Hi, I finally found a setup that can be used by my family without hassle and difficult procedures.
So, my final setup, that is working flawlessly is:
. 3 x Chromecasts connected to 3 Samsung TVs
. Main router TP-Link WR1043ND (DD-Wrt firmware) Cable Modem + 1 CC + Ether notebook
. Repeater router using wireless TP-Link MR-3420 (DD-WRT firmware) 2 CCs connect to this
. Core i3 notebook running Plex Server connected to the ethernet port of the main router and an external USB 2 3TB disk.
. My Plex "clients" are Android phones and tablets, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1
This setup can only play videos that have the correct tracks for CC (H.264+AAC).
What I mean is that the Core i3 380m, with 8GB RAM from my notebook lacks the power to encode on the fly, even if is only the audio track being converted, and so I prefer to do the re-encode myself before watching.
Some important points that I had to fix before having it working:
The quality of the Wi-fi signal matters a lot. The bitrate of most HD movies varies between 2000 and 20000 Kbps. Most routers don't go much further than 25 Mbits (even most of the 802.11n) in real life scenarios.
The CC can play mkv and mp4 (not only) but you must have H.264 video track with less than 5 ref frames and AAC 2 ch 48K, 128b.
Other "native" apps like Netflix, Play, Youtube are very good, no stuttering presenting a clear image without any artifacts and very good and easy to use. Youtube depends on the source video.
The available third party apps that support CC have bugs or are in beta stage, AllCast, Avia, LocalCast are some of the ones I have installed.
The exception is Plex, it is a complete package but for now it has some costs.
Plex Client is running in at least 10 android devices, and 5 notebooks throughout the apartment. Not streaming at the same time, obviously but all of them are mostly connected for sure.
So starting with a normal MKV (H.264 + AC3, DTS, DD+) the fastest and secure way to play this movie in CC is to repackage the MKV to MP4 by converting the audio to AAC (ffmpeg) in the process. Using ffmpeg, It will take less than 30 mins. and your movie is ready.
MCP
Is there a way I can view my movies that are stored on my external hard drive through chromecast?
I travel extensively and I do not carry a laptop (if I did, yes simple hdmi into the tv) but I don't have that luxury. I have a tf300 and nex 7-2013 and rooted n2
Thanks
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ganggreen777 said:
Is there a way I can view my movies that are stored on my external hard drive through chromecast?
I travel extensively and I do not carry a laptop (if I did, yes simple hdmi into the tv) but I don't have that luxury. I have a tf300 and nex 7-2013 and rooted n2
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Click to collapse
Your TF300 doesn't have HDMI output? My wife's original Transformer has Mini-HDMI. Add cheap adapter or Mini-to-regular HDMI cable and it has HDMI to TV.
Do either of your devices support attached USB storage? If so, one of the apps that supports casting of device-local media would work - Avia, AllCast, RealPlayer Cloud...
You may not be able to cast all your media, especially if it's not in a Chromecast-compatible format, so if you have HDMI output, it's much less headache and more versatile (play way more formats with MX Player, etc), save for being wired.
Use a micro usb otg cable to mount as storage to your android phone, may require a special kernel, and Allcast/Chromecast combo to stream to the tv should do the trick. Course I haven't tried mounting a huge hard drive to my nexus. But a small 32gb flash stick works.
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bhiga said:
Your TF300 doesn't have HDMI output? My wife's original Transformer has Mini-HDMI. Add cheap adapter or Mini-to-regular HDMI cable and it has HDMI to TV.
Do either of your devices support attached USB storage? If so, one of the apps that supports casting of device-local media would work - Avia, AllCast, RealPlayer Cloud...
You may not be able to cast all your media, especially if it's not in a Chromecast-compatible format, so if you have HDMI output, it's much less headache and more versatile (play way more formats with MX Player, etc), save for being wired.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
O I definitely plugs my terabyte to the keyboard and plugs hdmi....it works flawlessly. Just trying to figure wirelessly
(I do use ravpower rp_wd01 and airstor .....and plug hdmi from tf300 into tv. Want to use cc while tapping into my terabyte
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ganggreen777 said:
O I definitely plugs my terabyte to the keyboard and plugs hdmi....it works flawlessly. Just trying to figure wirelessly
(I do use ravpower rp_wd01 and airstor .....and plug hdmi from tf300 into tv. Want to use cc while tapping into my terabyte
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AllCast, Avia or RealPlayer Cloud should work, but verify it can access your external storage before buying.
-= this post enhanced with bonus mobile typos =-
I love allcast .....all of these apps read what's in your phone...I'm trying to get my phone or tablets to read my external hd then cast to cc...that's pretty much the crux of what I'm looking to do
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External storage is usually handled similar to SD card, as in it's mounted as a folder like /mnt/usb1 or / storage/usbdrive so it's whether the app scans that location. Actually, Avia and probably others let you share to our, so you could use a file manager to browse then share to the casting app.
-= this post enhanced with bonus mobile typos =-
ganggreen777 said:
O I definitely plugs my terabyte to the keyboard and plugs hdmi....it works flawlessly. Just trying to figure wirelessly
(I do use ravpower rp_wd01 and airstor .....and plug hdmi from tf300 into tv. Want to use cc while tapping into my terabyte
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Ravpower should be getting a firmware update in April (and there's a new version of the hardware coming too apparently) which will give it DLNA support as well as SMB. That may make things a little simpler for hooking things up.
I must admit I'm in a similar position - I too use a portable HD and a WD01 when travelling, although at the moment it's via my work laptop and Displayport-->HDMI adaptor and cable (I don't plug the HD directly into the laptop as the AV then insists on scanning it, not quick for a 2TB drive). But I'm hoping soon to be able to do something direct using an HDMI dongle of some flavour, DLNA on the WD01 and control via either my Nexus7 or my HTC8X. Other alternative is Avia or similar to read SMB from the WD01 to my Nexus 7 and then cast it out to a CC. But I presume that will tie-up the tablet from being usable for much else whilst doing so? And of course there doesn't seem to be anything for CC on WinPhone8 yet.
A question from my side to people who know (now that Google have released the CC in the UK) - is there any way to do DLNA display with one? I recall reading somewhere that the plex app might work for that, but I'm not sure. Currently in two minds whether to go with a CC or a Chinese DLNA dongle (an EZCast or similar). Most of the time it's used in hotels abroad, so would be for playing local stuff as IP address (and network speed) would stomp iPlayer et al. Any recommendations between the two options from people who have experience or have done similar would be gratefully received.
DarrenHill said:
The Ravpower should be getting a firmware update in April (and there's a new version of the hardware coming too apparently) which will give it DLNA support as well as SMB. That may make things a little simpler for hooking things up.
I must admit I'm in a similar position - I too use a portable HD and a WD01 when travelling, although at the moment it's via my work laptop and Displayport-->HDMI adaptor and cable (I don't plug the HD directly into the laptop as the AV then insists on scanning it, not quick for a 2TB drive). But I'm hoping soon to be able to do something direct using an HDMI dongle of some flavour, DLNA on the WD01 and control via either my Nexus7 or my HTC8X. Other alternative is Avia or similar to read SMB from the WD01 to my Nexus 7 and then cast it out to a CC. But I presume that will tie-up the tablet from being usable for much else whilst doing so? And of course there doesn't seem to be anything for CC on WinPhone8 yet.
A question from my side to people who know (now that Google have released the CC in the UK) - is there any way to do DLNA display with one? I recall reading somewhere that the plex app might work for that, but I'm not sure. Currently in two minds whether to go with a CC or a Chinese DLNA dongle (an EZCast or similar). Most of the time it's used in hotels abroad, so would be for playing local stuff as IP address (and network speed) would stomp iPlayer et al. Any recommendations between the two options from people who have experience or have done similar would be gratefully received.
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Click to collapse
Casting from another server using Avia will "tie up" the device and use 3X the media bandwidth on the network (NAS->Device + Device->AP + AP->Chromecast) if the source is NAS, 2X for local media on the device (Device->AP + AP->Chromecast).
To be honest, if you're a regular traveler that needs/wants to play media, a standalone media player like WDTV, Roku, Popcorn Hour,etc would be a better/more convenient solution.
Media Player - 2 or 3 pieces
Media Player
Storage device
Wireless bridge, dongle or router if necessary
Chromecast - 4 pieces
Chromecast
Storage device
Wireless router (using premise wireless usually will not work and even if it does bandwidth will be an issue)
Phone/Tablet/Laptop to "drive" Chromecast
True - I think I'm going to go the DLNA dongle route. Had a quick look at a Chromecast this lunchtime at PC World (and a chat with a Google demonstrator). Looks a nice bit of kit to turn a suitable dumb TV into a smart one, but not quite what I want in this case. The media is already on a portable HD, and the Ravpower WD-01 is a portable hotspot anyway, so basically between the two (which I carry anyway) it's a portable NAS (soon with DLNA hopefully).
So once that is in place, the dongle and WD-01 should then form a DLNA pair (as player/renderer and server respectively) with either my N7 or 8X as the controller.
The Chromecast does look nice though generally, albeit rather odd that it doesn't have DLNA/Airplay support generally (although I guess by adding the Plex app you could get something like that?). But I guess that's not quite what they had in mind for it.
DarrenHill said:
The Chromecast does look nice though generally, albeit rather odd that it doesn't have DLNA/Airplay support generally (although I guess by adding the Plex app you could get something like that?). But I guess that's not quite what they had in mind for it.
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Click to collapse
Yes, Chromecast is a bit different in its intent - it's more of a "media player extension" to your existing smart device.
Plex on Chromecast still requires Plex Media Server running on something. If PMS is running on the NAS device it doesn't add to the equipment count, but PMS on NAS can't always transcode, so that limits the benefit to a degree.
The only tricky part with DLNA is the variance in support between servers and clients. DLNA defines the protocols for exposing and transferring the media, but it's still up to the server what it wants to show, and the renderer wants to render.
External subtitles (separate files like .srt and .ssa) are especially tricky as not all servers will send the subtitle data along with the requested video.
And of course not all DLNA servers will transcode, so the format of your media still matters a lot.
bhiga said:
Yes, Chromecast is a bit different in its intent - it's more of a "media player extension" to your existing smart device.
Plex on Chromecast still requires Plex Media Server running on something. If PMS is running on the NAS device it doesn't add to the equipment count, but PMS on NAS can't always transcode, so that limits the benefit to a degree.
The only tricky part with DLNA is the variance in support between servers and clients. DLNA defines the protocols for exposing and transferring the media, but it's still up to the server what it wants to show, and the renderer wants to render.
External subtitles (separate files like .srt and .ssa) are especially tricky as not all servers will send the subtitle data along with the requested video.
And of course not all DLNA servers will transcode, so the format of your media still matters a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The video media is MP4 and the audio MP3 or M4A, so hopefully nothing there that's too weird or abstract. Hopefully no transcoding needed, just playback. Subtitles I can live without, but it's a valid point generally.
Plex server won't be an option on the WD-01 (without some serious hacking), so I'm more sure now that DLNA is the way to go. And if it doesn't work, it's only a £20 loss on the whole deal, which I can live with. Anyway the dongle is on order now, so we'll see in a week or two once it arrives and I get to play with it. Now also looking through the various apps for both devices to control it, but there's choices on both so all should be fine I hope.
DarrenHill said:
The video media is MP4 and the audio MP3 or M4A, so hopefully nothing there that's too weird or abstract. Hopefully no transcoding needed, just playback. Subtitles I can live without, but it's a valid point generally.
Plex server won't be an option on the WD-01 (without some serious hacking), so I'm more sure now that DLNA is the way to go. And if it doesn't work, it's only a £20 loss on the whole deal, which I can live with. Anyway the dongle is on order now, so we'll see in a week or two once it arrives and I get to play with it. Now also looking through the various apps for both devices to control it, but there's choices on both so all should be fine I hope.
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Click to collapse
Your media should be compatible with all but the very old/klunky DLNA players, so sounds like a good choice for you!
bhiga said:
Your media should be compatible with all but the very old/klunky DLNA players, so sounds like a good choice for you!
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Happily I can report that it works well (got an iPush dongle in the end, for the DLNA renderer). That said the dongle does have rather a worrying security hole in it (its wifi hotspot password is generically fixed, not changable and publically available) which I'm now trying to persuade the maker to fix via new firmware.
All I need now is for a DLNA firmware update for my RavPower filehub (currently being produced, according to them, due in a few weeks time) and also maybe a DLNA-capable player for my HTC 8X (currently nothing suitable in the WP8 store, only apps that can act as renderers or controllers!). But even at the moment my Nexus 7 can happily read the filehub via SMB and DLNA-cast to the dongle
How are folks casting from media servers to the receiver using the chromecast?
Is it possible to use a USB cable from the microserver to the chromecast or does the device default to the wireless network?
Wireless connection, the usb is purely for power.
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As above, the USB socket is only for power.
I have a Microserver (N40L), with Serviio installed, along with BubbleUPNP server.
I am using BubbleUPNP (paid for version) on my Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and my old Andypad.
The settings I use in the BubbleUPNP app (under ChromeCast) are:
Video Encoding Speed - Ultra Fast
Max Video Bitrate - 4000
Enforce Max Video Bitrate - Checked
Preserve Multichannel Audio - Unchecked (The TV I have my chromecast in doesn't have surround, so a waste of bandwidth for me)
This produces streaming DVD ripped MKVs without any loss of perceivable quality as far as I'm concerned. I've yet to try BluRay rips, but I only bothered ripping a few, and those stuttered over the wired LAN, so guessing Wireless won't be anywhere near as good as that!
I have the Turbo 64gb and I'm using Microsoft's Wireless Display Adaptor. I'm able to stream movies from other movie sites perfectly,but I get only audio and NO video with Netflix. Thanks!
That's not bad... I've been using my droid turbo with Chromecast seamlessly.
Movietube.co is my go to for GoT
Chromecast
I was unable to Use Chromecast with my Droid Turbo so, I bought Microsoft's Wireless Display Adaptor. I just got off the phone with Microsoft. There seems to be a problem with Netflix and the larger displays.
Hi, Netflix newer versions are with hdcp protection, download may/16 version from apkmirror.
Hi!
My wife is an Apple person and I'm trying to help her so she can watch her videos that are stored on a USB stick connected to the router on the TV.
The setup:
Asus AC86U with an 128GB USB stick (ext2)
old Panasonic plasma TV with Chromecast
I want an app on her iPhone/iPad that can access the videos on USB stick connected to the router and then cast it to the Chromecast connected to the TV with subtitle support. I have tried with VLC on her iPhone, but there's a known bug when the iPhone screen turns off, the streaming stops.
I'm currently trying the same thing for me but on an Galaxy S7, if anyone has some experience there, It seems like VLC can't use subtitles when trying to do this and I've tried LocalCast, but it's quite buggy.