Database Develop

REQ: Android UPnP player?

I for the life of me cannot find a good UPnP or DLNA app for the android, I tried the one that comes with our phone (allshare) and it reads and picks up fine but the problem is when I try and play a video it wont let me.
Seems like a common situation with all the other UPnP apps that I saw. I just want to know if there is any apps that are even close to good.
I have tried orb and its not that great for video.

For me on SUSE 11.2 system, the problem with Allshare not playing audio and video files turned out to be some problem with the media server. After I replaced mediatomb with minidnla, Allshare played those files just fine.
The Allshare player app still isn't very good though; is on a par with UPnPlay.

gary_lankford said:
For me on SUSE 11.2 system, the problem with Allshare not playing audio and video files turned out to be some problem with the media server. After I replaced mediatomb with minidnla, Allshare played those files just fine.
The Allshare player app still isn't very good though; is on a par with UPnPlay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm I'm using lemonade firmware via verizon 7501 router. I'll give minidlna a try. every other device I have that uses dlna doesnt have a problem with playback except the captivate.

Search for DLNA servers that transcode. The problem is not a Captivate problem, but one with the whole concept. No one defined what plays where so more likely then not, the server has files the client doesn't understand. The solution is a server that can transcode on the fly. they do exist.
here is a very old comparison link;
http://www.rbgrn.net/content/21-how-to-choose-dlna-media-server-windows-mac-os-x-or-linux

I actually found that link (due to crs, I'd already forgotten it) and used it to search for available linux alternatives to mediatomb; minidlna was just the first I found. Looks like transcoding is an open question for minidlna.
Anyway, it seems that Allshare is a more robust server than client application.

thanks for the link and info I'll give them a try

VLC Stream & Convert
Have you tried using VLC Stream & Convert? This is advertised as a mere remote control for VLC, but it also handles streaming direct to the phone. Have to make sure you set up VLC and firewall properly on the server then connect with your phone to use phone as a remote, or to watch/listen on the phone.
AndroMote is also a great app. Will work with any UPnP media server. However, this only streams audio. Just make sure you go into settings and choose the local device as the media renderer, or you will receive error message when you try to play a file.
If these 2 apps are no good for you then I would suggest loading a ROM that has cifs (samba) support. Then you can map all your media to your filesystem.

Aquapontics said:
If these 2 apps are no good for you then I would suggest loading a ROM that has cifs (samba) support. Then you can map all your media to your filesystem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the file won't play via allshare, it probably will not play if you copy it down to the phone. I just convert all my media on my DVR to mp4 and copy to my phone via USB- I can stream it via allshare if I want to, but if I am home I watch on a bigger screen. If I am away I have it with me, I am not going to try and stream a 500MB file to my phone.
BTW, FTP server should be faster then Samba and there should be an android FTP client in the market.

Do we even have a rom that has samba support?

Stream movies from pc to N7 succesfull.

tell me the best wway to stream over wifi movies on my N7..
thnks

Plex..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

DLNA/uPNP.. There are plenty of apps on both end to do the job. On the Android side, it will use your existing movie player(s) with a client in the middle to do the DLNA browsing.

Xmbc would be a good start
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

i have serviio on my pc to share to all the house and then you just need a dlna client. i use imediashare. and use another player to read all kind of sound and video codecs like mxplayer.

I used an NFS Server. Cifs didn't worked very well for me... It always hangs with cifs.
And yes, I mounted the Server shares on 4.2.2.... this is possible with my kernel...

network share folders, use a server app like some said, or just a file manager app to see shared folders on the network and mx player to play

.. um, or again, just install a DLNA server. It's not hard people. Don't have to worry about NFS, CIFS, various network filesystems... It just works.

Two easy solution. Just buy an Asus router with UPnP support, such as the RT-N16. It have usb connection in the back. Connect your harddrive to it, then log into the router menu and enable UPnP. Only thing about this is for some reason when unplug the harddrive to add more files, it didn't update the new files int he library afterward, I had to delete the library files for it to do scan all over.
Or if you want to do it from the PC, there are many apps, but you can use XBMC, add folders to the Videos library, then enable UPnP in the Settings. But you have to keep your PC on all the time.
On your Nexus 7, download XBMC hardware accelerated test build, search for UPnP devices in the Videos section. Or download VPlayer + the UPnP plugin.
Also I want to note XBMC hardware accelerated build have more codecs support than MX Player.
The best solution is to buy an Ouya, connect a harddrive directly to the Ouya, then connect the Ouya to the TV and watch the movie on a larger screen.

Es file manager or cifs
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Plex, or bsplayer. I find xbmc too bloated on a tablet.
Sent from my Nexus 7

Es file manager for hd film, plex not really good streaming hd film.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

The top pick may be Plex. They have a media server for both Windows and Mac, and apps for many different devices including Android. I use it to watch my TV shows and movies on my tablet and it works very well.

download app ArkMC as well on Android and connect with WI-FI, stream video, photos to any players

Playon works great for me
3ftw said:
tell me the best wway to stream over wifi movies on my N7..
thnks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use an app called Playon and Playlater. You can buy it for a one time fee and it will stream almost anything, including Hulu, from your PC to your phone, tablet, etc. The Playlater allows you to record a show for later playback on various devices, including off line.

VLC Streamer works pretty good.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

I'll throw in Ps3MediaServer. Easy to use.

MediaHouse (free or pro)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dbapp.android.mediahouse&hl=nl
Mx Player (free or pro) (mx player sound is extra loud)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...SwyLDEsImNvbS5teHRlY2gudmlkZW9wbGF5ZXIuYWQiXQ..
And Serviuo for you pc (Serviio is easy to use with hardsubs)
http://www.serviio.org/
And a headset or speaker because de speakers in the N7 are way to soft

By far, the easiest way to "stream" your videos is using Archos Videoplayer
Its fully hardware accelerated, doesnt require any kind of server to be running on your pc, doesnt have the limitations of DLNA, doesnt need special CIF applications to be installed to see samba shares. Doesnt need any external player like xbmc to hardware accelerate
It simply connects to whichever windows samba share you created on your network with all your videos, index all the videos in the share, automatically collects movieposters and subtitles, and play the videos of almost any format, including HD rips in mkv, with dts or ac3 audio and subtitles over WiFi
you need both the player
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.archos.mediacenter.videofree&feature=search_result
and the codecs for various audio like dts and ac3
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.m4rk3t.libcopy2&feature=search_result

really dont need a server software running, just allow network share of your files and use es file manager to find them and video player of your choice

[Q] Streaming from DLNA

Is it currently possible for me to use my tablet, or phone to stream content from my NAS or server in my home network?

Ruzzah said:
Is it currently possible for me to use my tablet, or phone to stream content from my NAS or server in my home network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes...(and I'm going to assume you mean to the Chromecast).
Only two options available now...
Plex Player and aVia....
Option 1 - aVia Player should work with any DLNA server provided the files on the server/NAS are already compatible with Chromecast.
Option 2 - Plex has a Server AND a Player component. The server will transcode any file to be compatible with Chromecast. But the Plex Player only works with the Plex Server. And currently (temporarily actually) in order to stream content to Chromecast with Plex requires a PlexPass account. The server software is free, There are two players available one that requires a PlexPass account and another (Plex for Android) that does not (exception being that it won't work with Chromecast for now but will soon).
Plex Server will work with both aVia and obviously Plex Players. And will probably work with any future DLNA players that have Chromecast support in the future such as Bubble or Twonky.
Most NAS systems available today HAVE some sort of Media/DLNA server built into it! SO you should check your NAS to see if it already has that capability.
WD My Book has Twonky Server built in
NetGear has Plex built into it
Seagate has some proprietary thing that does not work at all! Unfortunately I have one of those and had to set up a server on another machine just to get that capability.
If money isn't an issue for you and you don't mind paying for the PlexPass account (you can get a lifetime account for $75) then I recommend Plex as it does transcoding and works much better with Chromecast than aVia does presently.
Also note that some issues with aVia have been encountered with people on JB 4.1.2 but not 4.1.1, Not sure if that means everything above 4.1.1 has issues though....Expect aVia to fix that at some point.

I currently have 4.3.1 on my phone and 4.4.2 on my tablet. Also what type of movies are compatible, and would I need a transcoder for the chromecast to work with the files?

Ruzzah said:
I currently have 4.3.1 on my phone and 4.4.2 on my tablet. Also what type of movies are compatible, and would I need a transcoder for the chromecast to work with the files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll need Plex Media Server or upload to RealPlayer Cloud for real-time transcoding of anything that is not in a Chromecast-compatible format.
See 2.b, 2.c and 2.d in the FAQ.

Ruzzah said:
Is it currently possible for me to use my tablet, or phone to stream content from my NAS or server in my home network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could also use the modified AllCast with BubbleUPNP on a rooted Chromecast. Using this method I haven't had issues with MKV files and MP4 files.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47503538&postcount=98

Is it possible to cast movies in a non compatible chromecast format (avi, divx, etc) via Avia using a Plex media server?
I havent had any luck doing so. I thought the plex media server would transcode the movie to a compatible format on the go?
What about using the plex app for android with the plex pass? Would that work ? Would it do the transcoding on the go ?

burdo said:
Is it possible to cast movies in a non compatible chromecast format (avi, divx, etc) via Avia using a Plex media server?
I havent had any luck doing so. I thought the plex media server would transcode the movie to a compatible format on the go?
What about using the plex app for android with the plex pass? Would that work ? Would it do the transcoding on the go ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Plex server should be transcoding the media on the fly for you. What are the specs of the machine that's the Plex server?
I don't believe the Android app can transcode as it's just a client.
Sent from a device with no keyboard. Please forgive typos, they may not be my own.

I'll try and paste the answer from our PM so the rest of the folks can benefit...
burdo said:
Is it possible to cast movies in a non compatible chromecast format (avi, divx, etc) via Avia using a Plex media server?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hit or Miss (depending on the video format) but the answer is probably not. When using aVia the Plex server can't transcode for CCast as it doesn't even know it exists.What Transcoding Plex might use (if any) when aVia requests a stream is unclear since there is no profile specifically for the aVia (profiles are usually for devices not software and it is up to the software to identify what it needs which may not be the case with aVia).
burdo said:
I havent had any luck doing so. I thought the plex media server would transcode the movie to a compatible format on the go?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Transcoding may or may not happen and even when it does happen what it transcodes to varies from device to device. Only when the App making the request identifies itself as THIS TYPE OF DEVICE (or Profile) will Plex know how to transcode for it and do so. aVia Devs could probably solve this problem at some point so all of what I'm saying could change if they wanted it to.
burdo said:
What about using the plex app for android with the plex pass? Would that work ? Would it do the transcoding on the go ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES! Plex for Android and Plex for PlexPass will both play files that are not chromecast compatible and transcode them for playback on the CCast, but there will probably be some exception to that from time to time where a file doesn't transcode so easily, or the Plex Transcoder itself doesn't like the file.
The difference is in how the two methods approach playback on the CCast.
Plex treats the CCast like a DLNA player and the Plex Apps don't ever actually play the video itself they merely tell the CCast to get it directly from the Server which makes the Server use the CCast Transcoding profile and rules.
aVia acts as a sort of Middleman where it gets the data and then forwards it to the CCast.(Note this is best Guess not CERTAIN by any means only aVia devs know for sure!) This means the server has no idea the CCast is being used and sends what stream it thinks the aVia can handle (which may not be compatible with CCast.)
Method 1 (Plex) - You pick a file in PlexApp and tell it to cast it, Plex app sends a command to CCast to go get the file from the server. Server transcodes for CCast and the file plays directly on CCast
Method 2 (aVia) - You pick a file in aVia and tell it to cast it, aVia tells the server to send it to aVia then aVia sends the data to the CCast.
Best combination right now for streaming Plex Server (and incompatible) content to CCast are the Plex apps...If Plex Server can recognize the file it should transcode properly for CCast.
Unfortunately (as we speak) to use the Plex apps with CCast requires a PlexPass account (Not free). This is only temporary and it will not be required in the near future.
So if money is not a big issue I suggest trying it for a month by getting a month of PlexPass and giving it a good test run. Hopefully by the time that Month is done PlexPass will no longer be required to stream to CCast after that.
Just to be a little clearer on when and how transcoding happens...
The PLAYER is the key to transcode/Not Transcode and is the one responsible for communicating to the Plex Server what it requires as far as transcoding is concerned. It is the player communicating with the server that tells Plex Server which profile to use when the player makes a request to get the file.
In the Plex System the Player resides on and is written FOR the CCast and it tells the Plex server it is a CCast.
In aVia it is unclear what the aVia player tells the Plex server or that it gives PlexServer any information about itself or it's intentions of what it plans to do with the file at all.
Without any information about it's target Plex server may not do any transcoding or if minimal information is given during the file request it may use a generic profile which may not be as compatible with CCast as lets say a Android profile might be.
And let me be clear (and Fair to the aVia Devs). We are just GUESSING based on observations on how aVia seems to be working in conjunction with CCast. The best place to get answers (and solutions as well) is to ask these questions regarding aVia on their support site (if they have one).
Not only will they be much more informed at how their app works but your Question may even lead them to change or update their code to work much better in a transcoding environment where casting to CCast is concerned.
They may already be working on these things, or we could be totally off base in how aVia is doing what it does.
And I don't want to give the impression that aVia is doing something wrong or that Plex is better for anything other than streaming from PlexServer at the moment.
aVia does many things the Plex Apps will NOT DO such as casting Local ON UNIT files that PlexApps simply doesn't do.
And other than the temporary requirement of needing a PlexPass to cast to CCast with Plex, In the end having BOTH APPS (aVia and Plex) will make a very Versatile and Complementary tandem to stream any kind of local content (be it Plex Server or ON UNIT) to the CCast.

I'm currently using Plex Media Server on my desktop to host my music (app is free for the PC) and then use Avia on my phone or tablet to access the Plex Media Server and stream to my chromecast on my home theater. Its a good work around until chromcast features are free on Plex.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

mpgwrx said:
I'm currently using Plex Media Server on my desktop to host my music (app is free for the PC) and then use Avia on my phone or tablet to access the Plex Media Server and stream to my chromecast on my home theater. Its a good work around until chromcast features are free on Plex.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To add to that there is a temporary workaround (that always worked) if your on a PC.
Just load up the Media Manager of Plex Server (it is browser based) and use the the GoogleCast extension in Chrome to send the stream to the CCast no PlexPass is needed.
This is similar to the way aVia works except for the fact that because your on a PC and have the power and buffer space to Transcode, The GoogleCast extension will make a CCast compatible stream out of it.
Probably won't get any surround sound goodness doing it that way but it is a good stopgap method until PlexPass is no longer required.

Good to know!!!

I wanted to let you know guys that plex just added native streaming to chromecast via browser, just as youtube or netflix. No need to use the cast extension anymore. Works perfect for every format I tried and every codec. AVI, MPG, MP4, MKV,etc
You need to have your plex server setup and published (so it can be access externally). Check if it is in settings/plex media server/ myplex. If it is not you will need to forward the port to your server on your router. Once its published, access www.plex.tv (from any pc anywhere). Login to the same account you use on your server. Click on servers. You should see yours now. At the top right corner you should see the cast button to play the file locally or to your chromecast (it should be on the same newtork as the server).
Thats it. Stream it!

burdo said:
I wanted to let you know guys that plex just added native streaming to chromecast via browser, just as youtube or netflix. No need to use the cast extension anymore. Works perfect for every format I tried and every codec. AVI, MPG, MP4, MKV,etc
You need to have your plex server setup and published (so it can be access externally). Check if it is in settings/plex media server/ myplex. If it is not you will need to forward the port to your server on your router. Once its published, access www.plex.tv (from any pc anywhere). Login to the same account you use on your server. Click on servers. You should see yours now. At the top right corner you should see the cast button to play the file locally or to your chromecast (it should be on the same newtork as the server).
Thats it. Stream it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome find!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

burdo said:
I wanted to let you know guys that plex just added native streaming to chromecast via browser, just as youtube or netflix. No need to use the cast extension anymore. Works perfect for every format I tried and every codec. AVI, MPG, MP4, MKV,etc
You need to have your plex server setup and published (so it can be access externally). Check if it is in settings/plex media server/ myplex. If it is not you will need to forward the port to your server on your router. Once its published, access www.plex.tv (from any pc anywhere). Login to the same account you use on your server. Click on servers. You should see yours now. At the top right corner you should see the cast button to play the file locally or to your chromecast (it should be on the same newtork as the server).
Thats it. Stream it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They haven't added it to the Plexweb side of the server yet..It is only on the Plex.tv site right now something I expect will be updated pretty soon.
I was hoping they added this functionality to the PlexWeb.

Anyone with a ASUS Black Diamond Router rt-n65u? It is supposed to be able to share dlna media but I cannot get avia to see it.
I was hoping to stream all my MP4 movies that are on the routers usb3 external hard drive to the Chromecast with Avia.
All my phones/tablets can stream all the movies from it perfectly. ANY IDEAS how to get it to work from anyone that has the same router?
Sent from my Work Phone

RockRatt said:
Anyone with a ASUS Black Diamond Router rt-n65u? It is supposed to be able to share dlna media but I cannot get avia to see it.
I was hoping to stream all my MP4 movies that are on the routers usb3 external hard drive to the Chromecast with Avia.
All my phones/tablets can stream all the movies from it perfectly. ANY IDEAS how to get it to work from anyone that has the same router?
Sent from my Work Phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I can see from the product page for that router it isn't a DLNA server just some proprietary Media Server.
Probably only works with their App.

Asphyx said:
From what I can see from the product page for that router it isn't a DLNA server just some proprietary Media Server.
Probably only works with their App.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed, page 32 of the manual says it is a UPnP server, but not specifically DLNA.
BubbleUPnP should be able to access it, so you might be able to browse via BubbleUPnP and share to Avia for casting, assuming your media is in a format Chromecast can play.

bhiga said:
Indeed, page 32 of the manual says it is a UPnP server, but not specifically DLNA.
BubbleUPnP should be able to access it, so you might be able to browse via BubbleUPnP and share to Avia for casting, assuming your media is in a format Chromecast can play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I forget but it may also be possible aVia would be able to see it via Samba if he used one of the many Samba Mapping apps out there so they showed up as local files on his device.
Router is definitely not going to do any transcoding so it had better at least be compatible with aVia and that still doesn't guarantee CCast will work.

Asphyx said:
I forget but it may also be possible aVia would be able to see it via Samba if he used one of the many Samba Mapping apps out there so they showed up as local files on his device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea - cifsmanager or something like it might work. I've been toying with the idea to map some ISO folders so WonderShare can play them but haven't reached that point on my ToDo list yet.

Thanks all for the ideas. I will play with the ideas and see what works. Just had a thought about it as well now.
The Asus router has a app for it and I use it all the time. I "THINK" I chose the mxplayer as the default player. So MAYBE once I clear the default player then "Hopefully" it will ask again and I can choose A via as the player (as this is how I have setup ShoBox to use A via as the player). Do not know why I didn't think of it previously. I will reply here once I get home tonight to see if it will work.
If not I will try some of the other ideas. Thanks again
EDIT: I cleared defaults for MX player, opened up the AiCloud App (that I can access my hard drive connected to my home Asus Router from my phone over WiFi or cell signal), went to my movie folder, chose a movie, the AiCloud app which app to play with, I chose A via and it tried to play the movie. Now I WILL HAVE TO TEST once I get home because the upload from the router over my cell signal is too slow to play the movie. I REALLY HOPE this works like it looks like it will I will update further once I test over my WiFi at home...
Sent From My Spiderman,Ironman,Red,Dark Blue,Green, GreyedOut BadAss Themed I337

ChromeCast and Serviio!

Hello All, I've been using Serviio as a media server for almost a year, no complaints, so to make this work you will need the following:
1. Serviio 1.4 installed in your computer (don't forget to select the folders you want to stream)
2. Avia Media Player (paid version that enables chromecast support) - installed in your phone
3. MediaHouse (FREE) - installed in your phone
4. A chromecast dooh
- Plug your chromecast to your TV
- Open Avia and tap on the device icon on the top right and select chromecast then press your home button.(That should display the Avia start screen on your TV)
- Open MediaHouse, then on devices select Serviio
- tap on Browse then select videos, image or audio
- I suggest to select FOLDERS instead of other, at least it's easier for me to find my files
- browse to the desired file and tab on it
- select Avia
- that will open avia and the media file should be streamed to your TV
Hope this works for you!
Note: srt subtittles won't work anyways

Not sure if it's an update, but all I needed was Avia. Launched Avia and it detected Serviio without MediaHouse, but thanks for the tip, was wondering how I could get playback without the stutter.

Serviio is a DLNA server/source, and Avia can browse DLNA sources natively, so MediaHouse shouldn't be necessary.

bhiga said:
Serviio is a DLNA server/source, and Avia can browse DLNA sources natively, so MediaHouse shouldn't be necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The man is right! just a matter of picking serviio in avia's setup and DONE!

Looks like Google just release the Chromcase Dev kit. http://chrome.blogspot.com/2014/02/chromecast-is-now-open-to-developers.html
Was trying to wrap my head around getting serviio to transcode automatically via editing the profile.xml file. With a little bit of time, looks like I won't have to worry about that! w00t

Unreadhyperion said:
Looks like Google just release the Chromcase Dev kit. http://chrome.blogspot.com/2014/02/chromecast-is-now-open-to-developers.html
Was trying to wrap my head around getting serviio to transcode automatically via editing the profile.xml file. With a little bit of time, looks like I won't have to worry about that! w00t
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that only avi en wmv had to be transcoded at least every mkv and mp4 i tried worked

Alas it generally works for my mkv files as well; however, there are some mkv files that do not play. Hunger Games does not play at all but Catching Fire does... so my choices are to either re-encode to make it chromecast compatible or Serviio profile. Neither of which are ideal scenarios. In the first case, Handbrake takes 5 to 6 hours per movie to re-encode and even then, that's assuming 100% CPU dedication. In the second case, my desktop crashed with an issue with the motherboard... I'm currently using an old desktop that struggles to launch two programs at the same time... on the fly transcoding would probably run horribly.
So I am actually hopeful that this might expand it so that I don't have to do any transcoding.

Alternative's to "Cast your entire screen"

Hi,
I've only recently found out about Chromecast, reviews were very praising so yesterday I went out and bought one. Unfortunately, my initial enthousiasm has almost disappeared because I can't successfully do the 2 most important things I was planning to do with such a device: 1) Stream my desktop for 720p/1080p video playback and 2) Stream/Cast my Nexus 6 screen (I get a green screen when I connect it, separate apps do work though).
Focusing on the pc casting, the video playback is lagging a lot even if I switch to 480p which is of course unacceptable for watching HD movies. I am not talking about the 0.5 - 1 second input delay, I don't care about that as I don't want to play games with it but rather for the constant speed dropping/pausing/catching up. I have a 50/10 mbps connection which I would think is enough for this but to its defense, I have only tried it through a 2014 Macbook Pro i7/16gb ram running Windows through bootcamp. Could that be the cause of slow performance? Bootcamp may be adequate for basic stuff but the computer does not feel at all like an i7 / 16gb ram unit should.
If the pc is not the issue, are there alternatives to cast your desktop at an acceptable level through other apps? I saw vnc2cast in another thread. Also, is it an option for Chromecast to work if i connect my pc through Ethernet instead of wi-fi for better performance?
Thanks

Why do you need PC video playback on CC? Its smth like record a video of playing movie by phone and then watch it, instead of copy the file to phone and then open it... You could find some FAQ first...
1.Google Cast extention for Chrome Browser will let play compatible formats of video to CC. Just drag&drop the file to a tab and hit the Cast button. It also has "Cast Entire Screen" option.
2.Videostream extention will transcode and play most of the unsupporded files, including .avi, besides the regular ones
3. Share the folder to local net, use ES File Explorer + ES File Explorer Chromecast plugin. Find the shared folder in LAN section then play with plugin.
4.KMP Player for android+KMP Connect on PC.
5.BubbleUPnP android app+BubbleUPnP server on PC for transcoding any file.
6.Plex Media Server + Plex android app
7.ANY Media server on PC (Twonky, Plex, Serviio, BubbleUPnP etc) + Any program that see DLNA (Avia for example). If an app has "open with" option, one can use VEGA Cast, AllCast, Avia, ES Cast Plugin etc...
For Screen Mirror try Koush's "Mirror" app. First join ClockWorkMod beta testers Google+ group, then it will be available in Google Play.

playahate said:
Why do you need PC video playback on CC? Its smth like record a video of playing movie by phone and then watch it, instead of copy the file to phone and then open it... You could find some FAQ first...
1.Google Cast extention for Chrome Browser will let play compatible formats of video to CC. Just drag&drop the file to a tab and hit the Cast button. It also has "Cast Entire Screen" option.
2.Videostream extention will transcode and play most of the unsupporded files, including .avi, besides the regular ones
3. Share the folder to local net, use ES File Explorer + ES File Explorer Chromecast plugin. Find the shared folder in LAN section then play with plugin.
4.KMP Player for android+KMP Connect on PC.
5.BubbleUPnP android app+BubbleUPnP server on PC for transcoding any file.
6.Plex Media Server + Plex android app
7.ANY Media server on PC (Twonky, Plex, Serviio, BubbleUPnP etc) + Any program that see DLNA (Avia for example). If an app has "open with" option, one can use VEGA Cast, AllCast, Avia, ES Cast Plugin etc...
For Screen Mirror try Koush's "Mirror" app. First join ClockWorkMod beta testers Google+ group, then it will be available in Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reason for pc video playback is I'd like to see movies from my local drives without having to set up a media server/NAS thing. I guess the extensions you mention in 1) and 2) can do that? I'll try them out.
Now if I understand correctly 3-7 regards sharing files from pc to phone and then streaming them to CC? I'd like to avoid that if possible as it requires the phone to act as an intermediate between pc and CC If I am not mistaken.

mclisme said:
Reason for pc video playback is I'd like to see movies from my local drives without having to set up a media server/NAS thing. I guess the extensions you mention in 1) and 2) can do that? I'll try them out.
Now if I understand correctly 3-7 regards sharing files from pc to phone and then streaming them to CC? I'd like to avoid that if possible as it requires the phone to act as an intermediate between pc and CC If I am not mistaken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is basically a remote to initiate and control the cast from the remote device/storage for all / most of these options (definitely for Plex and the BubbleUPnP options). It's not doing any heavy lifting.
Plex is probably the most adaptable option.
Also beware that casting local high bandwidth media from a wifi networked device/storage via router to chromecast may never produce consistent results as performance is often impacted by network conditions. Tweaking various arcane settings on your router can help but it's a pain.
For me there were huge differences in performance depending on whether the host device was is the same room as the router (very good) or in it's normal location a floor up and 20-30 yards away (pretty poor) or wired (excellent). I ended up resurrecting an old laptop heading for recycle with a fresh linux install to be permanently wired to my router to host a Plex server and media. Never looked back.

playahate said:
2.Videostream extention will transcode and play most of the unsupporded files, including .avi, besides the regular ones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I tried Videostream and I find it amazing. Even its interface is so simple and smooth and with the remote control app for the phone I think it's great. So watching my movies is solved.
Now, another reason I was looking for "cast your entire screen" alternatives is that I can't seem to get a specific video streaming service that I often use to work properly. If I cast the tab, for some reason the video does not show up in CC even though the rest of the page like pictures and video controls show up fine. I guess it has to do with the fact that this specific service is encrypted and does not allow HDMI connections, if it detects one it just stops. So maybe it similarly blocks Chromecast plugin from capturing the video off it and sending it to CC?
The only way to fool it is to cast my entire screen. Then the video works fine but at a rate below 24 fps which makes it almost unusable. I even switched to 480p but still the video is slow for live sports. I guess when screen-casting, the load is too much for CC to handle?
So If there aren't other ways to improve screen-casting to a watchable level (24fps) either by 3rd-party apps or CC hacks/mods, I can only hope something is developed in the future I guess...