Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#41

Post by kelnos » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 10:46 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #22

ce4 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The VLC client is "barebones" - even simple functionality like adjusting the volume is missing. If the network connection drops, the chromecast stops playing (regular chromecast would continue). There is no support for subtitles, alternate audio/video tracks, audio effects, video playback speed, or pretty much anything else. Seeking is supported tho, as are audio-only files.

> If the network connection drops, the chromecast stops playing (regular chromecast would continue)

How would you expect the video bits to get from the machine running VLC to the chromecast if the network drops? Not sure what you mean by "regular chromecast", but if the network connection between the chromecast and the video source is lost, you lose playback. That's true if you're watching YouTube videos or Netflix, or if you're using any other app to cast something from your local network.

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#42

Post by kelnos » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

baby-yoda wrote: post #8

does chromecast still require WAN access to operate?

It shouldn't. Obviously if you're casting from a WAN source (like YouTube or Netflix), it needs WAN access, but if you're casting from a source on your local network, it should work without the WAN.

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#43

Post by mav3rick » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 10:54 PM UTC

markbnj wrote: post #40

Shameless threadjack: does anyone know a way to cast _to_ a linux or windows desktop? We use chromecast on all our entertainment video monitors, but sometimes I would like to hang on the couch in my office and cast a video to my desktop monitor.

Open the website ?

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#44

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 11:03 PM UTC

markbnj wrote: post #40

Shameless threadjack: does anyone know a way to cast _to_ a linux or windows desktop? We use chromecast on all our entertainment video monitors, but sometimes I would like to hang on the couch in my office and cast a video to my desktop monitor.

Jellyfin mpv shim does this

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#45

Post by mijoharas » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 11:13 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #23

axaxs wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good to know, thanks. Usually I'm interested in either casting a browser window, or even the whole screen usually, which I've been coming up short on.

Casting a browser or whole screen can be done with Chrome/Chromium on Linux. Whole screen doesn't work with wayland. Redirecting system audio doesn't work either. If you redirect a tab which is mostly a single video file, it is smart enough to do the video decoding directly on the chromecast, so you get much better quality/framerate.

I was interested to find out that the youtube app on an amazon fire stick is supported as a chromecast target now.

It doesn't support casting a browser tab or a desktop though (the latter isn't surprising as I'm under wayland which the parent says doesn't work, but I'd guess a browser tab should work? would be interested in other peoples experiences of this).

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#46

Post by mijoharas » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 11:19 PM UTC

sorry to somewhat hijack this thread, but does anyone know a way to stream from linux to a miracast target?

I have a fire stick that I believe supports miracast, and periodically check if there is linux software that will allow me to stream as a source.

Last time I checked miraclecast[0] seemed to be somewhat broken. Has anyone had any luck?

[0] https://github.com/albfan/miraclecast

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#47

Post by gibolt » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 11:34 PM UTC

markbnj wrote: post #40

Shameless threadjack: does anyone know a way to cast _to_ a linux or windows desktop? We use chromecast on all our entertainment video monitors, but sometimes I would like to hang on the couch in my office and cast a video to my desktop monitor.

Could add a Chromecast on one of the Hdmi ports of the monitor. That's what I do

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#48

Post by _ZeD_ » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 11:41 PM UTC

markbnj wrote: post #40

Shameless threadjack: does anyone know a way to cast _to_ a linux or windows desktop? We use chromecast on all our entertainment video monitors, but sometimes I would like to hang on the couch in my office and cast a video to my desktop monitor.

Miraclecast

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#49

Post by angrais » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 11:43 PM UTC

liability wrote: post #12

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.…

Maybe it's late and I am misunderstanding ... Why would one not want a Google device on their LAN?

Isn't a Chromecast very different than controlling locally stored media files, i.e. you can stream YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, mirror your devices (laptop), etc on Chromecast but not your solution?

Re: Show HN: Control Chromecasts from Linux

#50

Post by mholt » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 12:07 AM UTC

kelnos wrote: post #41

londons_explore wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The VLC client is "barebones" - even simple functionality like adjusting the volume is missing. If the network connection drops, the chromecast stops playing (regular chromecast would continue). There is no support for subtitles, alternate audio/video tracks, audio effects, video playback speed, or pretty much anything else. Seeking is supported tho, as are audio-only files.

> If the network connection drops, the chromecast stops playing (regular chromecast would continue) How would you expect the video bits to get from the machine running VLC to the chromecast if the network drops? Not sure what you mean by "regular chromecast", but if the network connection between the chromecast and the video source is lost, you lose playback. That's true if you're watching YouTube videos or Netflix,…

Only if it's lost for longer than was buffered. Most decent streaming clients -- even YouTube -- will buffer ahead and keep playing while attempting to restore connectivity.

Speaking of which, the casting with VLC also has major buffering problems. Even casting a low-def video directly from an SSD to a Chromecast Ultra (over ethernet!) it will buffer for about 1-2 minutes for every 5 seconds of playback.