Related
First of all I know this section is for the Cromecast and all my MP4 video play using it with Avia.
If you happen to have a DLNA TV when you cast from Avia you’ll see your TV as an option. Back some time ago I decided to try it and all my videos would try to play but an “unsupported video format” message would appear.
I dropped a message to Avia Tech support but never heard from them till about a week or so ago. After a bunch of emails back/forth, they found a Samsung Smart TV in their office. They tried it and found most but not all videos played and received the same error as I did.
I then asked them to try BubbleUPnP with Avia since all my videos play this way. They tried it and although a few more played some still didn’t meaning that BubbleUPNp does some transcoding and Avia just passes the file as is. So even Avia Tech Support has MP4's that a certain device doesn't like!
Okay the problem seems to be the Samsung Smart TV but it brings up the point that not all MP4’s are created equal even though I used HandBrake which is what Avia Tech Support suggests to use.
BTW- My TV has the latest firmware. The Samsung DLNA app used by the TV is called AllShare. It later was changed to AllShare Play and recently Samsung Link. Now Samsung Link/AllShare Play is available in the Play Store but shows to not compatible with my Nexus 10. I don’t know what’s included in the newer Samsung Smart TV’s or if it’s still called AllShare or not.
wptski said:
Okay the problem seems to be the Samsung Smart TV but it brings up the point that not all MP4’s are created equal even though I used HandBrake which is what Avia Tech Support suggests to use.
BTW- My TV has the latest firmware. The Samsung DLNA app used by the TV is called AllShare. It later was changed to AllShare Play and recently Samsung Link. Now Samsung Link/AllShare Play is available in the Play Store but shows to not compatible with my Nexus 10. I don’t know what’s included in the newer Samsung Smart TV’s or if it’s still called AllShare or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yes, very true!
The same holds for MPEG-2. DVD uses MPEG-2, but it uses a specific range of parameters - left alone to mess with all the available settings it's easy to create non-DVD-compliant MPEG-2, just as it's easy to create non-Chromecast-compliant MPEG-4, non-iPod-compliant MPEG-4 audio, etc.
It's a lot like clothes - simply knowing it's "Men's dress shirt" is not enough to know it will fit.
Even knowing it's "Large men's dress shirt" won't guarantee a fit.
Short of trying it on, you need to get the measurements.
I think on my phone the AllShare stuff is now called Samsung Hub, except for the actual playback function, which is still called AllShare Play, as opposed to AllShare Cast. *shrug*
wptski said:
First of all I know this section is for the Cromecast and all my MP4 video play using it with Avia.
If you happen to have a DLNA TV when you cast from Avia you’ll see your TV as an option. Back some time ago I decided to try it and all my videos would try to play but an “unsupported video format” message would appear.
I dropped a message to Avia Tech support but never heard from them till about a week or so ago. After a bunch of emails back/forth, they found a Samsung Smart TV in their office. They tried it and found most but not all videos played and received the same error as I did.
I then asked them to try BubbleUPnP with Avia since all my videos play this way. They tried it and although a few more played some still didn’t meaning that BubbleUPNp does some transcoding and Avia just passes the file as is. So even Avia Tech Support has MP4's that a certain device doesn't like!
Okay the problem seems to be the Samsung Smart TV but it brings up the point that not all MP4’s are created equal even though I used HandBrake which is what Avia Tech Support suggests to use.
BTW- My TV has the latest firmware. The Samsung DLNA app used by the TV is called AllShare. It later was changed to AllShare Play and recently Samsung Link. Now Samsung Link/AllShare Play is available in the Play Store but shows to not compatible with my Nexus 10. I don’t know what’s included in the newer Samsung Smart TV’s or if it’s still called AllShare or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue here. Even though I transcode:
mp4 container
h264 codec
high profile (4.1)
I still can't direct play. I have no idea what i'm missing but according to "the google" these are the parameters that a file needs for CC compatibility.
sherdog16 said:
Same issue here. Even though I transcode:
mp4 container
h264 codec
high profile (4.1)
I still can't direct play. I have no idea what i'm missing but according to "the google" these are the parameters that a file needs for CC compatibility.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what behavior do you see when you cast the a video from Avia?
sherdog16 said:
Same issue here. Even though I transcode:
mp4 container
h264 codec
high profile (4.1)
I still can't direct play. I have no idea what i'm missing but according to "the google" these are the parameters that a file needs for CC compatibility.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You forgot to note the Audio codec...
AAC(Both HE and and LC), CELT/OPUS, Vorbis or MP3 are the only Audio codecs supported by CCast.
If it is stereo MP3 is fine, If it is surround then AAC is required.
I think you may have gotten the video side right but did not get the Audio correct and thats why it won't play on the CCast.
Samsung if I'm not mistaken uses Mediaplay for Video It should play AAC just fine.
Why did Google choose Avia anyway? Theres loads of better media players for android.
The S3 Kid said:
Why did Google choose Avia anyway? Theres loads of better media players for android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what the selection process was for who got to play with the yet-unreleased SDK, but the developer also had to have shown interest in supporting Chromecast, so likely it was both sides.
Probably Google saw enough interest to deem their participation and feedback beneficial to the SDK development process.
The S3 Kid said:
Why did Google choose Avia anyway? Theres loads of better media players for android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was probably more aVia chose them and not the other way around...
I know they worked with Plex developers directly.
aVia may have been the only local file player other than Real Player to show any interest.
Most of the best players are one Developer driven products and didn't show interest when Google asked for people interested.
One of the things mentioned by Avia Tech Support was that Avia came installed on some Google TVs. They had asked what app was on my Samsung Smart TV.
bhiga said:
Exactly what behavior do you see when you cast the a video from Avia?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most stuff just said unsupported format. However, I took a fresh rip and encoded a test and it worked so I think I may have gotten it. And to the other poster, I'm pretty sure it was aac audio I was selecting
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
So i just wanted to update:
I'm finding that some videos that say "Unsupported Format blah blah blah" that I try to play from my phone will play fine when transferred to the laptop and shared through windows media center. The kicker is that some videos aren't showing up in Avia when dropped in the same spot as everything else. Note: The machine is a netbook with Windows 7 and only a 1.33Ghz dual core so it's not transcoding anything.
Even more strange; when i try to play the same movie through my plex server on said netbook with the paid plexpass android app, it then attempts to transcode and fails horribly with buffering every 2 seconds. I'm finding that playing local content with Chromecast has a TON of "ifs and buts". Basically, it's all very simple if you have a powerful desktop, but not so easy for those of us on a budget... which i think is most of the people who bought the CC, due to the price point.
So if I can just get Windows Media Center to show all my converted movies, which I can't, I'll be fine. IDK, I just felt like venting my frustrations with this whole venture. Back at it tonight i suppose.
sherdog16 said:
So i just wanted to update:
I'm finding that some videos that say "Unsupported Format blah blah blah" that I try to play from my phone will play fine when transferred to the laptop and shared through windows media center. The kicker is that some videos aren't showing up in Avia when dropped in the same spot as everything else. Note: The machine is a netbook with Windows 7 and only a 1.33Ghz dual core so it's not transcoding anything.
Even more strange; when i try to play the same movie through my plex server on said netbook with the paid plexpass android app, it then attempts to transcode and fails horribly with buffering every 2 seconds. I'm finding that playing local content with Chromecast has a TON of "ifs and buts". Basically, it's all very simple if you have a powerful desktop, but not so easy for those of us on a budget... which i think is most of the people who bought the CC, due to the price point.
So if I can just get Windows Media Center to show all my converted movies, which I can't, I'll be fine. IDK, I just felt like venting my frustrations with this whole venture. Back at it tonight i suppose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if WMC tries to conform things for XBOX/UPnP compliance or not... We'll assume it doesn't though.
Sounds like Plex is just being hampered by poor transcoding performance. Netbooks tend not to fare well with high-performance tasks, especially CODEC-related operations. A desktop with more RAM and a more video-friendly optimized CPU would definitely fare better.
You might be having network performance issues on top of that.
Chromecast has a ton of "gotchas" with playing local content - because it's not really designed for that. Its primary purpose is an Internet streamer. Beyond that, it's a bit like using your phone in lieu of a laptop. You can do it, but you're subject to restrictions.
I'm still in search of an "all in one" solution as well, but seems there is none.
Plex is awesome for my non-DVD/BD content because it can transcode for whatever client... but I'd have to convert my DVDs/BDs
TV + phone/tablet
WMC+MyMovies works well for my DVD/BD content - and it works for my video content too... but then I'm tied to my TV - can't watch on my phone/tablet, and control via my phone/tablet is klunky at best for non-DVD/BD stuff (I use TMT for DVD/BD playback - its Android remote app works fine).
TV
Avia plays my local content... and casts it too, but not if it requires transcoding
Phone/tablet
RealPlayer cloud needs me to throw non-compliant media onto their cloud before I can cast it
Phone/tablet
If/when the MyMovies Android app is released (they're working on it) I'll finally be able to cast my DVD (and hopefully BD) content which may render my WMC machine obsolete... but still not an all-in-one solution.
Also Transcoding is still a WIP as far as Plex goes...They are slowly getting there but it would seem it still transcodes even in some cases where it probably shouldn't have to or doesn't transcode in cases it should (notably MP4/H264 Level 4.0 or lower/AAC)
Transcoding will not operate properly on a Netbook. What is happening (and this is a guess) is Plex is trying to transcode for aVia and the system can't handle it. The Error says incompatible but that is because the transcode isn't working.
aVia can probably handle the file fine without Transcoding but Plex doesn't care what aVia will handle it transcodes based on the Source and without a profile for aVia it is probably just using a Generic Transcode format that your Machine is choking on.
Asphyx said:
Also Transcoding is still a WIP as far as Plex goes...They are slowly getting there but it would seem it still transcodes even in some cases where it probably shouldn't have to or doesn't transcode in cases it should (notably MP4/H264 Level 4.0 or lower/AAC)
Transcoding will not operate properly on a Netbook. What is happening (and this is a guess) is Plex is trying to transcode for aVia and the system can't handle it. The Error says incompatible but that is because the transcode isn't working.
aVia can probably handle the file fine without Transcoding but Plex doesn't care what aVia will handle it transcodes based on the Source and without a profile for aVia it is probably just using a Generic Transcode format that your Machine is choking on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah this is what has me miffed. Plex is great. Looks great, reads everything in, so on and so forth. I never figured the netbook could handle any transcoding, i assumed direct play would be okay as I can encode the files on my work PC (which has plenty of balls) to be compliant. But it frustrates me now when I have a file that is obviously CC compatible (plays fine through DLNA via Avia) but it then attempts to transcode the file when it shouldn't have to. I wish there was a "force direct play" option with Plex (or maybe there is and i'm not aware). Orrrrr i wish all my files that I encode with the exact same settings in Handbrake would read in through WMC so I don't even need Plex, and I could just use Avia.
I feel like I'm RIGHT there with this but can't quiet figure it out. It has me obsessed with "beating the problem" so to speak.
I faced this wierd issue before...
For some mp4 files, when put locally on my android device, can stream fine to chromecast.
Same mp4 file copied to a network location and streamed via vget to avia did not play at all.
For other mp4 files (exact same coding done via handbrake)... they play well from both local storage or network storage accessed via vget.
I was never able to solve it.
Its very puzzling and a random hit/miss
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
sherdog16 said:
Orrrrr i wish all my files that I encode with the exact same settings in Handbrake would read in through WMC so I don't even need Plex, and I could just use Avia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WMC is supposed to be a DLNA-compliant source, but how it determines what it does and doesn't serve is a bit of a mystery... I suspect it's something to do with the Homegroup concept that I still avoid.
Just released, the Yatse Remote for XBMC now offers the ability to stream content from XBMC to CCast (In app Purchase for Unlocker required $4.99 plus the free plugin to cast)
I had never really tried this remote before but when I saw it supported streaming to CCast I went and bought it.
haven't had a lot of time with it but it does offer some major features that don't exist in the Official XBMC remote.
First and foremost you can stream to your local device from XBMC. Note XBMC has not transcode capability so compatibility as far as CCast is concerned will probably still be an issue. (Bubble and Plex are still your friends here!)
The app claims to be able to launch XBMC remotely which I suppose is possible but have not tested nor do I know if it works.
What I do know is it does quite well stream and send content to any DLNA/UPnP/DIAL (tested with CCast) targets on the network which is a very good feature for those who have an HTPC running XBMC and wish to add it's content to another Monitor without having to buy an entire HTPC for each TV.
So for all of those folks who were looking for ways to stream XBMC content to CCast your day has finally arrived.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.leetzone.android.yatsewidgetfree
Asphyx said:
Just released, the Yatse Remote for XBMC now offers the ability to stream content from XBMC to CCast (In app Purchase for Unlocker required $4.99 plus the free plugin to cast)
I had never really tried this remote before but when I saw it supported streaming to CCast I went and bought it.
haven't had a lot of time with it but it does offer some major features that don't exist in the Official XBMC remote.
First and foremost you can stream to your local device from XBMC. Note XBMC has not transcode capability so compatibility as far as CCast is concerned will probably still be an issue. (Bubble and Plex are still your friends here!)
The app claims to be able to launch XBMC remotely which I suppose is possible but have not tested nor do I know if it works.
What I do know is it does quite well stream and send content to any DLNA/UPnP/DIAL (tested with CCast) targets on the network which is a very good feature for those who have an HTPC running XBMC and wish to add it's content to another Monitor without having to buy an entire HTPC for each TV.
So for all of those folks who were looking for ways to stream XBMC content to CCast your day has finally arrived.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.leetzone.android.yatsewidgetfree
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm this is nice feature from Yaste! I have used it as remote to my XBMC but then I feel they are charging high just to cast.
If you want to CCast XBMC, it can be played by AVIA (most of CCast users have already bought it) by making deualt player for AVIA. There are number of details threads on how-to..
Hi,
Thanks for info.
Since I'm mostly interested in streaming plugins to CCast. Can yatse do that, or is it limited to library?
Thanks.
pino.
puppinoo said:
Hi,
Thanks for info.
Since I'm mostly interested in streaming plugins to CCast. Can yatse do that, or is it limited to library?
Thanks.
pino.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not tried any of the Apps as far as CCast is concerned but they do appear in this program.
Something I have never seen from the other remote apps.
sting098 said:
hmmm this is nice feature from Yaste! I have used it as remote to my XBMC but then I feel they are charging high just to cast.
If you want to CCast XBMC, it can be played by AVIA (most of CCast users have already bought it) by making deualt player for AVIA. There are number of details threads on how-to..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe me this is a much better experience than the XBMC External Player method.
Especially since it can use Content from XBMC that is not on the local unit but on other XBMC units on the network.
.
Asphyx said:
Believe me this is a much better experience than the XBMC External Player method.
Especially since it can use Content from XBMC that is not on the local unit but on other XBMC units on the network.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I almost spent 5 bucks on it, but at the last minute decided to wait and see how well it works with Chromecast. I am especially interested to see if you you can play BBC iPlayer streams and or some other catch-up TV add-ons. ESPN is another one I would be interested to know if it works. Hulu is also the big one, as they have lots more than what Hulu Plus offers. If that works, this app would be a killer.
yatse is worth more than that $4.99 trust me, its an awesome remote for xbmc with tons of features that puts the official xbmc to shame, the xbmc remote should take some notes on yatse and do some work on that app.. just sayin
Bought it, yet to stream a single file successfully. Even upgraded to Gotham, no luck. None of the add-ons work. Am I missing something? Really trying to make this work.
Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk
jasenko said:
Bought it, yet to stream a single file successfully. Even upgraded to Gotham, no luck. None of the add-ons work. Am I missing something? Really trying to make this work.
Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for me. Bought it hoping to make plugins work but many of them show empty folders or if I can stream them they give format error cause probably they are not compatible with supported codecs. I really hope there will be a BubblUpnp like approach where a server could transcode stuff to compatible formats, or maybe forward addons to chrome and make it transcode. So far no luck..
jasenko said:
Bought it, yet to stream a single file successfully. Even upgraded to Gotham, no luck. None of the add-ons work. Am I missing something? Really trying to make this work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jasenko said:
I almost spent 5 bucks on it, but at the last minute decided to wait and see how well it works with Chromecast. I am especially interested to see if you you can play BBC iPlayer streams and or some other catch-up TV add-ons. ESPN is another one I would be interested to know if it works. Hulu is also the big one, as they have lots more than what Hulu Plus offers. If that works, this app would be a killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have BBC Add On installed so I can't test this for you. But channel support in all of the options available have issues with CCast because of the various transport protocols being used for web that are incompatible with CCast due to the player extension requirements of those transport protocols when streamed in Chrome.
Where is this XBMC your trying to stream from located? This program is meant to control an XBMC on an HTPC not the XBMC on your local android device. As I said in the OP it will have the same restrictions most other NON-Transcode (like aVia) options have. So unless your media is CCast compatible it will have issues playing them.
puppinoo said:
Same for me. Bought it hoping to make plugins work but many of them show empty folders or if I can stream them they give format error cause probably they are not compatible with supported codecs. I really hope there will be a BubblUpnp like approach where a server could transcode stuff to compatible formats, or maybe forward addons to chrome and make it transcode. So far no luck..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See what I said about regarding Add Ons and Transport Protocols.
In order for XBMC to do what Bubble and Plex does the XBMC Devs need to get off their "We are a Frontend" soapbox and realize that to stay relevant they need to add some Transcode support to their DLNA services.
Right now the only way to get XBMC content to transcode is to aggregate it into BubbleUPnP.
The focus of this program is not to create a CCast app the main purpose has always been to control an XBMC machine somewhere on your network that is attached to a real TV from an Android device. What makes it good is this App also will allow you to view and play XBMC content on the device itself (something other XBMC Remotes have lacked). And because it can play locally it was easy to create an addon that would then allow files to play on the CCast and other DLNA and UPnP renderers.
I will also say after a night of playing with it (perhaps unfairly) that while this is a great addition to those who have XBMC HTPCs in their house it is not way a good replacement for Plex or Bubble which will allow content to be streamed outside the local network and support Transcoding.
It is however a better replacement for the hacked aVia methods that have been discussed here for playing XBMC content.
Especially from an interface and navigation POV.
I also noticed that you can use MX Player as the player app for Android in the settings. That doesn't have any CCast relevance but it is a good perk for those who wish to view XBMC content on Android with Hardware decoding.
I should have been clearer, I was unable to even play local Chromecast supported files. The message pops out to force playback, with that enabled I can't even get to the option to play.
Internet streams from various compatible websites like Vimeo, should be a no brainer but they just fail without even attempt to play them
jasenko said:
I should have been clearer, I was unable to even play local Chromecast supported files. The message pops out to force playback, with that enabled I can't even get to the option to play.
Internet streams from various compatible websites like Vimeo, should be a no brainer but they just fail without even attempt to play them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And on what machine is XBMC running on that the content doesn't work for CCast?
Asphyx said:
And on what machine is XBMC running on that the content doesn't work for CCast?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTPC is a windows box, media is on NAS. Local playback works for my files, but nothing casts to Chromecast. I will ask for the money back, nothing works as advertised. I had more luck with the external player on Android and playing addons while connecting with BubbleUPnP through Plex library.
Chromecast is so simple, call me spoiled, but I expect playback from apps to just work.
jasenko said:
HTPC is a windows box, media is on NAS. Local playback works for my files, but nothing casts to Chromecast. I will ask for the money back, nothing works as advertised. I had more luck with the external player on Android and playing addons while connecting with BubbleUPnP through Plex library.
Chromecast is so simple, call me spoiled, but I expect playback from apps to just work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do the native apps - YouTube, Pandora, etc. work for you?
bhiga said:
How do the native apps - YouTube, Pandora, etc. work for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flawless..
Sorry to bring this thread back to life,
I am having issues with streaming to my chromecast with this app, all my files are in rar archive and playes just fine in kodi, but wont stream eather to phone (mx player) or to my chromecast, anyone have a fix?
Kodi, v15 nighlty Jan 24, 2015.
|Night| said:
Sorry to bring this thread back to life,
I am having issues with streaming to my chromecast with this app, all my files are in rar archive and playes just fine in kodi, but wont stream eather to phone (mx player) or to my chromecast, anyone have a fix?
Kodi, v15 nighlty Jan 24, 2015.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CCast doesn't support RAR riles
Asphyx said:
CCast doesn't support RAR riles
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thank you for response, I've tested both rared and unrared same issue, when I try to stream to my phone in either mx player or vlc, it crashes after a few minutes and goes back to yatse screen. Have you seen that issue before?
|Night| said:
Hey thank you for response, I've tested both rared and unrared same issue, when I try to stream to my phone in either mx player or vlc, it crashes after a few minutes and goes back to yatse screen. Have you seen that issue before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No but all of my files are Encoded to be every device compatible....
Yatse (and by default XBMC) does not transcode media to be compatible with various codecs and containers.
So unless the media is fully container/codec compatible it simply won't play.
Since this is not just happening on CCast and crashes on your phone as well I have to assume the files you are trying to stream have some issue and are not container/codec compatible.
Ideal for compatibility is MP4 container with a H.264 Codec. AAC Audio is also best supported by mobile devices.
A program like Plex or BubbleUPnP will transcode any format to a device compatible format so you might want to look into using one of those instead of using yatse.
You can install them onto the same machine you are currently running XBMC on.
Thats what I do.
sting098 said:
hmmm this is nice feature from Yaste! I have used it as remote to my XBMC but then I feel they are charging high just to cast.
If you want to CCast XBMC, it can be played by AVIA (most of CCast users have already bought it) by making deualt player for AVIA. There are number of details threads on how-to..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you cant play contents from your private network, with AVIA.
will i be able to play local files without biting into data i have? from my macbook / android phone to google chromecast
please advise?
also is there a way to play xbmc to chromecast
thank you
wakkaday said:
will i be able to play local files without biting into data i have? from my macbook / android phone to google chromecast
please advise?
also is there a way to play xbmc to chromecast
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes only the Player will use Internet, The actual local streaming does not need Internet access.
CCast uses Internet to load the player and then the file stream over local network no net required once the player is loaded.
As for playing XBMC to CCast best solution I have found is Yatse Remote but it requires in app one time payment to unlock local cast, Once there Install the cast Addon and the content on your XBMC HTPC can be streamed to your CCast.
how much internet do you think the player will need ? for a movie for example
ok thats good to know, could i play local files and continue browsing on my tablet / macbook for example....
would you reccomend getting one? or is roku streaming stick better
i believe miracast doesnt uses another technology which doesnt use data, but another way of using the internet.
wakkaday said:
how much internet do you think the player will need ? for a movie for example
...
i believe miracast doesnt uses another technology which doesnt use data, but another way of using the internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The player is just a download of a HTML5 app (except for Netflix), it should be tiny, and doesn't matter what you're playing.
Miracast is screen mirroring, so it requires your device to play the movie, and what you see on your device is what goes to the TV.
The advantage is that often times the device can play more via software like MX Player. The disadvantage is that you cannot do other things with your device while playing the movie as exactly what you see on your device is what appears on the TV. Not so good if you get an embarrassing text message or something, and it'll use a lot of battery power.
The advantage to Chromecast is that Chromecast itself does the playback.. Once you make the request to play a video, you can do whatever you want on your device - even turn it off. Your device (or another device on your network) acts as the remote control.
Personally I really like it - I can browse YouTube and add videos to the TV Queue while stuff is playing full-screen on the TV.
I can play a movie in Netflix for my family to watch while I browser other movies they might like.
If I need to leave, my wife can run the same app and connect to Chromecast so she can pause/play/change things.
wakkaday said:
how much internet do you think the player will need ? .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably no more than a few K to one MB.
thats good to know...
i will be mainly using my mac for downloaded content (so i need to install mac server) and then i need to install plex app for the chromecast right?
and for my android phone local files that will be via allcast?
whats the situation of playing local files via iphone?
and anything can be streamed across using the chrome browser...
i guess i will have to buy and experiement around and work it out, but thank you for your information
wakkaday said:
thats good to know...
i will be mainly using my mac for downloaded content (so i need to install mac server) and then i need to install plex app for the chromecast right?
and for my android phone local files that will be via allcast?
whats the situation of playing local files via iphone?
and anything can be streamed across using the chrome browser...
i guess i will have to buy and experiement around and work it out, but thank you for your information
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No you do not install anything on the CCast it does that automatically to load whatever player App is required to work with your Mobile App...
Plex App will tell it to load the Plex player, aVia will tell it to load the aVia Player, Netflix tells it to load the Netflix player.
Once the player is loaded into the CCast (ie in Plex it says Plexc ready to cast) no further internet should be required to stream local content.
For local on device media I suggest BubbleUPnP or aVia but that local content needs to be compatible with CCast.
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ah ok thats explains it. i will be getting it delivered tomorrow....
when you say local content needs to be compatible, do you think i will be ok with the following...
i will be mainly trying to play avi and mkvs movies...
i know you can rename mkv to m2ts which some players will play
is real player cloud not a good app? thats free???
wakkaday said:
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ah ok thats explains it. i will be getting it delivered tomorrow....
when you say local content needs to be compatible, do you think i will be ok with the following...
i will be mainly trying to play avi and mkvs movies...
i know you can rename mkv to m2ts which some players will play
is real player cloud not a good app? thats free???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CCast compatible means:
Container type MP4
Video Codec H.264
Audio Codec AAC or MP3
Video Bitrate not higher than 8Mbps
4-6 is a good compromise for compatibility with many devices and network conditions
RealPlayer Cloud is okay - but if your media is not Chromecast-compatible you have to upload it to their cloud and their servers will transcode it for you via their SurePlay feature.
You get 2GB of cloud for free and can get some additional storage by completing some tasks (referrals, share).
wakkaday said:
how much internet do you think the player will need ? for a movie for example
ok thats good to know, could i play local files and continue browsing on my tablet / macbook for example....
would you reccomend getting one? or is roku streaming stick better
i believe miracast doesnt uses another technology which doesnt use data, but another way of using the internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please download EZCast App from Google Play, it can cast local video,music,pdf,word,excel,PPT to your chromecast and show on TV.
i tried this with my chromecast
and it was quite fiddly getting files to play (i could change some files from mkv to mp4 and they played but some files the sound didnt play. however using plex server on mac and i beemed it across it played fine... however i noticed the data took a hit
i was just messing about wiht a few files video and it took around 300mb? it seems its playing over wifi...rather then locally...
am i doing something wrong
Casting uses all my home network bandwidth
I can use my Lenovo A7000-a phone to cast to a windows display. It works well. No 3rd party software is used on either the phone or my desktop. However, it consumes my entire (abysmally low - Hey! its the Philippines) 5MBps network bandwidth. No other user on the local home router can access the internet. I would have thought the casting would just be a connection across the router, is this NOT the case? How can I improve this so no other users are affected?
Am I correct in thinking there is no video play with chromecast push support? I.e. MX Player, you are watching video on phone then you press cast button?
Not possible or just no app has done it yet?
Avia has paid ($2.99) CC support.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
There is an app called y2cast which can cast videos to the Chromecast together with an app called Moliplayer. The 1. problem of this is that everytime you turn on your TV, you have to connect y2cast with your Chromecast before you can start casting via Moliplayer and the 2. is that Moliplayer doesn't play every file format (even when you haven't connected it to the Chromecast) and is also very slow/has a lot of lag.
---------- Post added at 03:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:27 PM ----------
Does Avia play every file format and can avia cast every file format to the chromecast?
There are loads of apps now that will play media from phone to Chromecast - BubbleUPnP is my personal choice, Allcast, Localcast, Avia....there are more.
They vary in their capabilities - most can't cast videos that are not encoded in a Chromecast friendly format. BubbleUPnP can with the help of a Bubble Server installed on a PC on the local network.
neu - smurph said:
There are loads of apps now that will play media from phone to Chromecast - BubbleUPnP is my personal choice, Allcast, Localcast, Avia....there are more.
They vary in their capabilities - most can't cast videos that are not encoded in a Chromecast friendly format. BubbleUPnP can with the help of a Bubble Server installed on a PC on the local network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well then you could just cast the video in a tab via Chrome. I'd love to see a solution where an android device does that, most of the devices are probably capable of doing it.
Pete1612 said:
Well then you could just cast the video in a tab via Chrome. I'd love to see a solution where an android device does that, most of the devices are probably capable of doing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Share the page to either vGet or Web Video Caster, and cast from there.
It's one extra step - sharing the link - but it works great for supported video formats.
vGet has more options and is a paid app. Web Video Caster just casts and is free.
EarlyMon said:
Share the page to either vGet or Web Video Caster, and cast from there.
It's one extra step - sharing the link - but it works great for supported video formats.
vGet has more options and is a paid app. Web Video Caster just casts and is free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for thus you can also use chrome for android (free from google obviously), go to chrome://flags and turn on chromecast support
Avia does NOT work on all formats. It's a bit of a hit and miss. Some work some dont
The moment everyone is waiting for is for mx player or vlc to support Chromecast !
I think that the limitions are not in the players but in the software of ccast that can play only a few format and codecs.
Do you think that, in future, ccast will be updated and so it will play other video format? Is a feature that can be implemented with a firmware upgrade?
Thanks!
davboc said:
I think that the limitions are not in the players but in the software of ccast that can play only a few format and codecs.
Do you think that, in future, ccast will be updated and so it will play other video format? Is a feature that can be implemented with a firmware upgrade?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes and Maybe....
You're right in that the CCast is limited in codec and container support.
But that is really only true if the Player app that gets loaded into CCast relies on the CCast hardware to play the files.
Android itself is almost as limited as the CCast is as far as Compatible file formats are concerned but the video players we use on Android add the support for those different codecs and container types into the APPs themselves.
The same could be done on the CCast side and BubbleUPnP seems to be the one (and Only) app that has gone the farthest in doing that.
All the others seem to just send whatever format the file is in and if it isn't CCast compatible it won't play.
What needs to happen is for someone to create an MX Player type CCast Player app that can play many Container and Codec types without the need for Transcoding. Then others could potentially use that Player App (think along the lines of a JW Player type CCast Application) when sending Media to the CCast without the worry of incompatible file and codec format.
Or Google needs to create it and add it to the CCast OS as the default player.
As of now there is no option close to that...Bubble supports more container types than others and in conjunction with the Bubble Server will transcode the ones it doesn't support.
Plex seems to transcode everything that isn't directly CCast compatible and the other Player Apps we have for Android don't deal with Compatibility at all they merely send the media to CCast and it works only if it is compatible.
Perhaps in time they will add to the CCast Player side to gain more support but Bubble is so far the only one to really focus as much on the Player side compatibility expansion and features.
Plex is working on it as well but they are less focused on Compatibility due to the fact they are able to transcode everything to whatever format they want. After they get all the transcoding perfected they might turn focus into finding ways to avoid transcoding for those who have issues due to low power servers.
Asphyx said:
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
perfect explanation! Really thank you. I hope that this device will be supported with the right software, meaning apps, in the near future.
Thanks again.
davboc said:
perfect explanation! Really thank you. I hope that this device will be supported with the right software, meaning apps, in the near future.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem right now seems to be that every App creates their own CCast Player App (called the receiver) but the DIAL protocol really doesn't require that to happen.
If the Open Source community would create a FREE TO USE Player App for CCast that any Android (or iOS app for that matter) could have the CCast load You might see a situation where all players could use that app to play to CCast and remove the need to code a Player themselves.
The only reason to code your own player then would be if you wanted to add other features like Media Info Mirroring and if the Player was Open Source it could be used inside their custom versions as well provided there is no issue with GPL license and Commercial Use.
the CCast support has come a long way since December...
I hope by next December we see more after people figure it out better.
The holdup is Google Locking it all up with the Whitelist.
I keep looking here hoping to find a developer that has decided to work on a CCast Player side to bring full client side support that others can use.
So Far Bubble is the only one focused on that side of the coding.
In the end the CCast player should support any container, Most Codecs, Client side selectable Subtitles and Multitrack Audio with Client side selection as well.
If they could add Dolby Support (not likely given the Licensing requirements) it would set the bar for all the others.
Localcast works well for me. Even let's me access and stream movies/TV shows straight from my USB stick on my Note 2 using an otg cable.
Sent from my Sinclair ZX81.
Koush tried software decoding for H.264 video - the processor ran hot enough to destroy his Chromecast, and that was using a known and mature routine.
The MediaTek processor is very good but it has limitations.
Maybe someone will take it further and succeed. I think it's more reasonable to look for more codecs on Chromecast 2, if at all.
Btw, LocalCast now lets you use your phone for headphones for stuff you're casting.
Not doubting you here...I know the Hardware is close to being an Egg Cooker even under normal usage....
But I'm curious as to why would he software decode H.264? No need to do that as it's already supported.
I'm just wondering if he was trying to do transcode from unsupported codec to H.264 on the device.
That method I would expect to not work at all.
But by adding loadable Software codecs it should not require the same proc cycles and speed as trying to transcode as it's really just a decoding operation which is roughly half the intense of transcoding which both decodes then re-encodes.
The Tricky part would be getting the player to load codecs on an as needed basis which is where I expect it might make the approach impossible.
I'm personally less concerned with codec support as I am with Containers, Subtitles and Audio Track selection being done on the Player side.
All of my Library is already H.264 But I much prefer MKV container for keeping Subs and Multiple Audio (for Commentary) so once a player comes out that supports all of those without transcoding I'll be a very happy puppy.
I don't know but I imagine that he was simply following a standard best practice -
Comparing known quantities to map the solution space before proceeding into the unknown.
The H.264 routine (just a software codec attached to a simple player from what I recall looking at the time) made sense for that, precisely because it was a mature, known quantity that could be compared to the existing feature in hardware.
Apples to apples.
perhap he tried that since H.264 is the most hardware intensive compression compared to say On2, Cinepak or the older Indeo...
If it could software decode H.264 then it could pretty much decode everything else just fine with the exception of MPEG2 which requires specific hardware.
Asphyx said:
What needs to happen is for someone to create an MX Player type CCast Player app that can play many Container and Codec types without the need for Transcoding. Then others could potentially use that Player App (think along the lines of a JW Player type CCast Application) when sending Media to the CCast without the worry of incompatible file and codec format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying if a player i.e. MX player had the cast function builtin into it then you can cast any video format that MX player supports?
ermacwins said:
Are you saying if a player i.e. MX player had the cast function builtin into it then you can cast any video format that MX player supports?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what a lot of people want.
ermacwins said:
Are you saying if a player i.e. MX player had the cast function builtin into it then you can cast any video format that MX player supports?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No not at all.....an App's (aka Transmitter) ability to cast to a CCast has little to do with it can support but what the CCast supports....Other than through the player app it tells CCast to load to receive the stream (aka the Receiver app).
Every App tells the CCast to load a player and it is that player that determines what format can be played not what the App that started the cast supports.
So even if MX Player supported CCast now...Doesn't mean at all that streaming from it to a CCast means MKV or MOV files will play on the CCast despite the fact they play in MX Player just fine.
That is unless MX Player wrote a custom player (receiver) for the CCast that supported all the formats MX Player does or MX Player added the ability to transcode any format to work with the receiver they load into the CCast.
As of today just about every app that supports more than just the standard CCast compatible media do so via Transcoding.
And thats not likely to change soon unless someone figures out a way to do it without frying the unit.
I bet it would work a lot better if the player app was run outside of the Google Sandbox the way Netflix is when it does it's own decryption.
The question is will anyone other than one of the Partners who invented the DIAL protocol ever get that type of access to the hardware?
Not without Google being fully on board....
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Asphyx, It makes sense now :good:.