Raspberry Pi Deployment

DearScenario Player supports Raspberry Pi 4B / 5 with 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS (Lite or Desktop). This page covers field deployment after you have an arm64 .deb from Download & Install.

Platform scope and hardware-decode notes: Platform Support.

Lite vs Desktop

Always use a 64-bit OS image. 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS is not supported.

Install

sudo apt install ./dearscenario-player_*_arm64.deb
dearscenario-player

The Web Console defaults to http://<pi-ip>:18290. Put the Pi on the control network you will use from the show controller.

Autostart and crash recovery

Lite (systemd)

Use a systemd unit with Restart=always so an unexpected process exit recovers the player. DearScenario Player does not self-terminate based on render health. See Watchdog.

Example unit sketch (adjust user, paths, and display environment for your image):

[Unit]
Description=DearScenario Player
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dearscenario-player
Restart=always
RestartSec=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

On Lite, only one process should hold the DRM/KMS display. If another service (for example a previous DearScenario Player instance or a splash/display helper) already owns the device, the player cannot start correctly. Stop the conflicting service before testing.

Desktop

Prefer desktop auto-login plus an XDG autostart entry that launches DearScenario Player with a user-writable config directory (for example under ~/.config/), then optionally wrap with a user-level systemd unit for crash restart. Keep config writable by the logged-in user so Settings saves succeed.

Hardware decode and display

{
  "playlist": { "hwdec_mode": "v4l2m2m" },
  "window": {
    "fullscreen": {
      "enabled": true,
      "mode": "exclusive"
    }
  }
}

• v4l2m2m selects the Pi V4L2 M2M path for H.264/HEVC with software fallback. It is not a zero-copy guarantee—validate codec, resolution, and thermals on the exact unit.
• Prefer exclusive fullscreen for KMS appliances when you need a fixed mode.
• If video is black or stuttering, try HW decode mode → Disabled from the debug panel Settings, then Save and restart player. See Troubleshooting.

Field checklist

1. Confirm uname -m is aarch64.
2. Confirm control NIC / IP (Control Network).
3. Confirm HDMI output and EDID stability.
4. Load show media and verify audio path (Audio).
5. Enable autostart and verify one clean power-cycle.
6. Start normally for go-live; do not use --maintenance (Maintenance mode and production).

Related

• Download & Install
• Window & Display
• Watchdog
• Production Guide

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