pico-cec

A Raspberry Pi Pico project that turns HDMI CEC signals into USB keyboard input, aimed at second hand mini PCs running Kodi that have no remote of their own.

Micro and mini desktops turn up cheaply as second hand media players, especially when they run Kodi distributions like LibreELEC. Many of those devices lack HDMI CEC, so controlling them means extra peripherals such as a wireless keyboard or game controller. Pico CEC attacks that with a Pico that handles the CEC protocol on the HDMI port and adapts user control messages into USB keyboard inputs. As of January 2026 the reference hardware moved from the RP2040 to the RP2350, with RP2040 builds continuing where possible.

The working list is specific. The adapter sends and receives HDMI CEC frames, parses EDID to determine the HDMI physical address, and gets recognized by LibreELEC as a USB HID keyboard. Basic user control messages map to Kodi shortcuts, including navigation arrows, select, back, play, pause, and the number keys. One caution is spelled out: the build quality of HDMI breakout boards varies a lot, so 4K video pass through may not work in all cases. The project also passes the cec compliance test suite from the Linux v4l utils package as of version 0.2.2.

Building uses a standard CMake flow with dependencies on cmake, gcc arm none eabi, and libnewlib dev. Two boards are supported, and the RP2040 and RP2350 produce incompatible uf2 images, so you build for the board you actually own. The result is a pico cec uf2 file that drops onto the Pico through the usual bootloader procedure. A serial command line interface is available for debugging.

What stands out is the detail packed into a small hardware README. Real usage is documented against specific TVs and an AVR, the 4K caveat is stated openly, and a bill of materials lists real prices. It reads like a project built for the author's own setup.

• Source 1 · Project repository
• Source 2 · README