Database Develop

[Q] Anyone try Plex yet?

Plex just released their app for android today. Anyone try it on their nook yet?

I´m about to buy it!
Any early adopter has it yet?

Can't wait to try this out, but need to get home and get the media server installed first.
Funny I was just reading over on edgadget about the playon app for 2.2+.
Looks like this will give us netflix? Much better deal than playon which is subscription based and requires 2.2.

Wow, that looks effin sweet. So much for workin on my android app tonight...

works great on evo. doesn't work at all on nook :/

Works on my nook, (1.01, rooted) but quality isn't that great; laggy and audio goes out of synch sometimes. I'm guessing because the format of the video transcoded and sent by plex server isn't supported directly by the nook hardware; If plex could sent the appropriate video format (H264, baseline profile) I bet it would be much better quality.

No video for me....but music works.
Video does work on my droid x.
Hopefully they'll get it working and come out with a netflix plugin for the windows server.

I'm downloading it now seeing how it work on CM7. i report back tomorrow.

Try Subsonic (http://subsonic.org). The android app is free, and the server is donationware...supports multiple platforms (windows, mac, linux), streams audio and video, can be configured to transcode to/from whatever you like by way of ffmpeg, and it's just pretty durned awesome all around.
This is coming from someone who's been on a quest to find the perfect streaming platform since the Treo 600. I've got a dedicated server running Debian Linux w/ 3TB of storage, a 1Gbit connection, and all of my media stored on it. I've tried VLC (too wonky, could never get it to work), Orb (flaky, poor quality video, had to be run on a Windows virtual machine, wasting memory), and a bunch of others.
Was waiting for Orb to get their act together and release an actual linux client, when someone told me about Subsonic. Had it up and running in 5 minutes, streaming music (as MP3) and video (as flash) to my phone and Nook, currently, since they are both running Gingerbread....but it should be able to be tweaked to whatever format you need, and it's stable and resource friendly. I can't believe I didn't find it sooner, but the package blows me away.
Last night I drove to work streaming music to my phone, and playing it on the car stereo via BT....an hour's drive down the 60 freeway, and not a single interruption in playback. It buffers 3 songs ahead to withstand even extended signal dropouts.
It's just brilliant.

hexapus said:
Had it up and running in 5 minutes, streaming music (as MP3) and video (as flash) to my phone and Nook, currently, since they are both running Gingerbread....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what do you use on your nook to play videos that are streamed to your device in flash format?

hexapus said:
Try Subsonic (http://subsonic.org). The android app is free, and the server is donationware...supports multiple platforms (windows, mac, linux), streams audio and video, can be configured to transcode to/from whatever you like by way of ffmpeg, and it's just pretty durned awesome all around.
This is coming from someone who's been on a quest to find the perfect streaming platform since the Treo 600. I've got a dedicated server running Debian Linux w/ 3TB of storage, a 1Gbit connection, and all of my media stored on it. I've tried VLC (too wonky, could never get it to work), Orb (flaky, poor quality video, had to be run on a Windows virtual machine, wasting memory), and a bunch of others.
Was waiting for Orb to get their act together and release an actual linux client, when someone told me about Subsonic. Had it up and running in 5 minutes, streaming music (as MP3) and video (as flash) to my phone and Nook, currently, since they are both running Gingerbread....but it should be able to be tweaked to whatever format you need, and it's stable and resource friendly. I can't believe I didn't find it sooner, but the package blows me away.
Last night I drove to work streaming music to my phone, and playing it on the car stereo via BT....an hour's drive down the 60 freeway, and not a single interruption in playback. It buffers 3 songs ahead to withstand even extended signal dropouts.
It's just brilliant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Subsonic does video? That's the first I've heard of it.

I finally got the new version to work for my Nook Color. Here is how:
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...n-cyanogenmod/page__view__findpost__p__173121
That workaround works every time for me. Now I finally can enjoy streaming content!!! Be sure to enable "Less Colors, More Speed" in settings for smooth playback.

poofyhairguy said:
i finally got the new version to work for my nook color. Here is how:
http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php...n-cyanogenmod/page__view__findpost__p__173121
that workaround works every time for me. Now i finally can enjoy streaming content!!! Be sure to enable "less colors, more speed" in settings for smooth playback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome thanks so much !!

Dlna /upnp setup help?

I am trying to play video over the network. I have done this on my phone but I just cannot get it working on the TouchPad.
My problem is that whatever client I use, skifta, bubbleupnp, upnplay, they all use the stock android video player. I have installed several other video players such as mobo, vlc, and mx. Unfortunately I cannot get any of the Dona/upnp apps to use them. This wasn't an issue on gingerbread on my phone, but on the TouchPad I just cannot get it to use anything but the default player.
I have tried default app manager and cleared any defaults of any type that were set, set the defaults the way I wanted, etc, but it is like the apps simply do not see that any video player but the default exists.
EDIT: I AM NOT ASKING ABOUT HD VIDEO SUPPORT AND I UNDERSTAND SOME VIDEO PLAYERS MAY NOT WORK BUT SOME SHOULD. I AM NOT ASKING ABOUT HD VIDEO SUPPORT!!
the issue *again*, in a nutshell: I cannot CHANGE the default video player. There is no entry in Settings->Apps to "clear defaults" on, and it never prompts me for which video player to use even after installing new ones. Thus, I cannot use any 3rd party video player since IT NEVER PROMPTS ME FOR WHICH ONE TO USE.
Any advice or help?
Sent from my TouchPad using CyanogenMod 9

HD video doesn't work yet in any of the ICS versions on the Touchpad. You can always boot into webOS to watch videos until they get in working in CM9. Otherwise you'd have the use the ACMEUnistaller to remove CM9 and re-install CM7.

lewmur said:
HD video doesn't work yet in any of the ICS versions on the Touchpad. You can always boot into webOS to watch videos until they get in working in CM9. Otherwise you'd have the use the ACMEUnistaller to remove CM9 and re-install CM7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, I believe you are missing the point.... I'm not asking about HD video...
as I understand it, there ARE media players that will play video in cm9... it just won't let me *select* any of them...
Not only that, but WebOS does NOT support DLNA or UPNP which is what I'm trying to use. There is ONE app in the HP web store for it, but it 1) doesn't support most video formats, and 2) won't even recognize my UPNP/DLNA server which works perfectly fine with my phone, and is visible to cm9 also.

lotherius said:
Umm, I believe you are missing the point.... I'm not asking about HD video...
as I understand it, there ARE media players that will play video in cm9... it just won't let me *select* any of them...
Not only that, but WebOS does NOT support DLNA or UPNP which is what I'm trying to use. There is ONE app in the HP web store for it, but it 1) doesn't support most video formats, and 2) won't even recognize my UPNP/DLNA server which works perfectly fine with my phone, and is visible to cm9 also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone is NOT running an alpha version of ICS. NOBODY is at the point of "fixing" specific issues with individual apps in CM9. Have you even tried using CM7?
BTW, the DLNA players you mention all use their own "media player" to render content. None of them "connect" to other video players or music players in Android. If you can't "play" your "stuff" using BubbleUPnP in CM9 it IS most likely because of the HD video problem. I just tried Bubble in CM7 and it works fine using "Local Renderer". Which is the ONLY renderer available.

lewmur said:
Your phone is NOT running an alpha version of ICS. NOBODY is at the point of "fixing" specific issues with individual apps in CM9. Have you even tried using CM7?
BTW, the DLNA players you mention all use their own "media player" to render content. None of them "connect" to other video players or music players in Android. If you can't "play" your "stuff" using BubbleUPnP in CM9 it IS most likely because of the HD video problem. I just tried Bubble in CM7 and it works fine using "Local Renderer". Which is the ONLY renderer available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, no, at least some of them will use an external media player and simply start the stream.
Whatever, obviously no help here.

I use es file explorer and when I click the video it buffers in Mx video player I think. Anything less than 1500 kbps plays fine for me.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

jarnail24 said:
I use es file explorer and when I click the video it buffers in Mx video player I think. Anything less than 1500 kbps plays fine for me.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My problem is that at some point I accidentally set the built-in player to default. So I have to open mx-player manually and play files that way. This obviously does not work when you're using a UPNP app to pass a video stream to the player. Unfortunately, it's passing to the built-in player.
It looks like either ICS, or AOKP one has an "issue" with the fact that there's no place to change this default once set. I've gone through EVERY SINGLE APP listed in the application manager and cleared defaults, and it is still not prompting for a new default media player.
Looks like the only solution for this is a reset, which is a lot of overkill...

Try deleting the internal video player or freezing it with titanium backup and then it might ask you again which video player to use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

jarnail24 said:
Try deleting the internal video player or freezing it with titanium backup and then it might ask you again which video player to use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would do so if I knew which app it was hiding under. There's no app called "Media Player" or "Video Player"... It has the same icon as the gallery, so I'm wondering if it's hiding in there...

lotherius said:
I would do so if I knew which app it was hiding under. There's no app called "Media Player" or "Video Player"... It has the same icon as the gallery, so I'm wondering if it's hiding in there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you open /Settings/Applications/Running Services and all you see is the app itself and the Android UPnP service, and no video player, it is because, like I said to begin with, the app is doing its own rendering and NOT using any "default video player". You can try anything you like and it isn't going to work until you un-install ICS and install a GingerBread based version of Android. Bubble works fine in CM7 without using any external video player.

lewmur said:
If you open /Settings/Applications/Running Services and all you see is the app itself and the Android UPnP service, and no video player, it is because, like I said to begin with, the app is doing its own rendering and NOT using any "default video player". You can try anything you like and it isn't going to work until you un-install ICS and install a GingerBread based version of Android. Bubble works fine in CM7 without using any external video player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
However, UPNPlay does NOT have an internal video player. Pretty sure Bubble doesn't, but I know for a *fact* UPNPlay doesn't. Again, if I open the files directly _they do play_. The issue is NOT that video files won't play - it is that the default video player cannot seem to be changed.

lotherius said:
However, UPNPlay does NOT have an internal video player. Pretty sure Bubble doesn't, but I know for a *fact* UPNPlay doesn't. Again, if I open the files directly _they do play_. The issue is NOT that video files won't play - it is that the default video player cannot seem to be changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And I "know for a fact" that Bubble DOES have an "internal video player". And if UPNPlay doesn't have one, then the one it is using will show under /Settings/Applications/Running Services. If there is no video player running then the "FACT" is that you are wrong and it DOES have its own in Android. It may be a different thing in Windows, but that isn't relevant to this discussion. The simple reason that the "default video player" can't be changed is that there is no such animal. You can't change what doesn't exist.
edit: I just checked the settings for UPNPlay and it has settings for third party *Audio* players but NOT for third party video. I guess some people's "facts" are different from others.

Better Way To Stream Local Video?

Does anyone know if there is a better way to play local video through Chromecast? I know we can play certain video types through the Chrome browser but it seems to create noticeable frame dropping.

czonin said:
Does anyone know if there is a better way to play local video through Chromecast? I know we can play certain video types through the Chrome browser but it seems to create noticeable frame dropping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the chrome extension for casting the tab, there is a drop down next to where it says BETA. In the drop down you can change setting between tab and the whole screen.

indiajones2012 said:
In the chrome extension for casting the tab, there is a drop down next to where it says BETA. In the drop down you can change setting between tab and the whole screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried this as well, still a good amount of frames dropped.

Plex support coming soon
https://plus.google.com/117336216609274144137/posts/5StfogFS5Au
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

david279 said:
Plex support coming soon
https://plus.google.com/117336216609274144137/posts/5StfogFS5Au
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Playing the video in the browser with Plex and then casting that works great.

Yea but native plex will be better. In my case my pc is not near my bedroom TV with the Chromecast so I would have to get up walk all the way to the pc bla bla to get it done like that.
I'm not putting casting down because it's been quite smooth for me put I can't wait for native plex.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

i'd like a casting button to be built into mx player. that way, i can can browse samba shares from my server/nas from es file explorer and play the video with mx player, then cast to the screen. is that possible?

foghelmut said:
Playing the video in the browser with Plex and then casting that works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had some strange aspect ratio problems when I tried this. Admittedly I only played around with it for 10 minutes.
heiNey said:
i'd like a casting button to be built into mx player. that way, i can can browse samba shares from my server/nas from es file explorer and play the video with mx player, then cast to the screen. is that possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not as of today. If the devs add it in (and Google approves the app) it is possible.

tnt118 said:
I had some strange aspect ratio problems when I tried this. Admittedly I only played around with it for 10 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the web player seems to convert 2.35:1 to 16:9.

heiNey said:
i'd like a casting button to be built into mx player. that way, i can can browse samba shares from my server/nas from es file explorer and play the video with mx player, then cast to the screen. is that possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do something similar with the BubbleUPnP app. My Dish Hopper and Asus Cube are DLNA capable so I choose one of those as my rendering device. Then I pick my shared videos as the source. The built-in media players of the Hopper and Cube then play the files over my local network that I select on my tablet. This also works for files on my tablet if I choose that as a source. I don't think this will work with Chromecast, though, as it is not DLNA capable nor does it support many codecs out of the gate.
When the Chromecast service gets pushed to the Google TV devices this fall, they will fill most everyone's needs. It will give the DLNA support for local files and the internet streaming capabilities of Chromecast with device control. If they also make a mobile PrimeTime app, then you will no longer need to use D-pad navigation for large libraries or channel guides.

Streaming Flash Player and HTML5

I recently got the chromecast and rooted it and then quickly tried to tab cast some streaming games. While the quality is very good I noticed quite a bit of lagging. So I went out to see if there was any way around this and couldn't really find anything. Also when playing flash videos the sound still comes out of the computer and not the tv. I was thinking we may be able to send these videos directly to the chromecast as they are nothing really but a combination of player + url. I found this but don't really know much about devving so thought maybe I could peak someones interest? Or at least throwing an idea out there.
https://github.com/colinmutter/chromecast-sandbox

aamir123 said:
I recently got the chromecast and rooted it and then quickly tried to tab cast some streaming games. While the quality is very good I noticed quite a bit of lagging. So I went out to see if there was any way around this and couldn't really find anything. Also when playing flash videos the sound still comes out of the computer and not the tv.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There will always be lag. A faster computer will reduce the lag, but there will always be some lag as it's a decode-reencode.
Not sure about the Flash sound. I casted this insect sound page from Chrome and the sound switched from PC to Chromecast and back when I stopped casting.
aamir123 said:
I was thinking we may be able to send these videos directly to the chromecast as they are nothing really but a combination of player + url.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes the player does special things, but if it's simply an embedded player grabbing a YouTube link, perhaps an "enhanced Cast" extension for Chrome could sniff for the direct YouTube link and cast that to the YouTube app directly... Or even more elaborate, something like a media downloader, but instead of downloading, you can choose and queue to Chromecast. That could be useful.

bhiga said:
There will always be lag. A faster computer will reduce the lag, but there will always be some lag as it's a decode-reencode.
Not sure about the Flash sound. I casted this insect sound page from Chrome and the sound switched from PC to Chromecast and back when I stopped casting.
Sometimes the player does special things, but if it's simply an embedded player grabbing a YouTube link, perhaps an "enhanced Cast" extension for Chrome could sniff for the direct YouTube link and cast that to the YouTube app directly... Or even more elaborate, something like a media downloader, but instead of downloading, you can choose and queue to Chromecast. That could be useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried using first row and the like and have been unable to get sound to come thru tv, matter of fact I've been unable to play full screen, also I was thinking maybe there would be a way to somehow install a custom video player like the many available in the play store directly onto chromecast which would enable direct url and other unsupported content to be played directly by chromecast. This would in turn make streaming as efficient (almost) as the way youtube is handled currently.

aamir123 said:
I tried using first row and the like and have been unable to get sound to come thru tv, matter of fact I've been unable to play full screen, also I was thinking maybe there would be a way to somehow install a custom video player like the many available in the play store directly onto chromecast which would enable direct url and other unsupported content to be played directly by chromecast. This would in turn make streaming as efficient (almost) as the way youtube is handled currently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try the insect sound page I tried?
Also, do you get sound on the TV for native apps like casting YouTube?

bhiga said:
Did you try the insect sound page I tried?
Also, do you get sound on the TV for native apps like casting YouTube?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope sound doesnt work with the insect sounds, but does with youtube whether I'm casting the youtube tab or sending directly. Also when I go to hulu and play a video or go to your sound page I get a black box in hulu (no video) or just a blank space for the insect sounds. When I play video on first row I get video but sound from computer. Just for completeness I just got upgraded via an ota from pwncast

aamir123 said:
nope sound doesnt work with the insect sounds, but does with youtube whether I'm casting the youtube tab or sending directly. Also when I go to hulu and play a video or go to your sound page I get a black box in hulu (no video) or just a blank space for the insect sounds. When I play video on first row I get video but sound from computer. Just for completeness I just got upgraded via an ota from pwncast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like your Flash is being rendered in some odd manner that the Cast extension cannot pick up.
What version of Chrome and Cast extension are you using?
Also, what graphics card and driver do you have?

bhiga said:
Sounds like your Flash is being rendered in some odd manner that the Cast extension cannot pick up.
What version of Chrome and Cast extension are you using?
Also, what graphics card and driver do you have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chrome 31, extension 13.1
amd a4 3300m radeon 6480g
using chrome built in flash player

aamir123 said:
Chrome 31, extension 13.1
amd a4 3300m radeon 6480g
using chrome built in flash player
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll check my configuration when I get home.

bhiga said:
Thanks, I'll check my configuration when I get home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any update?

aamir123 said:
any update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just got home... Long day on the failboat.
Chome Version 31.0.1650.57 m
Google Cast 13.1008.0.4
AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series 13.152.0.0

bhiga said:
Just got home... Long day on the failboat.
Chome Version 31.0.1650.57 m
Google Cast 13.1008.0.4
AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series 13.152.0.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm both have amd radeon, and same chrome and extension

[Q] Best way to serve local media?

This isn't another repeat of the same question regarding apps/compatibility. I know there are some solutions out there and some that we'll have more access to shortly (i.e. Plex.)
My question is what is going to be the best setup for hosting and serving local media to a ChromeCast? I currently have an outdated (unsupported) Windows Home Server with 3TB of storage. With an Intel Atom CPU it still functions nicely as a lightweight, energy efficient file server. I'm concerned about it's capability to function as a DLNA server, however. It's powerful enough to serve raw files but I think that's about it.
I bought the Avia expanded feature set and haven't had much luck with it. I understand I can't use it to simply browse files on my server and play them, so I installed the Serviio DLNA server (http://serviiowhs.codeplex.com/) and the Avia app does find this media (although some files are sporadically missing.) Playing them on Avia doesn't work at all, either on my phone or on Chromecast. I turned off transcoding on the server but I'm just generally confused at where the video processing is all taking place and where I want it to be taking place.
Ideally I'd like to just serve files up to my ChromeCast and have it perform all of the decoding/video processing, I think? Is that ever a realistic option or do I need to find something that is going to work better as DLNA server? Maybe a NAS with some kind of DLNA functionality built in? Anyone else have opinions on the best setup?

usefulidiot127 said:
My question is what is going to be the best setup for hosting and serving local media to a ChromeCast? I currently have an outdated (unsupported) Windows Home Server with 3TB of storage. With an Intel Atom CPU it still functions nicely as a lightweight, energy efficient file server. I'm concerned about it's capability to function as a DLNA server, however. It's powerful enough to serve raw files but I think that's about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... Atom is fine for DLNA, but things that require transcoding (ie, Plex Media Server) will probably leave you wanting more horsepower.
usefulidiot127 said:
I bought the Avia expanded feature set and haven't had much luck with it. I understand I can't use it to simply browse files on my server and play them, so I installed the Serviio DLNA server (http://serviiowhs.codeplex.com/) and the Avia app does find this media (although some files are sporadically missing.) Playing them on Avia doesn't work at all, either on my phone or on Chromecast. I turned off transcoding on the server but I'm just generally confused at where the video processing is all taking place and where I want it to be taking place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on WHS 2011 now, but IIRC WHSv1 supports UPnP and Windows Media Connect. It might show up for DLNA, but I don't remember if Windows Media Connect is turned on by default. Regardless, DLNA alone won't help you if your media isn't in a Chromecast-compatible format.
usefulidiot127 said:
Ideally I'd like to just serve files up to my ChromeCast and have it perform all of the decoding/video processing, I think? Is that ever a realistic option or do I need to find something that is going to work better as DLNA server? Maybe a NAS with some kind of DLNA functionality built in? Anyone else have opinions on the best setup?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chromecast's processor is powerful, but nowhere near as flexible as a desktop computer. You can't necessarily automatically download and install software CODECs like you can on a desktop computer.
Think of it more like an iPod - unless the media was made to be compatible, there will likely need to be some amount of "preparation" (ie, transcoding) that needs to be done to make it compatible.
Your options would be to convert/transcode your media library so it's Chromecast compatible, use RealPlayer Cloud (which will require you to upload any incompatible media to RP Cloud where they'll do the transcoding for you via their SurePlay feature), or use Plex Media Server so you have on-the-fly transcoding.

bhiga said:
Hmm... Atom is fine for DLNA, but things that require transcoding (ie, Plex Media Server) will probably leave you wanting more horsepower.
I'm on WHS 2011 now, but IIRC WHSv1 supports UPnP and Windows Media Connect. It might show up for DLNA, but I don't remember if Windows Media Connect is turned on by default. Regardless, DLNA alone won't help you if your media isn't in a Chromecast-compatible format.
Chromecast's processor is powerful, but nowhere near as flexible as a desktop computer. You can't necessarily automatically download and install software CODECs like you can on a desktop computer.
Think of it more like an iPod - unless the media was made to be compatible, there will likely need to be some amount of "preparation" (ie, transcoding) that needs to be done to make it compatible.
Your options would be to convert/transcode your media library so it's Chromecast compatible, use RealPlayer Cloud (which will require you to upload any incompatible media to RP Cloud where they'll do the transcoding for you via their SurePlay feature), or use Plex Media Server so you have on-the-fly transcoding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm guessing I'm running into issues with Avia/ChromeCast because I have transcoding disabled and the media may not be in a format supported by Chromecast? I thought maybe since my android phones/tablets with MX Player can process just about any file, maybe the ChromeCast could as well. (Not taking into account that ChromeCast is a vastly cheaper device.)
My best option might just be to run Plex on my full powered desktop and treat my server as network attached storage. I'll just need to turn the PC on when I'm ready to Cast (surely there's an app out there to wake a desktop from sleep mode...)

usefulidiot127 said:
Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm guessing I'm running into issues with Avia/ChromeCast because I have transcoding disabled and the media may not be in a format supported by Chromecast? I thought maybe since my android phones/tablets with MX Player can process just about any file, maybe the ChromeCast could as well. (Not taking into account that ChromeCast is a vastly cheaper device.)
My best option might just be to run Plex on my full powered desktop and treat my server as network attached storage. I'll just need to turn the PC on when I'm ready to Cast (surely there's an app out there to wake a desktop from sleep mode...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes - most likely your media isn't in a format Chromecast can play.
You can test it by shooting a 720p clip on your phone/tablet and throwing that onto your server - that should be playable by Chromecast unless you have an uber-fancy device that saves in a non-mainstream format.
MX Player is pretty awesome - it really makes good use of hardware decoding and such, but of course today's phones and tablets are closer to desktop computer than appliance-type devices like Chromecast.
Yes, probably your best bet it to run Plex on a reasonably-fast machine. It might be worth trying it on your WHS box too, though it might be slow to start stuff, depends. My WHS 2011 box is an Atom 330 (dual-core), it was a good upgrade from my previous Atom 230 (single-core) but its CPU isn't much faster than those found in some of the more-powerful NAS units. I just use it as a fileserver, so it's not a huge deal and the primary design factor was small form factor (it's mounted to a plate mounted on the back of my TV).
As long as the network connection between your server and your Plex Media Server machine is good, it should work well. For a while I was running pyTivo on my desktop to on-the-fly transcode stuff to play on my TiVos...

bhiga said:
Yes - most likely your media isn't in a format Chromecast can play.
You can test it by shooting a 720p clip on your phone/tablet and throwing that onto your server - that should be playable by Chromecast unless you have an uber-fancy device that saves in a non-mainstream format.
MX Player is pretty awesome - it really makes good use of hardware decoding and such, but of course today's phones and tablets are closer to desktop computer than appliance-type devices like Chromecast.
Yes, probably your best bet it to run Plex on a reasonably-fast machine. It might be worth trying it on your WHS box too, though it might be slow to start stuff, depends. My WHS 2011 box is an Atom 330 (dual-core), it was a good upgrade from my previous Atom 230 (single-core) but its CPU isn't much faster than those found in some of the more-powerful NAS units. I just use it as a fileserver, so it's not a huge deal and the primary design factor was small form factor (it's mounted to a plate mounted on the back of my TV).
As long as the network connection between your server and your Plex Media Server machine is good, it should work well. For a while I was running pyTivo on my desktop to on-the-fly transcode stuff to play on my TiVos...
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My Plex Server is running everything just fine off of an old Dell Dimension E510. The only upgrade I've made to that server was to boost the ram from 1gb to 4gb. It transcodes everything on the fly just fine. I'm quite surprised, actually.

jsdecker10 said:
My Plex Server is running everything just fine off of an old Dell Dimension E510. The only upgrade I've made to that server was to boost the ram from 1gb to 4gb. It transcodes everything on the fly just fine. I'm quite surprised, actually.
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Looks like your E510 is an 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 531 (or at least the one CNET reviewed was).
My Atom 330 is still kinda poopy in comparison, but this at least gives me enough hope to perhaps try Plex server and see how it fares.
Thanks for that!

bhiga said:
Looks like your E510 is an 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 531 (or at least the one CNET reviewed was).
My Atom 330 is still kinda poopy in comparison, but this at least gives me enough hope to perhaps try Plex server and see how it fares.
Thanks for that!
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Yup, you may as well at least give it a shot and just see how it'll fare because I wasn't really too optimistic about mine being able to handle the duties of transcoding either...ie. from mkv, from avi, etc. But to my surprise, it did the job just fine n dandy & I've been MORE than satisfied with my setup so far.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Doesn't WHS come with Twonky Server? Or is that just some Brands of it?
Twonky will do transcoding but you might need to install FFMPEG and set it up to do it.
Tonky is probably the best at transcoding and very configurable so if WHS has it I would look into using that first.
Yes the Atom is probably underpowered for good transcoding but provided your source files aren't too High Quality I think it might cut it.
As for anyone looking for the BEST WAY...The choices are pretty slim right now....
You have ONLY two choices right now....
Plex and Plex apps OR DLNA server and aVia and I think we established that aVia even with DLNA server that transcodes doesn't always mean a CCast compatible stream.
Maybe Bubble solves that or maybe some other player does but until they are released those are really the only two choices and answers anyone can give for people without a rooted CCast.

I'm having best luck using PlayOn/Avia. PlayOn uses VLC player so can stream just about any format, haven't found one yet it can't do. Avia can fine PlayOn server via DLNC. Also doesn't require too much CPU, have even used a netbook as PlayOn server and works really well. Plus, you get all the PlayOn channels, which is a bunch.

xenokc said:
I'm having best luck using PlayOn/Avia. PlayOn uses VLC player so can stream just about any format, haven't found one yet it can't do. Avia can fine PlayOn server via DLNC. Also doesn't require too much CPU, have even used a netbook as PlayOn server and works really well. Plus, you get all the PlayOn channels, which is a bunch.
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And the PlayOn app will soon support CCast as well, At least they are advertising that as coming very soon.
Like I said there are going to be more options coming out soon that will change whatever answer is given today which is why I caution anyone from re-encoding their Library trying to fix a temporary problem!

Asphyx said:
And the PlayOn app will soon support CCast as well, At least they are advertising that as coming very soon.
Like I said there are going to be more options coming out soon that will change whatever answer is given today which is why I caution anyone from re-encoding their Library trying to fix a temporary problem!
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Good to hear CCast support is coming for PLayOn. Works OK with Avia but direct support will be great. The best thing about PlayOn is that is uses VLC Player so just about every format supported as well as low CPU needs.

xenokc said:
Good to hear CCast support is coming for PLayOn. Works OK with Avia but direct support will be great. The best thing about PlayOn is that is uses VLC Player so just about every format supported as well as low CPU needs.
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Well it may use VLC to play on Android but there is no guarantee it will use VLC on the CCast.
It is my hope that VLC (and all Player apps that are out there) will support CCast and create a DIAL registered Player App for Chromecast that other programs could use as well.

Asphyx said:
Well it may use VLC to play on Android but there is no guarantee it will use VLC on the CCast.
It is my hope that VLC (and all Player apps that are out there) will support CCast and create a DIAL registered Player App for Chromecast that other programs could use as well.
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Actually PlayOn uses VLC on the server side, not the client side.

Does anyone think we'll be able to use the 'Cast Screen' in the display settings with Chromecast anytime soon?

The S3 Kid said:
Does anyone think we'll be able to use the 'Cast Screen' in the display settings with Chromecast anytime soon?
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Ah, I've been wondering why this isn't working for me in OmniROM. Is this a standard feature/option even on the stock ROM for KitKat? Or are you using OmniROM as well? It doesn't detect my Chromecast. Thanks.

ritzxda said:
Ah, I've been wondering why this isn't working for me in OmniROM. Is this a standard feature/option even on the stock ROM for KitKat? Or are you using OmniROM as well? It doesn't detect my Chromecast. Thanks.
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KitKat is Miracast certified. Problem is, Chromecast doesn't support Miracast, at least not today...

bhiga said:
KitKat is Miracast certified. Problem is, Chromecast doesn't support Miracast, at least not today...
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Ah got it! Thank you. I thought it was something new due to the new "Cast" option in the settings. Thanks.

xenokc said:
Actually PlayOn uses VLC on the server side, not the client side.
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Thanks didn't know that.
The S3 Kid said:
Does anyone think we'll be able to use the 'Cast Screen' in the display settings with Chromecast anytime soon?
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if you mean on your KitKat Phone, as @bhiga noted thats for Miracast not CCast. You can however cast a screen from a Desktop Browser. It may be possible in the future to do screen mirroring as there is code in KitKat to do it but from what Koush sees it seems like it will be up to the manufacturer to cook it into the ROM which says to me it will need driver support in the Kernel to work.
Lets hope I'm dead wrong about that!

I have Plex, Twonky, Subsonic, Air Video, and from the 4, only 2 show up as DLNA on my network (plex and twonky) Now, I modified my Subsonic to play from the browser locally as well as remotely so I guess Chrome + anything that plays on chrome could be casted to Chromecast, correct?
Will try it out... Also, I can play Plex from Chrome browser, going to see if I can get a fullscreen going..
EDIT: I got all 3 Plex, Subsonic and Twonky to stream in fullscreen (but from Chrome it has a 720p limit - lame...) ---another note, for Twonky, when you pick the media, you have to cast the opened tab, not the one you are currently on when you select the media like the other 2, just like when you drag and drop .mp3 or .mkv to Chrome, whichever tab opens, you cast that one, only problem is when I drag an MKV to Chrome I get no sound, so I will stick to Plex/Subsonic/Twonky when playing .MKV... Saves me having to run an HDMI cable to the TV, I think it's still worth the $35 even if I can't root it

m4f1050 said:
EDIT: I got all 3 Plex, Subsonic and Twonky to stream in fullscreen (but from Chrome it has a 720p limit - lame...) ---another note, for Twonky, when you pick the media, you have to cast the opened tab, not the one you are currently on when you select the media like the other 2, just like when you drag and drop .mp3 or .mkv to Chrome, whichever tab opens, you cast that one, only problem is when I drag an MKV to Chrome I get no sound, so I will stick to Plex/Subsonic/Twonky when playing .MKV... Saves me having to run an HDMI cable to the TV, I think it's still worth the $35 even if I can't root it
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Playing video via Chrome + Cast extension is more like playing video through remote desktop rather than playing directly. It's the least desirable solution for video playback, though a reasonable fallback in most cases.