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Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

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Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#12

Post by liability »

If you don't want a Google device on your LAN and are willing to put in a little bit more work for that, I've found that remotely controlling an instance of mpv over the JSON IPC interface works well for me. I can send it URLs from the web or paths to local files. My client for this isn't currently public, but it's a rather easy interface that some of you may find it easy enough to integrate into your other systems.

(Note that it only listens on a Unix socket. With socat you can redirect that to a TCP socket though, preferably listening on a wireguard interface to keep the rest of your LAN from accessing it, since there's otherwise no security.)

Definitely not for everybody, but perhaps suitable for some.

https://mpv.io/manual/master/#json-ipc

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#14

Post by balloob »

Author of pychromecast here, the underlying library that this project uses to control the Chromecast.

I wrote this lib initially for use in Home Assistant, https://www.home-assistant.io

For Home Assistant I made a rule that all device drivers are stand-alone Home Assistant agnostic Python packages. That way more projects can use it.

Glad to see that strategy is working out and it powering projects like this

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#15

Post by m-p-3 »

baby-yoda wrote: post #8

does chromecast still require WAN access to operate?

I believe so, and it's less than useful on network with a captive portals like hotel rooms.

At least the upcoming Chromecast with Google TV comes with a remote, so you should be able to interact with the captive portal and use it that way.

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#16

Post by m-p-3 »

zerop wrote: post #11

Any way to cast zoom calls from my android zoom app to TV via Chromecast ?

You can cast your device's screen, but you'll still have to rely on the device's camera and mic.

You'll probably want to avoid outputting the sound on the TV or you'll get a feedback loop.

And there's going to be a slight delay, which might be annoying with a realtime conversation.

So it might not be a great idea from the start.

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#17

Post by ebg13 »

ce4 wrote: post #5
axaxs wrote: post #4

Thanks for this, I can't wait to test it out. Are there other ways to control chromecasts from Linux? I used to be able to cast straight from Chromium, but that hasn't worked for me in at least a couple years.

VLC has a native client afaik. Edit: included since v3.0 https://www.videolan.org/developers/vlc-branch/NEWS

I was never able to get VLC to communicate with my Chromecast but gnomecast worked, so ymmv.

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#18

Post by [deleted] »

ebg13 wrote: post #3

I can't tell from this project's readme how to actually play things. It has an instruction for connecting to your chromecast...ok, and then what? In the past I've used https://github.com/keredson/gnomecast which is a standalone simple media player that transcodes if needed and streams to my Chromecast. Thoughts on what this provides that's better?

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#19

Post by SyncOnGreen »

input_sh wrote: post #6
jowsie wrote: post #2

Does this also allow you to cast arbitrary media to the Chromecast? I couldn't tell from the readme.

I've been using catt ( https://github.com/skorokithakis/catt ) for years for that purpose. Basically: pip3 install catt And then: catt cast

https://airflow.app/ is worth mentioning - paid software (sadly Windows/macOS only) but works with everything you throw at it, transcodes unsupported codecs seamlessly and has great UI with remote control via an app.
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