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A Raspberry Pi on one of the TV’s HDMI inputs is Readout’s screen for that TV. It runs the home agent, shows the captions and the schedule’s screens itself, and switches the TV to them, turning it on first. The TV’s own remote reaches it: OK confirms a reminder. Between times it shows the home board: the time, big, with the day, the date and the weather. The clock can be digits, a clock face or flip cards.

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What you need

  • A Raspberry Pi 4 or Pi 5, with its power supply and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable
  • A microSD card of 8 GB or more, or a USB drive
  • A computer to write the card on (Mac, Windows or Linux)
  • A TV with HDMI-CEC turned on in its settings (LG calls it SimpLink, Samsung Anynet+, Sony Bravia Sync)
Optional, for more:

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Set it up

1

Make a setup link

In the app, open TVs and phones, then Set up a Raspberry Pi at the TV. Give it a name if you like, and press Make a setup link.
2

Write the card

Put the Pi’s microSD card (or USB drive) in your computer. Paste the command the app gives into Terminal on a Mac or Linux, or the other one into PowerShell on Windows. It finds the card, asks before erasing it, and asks for the Wi-Fi the Pi should join. Your computer’s password is asked for once.
3

Plug it in and switch it on

Put the card in the Pi, plug the Pi into the TV (on a Pi 4, the HDMI port nearest the power socket), and switch it on. In two or three minutes it’s Readout’s screen, already listed with your TVs. There’s nothing to type.
Setting the same Pi up again on a new card keeps it the same Pi in Readout, with what’s scheduled on it, as long as the new card is paired within a day.

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Caption the room

With a microphone on the Pi, the screen captions the room by itself, with no phone needed: for a visitor at the TV, say. Press OK on the TV’s remote while the home board shows, or Caption the room in the app’s remote. What’s said shows big on the TV. OK again, or Stop captions in the app, ends it, and so do 10 minutes with nothing said.

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Sounds it listens for

With a microphone, the screen can listen for the doorbell, knocking, a smoke or fire alarm, a phone ringing, a baby crying and a dog barking. Choose which in Menu → Sounds and flashing. When it hears one, the screen flashes and a banner says what it was, TVs showing captions say so, lights can flash, and phones can be notified. What it hears stays on the Pi: it never records or sends sound, only which of the six it was.

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Show your computer’s screen

On a computer, open the remote, choose the TV, and press Cast your screen. Your browser asks what to show: the whole screen, a window or a tab. The TV turns on and shows it, as big as fits. Stop casting, your browser’s own Stop sharing, or OK on the TV’s remote ends it. It’s for a browser on a computer; phones and tablets can’t show their screens this way.