Slingshot

README.md

To run this VLC command as a service on Raspbian (Raspberry Pi OS) at startup, the best approach is to use a systemd service.

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✅ Steps to Create a systemd Service for CVLC on Startup:

1. Create a systemd service file

Open a terminal and run:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/cvlc-video.service

2. Paste this into the file:

[Unit]
Description=Looping CVLC Video Playback
After=network.target sound.target graphical.target

[Service]
User=pi
ExecStart=/usr/bin/cvlc --no-osd --fullscreen --loop --no-video-title-show --no-sub-autodetect-file --quiet --drop-late-frames --skip-frames /home/default/video.mp4
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
StandardOutput=null
StandardError=null

[Install]
WantedBy=graphical.target

🔄 Change User=pi if you're using a different user.

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3. Enable and Start the Service

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable cvlc-video.service
sudo systemctl start cvlc-video.service

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4. Check Status

systemctl status cvlc-video.service

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✅ Notes:

• This runs after the GUI starts, because graphical.target ensures X11 is ready.
• You might need to run this with a valid DISPLAY if it’s running outside a login session. You can tweak the service like this if needed:

Environment=DISPLAY=:0
Environment=XAUTHORITY=/home/pi/.Xauthority

Want it to run on a headless system, or should it auto-login to the GUI first?

VLC.md

Yes, you can optimize your VLC command for low-resource devices by reducing CPU and memory usage. Here are some optimizations:

Optimized Command:

cvlc --no-osd --fullscreen --loop --no-video-title-show --no-sub-autodetect-file --quiet --drop-late-frames --skip-frames /home/default/video.mp4

Explanation of Optimizations:

1. --no-osd → Disables On-Screen Display (already in your command).
2. --fullscreen → Starts in full-screen mode.
3. --loop → Loops the video.
4. --no-video-title-show → Prevents VLC from displaying the video title overlay.
5. --no-sub-autodetect-file → Prevents VLC from scanning for subtitles (reduces CPU usage).
6. --quiet → Disables verbose logging.
7. --drop-late-frames → Drops late frames instead of trying to render them, reducing CPU/GPU load.
8. --skip-frames → Skips frames when necessary to keep playback smooth.

Would you like further tuning for a specific device, like a Raspberry Pi or a low-end PC?