Is it possible to cast a website, as opposed to a video playing on a website?
For example, can I cast the plex web interface and browse it on my tv?
Thanks,
Andrew
You can cast the site via something like Vbukit, but interaction with it will be limited at best since there's no direct keyboard/mouse/etc
Related
I don't have a chromecast but I just updated to TMO 4.4.2 for Moto X and I noticed that under display in settings, there is a cast screen option. I don't think its miracast as that is the option above Cast Screen. Does anyone know if this works with a chromecast? Screenshot:http://i57.tinypic.com/3027uqr.png
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Yes, it is for Chromecast. You have to set up Chromecast by installing the Chromecast extension in the Chrome browser on a PC. Follow the instructions to connect the Chromecast to your wifi network. Then with certain apps on your mobile device, you can 'cast' or stream content to the tv. It is still limited by available apps and does not yet mirror the screen for mobile devices, but you can get most local pics, videos, and music to the tv. And you can cast from cloud storage or from Chrome browser media content.
Groid said:
Yes, it is for Chromecast. You have to set up Chromecast by installing the Chromecast extension in the Chrome browser on a PC. Follow the instructions to connect the Chromecast to your wifi network. Then with certain apps on your mobile device, you can 'cast' or stream content to the tv. It is still limited by available apps and does not yet mirror the screen for mobile devices, but you can get most local pics, videos, and music to the tv. And you can cast from cloud storage or from Chrome browser media content.
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Sorry, I might have worded it the wrong way. I know about casting app content such as Youtube and Play music. That being said, a separate option has appeared on my phone in Settings > Display. If you look at the photo that I attached earlier, there is a list item called "Cast screen". This item is separate from "Wireless Display", leading me to believe it is for the chromecast. I realize that currently there is no known NATIVE way to mirror the phones screen onto a chromecast (Other than Allcast/shou?/etc.). That is why I decided to post here to ask if anyone with a chromecast has tried the option or if it is even available on other devices. Thanks nevertheless.
I have a CC, but when I select "cast screen" it simply tells me no devices found. Guessing this is a work in progress that may work in the future.
Today I was trying to watch a live YouTube stream from my phone. I got the message that live streams were not permitted on my Chromecast.
I then tried casting the same stream from my desktop. It worked. To verify that I wasn't just casting a chrome tab, I closed all of the chrome windows. The stream kept working.
I also tried casting the stream from chrome beta for android. I didn't get an error, but the casting didn't work. I just got a black screen on the phone and a YouTube screen on the TV.
Is there a way around this restriction? Can I cast a live feed from my android phone to my Chromecast?
Thanks,
Ken F
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kafarnsworth said:
Today I was trying to watch a live YouTube stream from my phone. I got the message that live streams were not permitted on my Chromecast.
I then tried casting the same stream from my desktop. It worked. To verify that I wasn't just casting a chrome tab, I closed all of the chrome windows. The stream kept working.
I also tried casting the stream from chrome beta for android. I didn't get an error, but the casting didn't work. I just got a black screen on the phone and a YouTube screen on the TV.
Is there a way around this restriction? Can I cast a live feed from my android phone to my Chromecast?
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Being that live streams aren't supposed to work, either you got lucky, or they're working on it.
Not much you can do but wait to see if YouTube updates its info and/or capabilities.
Live streams work for me from my laptop but not from my phone as well. I don't think it's a mistake, I just don't think the mobile app has added that feature yet.
As I understand it the chromecast doesnt render the video but connects to youtube and plays a specially renderd version for the chrome cast, I guess this is not available live. When you cast from a pc the pc renders the video for you.
YouTube added this support on the Website just recently.....
Coming to an Android App near you at some point!
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...romecast-but-only-from-the-desktop-right-now/
Private Videos too!
http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...lay-private-youtube-videos-on-the-chromecast/
Looks like the next Android and iOS will remove the live limitation to casting. They may be beta testing it by only offering it on the website for the moment.
I think u should remove it, maybe it is beta?
Just a quick heads-up that the new video casting capability recently added to Android Chrome (v.35.0.xxxx.xxx and above) seems to works well with the standard browser Plex Web interface.
Load up either your local Plex Web (xxx.xxx.x.x:32400/web/index.html#) or if you have published your server the remote Plex Web (plex.tv/web/app) in Android Chrome, select your video, start playback, hit full screen and the cast icon will appear - connect to your chromecast and hey presto....
Doesn't work for me, but connecting Plex Web to the Chromecast is hit and miss for me (and many other people according to the Plex forums). Sometimes the Chromecast appears, sometimes it doesn't.
In any case, you can get the official Plex Android app for free or 99 cents, and free BubbleUPNP can cast from Plex via DLNA, so there are plenty of alternatives.
DJames1 said:
Doesn't work for me, but connecting Plex Web to the Chromecast is hit and miss for me (and many other people according to the Plex forums). Sometimes the Chromecast appears, sometimes it doesn't.
In any case, you can get the official Plex Android app for free or 99 cents, and free BubbleUPNP can cast from Plex via DLNA, so there are plenty of alternatives.
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I know -
Android Chrome can't cast music anyway from Plex Web (Mobile Chrome is limited to HTML5 video only) so is not a full alternative to the Plex App or Bubble. Potentially a useful addition though especially as the Plex App still seems prone to occasional irritating random disconnects from Chromecast - for me the Google Chromecast compatible apps (including Android Chrome now) are way more stable in that regard.
I've stopped using Bubble as a Plex client as-well - nothing wrong with Bubble, but for me disabling Plex's DLNA server is one of several tweaks that has improved casting stability (in terms of freezes and stutters) from Plex to Chromecast.
neu - smurph said:
I know -
Android Chrome can't cast music anyway from Plex Web (Mobile Chrome is limited to HTML5 video only) so is not a full alternative to the Plex App or Bubble. Potentially a useful addition though especially as the Plex App still seems prone to occasional irritating random disconnects from Chromecast - for me the Google Chromecast compatible apps (including Android Chrome now) are way more stable in that regard.
I've stopped using Bubble as a Plex client as-well - nothing wrong with Bubble, but for me disabling Plex's DLNA server is one of several tweaks that has improved casting stability (in terms of freezes and stutters) from Plex to Chromecast.
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Most of the issues with Plex on Android are due to the fact Plex Devs are still using that V1 API which is really the PRE-RELEASE beta SDK. They claim the V2 API SDK doesn't have the code Plex needs to work but it doesn't seem to stop developers like Bubble from getting the job done.
Not a Knock but it would appear they are really an iOS centric project (the original fork of XBMC that has become PHT was mainly aimed at Apple Folks) and it seems as if they are a little short on Android Devs.
As a result they seem to be trying to solve all their issues via transcoding to overcome limitations of the default player they are using.
The issue is they don't have any real competition in the space they are in right now...
Bubble is better at the streaming but it doesn't actually do the server part by itself without a DLNA or UPnP server to aggregate. (perhaps this has changed recently I have not checked.)
So unless someone like Twonky or some other product comes out that supports CCast and does what Plex does they really don't have anything pushing them to take that next step.
I have even started using Yatse to connect to my XBMC box to get some of the features I want during playback.
hey guys,
basically ive noticed that when im stream a video from my nexus 5 to my chromecast the video streams straight to the chromecast rather than stream to the nexus and then to the chromecast. In the same way that when you use the youtube app it casts directly. My question is, is there any way to have this arrangement from my mac/PC.
the website in question is a popular movie stream site.
cheers in advance
Long story short, when apps are developed for the Chromecast, a virtual webpage with the video stream is opened in the Chromecast and then the video is streamed directly into it. Simple, right?
However, when a video appears on your screen in a site not optimized for the Chromecast, the Google Chrome extension must copy the contents of your tab (that are receiving a streamed video already) into a new stream that is sent to your Chromecast with your pc as a server. This is why it's slow as dirt.
There really is no easy solution, besides
1) writing it yourself (possible but improbable and unfeasible)
2) begging the website developers to do it (and if the site is illegal, Google Corporation can censor the app or site anyway),
3) downloading the movie beforehand and use something like Plex, or
4) purchasing a video streaming service made by a corporation that has made agreements with Google Corporation and is Chromecast compatible, like Netflix or... Netflix.
I opt for ripping my DVDs, converting them to movie files with Handbrake, putting them on my laptop Plex server, and casting them from there. But that's just me.
primetechv2 said:
Long story short, when apps are developed for the Chromecast, a virtual webpage with the video stream is opened in the Chromecast and then the video is streamed directly into it. Simple, right?
However, when a video appears on your screen in a site not optimized for the Chromecast, the Google Chrome extension must copy the contents of your tab (that are receiving a streamed video already) into a new stream that is sent to your Chromecast with your pc as a server. This is why it's slow as dirt.
There really is no easy solution, besides
1) writing it yourself (possible but improbable and unfeasible)
2) begging the website developers to do it (and if the site is illegal, Google Corporation can censor the app or site anyway),
3) downloading the movie beforehand and use something like Plex, or
4) purchasing a video streaming service made by a corporation that has made agreements with Google Corporation and is Chromecast compatible, like Netflix or... Netflix.
I opt for ripping my DVDs, converting them to movie files with Handbrake, putting them on my laptop Plex server, and casting them from there. But that's just me.
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Hey primetechv2,
Please excuse my ignorance but I don't understand how can an android app like 'web video caster' can take a normal html page (not optimized for mobiles), find an embedded video and send it to Chromecast to play it directly on Chromecast. Using the same logic, a' browser app' could be designed for PCs which finds the embedded video link in a html page. The video link is then sent to the chromecast (via chrome browser if thats the only way) and a virtual page is opened in the chromecast (as you mentioned in case of mobile apps) and video is played on your chromecast. Please note that we don't want our computer to be used as a server to stream the video to Chromecast. Instead just a link to the video is extracted and is sent to the chromecast.
Am I missing something obvious here?
I don't have a perfect answer because I've never developed media apps for the Chromecast in Android, but it has something to do with the difference between writing an app that runs in Android versus one that runs on Chrome.
On Android, apps have direct access to files on your phone. They can read the files and transfer the data across a network to any device, such as a Chromecast, via a simple API.
On Chrome, for obvious security reasons no random webpage can just hijack your local filesystem. There's a chance that if media was loaded, it could be streamed via a socket or some advanced Javascript magic, but I've never seen any app that does this.
Often, apps will leverage the ability of a PC to behave as a web server, where files CAN be accessed on request and then sent to webpages. Unfortunately, Google Cast restricts Receiver pages being displayed on their hardware unless they're on a rather limited whitelist, so only domains that hvev registered with Google (e.g. http://plex.tv) can have a receiver page displayed on your Cast.
That's sorta the explanation for why apps like BubbleUPNP "hijack" Windows as a media server and as a transcoder.. As long as Android can pull transcoded media back, or perhaps allow access to the transcoded media via the Internet on a registered webpage, I've never set one up, so that's all conjecture. But I'm pretty darn sure a PC has a lot more processing power than an Android device. And when you want to send unsupported-on-the-Chromecast media from a phone to the Cast, you have to manage both the transcoding AND the streaming.
enmbs said:
Hey primetechv2,
Please excuse my ignorance but I don't understand how can an android app like 'web video caster' can take a normal html page (not optimized for mobiles), find an embedded video and send it to Chromecast to play it directly on Chromecast. Using the same logic, a' browser app' could be designed for PCs which finds the embedded video link in a html page. The video link is then sent to the chromecast (via chrome browser if thats the only way) and a virtual page is opened in the chromecast (as you mentioned in case of mobile apps) and video is played on your chromecast. Please note that we don't want our computer to be used as a server to stream the video to Chromecast. Instead just a link to the video is extracted and is sent to the chromecast.
Am I missing something obvious here?
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It can do it only because the App or Site is written to support the CCast specifically where many other sites are not.
So lets cite examples of what I mean....
Web Video Caster is a CCast app that has a Player/receiver the CCast loads that can accept links from the app to display on the unit.
In the case of Websites the Embedded Player they use to play the Video has this support built in.
ESPN uses JWPlayer Pro for their site videos which has CCast support built in. JW Player has it's own Player/Receiver that gets loaded into the CCast to facilitate this.
You Tube has it's own receiver actually ON the CCast that also is similar to the JW Payer.
I believe both require the Browser you are using to be CCast aware using either an extension like GoogleCast for Chrome to let the site know to display the CCast icon. (I may be mistaken but I believe Firefox now has this capability built into the browser)
So it really is a combination of the player the site uses and the Browser that determines if CCast Support is enabled.
But in the end ANYTHING that is sent to a CCast DIRECTLY has to have a corresponding Player/Receiver app written for the CCast to send the linkage to.
It will take some time but I suspect in the future, Most of not ALL embedded players used by Websites will add this functionality in time.
Which is really all about the drive to become HTML5 compatible as much as any desire to support the CCast.
Asphyx said:
It can do it only because the App or Site is written to support the CCast specifically where many other sites are not.
So lets cite examples of what I mean....
Web Video Caster is a CCast app that has a Player/receiver the CCast loads that can accept links from the app to display on the unit.
In the case of Websites the Embedded Player they use to play the Video has this support built in.
ESPN uses JWPlayer Pro for their site videos which has CCast support built in. JW Player has it's own Player/Receiver that gets loaded into the CCast to facilitate this.
You Tube has it's own receiver actually ON the CCast that also is similar to the JW Payer.
I believe both require the Browser you are using to be CCast aware using either an extension like GoogleCast for Chrome to let the site know to display the CCast icon. (I may be mistaken but I believe Firefox now has this capability built into the browser)
So it really is a combination of the player the site uses and the Browser that determines if CCast Support is enabled.
But in the end ANYTHING that is sent to a CCast DIRECTLY has to have a corresponding Player/Receiver app written for the CCast to send the linkage to.
It will take some time but I suspect in the future, Most of not ALL embedded players used by Websites will add this functionality in time.
Which is really all about the drive to become HTML5 compatible as much as any desire to support the CCast.
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Thanks Asphyx, It makes sense now :good:.
Hi , I would like to write my own app in the future, which will be able to cast local videos to TV. I didn't found any example or principle explanation how to do that. I know that when casting video from the web, I send the url to Chromecast and it plays it by itself. But the local video ? I have no idea how it works. Every Chromecast example that I have found with source code uses only web videos. Thanks for any suggestions.