Why Buy a Chromecast When You Can Use Your Raspberry Pi?

Google’s Chromecast was a pretty big deal when it came out, and it’s easy to see why; instead of using going through the hassle of searching for videos on a set top box using a clunky remote, you can just cast a video from your phone. It’s a lot faster, and a much less frustrating experience. Apple’s AirPlay works in a similar way, though it’s more restricted.

If you’ve been thinking about purchasing a Chromecast, but haven’t made the jump, why not consider using one of the Raspberry Pis you already have laying around? You do have extra Raspberry Pis laying around, don’t you? This is a pretty simple setup if you’ve got an Android phone or tablet, and Novaspirit walks through the process in both a video and article.

To get started, you’ll just need a Raspberry Pi (the tutorial recommends a Pi 3) with Raspbian installed. The guide advises that you use Raspbian Pixel, as the rest of the software may not work in other versions of Raspbian. Then just enable SSH, and install a couple of libraries. The final step on the Raspberry Pi is to install OMXIV from GitHub, which handles the actual “casting” function.

On your Android device, you’ll need to download and install the RaspiCast app. Unfortunately, this method doesn’t work with the built-in cast function that you’d normally use with a Chromecast. Instead, it’ll add a casting option under the sharing menu. Once everything is installed, just put in your Raspberry Pi’s IP address, find a photo, video or audio file you want to cast, and send it from the share menu!