Raspberry Pi = Chromecast + Chromecast Audio (2-in-1)?

Question

I am in need of 1) A bluetooth dongle with a 3.5mm headphone jack to stream audio wirelessly to my speakers and 2) a chromecast-like device which lets me stream video from my laptop (or iPad) to my TV - like wirelessly casting the content of my browser to the TV.

Can I 'just' get a Raspberry Pi 3 and set it up to work like a Chromecast and a Chromecast Audio, 2-in-1, so to say? This would also add other benefits such as emulating and playing old games and maybe a print server. :-)

I think the Raspberry Pi 3 would be a suitable model, since it already has Bluetooth and Wifi integrated, right?

What do you think, is there any way to make this work? And if so, how?

Thanks in advance and all the best, Jan

Answer 1

Can I 'just' get a Raspberry Pi 3 and set it up...

TLDR: No Google has worked pretty hard to make sure the only things that receive Chromecast transmissions are Chromecasts and similar products (Smart TVs, for example). While some Linux packages if you can find them, it's unlikely to work as smoothly as just installing them.

For audio however, there are Linux packages (I found this instructable with a quick Google) that allow the Pi to be used as a Bluetooth receiver, much more versatile than Chromecast audio. As for video there isn't so many standards for transmitting video wirelessly from Android :/

Answer 2

I mean to have a Raspberry that will catch them all, or so to speak. Meaning all the wireless audio technologies I have an investment in.

Here is what I have been able to gather lately, for streaming to a Pi3

• Apple Airplay Audio works quite well with Kodi
• Squeezebox Audio works fine with a little help from QEMU.
• Bluetooth Media Audio works ok on OSMC but A2DP is still in the making,
• Google Cast Audio not working, although I dare hope it won't be long now.

Airplay Audio is my preferred choice for Raspberry. The protocol feature lossless transfer and have quite good latency management allowing the use of multiple groups of speakers. Ever since the original encryption keys were cracked and published, I have been liking it more and more.

Video is a bit trickier I suppose, and I haven't taken much of an interest so far. I believe UPNP and network streaming (eg. from VLC or the like) both work with Kodi.