Turn your Raspberry Pi into a Portable Media Center with this Easy Setup Guide

Learn how to connect your Raspberry Pi to a mobile screen using an HDMI to MIPI adapter and enjoy movies, music, and more on-the-go! …


Updated October 21, 2023

Need help with your Raspberry Pi?
Contact Me!

Do you love silly Raspberry Pi Projects?
Check out my this YouTube Channel!


Learn how to connect your Raspberry Pi to a mobile screen using an HDMI to MIPI adapter and enjoy movies, music, and more on-the-go!

Raspberry Pi is a popular single board computer used for various applications such as home automation, media centers, and much more. However, one limitation of the Raspberry Pi is its inability to connect directly to mobile screens using HDMI. This is where an HDMI to MIPI adapter comes into play. In this guide, we’ll show you how to use an HDMI to MIPI adapter to turn your Raspberry Pi into a portable media center that can be connected to a mobile screen.

Prerequisites:

  • A Raspberry Pi 3 or higher model (we recommend using the latest version)
  • An HDMI to MIPI Adapter (such as the one from Waveshare or ABEE)
  • A micro SD card with Raspbian installed (a lightweight version of Linux for Raspberry Pi)
  • A mobile device with a Micro USB port (for powering the Raspberry Pi)
  • An HDMI cable (to connect the Raspberry Pi to your mobile screen)
  • Power supply (5V 2.5A for Raspberry Pi 3 or higher)

Step 1: Prepare Your Raspberry Pi

Before you start, make sure that your Raspberry Pi is up-to-date and has all the necessary software installed. Open a terminal window and run the following commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y xserver-xorg-video-fbdev xinit

These commands will ensure that your Raspberry Pi is ready to display content on an external screen.

Step 2: Connect the HDMI to MIPI Adapter

  1. Plug in the MIPI to HDMI adapter into the Raspberry Pi’s Micro USB port and connect the other end to a mobile device using a Micro USB cable.
  2. Now, plug in your Raspberry Pi’s power supply and make sure it’s turned on. The green light should be blinking.
  3. Connect an HDMI cable from the adapter to your mobile screen or projector.

Step 3: Configure Your Screen Settings

  1. Open the terminal window again and run xrandr command to get a list of available screen resolutions.
  2. Choose a suitable resolution for your mobile screen (e.g., 800x480) and run the following command:
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 800x480
  1. Now, create an xinitrc file in your home directory with the following content:
nano ~/.xinitrc

Add the following lines to the file and save it:

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 800x480
exec startlxde &

Replace 800x480 with your chosen resolution. This will ensure that Raspbian starts in the correct screen resolution every time you boot up.

Step 4: Start the Display Server

  1. To start the display server, run:
startx
  1. If everything is configured correctly, your mobile screen should now display the Raspberry Pi desktop.
  2. You can use your favorite media player (e.g., OMXPlayer) to play movies or music on your mobile screen. For example:
omxplayer /path/to/your/video.mp4

That’s it! You have successfully connected your Raspberry Pi to a mobile screen using an HDMI to MIPI adapter. Now you can enjoy movies, music, and more on-the-go with your portable media center.

Note: Some users may encounter issues with audio playback. If that’s the case, check out our guide on configuring audio on Raspberry Pi for a possible solution.