Raspberry Pi

Pixlova provides a ready-to-write SD card image for Raspberry Pi 4 and 400. It contains Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit and the Pixlova Player, which starts straight in full screen on one or two screens.

HardwareCopy Anchor Link

• A Raspberry Pi 4 or a Raspberry Pi 400. The Raspberry Pi 5 is not supported; the Raspberry Pi 3 and Zero 2 W do not have enough memory.
• A microSD card. Prefer an endurance card (or a USB SSD): a power cut during a write can damage an ordinary card.
• A power supply suited to the Raspberry Pi.
• One or two HDMI screens.
• Preferably an Ethernet cable; Wi-Fi is then set up from the local interface.

Prepare the SD cardCopy Anchor Link

The image is the pixlova-rpi-<version>.img.xz file, with a .sha256 file to check its integrity. Download them from the download page, also linked in the app when you add a screen.

1. Install Raspberry Pi Imager on your computer.
2. In Raspberry Pi Imager, choose the Use custom operating system, then select the pixlova-rpi-<version>.img.xz file.
3. Choose the SD card and write it without customization: the image does not use it. Wi-Fi, credentials and SSH are set up afterwards from the Player’s local interface.
4. Insert the card into the Raspberry Pi.

First startCopy Anchor Link

1. Plug in the screen (or both screens) and, if possible, the Ethernet cable.
2. Plug in the power supply. A Pixlova animation shows while it starts. On the first start, the card is expanded and the Raspberry Pi restarts once on its own.
3. The pairing code in the XXXX-XXXX format appears, with the device name (pixlova-xxxx) and its IP address.
4. In Pixlova, open Screens › All screens, click + Add a screen, then enter the code in Code shown on the screen (see Screens).
5. Schedule content for this screen.

The code is valid for 5 minutes and renews on its own. Without a network, the Player shows “Connecting to the Pixlova server…” instead of the code: see Connect to the network.

Two screensCopy Anchor Link

Plug in both screens before starting. The HDMI 0 port, closest to the power supply, is the HDMI-A-1 output; the HDMI 1 port is the HDMI-A-2 output.

Each port shows its own pairing code: enter in Pixlova the code shown on a screen to bind this screen to this port. Each screen then plays its own schedule.

• A screen stays bound to its port. Unplugged from HDMI-A-1 and plugged into HDMI-A-2, it shows the schedule (or the code) of HDMI-A-2.
• A screen switched on or plugged in after startup gets its port’s schedule as soon as the Raspberry Pi detects it, within a few seconds.
• A screen that is off at startup may not be detected right away: its schedule shows when it is switched on.

4K screens and videosCopy Anchor Link

• The display runs at 3840 × 2160, 30 Hz, on each of the two ports. Text, images and compositions are rendered in 4K.
• Videos play at 1080p at most, in H.264: this is the limit of the Raspberry Pi 4 decoder. For a 4K video, Pixlova automatically prepares a 1080p version, which the Raspberry Pi scales up on screen. This takes a few minutes depending on the video length; until then, the video is skipped on this Player and the publication reports the wait.
• The video decoder is shared by both screens: avoid two demanding videos at the same time.

Connect to the networkCopy Anchor Link

Over EthernetCopy Anchor Link

With an Ethernet cable connected to your network, the Raspberry Pi gets its address automatically (DHCP). This is the simplest setup.

Over Wi-Fi, with the setup access pointCopy Anchor Link

With no usable Ethernet or Wi-Fi for 90 seconds, the Raspberry Pi opens its own Pixlova-XXXX Wi-Fi network. Its password, specific to each device, is shown on the Player’s screen.

1. From a phone or a computer, connect to this Wi-Fi network with the password shown.
2. The local interface opens on its own; otherwise, open http://10.42.0.1.
3. In Network, choose your site’s Wi-Fi and enter its password.

The access point stops while it connects. If it succeeds, the Raspberry Pi joins your Wi-Fi and its new address shows on screen. If it fails (wrong password, for example), the access point comes back after about 2 minutes: reconnect to it to see the error.

Without a DHCP serverCopy Anchor Link

If the Ethernet cable is plugged in but no address is assigned within 30 seconds, the Raspberry Pi takes the fallback address 192.168.10.10. Connect a computer directly to the Raspberry Pi, give it the address 192.168.10.20 (mask 255.255.255.0), then open https://192.168.10.10.

Player local interfaceCopy Anchor Link

The local interface lets you configure the Raspberry Pi from your network, without going through Pixlova: network, Wi-Fi, credentials, SSH, language, time zone, screen schedule, restart, logs.

1. From a computer or phone on the same network, open https://pixlova-xxxx.local or https://<IP address>, with the name and address shown on screen.
2. The security certificate is specific to the device: the browser flags it as not recognized. Accept it to continue.
3. Sign in with the username admin and the initial password shown on the Player’s screen, under the pairing code. Each Player has its own.
4. Choose a new username and password (at least 8 characters) right away: this is required before any other setting.

The interface has the Dashboard, Network, Access, System, Maintenance and Log pages.

Configure the Raspberry Pi from PixlovaCopy Anchor Link

On the Player’s page in Pixlova (Screens › Players, then the Player), the Machine settings section lets you set remotely: Language, Time zone, Screen schedule, Daily restart, SSH access, Local web interface and Volume. The Player reads its settings every minute.

• A setting defined in Pixlova takes precedence over the local interface, which shows it locked. Managed on the Player leaves the local interface in charge.
• SSH access is refused until the initial password has been changed in the local interface.
• Volume is not offered on the Raspberry Pi 4 HDMI output, which has no volume control.

The Machine section shows the state sent by the Raspberry Pi every 5 minutes: model, IP addresses, Wi-Fi, temperature, memory, disk.

UpdatesCopy Anchor Link

The Player updates itself: it checks every hour whether a new version has been published and goes back to the previous version if the update fails. You do not need to rewrite the SD card. You can also trigger the update from the Player version card on its page in Pixlova (see Players).

The Raspberry Pi OS system itself does not update automatically.

Reset the Raspberry PiCopy Anchor Link

In the local interface, Maintenance page:

• Reset pairing erases the Player’s identity and content. It restarts like new and shows a new pairing code. Delete the old Player in Pixlova if it is still listed.
• Factory reset draws a new initial password, shown on screen, forgets the Wi-Fi, sets Ethernet back to automatic and turns off SSH, then restarts. Resetting the pairing is offered as an option.

Forgotten passwordCopy Anchor Link

Remove the SD card and insert it into a computer. On the bootfs partition, create a pixlova-admin.json file containing:

{"reset_password": true}

Put the card back in the Raspberry Pi and start it: a new initial password appears on the Player’s screen, to be changed at the next sign-in (username admin).

If the local interface was turned off from Pixlova, the following content also turns it back on:

{"reset_password": true, "local_admin": "enabled"}

The file is deleted once it has been read.

If something goes wrongCopy Anchor Link

See the Troubleshooting page.