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Module: NFC Reader

Ant edited this page Jul 12, 2026 · 14 revisions

Allows you to use an PC/SC compatible NFC reader to watch videos associated to NFC Cards/Tags.

We've tested with the ACS ACR122U NFC reader specifically. If you are using a different reader that is also PC/SC compatible but it isn't recognized please let us know.

Contributors: jmcerrejon, anthonycaccese

Settings

Option Values Info
Enabled On/Off Sets if the module should display in the main module list when you start 240-MP.
Resume Playback Ask/Always/Never 'Ask' will present you with an option to restart playback or resume, 'Always' will resume without asking and 'Never' will restart playback from the beginning without asking
YouTube Video Resolution 480p (Default), 720p, 1080p Set the resolution of the video to request from YouTube for playback. I recommend to keep this on 480p for the Raspberry Pi on a CRT for best performance
Auto Show Subtitles On/Off/Forced Only Sets your preference for subtitle display when starting playback. On means if a subtitle is available then it will be set to display be default (based on your language preference). Forced only means it will attempt to find a subtitle track with a forced flag based on your language preference and if not default to off. Off will default to off =). All options still allow you toggle during playback.
Subtitle Language [Language] Sets your preferred language for subtitles and works in conjunction with the Auto Show Subtitles setting

To Enable

  1. Connect a PC/SC compatible NFC Reader (we use and recommend the ACS ACR122U reader)
  2. Make sure the necessary drivers are installed
    • On Raspberry Pi:
      • Download this script: setup-nfc-reader.sh (right click > "save link as")
      • Place it on your Raspberry Pi in your user folder (it can be placed anywhere just as long is its run by the user that will be starting 240-MP)
      • Run it via
        sudo setup-nfc-reader.sh
        
      • This will set up the needed drivers on Raspberry Pi, you should see your reader is detected when it completes
      • You can delete the setup-nfc-reader.sh script from your Pi after its successful
    • On macOS:
      • The PC/SC drivers are included by default on MacOS so plugging in a compatible NFC reader should just work
  3. Create a .txt file for each card/tag you'd like to map inside the /nfc_tags/ directory located in 240-MP's data directory
    • Where:
      • On Raspberry Pi: ~/.local/share/240-MP/nfc_tags/
      • On macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/240-MP/nfc_tags/
    • Note: When you tap an un-mapped card with the module active... it will create a starting .txt for you in the same directory so you can simply change it's filename and add a video path the second line (the card ID will already be added on the first line for you). So if you'd like to wait until the module is running you can do this step later.
    • For each .txt file you add:
      • The filename will be used as the Title of the card in the UI
      • The first line of the .txt file should be the ID of the Card you'd like to map
      • The second line of the .txt file should be the Path of the video you'd like to play
      • Example: Contact (1997) Trailer.txt
        04:23:58:DF:3F:02:89
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRoj3jK37Vc
        
      • Paths can be absolute, relative, direct media URLs, or YouTube page URLs (YouTube playback requires yt-dlp to be installed).
      • Relative paths are resolved from the app/data roots at runtime.
  4. Then go to Settings > NFC Reader and set Enabled to On
  5. Open NFC Reader from the module list
  6. Present a mapped card to start playback

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