Ask Slashdot: How Can I Build a Private TV Channel For My Kids?

Long-time Slashdot reader ljw1004 writes: I want to assemble my OneDrive-hosted mp4s into a "TV channel" for my kids -- so at 7am while I sleep in, they know they can turn the TV on, it will show Mr Rogers then Sesame Street then grandparents' story-time, then two hand-picked cartoons, and nothing for the rest of the day. How would you do this? With Chromecast and write a JS Chrome plugin to drive it? Write an app for FireTV? Is there any existing OSS software for either the scheduling side (done by parents) or the TV-receiver side? How would you lock down the TV beyond just hiding the remote?
"There are good worthwhile things for them to see," adds the original submission, "but they're too young to be given the autonomy to pick them, and I can do better than Nickeloden or CBBC or Amazon Freetime Unlimited."

Slashdot reader Rick Schumann suggested putting the video files on an external hard drive (or burning them to a DVD), while apraetor points out many TVs now play files from flash drives -- and also suggests a private Roku channel. But what's the best way to build a private TV channel for kids?

Leave your best answers in the comments.

Comments

Raspberry PI is your answer.

[zabbey]

I did something similar with a Raspberry Pi, a simple BASH script, and OMXPlayer. I loaded tons of old 80's Christmas shows/movies on a USB thumb drive and plugged it into an old 13" crt television. The Pi played all my shows 24 hours a day during the xmas season. Whenever I turned the TV on, I could enjoy an old classic. I did have to reboot the Pi once a day but other than that it works perfectly as a homemade tv station.

Re:Raspberry PI is your answer.

[jellomizer]

It is easier than debugging and fixing the problem.

Like with a lot of home projects, our line for good enough is much lower then if we were to get it professionally done.

Normally with software development.
5% of the time is to get the product to do the job the specs says it needs to do. the other 95% Is to get it to run reliably, deal with crazy user inputs, be flexible enough to maintain, get the UI to look nice...