staff@slashgear.com (Joe Brown)
2024-04-03 10:15:33
www.slashgear.com
Thanks to Kodi, a free open-source media center, you can use your old Raspberry Pi to make a customized home theater PC. Originally designed for Xbox for playing local music and movie files, the Kodi Media Center has since expanded to become a versatile media platform for Android, macOS, Windows, and several other operating systems. You can still access and play local media files, but arguably the best part is the available add-ons, allowing you to legally stream content from platforms including Netflix, YouTube, and Plex.
The good news is that practically any Raspberry Pi can handle Kodi Media Center, including the miniature Raspberry Pi Zero. Of course, you’re not guaranteed the 4K footage that the newer Raspberry Pi 4 supports, but even then, you can enjoy viewing HD content on a Raspberry Pi Zero with its built-in mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output.
You can install Kodi as an app on an Android or Linux OS, or you can use a dedicated Kodi OS. This offers a great way to turn your old TV into a Smart TV with a Raspberry Pi, and with the ridiculously cheap price of the Raspberry Pi Zero, it’s a super-affordable option too.