It’s possible to cast videos and music from a Windows PC to Kodi transforming your Kodi box into a poor man’s Chromecast. Windows devices can cast or stream content by leveraging a browser plugin for Chrome or FireFox. For example, it’s possible to stream Netflix or Hulu from a Windows computer to a HTPC or Android box running Kodi. In order to take advantage of this functionality a few features must be enabled within Kodi.
Enabling AirPlay, UPnP, and DLNA functionality in Kodi
Before Kodi can be used to support casting, Airplay, UPnP, and DLNA must be enabled. In the case of Kodi running on Windows computer ( such as an HTPC), I recommend downloading and installing Apple’s Bonjour Print Services for Windows. Bonjour is an open-source network service discovery protocol which allows devices to locate Kodi instances on your network. Bonjour is not required for casting from Android, but it will make discovering Kodi much easier.
- OPTIONAL: Browse to this Apple Knowledge Base Article to download and install the Bonjour Print Services for Windows application. Reboot the computer after installation.
- Launch Kodi.
- Navigate to Settings→ Services.
- Under General, enable Announce services to other systems.
- Select Control and enable Allow remote control via HTTP, enable Allow remote control from applications on this system, and enable Allow remote control from applications on other systems.
- Select UPnP / DLNA and enable Share my libraries and enable Allow remote control via UPnP.
- Select AirPlay and enable AirPlay support and enable AirPlay Videos and Picture support. AirPlay isn’t required for Android device casting but it will allow any iOS devices to cast Audio to Kodi.
Casting or streaming from a PC
Browser plugins are a great way to cast media from Chrome or FireFox to a Kodi box on your network. Below are a few examples.
Play To Kodi for Chrome browser allows you to cast numerous streaming services such as YouTube, CollegeHumor, eBaumsWorld, LiveLeak, Twitch.tv, Hulu and even magnet links.
Play To Kodi and Send To Kodi are both addons for FireFox which can cast numerous streaming services to Kodi.
Let me know how you stream from a PC to Kodi in the comments below.
As I understand it, there is nothing streamed or casted from PC to Kodi. The FF-Addon just sends the Video-URL to the Kodi-Youtube-Add-on (which is automatically installed). The Video is played on Kodi beeing directly streamed from the web.
What I am looking for is a way to cast (actively initiated) an audio- (or video-)stream from PC to Kodi. Like in Star Trek where any bridge consol can transfer information to the big screen or the big audio-system. I have an entertainment-station with a RasPi (Kodi) which is connected to an amplyfier. Kodi is not practical to organize music, but MediaMonkey on my notebook is. So I want to be able to watch movies directly on Kodi, but stream music from other devices. This would be possible with a DirectX-DLNA-gateway as choosable audio device.
That’s correct. It works a little like Chromecast or AirPlay where the source is actually sent to Kodi and it simply plays from the source media.
I’m actually dealing with a similar issue. I was looking at ways to transform my Kodi box into a Chromecast receiver. There’s options out there, but they’re not free and a little clunky. Ideally an opensource Chomecast Receiver is exactly what I’m looking for. This would allow me to use Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Kodi for video, but then send music from another device using Chromecast. In my case, I use Spotify which natively works with Chromecast and Speakers.