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Show HN: BigScreen sends pictures and music from OS X to ChromeCast

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Re: Show HN: BigScreen sends pictures and music from OS X to ChromeCast

#21

Post by nickpapa »

slouch wrote: post #18

If I use this to play music, will my computer still go to sleep and stop playback like when I use a brower-based music app?

For stuff like that, I use Caffeine (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/caffeine/id411246225?mt=12) to prevent my Mac from sleeping.

Re: Show HN: BigScreen sends pictures and music from OS X to ChromeCast

#22

Post by fomojola »

aroch wrote: post #20
CSDude wrote: post #15

Try this for on the fly transcoding even unsupported media: https://github.com/mustafaakin/cast-localvideo Disclaimer: I made this, but people seems happy using it.

Or use Plex or XBMC and control it from your smartphone

Those solutions do exist, but to a certain degree the point of this was not to need a phone or Chrome. It is obvious that those are the sanctioned solutions from Google's perspective, but this is an attempt to provide a different option.

Re: Show HN: BigScreen sends pictures and music from OS X to ChromeCast

#25

Post by maherbeg »

thefreeman wrote: post #13
fomojola wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. Will reach out once I get a chance: the video transcoding/streaming will be the real heavy lifting. This was mostly just a node-webkit exercise, but not sure how cleanly it will merge with the Chrome code you linked to.

The transcoding isn't actually too bad. You basically just need ffmpeg compiled from source on your box, and you can use https://github.com/fluent-ffmpeg/node-fluent-ffmpeg . You just need to transcode everything go h264 / AAC (so make sure you compile with libfdk_aac ). The thing I have been unable to figure out so far is how to start streaming to chromecast before the transcoding is complete. It will play to the po…

You can actually stream the file directly to the chromecast as it's transcoding.

I've got this working in my own chromecast app mkvcast: https://github.com/maherbeg/mkvcast

See https://github.com/maherbeg/mkvcast/blob/master/lib/controll... for the parameters to use.

Re: Show HN: BigScreen sends pictures and music from OS X to ChromeCast

#26

Post by neeks »

mrbill wrote: post #24
tmuir wrote: post #23

Why are there recent Macs without HDMI ports? You'd think that would be ubiquitous by now.

Mini-Displayport to HDMI / DVI / VGA adapters are less than $10.

Did they ever do anything about the audio jack? I always thought it was wack how they not only forced you to buy a dongle, but also a 3.55m to rca cable.

Re: Show HN: BigScreen sends pictures and music from OS X to ChromeCast

#27

Post by mumrah »

maherbeg wrote: post #25
thefreeman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The transcoding isn't actually too bad. You basically just need ffmpeg compiled from source on your box, and you can use https://github.com/fluent-ffmpeg/node-fluent-ffmpeg . You just need to transcode everything go h264 / AAC (so make sure you compile with libfdk_aac ). The thing I have been unable to figure out so far is how to start streaming to chromecast before the transcoding is complete. It will play to the po…

You can actually stream the file directly to the chromecast as it's transcoding. I've got this working in my own chromecast app mkvcast: https://github.com/maherbeg/mkvcast See https://github.com/maherbeg/mkvcast/blob/master/lib/controll... for the parameters to use.

I got something similar working in Java by simply exec'ing ffmpeg and getting a handle on the stream. Not being able to seek kind of sucks, and Chromecast does not like infinite streams. However, I've seen that he Chromecast will actually stream some MKVs just fine (so long as the underlying codecs are supported).

Re: Show HN: BigScreen sends pictures and music from OS X to ChromeCast

#28

Post by mumrah »

thefreeman wrote: post #13
fomojola wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. Will reach out once I get a chance: the video transcoding/streaming will be the real heavy lifting. This was mostly just a node-webkit exercise, but not sure how cleanly it will merge with the Chrome code you linked to.

The transcoding isn't actually too bad. You basically just need ffmpeg compiled from source on your box, and you can use https://github.com/fluent-ffmpeg/node-fluent-ffmpeg . You just need to transcode everything go h264 / AAC (so make sure you compile with libfdk_aac ). The thing I have been unable to figure out so far is how to start streaming to chromecast before the transcoding is complete. It will play to the po…

It's a better experience when you're dealing with a complete file and not an in-progress transcode anyways. With a file you can seek and pause/resume. That's much, much harder with a stream (if at all possible). The other trick is that the Chromecast does some poking around in the stream to figure out the total time. This requires that you support Range requests and return correct Content-Length headers.
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