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Chromecast Rooted

forum.xda-developers.com

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Re: Chromecast Rooted

#81

Post by mattkrea »

hboon wrote: post #73
mattkrea wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to feel the same way. Then, I gave away my Apple TV and bought a Chromecast. Searching for content.. jumping between content sources.. it's all easier on the phone.

Did you try Apple's Remote app with Apple TV? Is it still worse than Chromecast?

I did--I wasn't a fan.

What I like about Chromecast is that their integration is simply a small button added to other apps that I'm already familiar with.

For example, I use Netflix as normal but basically choose where the output should go. It's actually quite similar to Apple's AirPlay integration although the Chromecast has never had an issue (AirPlay always seemed to have latency issues).

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#82

Post by SyneRyder »

mmastrac wrote: post #57
err4nt wrote: post #5

What would the capabilities of a rooted Chromecast be? I finally just got mine, and it's still new in box.

For me, forcing 1080i output would have been fantastic. My TV advertises 1080p support but for complicated reasons, does not support it.

Forcing screen resolution / changing aspect ratio is what I'd want. I've got my Chromecast connected to an ancient 4:3 TV and I'd love the Chromecast to support that, or to at least not pillarbox 4:3 Youtube content. Unfortunately there's no setting on my TV to change the aspect ratio, I have to do it on my devices.

(Yes, I know, I should just upgrade the TV, but in that case I probably wouldn't have bought the Chromecast.)

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#83

Post by ajtaylor »

micro_cam wrote: post #17
darklajid wrote: post #15

Anyone having a Chromecast and able to tell me what I'm missing? Currently I've got xbmc running on a Raspberry Pi. Connected via HDMI, online via wifi and I can stream more or less everything (videos, images, music) from my phone to that thing - not sure if there's a decent way to do that from my laptop running Linux. What are Chromecasts used for? Should I buy one?

For me the main selling point is the low price and not sure it makes sense if you have something setup to do most of it. I do use mine a ton for netflix, hulu (via tab casting) and arbitray media files via the videostream chrome extension/app from the webstore. It has a simple unintrusive ui which is nice.

Thank you for the pointer to the videostream app. I've been wondering how to do this for a couple weeks now!

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#84

Post by kybernetyk »

GuiA wrote: post #11
mixologic wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main benefit appears to be the ability to load your own ROM onto it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2578653 And the main benefit of that ROM seems to be that you can set an alternate DNS server to get around (some) forms of region controlling, as well as set your own application whitelist - not sure whats missing from the existing whitelist or what killer app you would root this for, but if I ow…

> if I own the device, I should have total control over the device. I agree (mostly) with you, but I still want to prod at this because I think it's interesting. I'm guessing you probably own a (recent) car, a microwave, etc. Do you have total control over these devices? If not, does it bother you as much as not having total control over the Chromecast? How are they different (or not) from a Chromecast? A phone? A co…

A computer is a general purpose device. Your Chromecast is a computer that would be capable of much more than just streaming videos if it wasn't for the artificial limitation in its software.

Your car on the other hand has a pretty narrow application field. Your microwave too. Those are tools that perform their intended task as good as they can.

Now if there was a firmware switch limiting your microwave from performing its intended task to its fullest capabilities you probably would want to 'root' it too.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#85

Post by Touche »

mattkrea wrote: post #31
Touche wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phones are poor remotes.

I used to feel the same way. Then, I gave away my Apple TV and bought a Chromecast. Searching for content.. jumping between content sources.. it's all easier on the phone.

Not if the phone is out of battery.

Not if you want to pick what to watch with someone else.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#86

Post by jethro_tell »

darklajid wrote: post #15

Anyone having a Chromecast and able to tell me what I'm missing? Currently I've got xbmc running on a Raspberry Pi. Connected via HDMI, online via wifi and I can stream more or less everything (videos, images, music) from my phone to that thing - not sure if there's a decent way to do that from my laptop running Linux. What are Chromecasts used for? Should I buy one?

I take it to hotel ls when i travel. Its tiny, Combined with my phone as a wifi i stream to the hotel tv with a tablet or laptop. easy small portable.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#87

Post by darkstar999 »

Touche wrote: post #85
mattkrea wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to feel the same way. Then, I gave away my Apple TV and bought a Chromecast. Searching for content.. jumping between content sources.. it's all easier on the phone.

Not if the phone is out of battery. Not if you want to pick what to watch with someone else.

> Not if the phone is out of battery.

Bad argument. Any remote control can run out of battery.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#88

Post by magicalist »

girvo wrote: post #56
zmmmmm wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real "feature" of the Chromecast isn't technical. It's the ecosystem and particularly the fact it "just works" and is built in and enabled by default on a large number of Android apps. So for example, my friend can come over to my house and fire up his Google Music and his phone automatically sees my Chromecast and he can play to it. Or movies, or photos or ... etc etc. You can get any number of devices that do t…

iOS has AirPlay which is Apple's implementation of a Chromecast style local streaming service. I use it with an Apple TV myself.

There's an iOS SDK[1], so in theory developers can add AirPlay and Chromecast support to their app, but not sure how widespread that actually is.

[1] https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/ios_sender

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#89

Post by mattkrea »

Touche wrote: post #85
mattkrea wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to feel the same way. Then, I gave away my Apple TV and bought a Chromecast. Searching for content.. jumping between content sources.. it's all easier on the phone.

Not if the phone is out of battery. Not if you want to pick what to watch with someone else.

With certain apps they actually added a pretty nice function for this. Youtube is one in particular that can queue up videos on a Chromecast from multiple devices.

Re: Chromecast Rooted

#90

Post by magicalist »

johndoeee wrote: post #25
ftoma wrote: post #2

Sorry for being stupid but what effect does this have on a regular chromecast?

Google charges money (to verify your identity I assume, it's quite cheap) if you wanted to make actual apps for chromecast, I assume you can sidestep that with this. I made a transcoding proxy for Chromecast, for it to work, I'd have to piggyback the url-player (without selling my identity). I don't like stuff like that.

> Google charges money (to verify your identity I assume, it's quite cheap) if you wanted to make actual apps for chromecast

It's $5, but just FYI, you don't have to pay or register your app if you make a Default Media Receiver. You don't get on-TV UI, but that's probably fine if you're just transcoding and displaying video.

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