Pi Entertainment System

Pi Entertainment System

Pi Entertainment System is a lightweight media center software designed to run on Raspberry Pi devices. It provides an intuitive interface for managing and playing local media libraries, streaming online content, and retro gaming emulation.
Pi Entertainment System image
media-center raspberry-pi retro-gaming emulation local-media streaming

Pi Entertainment System: Lightweight Media Center for Raspberry Pis

Pi Entertainment System is a lightweight media center software designed to run on Raspberry Pi devices. It provides an intuitive interface for managing and playing local media libraries, streaming online content, and retro gaming emulation.

What is Pi Entertainment System?

The Pi Entertainment System (PES) is a free, open source media center application specifically designed for the Raspberry Pi single-board computer. Based on the Kodi media center software, PES provides an easy-to-use interface for managing and playing back media on your home theater system.

Some key features of PES include:

  • Beautiful graphical user interface designed for TV screens and remote controls
  • Support for playing movies, TV shows, music, and photos from local storage or networked drives
  • Online streaming from popular services like YouTube, Spotify, TuneIn Radio, and more
  • Library management tools for easy scraping and organization of your media
  • Customizable themes and visual styles
  • Game emulator integration to play classic console and arcade games
  • Add-on repository for installing hundreds of community-built plugins

As a lightweight Kodi fork, PES is optimized specifically for Raspberry Pi's ARM architecture. It has low overhead and uses hardware acceleration features for smooth video playback even on lower-powered Pi boards. The interface caters towards home theater usage, with large text and icons suited for TV screens. PES brings an exceptional media center experience to the inexpensive Pi platform.

Pi Entertainment System Features

Features

  1. Intuitive interface for managing media libraries
  2. Plays local video, music, and image files
  3. Online streaming from popular services
  4. Retro game emulation
  5. Lightweight and optimized for Raspberry Pi

Pricing

  • Free
  • Open Source

Pros

Easy to set up and use

Great for turning a Raspberry Pi into a media center

Active development and support community

Free and open source

Cons

Limited codec support out of the box

Some features like Netflix require additional setup

Requires a Raspberry Pi device


The Best Pi Entertainment System Alternatives

Top Games and Gaming Software and other similar apps like Pi Entertainment System

Here are some alternatives to Pi Entertainment System:

Suggest an alternative ❐

Batocera.linux icon

Batocera.linux

Batocera.linux is an open-source Linux distribution designed specifically for retro video game emulation and gaming. Based on RecalboxOS, Batocera.linux integrates a large number of emulators and game engines to allow playing thousands of classic arcade, console, and computer games on modern hardware.Some key features of Batocera.linux include:Easy installation on PCs,...
Batocera.linux image
Retropie icon

Retropie

Retropie is an open-source project that transforms a Raspberry Pi into a retro gaming console. It installs various emulators for old game platforms like NES, SNES, Genesis, Arcade machines, and more. This allows you to play classic video game ROMs on your Raspberry Pi with controllers connected via USB or...
Retropie image
Lakka icon

Lakka

Lakka is a lightweight Linux distribution that is specifically designed to turn a computer into a full-fledged emulation console for classic video game systems. Based on RetroArch and the Libretro API, Lakka makes setting up emulators and playing classic games simple and user-friendly.One of the key advantages of Lakka is...
Lakka image
RetroFE icon

RetroFE

RetroFE is an open source frontend for emulators and game engines. It allows you to easily access and launch various emulators and games from one unified interface.Some key features of RetroFE include:Supports a wide range of emulators like MAME, FCEUX, SNES9X, Genesis Plus GX, etc.Advanced playlist support to organize your...
RetroFE image
Recalbox icon

Recalbox

Recalbox is a lightweight yet powerful operating system tailored for retro video game emulation. At its core, Recalbox takes advantage of the flexibility and horsepower of the Linux kernel while providing a simplified user interface focused on gaming.Once installed on compatible hardware like the Raspberry Pi, Recalbox provides all the...
Recalbox image