Raspberry Codec License Keygen

08-04-2021

Raspberry Codec License Keygen

Hardware decoding of additional codecs on the Pi 3 and earlier models can be enabled by purchasing a licence that is locked to the CPU serial number of your Raspberry Pi.

You will need the serial number of your Raspberry Pi, because the licence is keyed to it; the order page explains how to read that from the system. How Do I add an MPEG-2 license key to my Raspberry PI? Before purchasing your License from the raspberry pi shop you will need your Pi’s serial number. This is quite simple to do. Get Your Raspberry PI Serial Number. Boot UP your PI. Goto system system info network. Note your serial number – should be something like 000000000ffae29e.

On the Raspberry Pi 4, the hardware codecs for MPEG2 or VC1 are permanently disabled and cannot be enabled even with a licence key; on the Pi 4, thanks to its increased processing power compared to earlier models, MPEG2 and VC1 can be decoded in software via applications such as VLC. Therefore, a hardware codec licence key is not needed if you're using a Pi 4.

decode_MPG2

decode_MPG2 is a licence key to allow hardware MPEG-2 decoding, e.g. decode_MPG2=0x12345678.

decode_WVC1

decode_WVC1 is a licence key to allow hardware VC-1 decoding, e.g. decode_WVC1=0x12345678.

If you have multiple Raspberry Pis and you've bought a codec licence for each of them, you can list up to eight licence keys in a single config.txt, for example decode_MPG2=0x12345678,0xabcdabcd,0x87654321. This enables you to swap the same SD card between the different Pis without having to edit config.txt each time.

This article uses content from the eLinux wiki page RPiconfig, which is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license

VennerCorp

How Do I add an MPEG-2 license key to my Raspberry PI?

Before purchasing your License from the raspberry pi shop you will need your Pi’s serial number. This is quite simple to do.

Get Your Raspberry PI Serial Number

Boot UP your PI.
Goto system > system info > network.
Note your serial number – should be something like 000000000ffae29e.

Once you have your Serial number go to http://www.raspberrypi.com/mpeg-2-license-key/ fill in the form and pay your money. 2-3 days later you will get an email with your new License code.

In the email you will find a line similar to decode_MPEG2=0x7654321 the “0x7654321” is your License.

Add your License to your OpenElec / XMBC Installation

Insert your SD card in to your PC or MAC etc.
Open up your SD card in your file viewer of choice.
Open config.txt.
Scroll down until you find # decode_MPG2=0x00000000.
Delete the #.
Change the 0x00000000 to your new license.
Click save.
POP the SD card back in your PI and reboot.

Note – Some versions of XMBC have a field in their settings tab to allow you to input your license directly via the interface.

That’s it your job is done.

If you use multiple OS versions on multiple SD cards you will need to add the License to each.

Test your License

This process uses SSH, i would suggest you use a program called putty get it from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

Default SSH username and password on openelec is username = root and password = openelec

Get your IP address from system > system info > network

SSH into your Pi.
Type “vcgencmd codec_enabled MPG2” without quotes.