove the if statement and it will try and play from any drive that is inserted.

**mglae** · November 4, 2016 at 4:00 PM

In addition we did forget to advice to make autoplay.sh executable:

chmod +x /storage/autoplay.sh

If it still fails please post the URL from

journalctl | pastebinit

after a failed try.

kmihmisc · November 4, 2016 at 5:36 PM

OK, I'll try adding that file on the USB drive and chmod 777 the media files and folders and also the autoplay.sh file and let you know.

kmihmisc · November 5, 2016 at 3:35 AM

I created the files and copied the code and changed the permissions exactly as you wrote (copy-paste). Now, Kodi Libreelec goes into an infinite loop of booting and going all the way up to showing the Jarvis wallpaper and then crashing and automatically rebooting.
Then I changed the IF - FI loop so it does not look for the "kodi.playme" file in the USB drive.
It did not change anything. Still crashing and rebooting.
Any suggestions?