Do not be afraid of the technical details. This thorough guide will help you build an affordable video player.
These instruction will help you configure a player that can:
- Play mp4, mov, and most other popular video formats
- Loop a single video or a play list
- Restart when unplugged and auto play videos
- HDMI connectivity
- Small and concealable form factor (Abotu the size of 2 stacked decks of standard playing cards)
- Raspberry Pi micro computer, minimum 4GB RAM (less than $100 as of 4/4/2026)
- Micro HDMI to standard HDMI cable (length to meet your needs)
- USB C Power brick
- High Speed Micro SD card, minimum 16GB (This should be more than enough for a single video, you may need more storage)
- HDMI TV or monitor
- Raspberry Pi 4 case (optional)
- Micro SD card reader (optional, you may need this to connect an micro SD card to your computer)
- USB keyboard
- USB Mouse
- Insert the micro SD card into your computer. Some uses may need an micro SD card reader
- On your computer, downlaod the Raspberry Pi Imager (OS installer).
- Run the Raspberry Pi Imager and select the "Raspberry Pi 4" as the device. You can find the full docs here.
- Select the "Raspberry Pi OS" as the operating system.
- Select the SD card. This is where the operating statem will be written. Make sure to check the box that says "Exclude systems drives".
⚠️ This prevents you from accidentally overwritting your computers harddrive. - Complete the reaminder of the prompts and wait for the process to finish writing to the SD card.
- Place the Rapsberri Pi into the case.
- Push the micro SD card into the Raspberry Pi's micro SD card slot.
- Connect the Raspberry Pi to the display (TV or monitor) via the HDMI cable.
- Plug the Keyboard and mouse into the Raspberry Pi.
- Plug plug the power adpter into the wall and the raspberry Pi.
- Allow the Raspberry Pi to boot.