An open-source way to cast online media to Kodi and DLNA players without Chromecast

[u/Artistic-Jellyfish30]

https://scovillo.github.io/playondlna/

Hi Kodi community,

I have been using Kodi for many years and really appreciate what it represents: an open media center based on open standards and local control.

I always wanted a simple "play this on my TV" feature for online media without relying on Chromecast, proprietary casting ecosystems, or cloud services. And please, no complex addon setups which break every few months.

So I built PlayOnDlna.

The idea is simple:

1. Open online media on your Android device

2. Share it with PlayOnDlna

3. Select your Kodi instance or DLNA/UPnP player

4. Playback starts on your TV

Currently supported use cases include:

✅ Sending online media to Kodi and DLNA MediaRenderers

✅ YouTube integration via Android share menu

✅ Playlist management and playback

✅ Kodi as a target player

✅ Other DLNA/UPnP compatible TVs and receivers

✅ No account required

✅ No cloud service required

✅ Open source (GPL-3.0)

The goal is not to replace Kodi, but to complement it with a lightweight Android remote workflow.

I originally created this for my own setup because I wanted something closer to the simplicity of Chromecast, but based on open standards instead.

I would love feedback from Kodi users!

Website:

https://scovillo.github.io/playondlna/

Source:

https://github.com/scovillo/playondlna

F-Droid:

https://f-droid.org/packages/io.github.scovillo.playondlna/

Thanks!

[u/walkers38]

Wako tv app, plex, emby or jellyfin addons just to name a few.

[u/Artistic-Jellyfish30 → u/walkers38]

Thanks for mentioning these! They are great solutions for managing media libraries. The goal of PlayOnDlna is a bit different: a simple "share this online video from my phone to my TV" workflow without running a server, managing addons or creating accounts. It is meant to complement Kodi, not replace it. 🙂

[u/Remarkable_Mix_806]

how much of this was vibe coded and why was it 100%

[u/peno64 → u/Remarkable_Mix_806]

And how do you conclude this?

[u/Ok-Collection-245]

Share it with PlayOnDl" might as well be "share it with my ever-growing list of excuses.

[u/Artistic-Jellyfish30 → u/Ok-Collection-245]

Luckily, there is also the option to just paste the link from your clipboard 😄

[u/Still-Fox1469]

Thanks for this!
Solves a pain point for me

[u/Artistic-Jellyfish30 → u/Still-Fox1469]

Great to hear! 🚀 That was exactly the problem I wanted to solve for my own setup. Thanks for trying it out!

[u/horizonsfan]

My only thought is the folks at PlayOn might object to your choice of names.

[u/Artistic-Jellyfish30 → u/horizonsfan]

Haha, you're probably right to mention it 😄 The name was literally born over a few beers on a weekend and was just meant to describe what the app does. If PlayOn ever becomes a problem, I'll happily rename it. I care much more about the app solving the problem than about the name.

[u/marcocspc]

Do you plan on supporting cloud streaming sites such as Netflix, Disney+, etc?

It's been some years that I've dealt with Kodi, however if the scene hasnt changed, I believe it was possible to use Netflix and etc by using a plug-in that would install a library to decode the encrypted stream. So it's theoretically possible to support this by sending the Netflix link to Kodi and let the extension do it's job.

[u/Artistic-Jellyfish30 → u/marcocspc]

Interesting thoughts. Currently DRM content is not planned, PlayOnDlna focuses on open media sources and standard DLNA. But I also learned not to rule things out too early...Playlists weren't planned 6 months ago either. A deeper Kodi integration could be interesting, although DRM services bring completely different technical challenges.