Database Develop

Chromecast hardware specs

Source code for Chromecast (kernel, other stuff...)
So far, the ChromeCast specs did not say anything about display mirroring
Miracast and WiDi are two implementations of wireless mirroring. I'm trying to gather enough details, to see if the Chromecast device supports either/both of the standards
Chromecast has enough hardware to do the encoding/decoding/transfer, and it's a simple software mod to make Miracast/WiDi work properly, then it would be nice
Below is just data collected. Feel free to add more below
Miracast
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=42853028&postcount=2
That's because Miracast is basically just an MPEG stream sent over a dedicated wifi channel (WiFi Direct). This is why the Nexus 7 can't do Miracast... It doesn't have the ability to have a second channel open at the same time. SHIELD has hardware-accelerated MPEG encoding, so Miracast runs a lot smoother and with less latency. The Nexus 4 either lacks the hardware encoder, or for some reason, doesn't use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://plus.google.com/100811170724158927013/posts/3qUsJBSYfb9
My layman's understanding of Miracast is that we're basically talking a Wi-Fi Direct connection between source and sink, using HDCP for copy protection, and having one device live encode its screen (in our case) as an MPEG stream. H.264 video and some form of audio, LPCM required plus codecs for AAC & AC3 being optional.
In essence and very lay terms, you're recording a very low quality Blu-Ray movie of your screen and streaming it to your TV. All live and in real time. That's terms anyone should understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Requirements:
HDCP handshaking?
WiFi Direct Connection support
WiDi
Airplay
Chromecast hardware specs
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/24/google-chromecast-h2g2-42-fcc-documents-show-off-whats-inside-t/?
Marvell DE3005 - maybe close enough to this DE3100 dual core 1.2ghzSoC Product Brief
(specs below are fon the DE3100)
- Armada 15002(more info on anandtech
- built-in GPU Vivante GC1000(3D graphics GC1000 core)
- ARM v7
? Micron D9PXV 4Gb RAM http://www.micron.com/parts/dram/ddr3-sdram/mt41k256m16ha-125
? Micron 4GB flash memory 29F16G08MAA
AzureWave chip - WiFi
Pics from https://twitter.com/nerdtalker/status/360168961595289600
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Looks like some extra output port on the second picture, on the top

Wonder what that switch(on top picture) is for..
Also that port on bottom picture, might be used for debug, firmware upgrade?!?! If that's what is for, then linux for ARM possible?! Hope so. That would open for whole new level of usabilty of this gadget.
Very tempting to get one and play with it.
UPDATE-
Went ahead and ordered one from BestBuy website..Scheduled for delivery in between Aug 1 and Aug 9

dvdmkr said:
Wonder what that switch(on top picture) is for..
Also that port on bottom picture, might be used for debug, firmware upgrade?!?! If that's what is for, then linux for ARM possible?! Hope so. That would open for whole new level of usabilty of this gadget.
Very tempting to get one and play with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From Amazon review from (supposed) beta tester:
"The Chromecast can draw power from the HDMI port it's plugged into. If your TV doesn't support that, there's also a USB cable and power adapter included in the box."
So, I suspect that port is for (optional) power supply while plugged in via HDMI to non-powered port.

I'm interested to see about this too... It seems think this could really be a contender if miracast were possible.

soccerwuedo5 said:
From Amazon review from (supposed) beta tester:
"The Chromecast can draw power from the HDMI port it's plugged into. If your TV doesn't support that, there's also a USB cable and power adapter included in the box."
So, I suspect that port is for (optional) power supply while plugged in via HDMI to non-powered port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the port that's on the opposite end of the HDMI (i.e. in the top pic on the left), is the microUSB port. look at the pics/videos
dunno what that top port(on the second pic) is for

paperWastage said:
the port that's on the opposite end of the HDMI (i.e. in the top pic on the left), is the microUSB port. look at the pics/videos
dunno what that top port(on the second pic) is for
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JTAG header?

the button is supposed to be for resetting or helping the chromecast to pickup on a wireless network. as for its "official" labeling of the function, i am not entirely sure as of yet.
there is no mention of the header anywhere that ive seen yet.

I have a question for this Chromecast.
Would it be possible to play your own music/video in the network using Chromecast (not Netflix, Google Play, etc)? So pretty much, can it be used with DLNA since it also would connect to a network?
All I see from the Description in Google's website was to stream Netflix, Google Play videos, use Chrome etc etc. I didn't see anything about playing local content from your phone/computer/tablet to be played on the TV.

The unpopulated flex port looks pretty much like LCD display connector.

ibarra21 said:
I have a question for this Chromecast.
Would it be possible to play your own music/video in the network using Chromecast (not Netflix, Google Play, etc)? So pretty much, can it be used with DLNA since it also would connect to a network?
All I see from the Description in Google's website was to stream Netflix, Google Play videos, use Chrome etc etc. I didn't see anything about playing local content from your phone/computer/tablet to be played on the TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another thread just popped up on this, check it out. It seems like more and more is being learned about this every hour. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2378276

Very good to know that you could stream locally saved movies on TV..
Can't wait for BB to ship mine.. expected delivery date is between 8/1 and 8/9..
It would be a killer if you could load linux(ARM based) on this, access to ext. storages and run torrent...

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Chromecast+Teardown/16069
ifixit teardown
looking at the info for the AW-NH387, the BT and WiFi share the same antenna... FM uses a separate antenna though
Only BT 3.0

Bluetooth kernel sources are not present... probably easy to steal it from the google tv's source code
Code:
eureka_mv88de30xx_defconfig:316:# CONFIG_MV88DE3100_SDIO_BT_8787 is not set
eureka_mv88de31xx_defconfig:324:# CONFIG_MV88DE3100_SDIO_BT_8787 is not set
EDIT2:
though they could be loaded via modules (not currently loaded, since chromecast = anchovy = uses config 88de30xx instead of 88de31xx
Code:
eureka_mv88de31xx_defconfig:766:CONFIG_BT_MRVL=m
eureka_mv88de31xx_defconfig:767:CONFIG_BT_MRVL_SDIO=m
Code:
config BT_MRVL
tristate "Marvell Bluetooth driver support"
help
The core driver to support Marvell Bluetooth devices.
This driver is required if you want to support
Marvell Bluetooth devices, such as 8688/8787.
Say Y here to compile Marvell Bluetooth driver
into the kernel or say M to compile it as module.
config BT_MRVL_SDIO
tristate "Marvell BT-over-SDIO driver"
depends on BT_MRVL && MMC
select FW_LOADER
help
The driver for Marvell Bluetooth chipsets with SDIO interface.
This driver is required if you want to use Marvell Bluetooth
devices with SDIO interface. Currently SD8688/SD8787 chipsets are
supported.
there is WiFi Direct support on the 8787 wifi source

Android chrome to chromecast

Hey im new to this chromecast. I can see my chrome browser on the pc but not on android, how can I do that? Sijce here are very experienced users oj chromecast can someone describe the full working potentials this device has?
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app

You cant do squat with Chrome on Android yet for some odd reason.

Tab casting from Chrome uses the host CPU to re-encode the video and stream it to the Chromecast on-the-fly. Tablet and phone CPUs don't have enough processing power. That's why there's no Chromecast extension for Chrome on your portable device.

Well that sucks bc there is possibilities with this chromecast. I downloaded the allcast and obviously updated my google services. I cast a picture and it doesnt show normal, shows rotated to the left. Can you cast from the gallery vids and photos?
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app

The man problem is the fact that Android Chrome does not support Chrome Apps and Extensions.
Something I'm told Google is working on...

Asphyx said:
The man problem is the fact that Android Chrome does not support Chrome Apps and Extensions.
Something I'm told Google is working on...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea they better be working on it, this has been out couple months now they need to update more
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app

Google is working on a way to mirror your android screen to the chromecast and we know this because on kitkat roms theres an option to cast screen but isn't quite working yet. Its only been coded in but thats it.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

tooblackforjack said:
Google is working on a way to mirror your android screen to the chromecast and we know this because on kitkat roms theres an option to cast screen but isn't quite working yet. Its only been coded in but thats it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
KitKat roms have Miracast, a different protocol.
Supported by HTC and Samsung since 2012 with their private dongles.
Not new, sorry.

EarlyMon said:
KitKat roms have Miracast, a different protocol.
Supported by HTC and Samsung since 2012 with their private dongles.
Not new, sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah ik, i was just informing in case he didn't know sorry.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

EarlyMon said:
KitKat roms have Miracast, a different protocol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but Google has renamed it to Cast Screen. Clearly, they will be adding support for casting to Chromecasts directly inside of Android. Otherwise, renaming it to match the Chromecast nomenclature makes no sense.

bozzykid said:
Yes, but Google has renamed it to Cast Screen. Clearly, they will be adding support for casting to Chromecasts directly inside of Android. Otherwise, renaming it to match the Chromecast nomenclature makes no sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because MiraCAST isn't confusing enough?
I'm aware that a number of blogs not familiar with Miracast are spreading that rumor. I think it's wishful thinking but we'll see, won't we?
http://www.howtogeek.com/177145/wir...ed-airplay-miracast-widi-chromecast-and-dlna/
http://readwrite.com/2013/11/07/android-kitkat-developers-users
A side note, Android 4.4 KitKat devices can now be certified by the Wi-Fi alliance as being Miracast compatible. That is a big step for Android in being able to stream content from a device to a television by supporting more streaming standards. Now only if the Chromecast supported Miracast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.androidpolice.com/tags/miracast/
So, you believe that WiFi Direct is coming to the existing Chromecast?
Or that in addition to Miracast, they'll be providing a second protocol for phones, with a server (like Koush did)? And people will be able to figure out the two casting options on their devices?
I think that it's far more likely that rather than put both protocols on a phone or into the existing Chromecast, it's more likely that DIAL support plus Miracast *might* appear in a Chromecast 2.
Miracast dongles already exist, it's February and the SDK libraries still aren't out, and in July, Chromecast will be a year old.
Apple TV costs $100 with this feature, a Belkin Miracast dongle is $80, an HTC Media Link HD is $100, the Samsung Allshare Cast Hub was a hundred, is $65 on Amazon now.
It's possible that Google is going to pump this in to the existing Chromecast for the faithful for free, but I'm just not feeling it.
Either way, so far KitKat includes Miracast, not DIAL.

EarlyMon said:
Or that in addition to Miracast, they'll be providing a second protocol for phones, with a server (like Koush did)? And people will be able to figure out the two casting options on their devices?
I think that it's far more likely that rather than put both protocols on a phone or into the existing Chromecast, it's more likely that DIAL support plus Miracast *might* appear in a Chromecast 2.
...
It's possible that Google is going to pump this in to the existing Chromecast for the faithful for free, but I'm just not feeling it.
Either way, so far KitKat includes Miracast, not DIAL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First part:
Since it's (Android) device mirroring functions appear to be in the SDK, but are limited only to OEM developers, my best-guess is that what we'll see is any Chromecast device mirroring will have to be "cooked" into a ROM rather than a loose bit (makes sense - that's how Samsung's AllShare Cast works too).
Hopefully the UX engineers win and make it so the Screen Mirroring option at least combines Google Cast and Miracast device options together, rather than having separate options for Screen Mirroring (Miracast) and Screen Mirroring (Google Cast).
Second part:
Yeah, not going to hold my breath. As I keep saying, screen mirroring is not the core competency of Chromecast.

bhiga said:
First part:
Since it's (Android) device mirroring functions appear to be in the SDK, but are limited only to OEM developers, my best-guess is that what we'll see is any Chromecast device mirroring will have to be "cooked" into a ROM rather than a loose bit (makes sense - that's how Samsung's AllShare Cast works too).
Hopefully the UX engineers win and make it so the Screen Mirroring option at least combines Google Cast and Miracast device options together, rather than having separate options for Screen Mirroring (Miracast) and Screen Mirroring (Google Cast).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both together sounds like a bit much, but it's possible.
Samsung is likely going their own way.
http://www.slashgear.com/samsung-an...ultiscreen-and-overlay-capabilities-28303309/
Second part:
Yeah, not going to hold my breath. As I keep saying, screen mirroring is not the core competency of Chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree.

If you ask me any attempt to make CCast work like a Miracast would be a big waste, Even a downgrade!
No need for Direct Connection for Mirroring as Mirror over IP is far more flexible and less problematical. Not to mention requires no special software support like Miracast does. If they really wanted Miracast type direct mirroring all it would take is some additions to the rom cause hardware wise, the CCast has everything it needs
It may not be part of why the CCast was developed but I don't see Google being as smart as they are leaving that market open to Miracast dongles when they know full well the only thing inhibiting CCast from doing it (and better) is their lack of developing an App that does it for Mobile...
As for the Casting support in the SDK for OEM use I suspect that is more generic in nature and just an exposure of the display system to support Miracast, Perhaps CCast Mirroring and any other 2nd screen tech that comes down the pipe.
I think mirroring feature is a bit overrated myself, it's good for an audience but not for an operator's use.
It's easier to do than what CCast is trying to do because there is no need for a control protocol...Just a simple transcoder for Video and Audio the rest is all done on the Master Display device.
As for that Samsung option I don't expect it to take off due to proprietary concerns. It's meant for Samsung SmartTVs and I bet LG and Sony won't support it. Samsung would be better off building that capability directly into the TV itself.
DIAL is still in its infancy and I expect the protocol to expand as support and adoption of it grows...
Whatever lessons they learned from Chromecast I expect to be addressed whenever they get around to making the second gen CCast.
Wired Networking or at minimum 5Ghz Wireless support is to be expected as would a more robust Video playback Compatibility.
It's not likely that any app that adds CCast support is going to remove it in the future which means as the Apps list grows so too does the chance we have of seeing this supported without the need for a dongle at all.
TV over the Web will work the way it was supposed to and remove the biggest hurdle to achieving full IPTV to date...
The Navigation and Channel Guide no one could figure out how to do....
And who knew the Web Browser was the answer all along.

Samsung is still the largest supplier of flat screen TVs in North America, is it not?
Besides, they've never been shy about adding interfaces to support the future. I have a Samsung TV with a specialized iPod interface as proof. (And I believe that the article did say clearly that Samsung was going to build the new casting into their TVs.)
And none of the TV makers think twice about adding fragmenting features, and Samsung certainly doesn't for their mobile devices.
As for the claim that it's just about making a mobile app and declaring victory for screen casting, you might want to review the API changes that have been evolving for months.
Doing that without library support and not differentiating DRM vs non-DRM cast calls may seem simple to you but it doesn't to me.
Last published, Netflix and YouTube accounted for over 50% of North American broadband traffic.
Screen casting may be an emerging market, or it could just be a flash in the pan.

EarlyMon said:
Samsung is still the largest supplier of flat screen TVs in North America, is it not?
Besides, they've never been shy about adding interfaces to support the future. I have a Samsung TV with a specialized iPod interface as proof. (And I believe that the article did say clearly that Samsung was going to build the new casting into their TVs.)
And none of the TV makers think twice about adding fragmenting features, and Samsung certainly doesn't for their mobile devices.
As for the claim that it's just about making a mobile app and declaring victory for screen casting, you might want to review the API changes that have been evolving for months.
Doing that without library support and not differentiating DRM vs non-DRM cast calls may seem simple to you but it doesn't to me.
Last published, Netflix and YouTube accounted for over 50% of North American broadband traffic.
Screen casting may be an emerging market, or it could just be a flash in the pan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I guess Samsung is the largest supplier of Flat Screens in NA just like Apple is the biggest supplier of Smart Phones in NA...
Until you realize combine all the NOT Samsung Models into an US vs THEM and they are not the Majority by any means...Same with Apple vs Android as opposed to Apple vs Samsung itself.
As for the DRM you forget that DIAL doesn't care and leaves using or not using up to the content provider. It's there if you want it and if not you only have to support the DIscover and Launch capabilities.
Is Sony (who owns a majority of content compared to Samsung) going to cut out DIAL for Samsung's proprietary system?
Doubtful!
And since the CCast and DIAL supports ANY TV with HDMI input it has a far better chance of being adopted as a standard than Samsung's device is.

IMO most of the current desire for screencasting is really a "backup plan" for content that is currently not supported via DIAL. "___ isn't supported so I want to mirror my screen/tab."
So the mainstream correct solution would be to get the desired content providers on-board with Google Cast.
That would leave non-"canned" content for screen mirroring (games in a second screen model, general browsing, presentations, Skype, etc).
I'd love to see a native Skype for Chromecast using the microphone and controls on my tablet/phone with video on the TV but keeping it in sync might be nontrivial engineering on the Skype end.

Asphyx said:
As for the DRM you forget that DIAL doesn't care and leaves using or not using up to the content provider. It's there if you want it and if not you only have to support the DIscover and Launch capabilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only invite you, again, to look at the actual casting API rather than rely on assumptions.
It's NOT the same as that last July and it absolutely, positively does recognize casting DRM content.
Start here -
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/m/#!topic/apps-dev/emlKA4C-c90
And then Google for what's happened since, along with Koush's commentaries.
Is Sony (who owns a majority of content compared to Samsung) going to cut out DIAL for Samsung's proprietary system?
Doubtful!
And since the CCast and DIAL supports ANY TV with HDMI input it has a far better chance of being adopted as a standard than Samsung's device is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you even read the article to discover that Samsung is using a superset of DIAL and support by Sony, LG, and Panasonic TV sets is expected?
---------- Post added at 04:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:07 PM ----------
bhiga said:
IMO most of the current desire for screencasting is really a "backup plan" for content that is currently not supported via DIAL. "___ isn't supported so I want to mirror my screen/tab."
So the mainstream correct solution would be to get the desired content providers on-board with Google Cast.
That would leave non-"canned" content for screen mirroring (games in a second screen model, general browsing, presentations, Skype, etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you checked out what Vbukit is planning on supporting with Chromecast?
Pretty interesting, I think.
Not sure about getting Skype sorted out.
It seems like every time Skype updates, it's a step backwards, but that's just my off-topic opinion.

EarlyMon said:
Have you checked out what Vbukit is planning on supporting with Chromecast?
Pretty interesting, I think.
Not sure about getting Skype sorted out.
It seems like every time Skype updates, it's a step backwards, but that's just my off-topic opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Vbukit is a little rough around the edges, but I can definitely see it being useful for presenters and educators especially.
Agree with you on Skype...
Back on-topic, there isn't a lot of technical copyright/DRM concern regarding casting anything you see on the screen - after all, if you can see it on the screen, you've seen it already. It's just that the legal types are not technical, highly likely to make crazy conclusions and assumptions, and get paid no matter what they do - so it's in their best interest to make issue of little things. I've personally seen warnings from the copyright hunters complete with ISP traces down to the router endpoint too, so they are watching and waiting to pounce.
I still hope an optimized device mirroring comes as something deeper within the Android OS itself.
Something akin to RemoteX in the Windows space, which is a "remote render" or offload of the graphic drawing functions. Anything that's not reliant upon a local bitmap could be rendered on Chromecast, rather than sent as large/inefficient bitmap data or CPU-intensive compressed data. That would make some "twitchy" games playable, especially if Chromecast has enough memory/storage to cache bitmaps that it does end up needing. Full-screen video, of course, doesn't benefit, nor does typical FPS games since the entirety of the screen is being updated with bitmaps.
For fun, I played a video on my phone and watched it on my computer (no audio) via TeamViewer. It took me back to the early 90's.
We've waited for apps and other optimized content this long, let's see what Google delivers.

Content providers have been successfully inhibiting HDMI and MHL output from their apps running on Android devices.
I believe that the casting API changes may have them in mind, but that's pure conjecture on my part.
I think it's ridiculous but so long as people check the boxes and agree to the terms of service, they're free to enforce it.

Most Effective way to stream Local files.

Hey Guys, new to the forum.
I purchased the chromecast, looking to stream local files and get rid of my hdmi cable. I can cast a tab fine, but experience a bit of lag when viewing at max bit-rate. (extreme 720p)
My computer is i7 4770k @3.5ghz and card is HD7970. SO i dont think hardware is the issue. My router is a Linksys EA6900 and its about 5m away from the dongle.
Has anyone managed to actually stream full HD to the chrome cast without noticeable lag or reduction if FPS, or is it simply not available at this point of time?
Thanks

MaverickH93 said:
Hey Guys, new to the forum.
I purchased the chromecast, looking to stream local files and get rid of my hdmi cable. I can cast a tab fine, but experience a bit of lag when viewing at max bit-rate. (extreme 720p)
My computer is i7 4770k @3.5ghz and card is HD7970. SO i dont think hardware is the issue. My router is a Linksys EA6900 and its about 5m away from the dongle.
Has anyone managed to actually stream full HD to the chrome cast without noticeable lag or reduction if FPS, or is it simply not available at this point of time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
720p tab casting even of Flash video works well for me, but I seem to be an exception rather than the norm...
Are there any obstructions between your router and Chromecast, especially the TV itself?
My system is a dual Quad-Core Opteron 2.9 GHz Shanghai, 32 GB RAM, running Win 7 Professional x64. AMD/ATI Radeon HD 7750 graphics.

bhiga said:
720p tab casting even of Flash video works well for me, but I seem to be an exception rather than the norm...
Are there any obstructions between your router and Chromecast, especially the TV itself?
My system is a dual Quad-Core Opteron 2.9 GHz Shanghai, 32 GB RAM, running Win 7 Professional x64. AMD/ATI Radeon HD 7750 graphics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its pretty much line of sight and the perpendicular to the back of the TV. What kind of router are you using?
Also what file type are the videos you are watching and how big are the files. For example, if i watch a .mp4 blue-ray RIP its size is around 1.8Gb i experience minor FPS decrease on the High setting. Extreme just leads to lagging.
The way i see it there's the potential for 3 issues.
1. The computer hardware
2. The router connection
3. Google chrome's wireless hardware

MaverickH93 said:
Hey Guys, new to the forum.
I purchased the chromecast, looking to stream local files and get rid of my hdmi cable. I can cast a tab fine, but experience a bit of lag when viewing at max bit-rate. (extreme 720p)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to stream local file (movie) is better to send the file and let Chromecast buffer and decode it than stream a tab.
I've been using this here and works like charm: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/videostream-for-google-ch/cnciopoikihiagdjbjpnocolokfelagl
I don't believe I tried sending a 1080p but 720p is flawless and I can't see why it wouldn't
They also have an Android app for remote control the stream, so I pretty much click play on the PC and sit on the sofa with the phone to control.
If your video is not in a compatible format, I'll go ahead and do a shamelessly self-propaganda: I did this little batch converter specifically for the CC and it seems to be working fine.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2699870

Budius said:
to stream local file (movie) is better to send the file and let Chromecast buffer and decode it than stream a tab.
I've been using this here and works like charm: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/videostream-for-google-ch/cnciopoikihiagdjbjpnocolokfelagl
I don't believe I tried sending a 1080p but 720p is flawless and I can't see why it wouldn't
They also have an Android app for remote control the stream, so I pretty much click play on the PC and sit on the sofa with the phone to control.
If your video is not in a compatible format, I'll go ahead and do a shamelessly self-propaganda: I did this little batch converter specifically for the CC and it seems to be working fine.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2699870
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i tied to use Videostream, but for some reason it gets stuck on the loading screen. I turned off all my firewalls, changed permissions, ran chrome canary, ran as admin but it still doesn't work.
i think that's the issue. CC needs to buffer video. It sounds like VideoStream is the kind of program i need so will just have to keep working at it.

MaverickH93 said:
Yes i tied to use Videostream, but for some reason it gets stuck on the loading screen. I turned off all my firewalls, changed permissions, ran chrome canary, ran as admin but it still doesn't work.
i think that's the issue. CC needs to buffer video. It sounds like VideoStream is the kind of program i need so will just have to keep working at it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, those HERE are the media types that Chromecast can natively run. Anything besides that it will not work (unless you're just mirroring the screen, but as you noticed, it's pretty slow, or you have some media server on your computer doing some on-the-fly conversion, which can run pretty slow and heat your PC a lot).
I suggest getting a video that you're sure within the spec to test. Probably if you download a YouTube from those "youtube downloaders" website or just something you recoded with your phone, it will be in spec (mp4 container, h264 codec, AAC or MP3 audio).
So what I've done (check my last post) was to code myself a batch converter (helps being a Java developer) so currently my computer at home is converting my whole video collection to compatible format.

Can I upload a mp4 video say dropbox and stream it to chromecast? Any online hosts allow this?

LoL.
I have a Raspberry Pi running Rasbian and it has 1TB USB drive attached, I'm running Apache2 and point it to my drive so it appears in http. I then use the Android NAS Cast app, settings configure to the http of the directory with the MP4 and it casts perfectly decent quality. So there is no desktop involved, Android in your hand and the small Linux server and Chromecast.
As has been said, Chromecast as very limited codecs. You can explicitly seek out the compatible videos, or recode using ffmpeg. The Raspberry Pi is too weak to do real-time recoding but you can batch up and have recoding those files not compatible, and then if low on disk-space, delete the original non-compatible.
I'm 90% through overnight building my own Rasbian system (been on a Dockstar on older Linux for years) and built ffmpeg overnight.

nigelhealy said:
As has been said, Chromecast as very limited codecs. You can explicitly seek out the compatible videos, or recode using ffmpeg. The Raspberry Pi is too weak to do real-time recoding but you can batch up and have recoding those files not compatible,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said on the other thread.
I found a FFMPEG for RaspianPi but it was so painfully slow. Like a low-res 20 seconds video would take 30 min to encode. Now imagine a tera-byte drive it would take a few years, not really good. Best option is really to get the best-fastest machine you have available and leave it running for a week or two.

Budius said:
Like I said on the other thread.
I found a FFMPEG for RaspianPi but it was so painfully slow. Like a low-res 20 seconds video would take 30 min to encode. Now imagine a tera-byte drive it would take a few years, not really good. Best option is really to get the best-fastest machine you have available and leave it running for a week or two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried running it locally (Ubuntu desktop) lots of error messages saying
Failed to get FFPROBE
I have the ffprobe command though.

nigelhealy said:
Tried running it locally (Ubuntu desktop) lots of error messages saying
Failed to get FFPROBE
I have the ffprobe command though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what does say in the LOG tab?
Try running from the terminal: ffprobe <video_path>.mp4 Does it work or does it say "can't find command ffprobe" ?
at the end of this https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/UbuntuCompilationGuide it shows how to add the ffmpeg to the path
ps.: let's keep debug/conversation regarding the Converter on the converter thread? I guess it's more logical and we don't hijack MaverickH93s thread

moved to the app thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=51533199

I use Plex and I love it, try it if you haven't!

The best way is Localcast https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.stefanpledl.localcast
Great for android!
Enviado desde mi Amazon Kindle Fire HD mediante Tapatalk

MaverickH93 said:
Its pretty much line of sight and the perpendicular to the back of the TV. What kind of router are you using?
Also what file type are the videos you are watching and how big are the files. For example, if i watch a .mp4 blue-ray RIP its size is around 1.8Gb i experience minor FPS decrease on the High setting. Extreme just leads to lagging.
The way i see it there's the potential for 3 issues.
1. The computer hardware
2. The router connection
3. Google chrome's wireless hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your router is behind the TV? That's how mine is set up, although my Chromecast is actually off to the side of the TV.
My router is a Netgear WNDR4500
I've mainly been watching Flash videos, as that's what the websites my little one likes has (Nickelodeon, BabyFirstTV, Disney Junior)

nigelhealy said:
LoL.
I have a Raspberry Pi running Rasbian and it has 1TB USB drive attached, I'm running Apache2 and point it to my drive so it appears in http. I then use the Android NAS Cast app, settings configure to the http of the directory with the MP4 and it casts perfectly decent quality. So there is no desktop involved, Android in your hand and the small Linux server and Chromecast.
As has been said, Chromecast as very limited codecs. You can explicitly seek out the compatible videos, or recode using ffmpeg. The Raspberry Pi is too weak to do real-time recoding but you can batch up and have recoding those files not compatible, and then if low on disk-space, delete the original non-compatible.
I'm 90% through overnight building my own Rasbian system (been on a Dockstar on older Linux for years) and built ffmpeg overnight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boy wish you had a tutorial or walk through of setting this up. I would love to use my beaglebone black for that if possible. Any links that would point me in right direction? mind sharing?
I would really like to use headless systems for this. Thanks

I think Plex is the easiest way to stream local movies since it makes everything organized and can convert file formats if needed. The phone app makes it a breeze to control everything. I use localcast to stream pics and videos taken from my phone.

paracha3 said:
Boy wish you had a tutorial or walk through of setting this up. I would love to use my beaglebone black for that if possible. Any links that would point me in right direction? mind sharing?
I would really like to use headless systems for this. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as I Googled beaglebone is just a little Linux machine like the RaspberryPi. Just install a mini-DLNA on it and that's all you need. Most Android apps in Google Play will run from a DLNA (bubble and LocalCast do it).
Quick Google I found this tuto on mini-DLNA on RaspberryPi (http://bbrks.me/rpi-minidlna-media-server/) should work for the beaglebone too.

I have to throw my hat in the ring for plex, too. Downside is that you have to put your videos in a certain folder and name them a certain way for the server to see them. It doesnt let you just open a random video file like VLC and have it sent to the chromecast. Upside is that it transcodes the videos to a supported format on the fly.
As far as streaming videos/pictures off your phone, there are a few choices, but none of them are ready for primetime yet. Allcast shows some of the videos/pictures taken on my phone sideways and upside down. I also havent found an easy way to tell Allcast to stop casting and return to the chromecast homescreen (screensaver). Localcast has an option to let you rotate the files so you can at least see them with the correct orientation, but it still has some issues with connecting. Localcast does, however, have an option to stop casting so you dont burn-in its screen on your TV.

gianptune said:
I have to throw my hat in the ring for plex, too. Downside is that you have to put your videos in a certain folder and name them a certain way for the server to see them. It doesnt let you just open a random video file like VLC and have it sent to the chromecast. Upside is that it transcodes the videos to a supported format on the fly.
As far as streaming videos/pictures off your phone, there are a few choices, but none of them are ready for primetime yet. Allcast shows some of the videos/pictures taken on my phone sideways and upside down. I also havent found an easy way to tell Allcast to stop casting and return to the chromecast homescreen (screensaver). Localcast has an option to let you rotate the files so you can at least see them with the correct orientation, but it still has some issues with connecting. Localcast does, however, have an option to stop casting so you dont burn-in its screen on your TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The naming should be a non-issue though. Most of the movies and shows you download are already named the correct way.

[CHROME-EXTENSION] Thundercast

I'm writing an extension to send various contents from the web to the chromecast. If you are brave enough you can give it a try.
Update 0.8 (the new version is taking shape)
Major changes: new name. : )
Minor changes: the UI is more conventional but is the result of the code simplification and allows avoiding some operations, like javascript injections.
To install the extension you have to drag and drop the crx file in the extensions tab (chrome://extensions)
If you use the stable channel of chrome, google will likely block the extension soon after the first restart of the browser. In that case, to use it further, I suggest installing chrome canary.
dropbox link: goo.gl/kgatdZ
PS: forgive my English

bio-xda said:
I’ve written a chrome extension I use to send various contents from the web to the chromecast. If you are brave enough you can give it a try.
To install the extension you have to drag and drop the crx file in the extensions tab (chrome://extensions)
dropbox link: goo.gl/kgatdZ
PS: forgive my English
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What does it do more than google cast?

albanodesign said:
What does it do more than google cast?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically it forces the use of the cast API so your pc won’t act as the server of the video but only as the remote controller, mimic the behavior of youtube in websites that don’t support chromecast.

bio-xda said:
Basically it forces the use of the cast API so your pc won’t act as the server of the video but only as the remote controller, mimic the behavior of youtube in websites that don’t support chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that have any advantages? I notice that often, casting the entire tab of a screen playing a video makes it tough on my Chromecast whereas the Youtube implementation works pretty smoothly. Does using your version make it smoother?

Flowah said:
Does that have any advantages? I notice that often, casting the entire tab of a screen playing a video makes it tough on my Chromecast whereas the Youtube implementation works pretty smoothly. Does using your version make it smoother?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should, as the extension is telling Chromecast to go grab the media directly, rather than your PC trying to encode from the screen and send the (re)encoded video to Chromecast.

Did anyone try it ?

its working good
but i also have to have the cc extensionn running to cast directly to cc
would be nice if that is automatic

I tried at yify.tv, doesn't work, extension always fail to transfer source to chromecast with the red ! sign on the extension icon.

kawaiichi said:
I tried at yify.tv, doesn't work, extension always fail to transfer source to chromecast with the red ! sign on the extension icon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately you’re right, I’ve never had to deal with video urls like theirs. There are many things that need to be improved, i hope to find the time

Awesome extension... exactly what i was looking for... my mother just has an old slow laptop n with this extension streaming simple flash streams works like a charm. With google cast its realy realy laggy.. so thnx n keep on working
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9300 mit Tapatalk

nice!
but how I use? just enable and cast with google cast?

yuriebc said:
nice!
but how I use? just enable and cast with google cast?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While thundercast is enabled you should see a big, ugly button over the videos. It will cast the video if chromecast support its format, otherwise you can always download it.
Btw, i'm rewriting the extension from scratch and will be very different. My intention is to release it in the store, but it's not going to happen soon.
Maybe this thread can be closed, but i have a thing for the user of xda i'd like to share when the new version is ready.
Ps: sorry i didn't get (or i lost) the notification from the forum

bio-xda said:
While thundercast is enabled you should see a big, ugly button over the videos. It will cast the video if chromecast support its format, otherwise you can always download it.
Btw, i'm rewriting the extension from scratch and will be very different. My intention is to release it in the store, but it's not going to happen soon.
Maybe this thread can be closed, but i have a thing for the user of xda i'd like to share when the new version is ready.
Ps: sorry i didn't get (or i lost) the notification from the forum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm liking the current version already. Looking forward to what you cook up in the revamp!

Update 0.8
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

This has become one of my favourite extensions. Looking forward to try out when I get home. Any chance to release it to the store, it is really painful to come back here and update manually every time a new version is out or if I want to install it on my other devices

This version seem fantastic. I hope it reduce the lag that official chromecast extension give in flash video on chrome.
I try to use it.
Inviato dal mio GT-I9505 utilizzando Tapatalk

About the store, I haven’t decided yet. There are some (few) things I want to improve before but I'm having issues with the chromecast. It has such a poor wifi reception I have to carefully position the tv to get it work and, in these days, with the heat, things seem even worse. It’s becoming a bit frustrating…

bio-xda said:
About the store, I haven’t decided yet. There are some (few) things I want to improve before but I'm having issues with the chromecast. It has such a poor wifi reception I have to carefully position the tv to get it work and, in these days, with the heat, things seem even worse. It’s becoming a bit frustrating…
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An HDMI extension (if the included one isn't sufficient) can do wonders for getting Chromecast away from the TV and into a better reception zone. Even a 3-foot (1-meter) cable can help tremendously. TVs are very bad with signal reflection and interference.

Is live streaming websites supported by this extension? I tried to use it with livestation no luck
Also tried it with file drive and did not see cast icon

Where do we get this extension
WHere do we download this extension, I do not find it on the Chrome Extension site???

Critique my setup for streaming Tivo recordings to Chromecast

I have been working for a few days on setting up a process to pull my Tivo recordings off my Tivo onto my PC, and then get them into a format where they can stream to my chromecast on another TV. In other words, a poor man's multi-room viewing. I am in over my head on several aspects, and while I have gotten it to work, I have had to make some sacrifices. I'd like to see if someone can "poke holes" in my setup and suggest a better way to get the job done.
First, here is the hardware...
Asus AC66U (currently, no qos enabled)
TivoHD (wired connection)
Fairly-new PC with capable processing power (wired connection)
Chromecast in the next room (gets full bars on wifi icon)
The setup...
1. I am using kmttg to automatically pull the recordings off the Tivo, decrypt them to an mpeg file, and then encode that mpeg file into an mp4 file that is compatible with chromecast. Kmttg has both ffmpeg and handbrake encoding capabilities.
2. I store the encoded mp4 files in a folder on my PC that is shared with everyone on my network.
3. I use Localcast on my android phone to locate the shared folder, then the file I want to view, then Localcast takes it from there.
ETA:
3. Plex Media Server on the PC
4. BubbleUPnP android app
The Plex Media Server and BubbleUPnP app solve the problem that Localcast caused by using the phone as the connection between the PC and Chromecast. Plex Media Server and BubbleUPnP allow me to connect the PC directly to Chromecast, lowering network traffic considerably and allowing me to cast a much higher quality video without the stuttering.
This setup works, however there are some problems I need to correct. I have issues with stuttering/buffering streams. I have tried to correct this by using encoding profiles that create a very small file size, which solves the buffering problem, but video quality suffers as a result. At present, I either have to decide between HD quality video that causes stutters ever few minutes, or a file that streams smoothly but has a video quality around SD quality. In seeking help on another forum for the best encoding profile, the suggestion was made that it wasn't the file size, but my wifi setup that could be the problem. Researching my wifi setup brought be to this post, which makes me wonder if localcast is my bottleneck. I was under the impression that Localcast was just creating a direct stream from my PC, similar to a direct stream from Netflix. However, if it is actually forwarding the stream from my PC through my phone to the chromecast, that would explain the poor performance (the stream has to go out to the phone and then back to the router and then out to the chromecast).

Greetings (again) fellow TiVo user! I refuse to give up my lifetime subscription and Series3 display!
Here's what I suggest...
Install Serviio on the PC with the converted videos on them. This will make your PC a DLNA/UPnP server. Be sure to configure the library so the folder with the videos is accessible.
Install BubbleUPnP on your phone.
Set the BubbleUPnP Library to your Serviio PC (it should show up in the list).
Set the BubbleUPnP Renderer to your Chromecast.
Go to the Library and find something to play. Depending on the metadata, you may need to use the Folder view rather than categories.
I tested it and the BubbleUPnP client app that runs on Chromecast seems to grab the stream directly from the server, rather than brokering the stream through your phone. That ought to help your bandwidth issue so you can use higher bitrates to get better quality.
I like what you're doing, it's something I'd like to do eventually too.
Localcast might do the same as BubbleUPnP once you get Serviio running, I haven't used it.

Yeah, I'm not ready to give up my old Tivo either! My wife has been bugging me that she can't watch recorded shows
I played around with my setup last night and found some things that work. I installed Plex Media Server on my PC and the BubbleUPnP on my phone. The BubbleUPnP app automatically detected the Plex Media Server and casting to my Chromecast was very easy. And you are right, this setup allows casting directly from PC to the Chromecast. I was able to stream my files without any stuttering! I have to go back now and re-encode my existing files to a higher video quality, but that is a price I am willing to pay.
Plex Media Server downloads the metadata about the recordings from the internet and automatically names, organizes and adds thumbnails for each recording. This is really cool. It took me a few attempts to figure out how the folders and files needed to be stored on my PC to get it to work right, but I think I have the hang of it now.
The only small trouble I have in the process is it seems like Tivo's episode information is incorrect on some of the recordings. For example, Tivo thinks a particular recording is Episode number X, but really it is Episode number Y. Tivo's Episode Title is correct, but Plex seems to just look for the Season/Episode information to pull the metadata, and then overwrites the Episode Title with the downloaded info. I have to go back into my PC and correct the episode number, which then corrects the trouble on Plex at the next download. However, this has just happened on a couple of recordings and it may not be a big issue.
I'll take a look at Serviio and see how it compares to Plex.
My next project is to see if I can find a way to stream recordings from my Mega cloud account. With 50bg of free storage, that would allow my Tivo recordings to be available wherever I am. I see Mega has a mobile app, and they say that it is possible to stream files from it, but I haven't been able to get it to work. You can long press on a file and share it to BubbleUPnP or Localshare, but I get an error message on Chromecast saying the file type is not supported. It would be nice if Mega added Chromecast support. That would rock. Even if I can't cast it to Chromecast, being able to stream it on my phone would be great. However, when I click on the file, it just tries to download the file to my phone's storage. I see there are 3rd party apps that claim to stream Mega files, but I'm wary of trying them since they don't look to be widely used.

Good move with the Bubble and Plex addition....
The two of those give a great one two punch and really make all the other options for streaming pretty lackluster IMO...
Do these Tivo files have CC embedded?
Might think about moving to an MKV container and using Handbrake for the conversion.

Asphyx said:
Good move with the Bubble and Plex addition....
The two of those give a great one two punch and really make all the other options for streaming pretty lackluster IMO...
Do these Tivo files have CC embedded?
Might think about moving to an MKV container and using Handbrake for the conversion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kmttg lists closed captioning data as one of their features. I haven't tried it so I can't say if/how it works.
It also has the ability to detect and cut out commercials, but they suggest you manually check the cuts before they are made since the detection system isn't always accurate. I want this process to be totally automated, so I haven't tried that feature out fully either. The few times I have chosen to cut the commercials, something has gotten messed up with the audio sync. This would be a great feature if I can figure it out.
Thanks for the suggestion of the MKV option. I tried that encoding profile in the beginning and I kept getting errors each time the file started saying that something wasn't compatible and possibly the audio wouldn't work. Everything seemed to stream correctly, but the error message was annoying each time. Additionally, now that I have Plex installed, it doesn't seem like the old leftover MKV files are showing up in my library...as if it is an unsupported file type. I'll work on it some more. It could be the particular MKV profile I chose, or some other issue that I can work through.

whitenack said:
The only small trouble I have in the process is it seems like Tivo's episode information is incorrect on some of the recordings. For example, Tivo thinks a particular recording is Episode number X, but really it is Episode number Y. Tivo's Episode Title is correct, but Plex seems to just look for the Season/Episode information to pull the metadata, and then overwrites the Episode Title with the downloaded info. I have to go back into my PC and correct the episode number, which then corrects the trouble on Plex at the next download. However, this has just happened on a couple of recordings and it may not be a big issue.
I'll take a look at Serviio and see how it compares to Plex.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the TiVo guide info has been spotty lately, which is not a good thing since the guide info is what the subscription is for!
Some episodes are incorrectly numbered (though the back-to-back dual-episode premieres and finales always tend to be confusing), some don't have episode numbers at all. Almost seems like they're pulling from two sources and when the "good" source doesn't have info, we get the generic version.
Asphyx said:
Do these Tivo files have CC embedded?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Plex's metadata library really is one of its strong points
TiVo recordings do have embedded CC AFAIK, but I haven't looked to see if it's encoded as MPEG subcode like on DVD or differently. My guess is it's subcode, as it's embedded in the original transport stream.
whitenack said:
It also has the ability to detect and cut out commercials, but they suggest you manually check the cuts before they are made since the detection system isn't always accurate. I want this process to be totally automated, so I haven't tried that feature out fully either. The few times I have chosen to cut the commercials, something has gotten messed up with the audio sync. This would be a great feature if I can figure it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've successfully used VideoReDo TVSuite 4 to edit both native TiVo .tivo and MPEG transport streams. It has some nifty features to fix rubbished streams and also has commercial detection. It's not free, though since I already have it, this auto-processor may just have reserved a few future weekends... Hmm, I might have to get a new machine after all (granted, my desktop is over 5 years old - I just dislike change, haha).

whitenack said:
kmttg lists closed captioning data as one of their features. I haven't tried it so I can't say if/how it works.
It also has the ability to detect and cut out commercials, but they suggest you manually check the cuts before they are made since the detection system isn't always accurate. I want this process to be totally automated, so I haven't tried that feature out fully either. The few times I have chosen to cut the commercials, something has gotten messed up with the audio sync. This would be a great feature if I can figure it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep I understand the automated want...PITA to have to manually do it. Commercials are always a PITA to cut out. You can just as easily FF through them later.
whitenack said:
Thanks for the suggestion of the MKV option. I tried that encoding profile in the beginning and I kept getting errors each time the file started saying that something wasn't compatible and possibly the audio wouldn't work. Everything seemed to stream correctly, but the error message was annoying each time. Additionally, now that I have Plex installed, it doesn't seem like the old leftover MKV files are showing up in my library...as if it is an unsupported file type. I'll work on it some more. It could be the particular MKV profile I chose, or some other issue that I can work through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm it could be the CC Subtitles that are the actual issue with compatibility. You might be able to tweak that profile properly but if you don't need them why bother. I only asked because I have a few family members who watch my library but seem to need CC to help them so I have been forced to add embedded CC subtitles to my Library system (mostly MKV) and was curious if you had that capability.
bhiga said:
Plex's metadata library really is one of its strong points
TiVo recordings do have embedded CC AFAIK, but I haven't looked to see if it's encoded as MPEG subcode like on DVD or differently. My guess is it's subcode, as it's embedded in the original transport stream.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For guys like us (and other XDA folk) it's probably not as important to have a nice and easy interface to navigate with but since we all have friends and family who need to navigate these things Plex just makes the whole process a lot simpler to teach for those uninitiated users.
One of the biggest downsides to the DLNA architecture is it's lack of metadata and good interface system.
Uninitiated want to see box covers not file listings.
As for your old computer it may be 5 years old but that still makes it a good prospect for a media server...Throw a bit more ram in and run Linux and it should be good enough for transcode and serving.
But you know that already! LOL

Asphyx said:
Yep I understand the automated want...PITA to have to manually do it. Commercials are always a PITA to cut out. You can just as easily FF through them later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, precisely why I haven't really put much effort into dealing with them to date. Still, when you're archiving hundreds of hours, those commercials add up.
Asphyx said:
I only asked because I have a few family members who watch my library but seem to need CC to help them so I have been forced to add embedded CC subtitles to my Library system (mostly MKV) and was curious if you had that capability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That describes me perfectly. Something's either wrong with my hearing, audio system, or both.
Asphyx said:
As for your old computer it may be 5 years old but that still makes it a good prospect for a media server...Throw a bit more ram in and run Linux and it should be good enough for transcode and serving.
But you know that already! LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a dual quad-core with 32GB of RAM, so still quite capable for my needs, which is why I haven't upgraded (aside from cost), but as an encoding machine its fans SCREAM so I usually throttle encoding tasks outside of sleep times using Battle Encoder Shirase. The other alternative is to switch to liquid cooling, but my system is not mainstream (AMD Socket F server board) so doing that will likely require more than a weekend.
This just reminded me though... I do have my previous desktop which was a quiet machine. Nowhere near the same horsepower, but it was quiet... Hmm... Now ALL of my precious spare time has been shot! LOL!!

Asphyx said:
Hmmm it could be the CC Subtitles that are the actual issue with compatibility. You might be able to tweak that profile properly but if you don't need them why bother. I only asked because I have a few family members who watch my library but seem to need CC to help them so I have been forced to add embedded CC subtitles to my Library system (mostly MKV) and was curious if you had that capability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nevermind. I see my problem now. It's not the MKV that is causing the problem, its the fact I don't have the folder set up correctly for that particular show (the only recordings for that particular show were MKVs). I dropped an MKV file into an existing show folder and it recognizes it. Awesome. So, at this point I just need to figure out which encoding profile I need to use to generate the best video quality for the smallest file size.

whitenack said:
So, at this point I just need to figure out which encoding profile I need to use to generate the best video quality for the smallest file size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Individual quality judgements will vary (and so will Spouse Approval Factor), but as a matter of reference, DTV streams are typically 19 Mbps MPEG-2, so they're already squashed, which roughly translates to around 4 Mbps in MPEG-4.
Commercials are good for threshold purposes, especially those with the tiny text at the bottom of action commercials that says "Professional stunt person - Do not attempt." One because those types of commercials have a lot of action and scene changes, and two because the text at the bottom tends to be small, and that's usually the first thing to go blocky/fuzzy when you drop too many bits.
Watch out of the car commercials though, the SUPER tiny text on those is usually already destroyed by the cable company's compression.

bhiga said:
Individual quality judgements will vary (and so will Spouse Approval Factor), but as a matter of reference, DTV streams are typically 19 Mbps MPEG-2, so they're already squashed, which roughly translates to around 4 Mbps in MPEG-4.
Commercials are good for threshold purposes, especially those with the tiny text at the bottom of action commercials that says "Professional stunt person - Do not attempt." One because those types of commercials have a lot of action and scene changes, and two because the text at the bottom tends to be small, and that's usually the first thing to go blocky/fuzzy when you drop too many bits.
Watch out of the car commercials though, the SUPER tiny text on those is usually already destroyed by the cable company's compression.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We cut the cable cord a few years ago, so unfortunately I am accustomed to uncompressed quality. Having said that, the Chromecast is connected to our bedroom TV and it isn't exactly a high quality display. It was one of those Black Friday specials where they pretty much give it away. Thanks for the tip on the commercial text test. That will be handy.

bhiga said:
It's a dual quad-core with 32GB of RAM, so still quite capable for my needs, which is why I haven't upgraded (aside from cost), but as an encoding machine its fans SCREAM so I usually throttle encoding tasks outside of sleep times using Battle Encoder Shirase. The other alternative is to switch to liquid cooling, but my system is not mainstream (AMD Socket F server board) so doing that will likely require more than a weekend.
Click to expand...
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Get one of those corsair pre-built models...
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...1366_2011_AM2_AM3.html?tl=g30c321&id=Ar4dvGLz
That should be more than enough for Encoding/Transcoding...You would only need more for Gaming....
But I agree you are a far way off from needing an upgrade with that rig!
whitenack said:
Nevermind. I see my problem now. It's not the MKV that is causing the problem, its the fact I don't have the folder set up correctly for that particular show (the only recordings for that particular show were MKVs). I dropped an MKV file into an existing show folder and it recognizes it. Awesome. So, at this point I just need to figure out which encoding profile I need to use to generate the best video quality for the smallest file size.
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As for Profile everything I have currently is H.264 4-10Mbs with AAC Stereo, AAC Surround and in some cases where it was available AC3 or DHT.
But that is not conducive to automated encode really...
What I do for most of my movies is if it has AC3 or DHT I add in AAC Stereo, AAC Surround based off the Dolby track and add any subtitle tracks I need as well.
So what I wind up with is a virtually device wide compatible Video track and Multiple Audio and subtitle tracks to choose from depending on the output device.
Probably don't need something that comprehensive for TV shows...Just make sure there is at least one AAC audio track.
File Size will really be dictated by Video Bitrate which @bhiga already mentioned...4MBs is probably the most you could need given the source quality.

Asphyx said:
Probably don't need something that comprehensive for TV shows...Just make sure there is at least one AAC audio track.
File Size will really be dictated by Video Bitrate which @bhiga already mentioned...4MBs is probably the most you could need given the source quality.
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I just checked a file I had encoded earlier using a profile that has a description of "same res h.264 video", which I assume means the video quality is not altered in any way. I looked at the details of the file and it shows this:
Code:
Data Rate - 2511kbps
Total bitrate - 2704kbps
Frame Rate - 59 fames/second
Forgive me for being a noob, but is this saying that the total bitrate doesn't even exceed 3MBs? So even if I picked an encoding profile that limited the file to 4MBs, I would still be getting original video quality?

whitenack said:
I just checked a file I had encoded earlier using a profile that has a description of "same res h.264 video", which I assume means the video quality is not altered in any way. I looked at the details of the file and it shows this:
Code:
Data Rate - 2511kbps
Total bitrate - 2704kbps
Frame Rate - 59 fames/second
Forgive me for being a noob, but is this saying that the total bitrate doesn't even exceed 3MBs? So even if I picked an encoding profile that limited the file to 4MBs, I would still be getting original video quality?
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Same res = same resolution, but the bitrate can still affect video quality.
That said, the parameters you're showing should produce good results.

An AIO corsair or any other closed loop would start getting costly for him. Remember he has more than one CPU to cool, so you'd really wants go open loop cause you need two CPU blocks and I don't know anything else about the system so I won't guess how many rads you would need. Maybe change the fans out if there too loud, but I'm assuming you need something very powerful like delta fan's to keep it cool. Anyways that site recommended above does have a nice selection of quality water cooling components and fans. Check out alphacool, I use there rads with a swiftech block, but watch out for the clearance its around 60mm.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

whitenack said:
I just checked a file I had encoded earlier using a profile that has a description of "same res h.264 video", which I assume means the video quality is not altered in any way. I looked at the details of the file and it shows this:
Code:
Data Rate - 2511kbps
Total bitrate - 2704kbps
Frame Rate - 59 fames/second
Forgive me for being a noob, but is this saying that the total bitrate doesn't even exceed 3MBs? So even if I picked an encoding profile that limited the file to 4MBs, I would still be getting original video quality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but thats what your encoding profile says not the source bitrate right? You should experiment a bit and see at what bitrate you see little to no quality loss or find some way to figure out the bitrate of the source file (since it's in some proprietary format might not be possible).
Then just make sure your target bitrate for re-encode is slightly higher with the same frame rate and you should be fine. from the looks of it it sounds like your FPS may be too high. And that might be a cause of loss of quality. Great for movement but the frames and pixels suffer.
Think if it similar to the following
The VBrate is like a bottle holds all the data for video and comes once a second.
FPS determines how many pictures are in that bottle with each picture being limited to the data size that allows all pictures to fit in that bottle.
Resolution (1080, 720) determines how many pixels must be REPRESENTED (but not always actually present) in each picture.
SO...
a VBRate with 4000K and 60 fps means 66.6K worth of pixel data per frame,
VBRate of 4000k and 30 fps means 133.3K worth of data per frame
Divide that number yet again by the number of pixels (resolution) and you get the data allotment for each pixel. As that number gets smaller the pixels actually get larger and blockier by trying to make one pixel tell the story of 4 or 8 pixels to fit into the limits of the picture so the pictures (FPS) can fit into the limits of the bottle (VBRate) and the dynamic range of each pixel gets compromised as it must use a shorter pallette for Light Dark, and RGB (Red Green Blue).
By the same token this is also why Upconverting often leads to blockiness not because of the limits of the Output but the limitations of the input. And no BETTER quality is actually possible.All the encoder does is double the pixels or framerate using the VBrate for each but you are not actually getting any better quality just magnifying the pixels. And that is just like looking at a screen with a magnifying glass. You see how blocky the pixels really are in the original and those blocks just get BIGGER on the upconvert.
I suggest you see what the top Bitrate and resolution of the source files are and then set your profile accordingly to at least get parity for the best quality possible.
Resolution and FPS should exactly match and then the VBrate as long as it is the same or slightly above will ensure your getting everything there is to get out of the source...
Nizda1 said:
Remember he has more than one CPU to cool,...
...Anyways that site recommended above does have a nice selection of quality water cooling components and fans. Check out alphacool, I use there rads with a swiftech block, but watch out for the clearance its around 60mm.
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Yes good catch I missed the DUAL and just saw the Quad...The Dual CPU does complicate things.
I have used Frozen for most of my Personal Builds of rigs but mostly because they are so damn close to me that I get the shipments almost next day even when I ship it ground.
IMO Cooling is the most overlooked and underrated part of Rig Building...
I happen to have a Cosmos S case I use for all my main rigs (Just keep changing the guts) because it's just so versatile no matter what I decide to do, Water, Fans and plenty of room for all of it.

Asphyx said:
Yes but thats what your encoding profile says not the source bitrate right?
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Yes, that file had been encoded, but at a much higher rate than what it ended up at. I think the bitrate was set at either 4000 or 5000, but still only produced a file at a bitrate of about half. Therefore, I assume that the Tivo file is set at that bitrate?
You should experiment a bit and see at what bitrate you see little to no quality loss or find some way to figure out the bitrate of the source file (since it's in some proprietary format might not be possible).
Then just make sure your target bitrate for re-encode is slightly higher with the same frame rate and you should be fine. from the looks of it it sounds like your FPS may be too high. And that might be a cause of loss of quality. Great for movement but the frames and pixels suffer.
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Yeah, these are .TiVo files, and I can't find any information on it. You were right about the frame rate...too high. I adjusted to 30 and that helped. I then tried about 4 or 5 different bitrate settings and am still looking for the perfect match between video quality and file size. I currently have one (480xheight, 1250 bitrate, 1500 max rate) that is a nice file size but a little fuzzy for my tastes. Then I have another one (1280xheight, 2000 bitrate, 2500 max rate) that looks great. What I'll try to do tonight is work on trimming the bitrate down a bit on the higher quality one until I notice a quality change, and then see if it changes the file size enough to justify the loss of quality.
Think if it similar to the following
The VBrate is like a bottle holds all the data for video and comes once a second.
FPS determines how many pictures are in that bottle with each picture being limited to the data size that allows all pictures to fit in that bottle.
Resolution (1080, 720) determines how many pixels must be REPRESENTED (but not always actually present) in each picture.
SO...
a VBRate with 4000K and 60 fps means 66.6K worth of pixel data per frame,
VBRate of 4000k and 30 fps means 133.3K worth of data per frame
Divide that number yet again by the number of pixels (resolution) and you get the data allotment for each pixel. As that number gets smaller the pixels actually get larger and blockier by trying to make one pixel tell the story of 4 or 8 pixels to fit into the limits of the picture so the pictures (FPS) can fit into the limits of the bottle (VBRate) and the dynamic range of each pixel gets compromised as it must use a shorter pallette for Light Dark, and RGB (Red Green Blue).
By the same token this is also why Upconverting often leads to blockiness not because of the limits of the Output but the limitations of the input. And no BETTER quality is actually possible.All the encoder does is double the pixels or framerate using the VBrate for each but you are not actually getting any better quality just magnifying the pixels. And that is just like looking at a screen with a magnifying glass. You see how blocky the pixels really are in the original and those blocks just get BIGGER on the upconvert.
I suggest you see what the top Bitrate and resolution of the source files are and then set your profile accordingly to at least get parity for the best quality possible.
Resolution and FPS should exactly match and then the VBrate as long as it is the same or slightly above will ensure your getting everything there is to get out of the source...
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Thanks for all the help. I came to this post knowing nothing about any of this and all the information I have is from you guys and reverse engineering some existing profiles. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you guys.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I see there may be an option to access my Plex Media Server from other networks over the internet. Looks like BubbleUPnP also supports setting up media servers over the internet, so I will work on that next.

whitenack said:
Oh, I forgot to mention that I see there may be an option to access my Plex Media Server from other networks over the internet. Looks like BubbleUPnP also supports setting up media servers over the internet, so I will work on that next.
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Yeah I would shoot for 720P (1280 X 720) as that is likely the best quality your likely getting from the sources you have recorded.
I don't see where encoding set at one bitrate would actually wind up with a lower bitrate output, unless of course you have it set to Auto Match Bitrate. Which really shouldn't be done because the new codec you are encoding to might require a higher bitrate to get the same quality (Remember different codecs compress differently and as a result require more or less bandwidth than other codecs to get the same quality)
So you have to choose the target bitrate that works best for the codec you are encoding in. In the case of H.264 and 720P 4Mb is a good balance of size and quality. That will translate to roughly 1Gb of file per hour of programming give or take how active the footage in the material is.
As for remote Streaming...Yes both Plex and Bubble support this. You do have to have a machine up and running at all times and you must set up your router to port forward the ports used by these servers to be sent to the server. Make sure also that the Server has a static IP or that you have set a DHCP reservation in yor router for the server machine so it has the same IP address every time.
Remote streaming will almost always require you to ask for a reduced bandwidth version of the stream since your ISP is unlikely to give you enough upload speed to get full quality but it has helped me pass the time on those long days where I have nothing to do and just waiting around to pass the time.

Asphyx said:
I don't see where encoding set at one bitrate would actually wind up with a lower bitrate output, unless of course you have it set to Auto Match Bitrate. Which really shouldn't be done because the new codec you are encoding to might require a higher bitrate to get the same quality (Remember different codecs compress differently and as a result require more or less bandwidth than other codecs to get the same quality)
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Hmmm, we are quickly getting over my head. I don't have any experience in encoding, I am hijacking example encoding profiles and tweaking them a bit. Can you take a look at my profile and see if I am making any mistakes?
Code:
FFMPEG -y -i INPUT -threads CPU_CORES -vcodec libx264 -level 31 -subq 6 -me_range 16 -qmin 10 -qmax 50 -g 300 -s 1280xHEIGHT -r 29.97 -b 2000k -maxrate 2500k -acodec aac -strict -2 -ac 2 -ab 160k -ar 48000 -f mp4 OUTPUT
I think I pulled this code off an example iPhone profile. I have tweaked the resolution, bitrate and max rate a bit to experiment, but am not really sure what anything else does other than the fps and stereo aac (which is all I need).
Remote streaming will almost always require you to ask for a reduced bandwidth version of the stream since your ISP is unlikely to give you enough upload speed to get full quality but it has helped me pass the time on those long days where I have nothing to do and just waiting around to pass the time.
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Ok, forget that then. I hadn't thought about my ISP upload speed. I have TWC and my download speeds are enough for my needs but my upload speeds are pretty weak.