
Google Cast is now built-in to Chrome - jdimov10
https://chrome.googleblog.com/2016/08/google-cast-is-now-built-in-to-chrome.html
======
kelnos
I'm still really disappointed that the Cast protocol is effectively closed,
and Google only supports casting from Chrome, Android, and iOS.

I think Google is really shooting themselves in the foot regarding adoption.
I'd love to have a command-line Cast client for Linux, integration into
pulseaudio, a Firefox Cast extension, a native UI (non-browser) video player,
etc. Sure, some people have reverse-engineered the newer protocol, but I've
never gotten any of the unofficial clients to work reliably (and some just
flat-out don't work at all).

~~~
niftich
Google's not shooting themselves in the foot because:

\- Google Cast is not a general-purpose streaming protocol, even though it is
designed to mimic that UX to a casual user

\- Cast provides some features like 'ad breaks' [1] that are valuable to
content providers and aggregators which you wouldn't find in a general-purpose
streaming protocol, making it more likely that those who want these features
will make their streaming app Cast-compatible

\- The Cast SDK comes with a TOS [2] that's a rather enlightening read

\- You have to register your application with Google if you're developing a
Cast sender [3], or if you're developing a Cast receiver and don't want to use
their Default Receiver [4] (presumably, because you're building your own).

Google's building an ecosystem here. This isn't Miracast or WiDi or even
AirPlay, although kudos to them for making everyone think so.

[1]
[https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/ads](https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/ads)

[2]
[https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/terms](https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/terms)

[3]
[https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/chrome_sender#setup](https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/chrome_sender#setup)

[4]
[https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/receiver_apps#choose...](https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/receiver_apps#choose-
a-receiver)

~~~
izacus
Isn't AirPlay pretty much analogous? Only available on a single brand of
devices with an effectively DRM protected closed protocol?

~~~
niftich
I don't quite think so. AirPlay is a proprietary Miracast, long before
Miracast existed. Although it's proprietary and the payload is protected with
DRM, Apple uses it as an encrypted tunnel between approved (and first-party)
devices.

Meanwhile, Google Cast is a media-streaming negotiation, handoff and control
protocol marketed as a wireless streaming solution. It's not so much about
packets on the wire as control commands and metadata. That, I feel, is a
significant difference.

~~~
dingo_bat
You can cast your desktop using Chrome cast. I'm pretty sure that's more than
negotiation, handoff and control.

~~~
matchu
I don't think that's actually part of the Cast protocol. Google just built a
desktop streaming app on top of the Cast protocol, and bundled it with the
client.

------
niftich
There was formerly a Google-made addon for this. Now it's integrated into
Chrome. There are two features here:

\- Chrome can stream its renderer output to a 'Google Cast'-supporting stream
sink, like a Chromecast. This option is buried in the hamburger menu.

\- websites can be coded against a JS library that's implemented by Chrome
[1][2]. Then the 'stream to...' menu is shown as the 'cast' icon near the
address bar.

[1]
[https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/reference/chrome/](https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/reference/chrome/)

[2]
[https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/chrome_sender](https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/chrome_sender)

------
realityking
I love Chromecasts and brining Google Cast into Chrome made me quite happy
since the integration with Hangouts (you can cast a tab into a hangout if the
meeting is part of your Google Calendar) is terrific.

However as someone who helps out with the company's network, they are
infuriating:

\- They ignore the DHCP given DNS Servers instead using Google's. I'm sure the
same is true for NTP though I haven't bothered testing that.

\- They use mDNS and DNS-SD but not DNS-SD Wide Area Discovery. This makes
subnetting more difficult and increases broadcast traffic quite a bit.

\- Not a complaint, more a wish, but a PoE version of the Ethernet adapter
would be immensely helpful.

~~~
hackuser
OT: If someone wanted to block connections to Google's DNS servers, can it be
done reliably? Is there a known, static range?

AFAIK Android also uses Google's DNS servers, and it's hard coded into the OS,
and the client pings the server before any software firewall can load at boot.
(Allow me to reemphasize: _AFAIK_ ; if someone knows more I'd appreciate it.)

~~~
viraptor
I don't know how the mobile networks configure the dns, but on WiFi android
uses whatever dns server is advertised via dhcp.

~~~
izacus
Android yes, Chromecast no. It's hardcoded to defeat DNS-level location
spoofing for Netflix and similar services.

------
vertis
Recently I moved house. I had to wait 6 weeks for the internet to be connected
(first world problem). While I was waiting for the connection I inevitably
tried to fall back on local content and discovered, much to my discontent,
that my Chromecast wouldn't work at all without internet, even when I was
trying to play local content.

I've been less happy with it ever since.

------
rektide
Looking forward to some standardization/interop coming out of this. There's
_Presentation API[1],_ which spec's a web API, but that still leaves open the
question of coordination between a controller (browser) and display. Chrome's
working on it[2], and I'd guess would target Cast, so web pages might be able
to request their own casting, but it doesn't seem like anything other browsers
could compete/cooperate openly with atm.

[1] [https://www.w3.org/TR/presentation-
api/](https://www.w3.org/TR/presentation-api/)

[2]
[https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/list?q=component...](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/list?q=component:Blink%3EPresentationAPI)

------
joemccall86
Assuming they drop support for the Chromecast add-on, doesn't this effectively
eliminate the ability for other browsers that can use chrome extensions to
cast to a Chromecast? (e.g., Opera, Vivaldi, maybe Chromium)?

~~~
pavanky
That is only going to be a problem if they do not upstream the changes to
Chromium.

~~~
andybak
That's actually a very important question. Is Google opening up casting in the
widest sense to 3rd party clients? I know there was some push in this
direction when it was launched (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_and_Launch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_and_Launch)
) but I seem to recall hearing that there is now more to Google Cast than
DIAL. Does anyone know how interoperable this all is?

~~~
vbernat
DIAL/SSDP is not used anymore (except for legacy apps, like the Youtube one).
Now, this is mDNS (good) and proprietary protobuf protocol. There is no
documentation for this but several people have reversed-engineered the stuff
from the source code of Chromium and the extension to get third-party client
(third-party Chromecast is not possible since there is a signature mechanism
for clients to check). I have done such an implementation here:
[https://github.com/vincentbernat/nodecastor](https://github.com/vincentbernat/nodecastor)
(but not really maintained).

~~~
andybak
That's troubling. Has anyone got any sense about whether interoperability is
merely neglected or whether there's strategic reasons for its abandonment
(either from Google itself or via pressure from partners with 'premium
content')

------
gscott
Looking at WireShark last night Google Cast was reaching out to Google every
30 seconds. I narrowed it down to my web browser, removing it from the toolbar
stopped it.

~~~
andybak
Assuming some of the logic for determining whether a page is castable (or what
options to offer) reside server-side then I can imaginez why this might be
necessary. However it also might be poor coding.

Was it onerous in terms of resources - or was there any hint of nefarious
behaviour? My suspicion is many people will assume the latter despite the
rather neutral tone of your post. Therefore I'd be interested to hear more
detail.

~~~
gscott
I have been interested in the Hacking Team leak of spyware and hacking tools.
I found in the documentation taken from the hacking team website that when you
run Wireshark their spyware looks for that and won't install. I have heard of
wireshark before but never tried it, once I had it I saw that google
chromecast going on it is like a beacon telling Google my ip address over and
over again. Seemed like a bad thing. Maybe not all totally logical, why
bother, but being logical all of the time is boring!

------
chatmasta
For anyone who hasn't seen it, check out the "peerflix" project on github.
It's an amazing way to stream torrents, and you can easily cast them from
chrome.

Basically you just do:

    
    
        peerflix 'magnetUrl'
    

And then navigate to [http://localhost:8888](http://localhost:8888) and cast
the tab.

Unfortunately it only works with MP4. There may be some workarounds with an
ffmpeg command in the middle, but I haven't experimented with it much.

~~~
bduerst
Put.io will do this too and even convert to mp4 for you, but it costs $9/mo.

~~~
azinman2
Put.io is amazing and worth the money

~~~
bduerst
Oh for sure - it's definitely the best execution of cloud torrenting that I've
seen to date.

I wish they'd do a blog post or two about how they handle their file
structure.

~~~
joshmn
Can't be much, can it?

They store everything on some leaseweb disks. They use transmission behind the
scenes.

Too bad it's never that simple.

~~~
bduerst
But maybe they use md5 checksums to only store one copy of the same file for
thousands of users. Or maybe that's violating some legal shield they have
within their TOS.

Either way their MP4 conversion is waaaay too fast for some of the more
popular files, and those aren't a part of the torrents.

~~~
joshmn
I'm sure they check against the checksums when providing you a file that
already exists. Doesn't make sense to waste bandwidth (hey there, Kim)

I think in their FAQ they mention that they have some dedicated nodes that do
the MP4 conversion. I completely agree with you though, the conversion is
unreal.

------
jeffdubin
Nice job, thank you! Now... how can I disable it? Next time I'm on a public
wifi network, this is going to be sending out probes for Chromecast devices,
and it's only a matter of time before someone finds an exploit.

~~~
discreditable
> only a matter of time before someone finds an exploit.

Chrome is looking ripe for exploitation. IIRC the default install includes an
mDNS responder. Check out the guy who has every Chrome instance on his network
crash at the same time: [https://redd.it/4xej0p](https://redd.it/4xej0p)

------
israrkhan
Few months ago, I bought a Nexus 5x assuming that it will support Miracast
(like Nexus 5 did). I was very disappointed to know that Google dropped
support for Miracast. re-enabling Miracast support was just a matter of
changing a line in a config file. However that required rooting the device.

Dropping support for standard protocols and forcing users to use their
proprietary stuff? what happened to their corporate moto "Don't be evil".

~~~
rektide
Really appreciate that Intel's been working on a Miracast receiver for Linux.
Been super sad that Linux has been so far behind on the Miracast & Wifi-p2p
fronts.

[https://01.org/wds](https://01.org/wds)

------
greggman
Chromecast if left on (using the included power adapter) will use about 14gig
of bandwidth downloading images for its background that you can not turn off.
As someone on a metered MiFi that's a no go.

~~~
bigiain
Seriously?

That really says something about the people who developed and tested these...
(Something along the lines of "Hey, maybe you should try getting out of the
Google campus/dorms occasionally, possibly even out of the Bay Area, and see
how the world works for non-Google employees…")

Chromecast - only $35![1]

smallprint [1] requires unlimited highspeed broadband. May use several times
it's purchase price in bandwidth per month if your employer doesn't provide
free Google Fibre to your home.

~~~
voltagex_
I've posted at least once before about this. Google, Microsoft and a lot of
other companies really don't think about "low" bandwidth (<20 megabit
downstream) or situations where you're not always connected.

Props to Facebook for having "2G" day. I hope it still happens.

* Dropbox is meant to have a LAN sync but fails back quickly to syncing from their servers. There's no way to debug why it isn't using other hosts on your LAN

* OneDrive has no LAN sync at all

* There's no way to debug Windows 10's LAN update sharing if it fails.

* Windows 10 will default to uploading partial updates to other users on the Internet (bittorrent style)

* Windows 10 will let you set a Wifi connection as "metered" and actually behave quite well (deferring updates, driver downloads and OneDrive data), but there's no way to set Ethernet networks as metered, outside of a registry hack.

* Google not supporting SD cards in the Nexus line (yes, I know about the performance issues, I own several >$50 SD cards that are trash). Mobile data is expensive.

* It took Google until 2016 to offer offline caching of YouTube videos, and even then you have to pay them for the privilege

* Microsoft's newer .NET and Powershell stuff download >50 megabytes of dependencies from NuGet.org and MyGet.org. Offline caching is possible, but maybe not on Linux

~~~
bigiain
Heh - it's quite a struggle for me to get 20megabits at my place. I've got
reasonably affordable 12-14mbits of ADSL2 (with unimited traffic) for
$70/month, but I can't get NBN where I live, there's no Telstra or Optus cable
(our local shared 100mbit down HFC option which tops out a maybe 3mbits up) in
my building complex, so the only "high speed" options are LTE (a several
dollars per Gigabyte) or _maybe_ NBN fixed wireless (tops out at 50mbit).

Lucky Australia is such a beautiful country, eh?

~~~
voltagex_
I feel guilty every time I mention that I'm on the NBN - the real one. The
fibre terminates into a NBNco branded box and as long as I've got a device
that speaks PPPoE I'm online.

It doesn't solve all problems - there's massive congestion on Internode where
I am that limits me to 20 megabits during the day, and TPG have messed up the
routes to everywhere (Xbox Live gets <2 megabit, but Steam works fine).

~~~
bigiain
So I just checked again - the brand new 200 apartment building up the end of
my street is wired for NBN, pretty much all of the rest of my suburb isn't
even in the planning stage still.

(I bet I could get a bunch of wifi signals from that new apartment block with
my 24db gain 2.4GHz yagi...)

~~~
voltagex_
Make a friend on a higher level apartment and set up a Ubiquiti point-to-point
network.

~~~
bigiain
Or [https://www.aircrack-
ng.org/doku.php?id=cracking_wpa](https://www.aircrack-
ng.org/doku.php?id=cracking_wpa)

(Who me? _Never!_)

------
spike021
Not sure how related this is, but my parents have a one or two year old
Samsung "Smart" HDTV. It doesn't have Chromecast built in, but it does have
Youtube, Netflix, and a few other "apps".

I thought it was really cool one time when I was visiting during a SpaceX
launch and experimental sea landing because I was able to swap from watching
live via Youtube on my laptop to casting it to their HDTV. That was just by
pressing the cast button and selecting their TV, which was automatically in
the list without me doing anything.

It's awesome that Google's made this more convenient and I think it'll be
something useful for a lot of people.

~~~
honkhonkpants
Those are YouTube-specific hacks, as I understand it. My Oppo Blu-Ray player
also shows up as a cast-to destination in the YouTube application, but it
doesn't show up anywhere else that has the casting ability.

~~~
kevincox
I believe that this is the DIAL ([http://www.dial-
multiscreen.org/](http://www.dial-multiscreen.org/)) protocol. I know Netflix
and YouTube use it, as well as I presume others. Personally I don't think it
is as cool as Google Cast as it requires an app/server installed on the
target, where as Cast can open any website.

------
biot

      "people have casted more than 38 million times from
       Chrome, watching and listening to more than 50 million
       hours of content."
    

So Google is monitoring your watching habits. What other information do they
collect as part of this? Are these details documented in a privacy policy
somewhere?

The setting chrome://flags/#disable-cast-streaming-hw-encoding only appears to
toggle hardware encoding or not. Can it be disabled altogether?

~~~
andrewguenther
There is a "Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google"
checkbox right in the settings. It even asks you during the install. Just
uncheck the box to disable.

They also recorded this data as part of the Chrome extension, not natively. If
you want to see more about the native metrics Chrome sends to Google, check
out "chrome://histograms/"

------
Nullabillity
> and partnered with other manufacturers to make Cast-enabled TVs and
> speakers.

WTF? Just publish the damn API already.

------
skrowl
I wish I could easily cast from Firefox or another privacy-respecting browser

~~~
MichaelGG
There should be a campaign to call Chrome "Google Browser" to make it clear
just how tight the connection is. A lot of more-tech people would have a
slightly harder time saying they use GBrowse than Chrome.

------
eof
Since this has happened my (gen 1) chromecast experience has gone almost
totally to crap.

The built in functionality is supposed to be smart about down scaling for wifi
speed, and thus has removed all options to do it manually; unfortunately it
utterly fails (I believe because wifi speed is fine but the bitrate is too
high for the hardware).

Lots of people don't like this update.
[https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chromecast/5IG1...](https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chromecast/5IG1ClAapLc/3pCqFStfEAAJ)

Streaming from my android is also much worse, with high bitrate streams that I
used to consume regularly no longer working at all (e.g <1 fps).

I have been extremely happy with my chromecast until the last few months, and
it honestly has become something I really dislike now.

------
flavor8
Any chance for "reverse cast"? I would love to be able to cast from supported
apps in my phone to a tab in my browser.

~~~
piquadrat
Vysor is pretty much that.

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vysor/gidgenkbbabo...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vysor/gidgenkbbabolejbgbpnhbimgjbffefm)

------
microcolonel
If this means it's in the Chromium source tree, I'm very happy. Then there is
an open source Google Cast client maintained by Google proper.

And it looks like that's exactly what they've done.
[https://cs.chromium.org/chromium/src/media/cast/?q=cast&sq=p...](https://cs.chromium.org/chromium/src/media/cast/?q=cast&sq=package:chromium)

No more needing to guess how to implement non-deprecated versions of the API
when integrating with other players.

~~~
vbernat
This part is here since quite some time (since the introduction of the "new"
protocol, two years ago). It is not the complete picture since it's only the
low-level view (mDNS and protobuf). It's not sufficient to build a client
since you still have to figure out the content of the messages. The gap is the
extension that was provided until now (as a minified JS).

~~~
microcolonel
Ahh; that explains why performance wasn't awful all this time.

------
obilgic
So now its called Google Cast, not Chromecast?

~~~
lowmess
Google Cast is the technology, Chromecast is the device. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

~~~
Frank2312
At first, it was all Chromecast.

The API was even called the Chromecast API.

They changed it to Google Cast last March [0].

[0] [http://www.techtimes.com/articles/143386/20160323/google-
reb...](http://www.techtimes.com/articles/143386/20160323/google-rebrands-
chromecast-as-google-cast-heres-the-reason-for-the-name-change.htm)

~~~
criley2
The person said the device was still called Chromecast.

[https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/chromecast/](https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/chromecast/)

[https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/chromecast/tv/#?discover](https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/chromecast/tv/#?discover)

Google is still branding the device as Chromecast and still heavily using the
term in the marketing for the actual device.

Also, other companies make Google Cast supported hardware, such as the NVidia
Shield.

[https://shield.nvidia.com/blog/what-is-googlecast-
chromecast](https://shield.nvidia.com/blog/what-is-googlecast-chromecast)

~~~
Frank2312
I understood that.

I was just clarifying for obilgic by explaining that he wasn't mistaken until
more recently when Google rebranded the API.

------
RevBooyah
All in an effort to reduce its memory footprint...

~~~
gkoberger
It's not all about memory footprint; it's sometimes about just working for the
grandmother who buys a $35 Chromecast from Best Buy.

~~~
jawns
And sometimes it's not all about that either, but about vendor lock-in.

~~~
gkoberger
Sometimes "making it just work" and "avoiding vendor lock-in" are
incompatible. Plus, it's literally called "Chromecast."

~~~
kevincox
The device itself runs chrome. So I don't think of the sender as the influence
in the name. Plus chrome has a good mind-share which helps marketing.

------
surlyadopter
" In the past month alone, people have casted more than 38 million times from
Chrome, watching and listening to more than 50 million hours of content."

Apologies for the stupid question, but how exactly does Google know this? Is
there some "send statistics home" function in the browser?

~~~
corobo
Yes it's one of the first things it asks you when you install it

[https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/96817?hl=en-
GB](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/96817?hl=en-GB)

------
askvictor
And yet, despite Google making a strong play for the education and corporate
markets, Chromecast still doesn't work on enterprise wireless networks,
effectively cutting out any use in those spaces.

~~~
galaktor
For this reason I've been thinking about flashing mine with eureka-rom [1]

Anybody try this out yet?

[1] [http://forum.xda-developers.com/android-tv/chromecast/rom-
fl...](http://forum.xda-developers.com/android-tv/chromecast/rom-flashcast-
autoroot-t3270332)

------
johnnyo
I hope Amazon FireTV supports this soon, or supplies a client. I've already
got several of these sticks, and I'd love to be able to cast a tab up from
somewhere on my network.

------
chrissnell
It seems like Cast would be an inferior way to stream HD content to a TV for
many users. If the source host is wifi-connected, you're tripling the amount
of traffic that's passed through your access points: once from the content
source (e.g. Netflix) to the laptop via the AP, then presumably from the
laptop to the AP and back out to the Chromecast device.

~~~
IanCal
That's not how it's done. That's a complete fallback.

For Netflix what happens is your browser tells the cast device what URL to go
to to play the content. Your browser does not need to steam the video to the
cast device. It can fall back to that so you can cast anything, however.

~~~
ihsw
This is true but there are a couple caveats, one being the device playing the
content has to already be authenticated properly.

You cannot simply go near a Cast-enabled device and start playing your stuff,
unless I am mistaken. If that is the functionality then that would be
terrifying as I would be handing my credentials to this Cast-enabled device.

~~~
sarnowski
Actually this is how the chromecast works. You never interact with the
chromecast directly to configure your Netflix account for example. I assume
(hope) they send a URL to the movie it should play with a one-time token to
access the movie source.

~~~
ihsw
It is inevitable that plaintext username/password will be used. This is why I
am terrified.

~~~
tracker1
Most likely it isn't a username/password but an authenticated URL...
[https://foo.bar.netflix.com/(UUID-OR-
SIMILAR)](https://foo.bar.netflix.com/\(UUID-OR-SIMILAR\)) where that is
resolved to a resource, and the user authentication is valid for X hours from
start...

There's no need for a plain username+password to be used... it's just an
authentication token as the resource or part of the url.

------
leeoniya
remembering my wtf from debugging phantom console errors:

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24490323/google-chrome-
ca...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24490323/google-chrome-cast-sender-
error-if-chrome-cast-extension-is-not-installed-or-usi)

------
a_thro_away
It appears that Google will eliminate Chrome "packaged apps" in the next year;
do I understand these to be locally installed apps? (I don't know Chrome). All
apps after that must be on (a service?) the web. What could be the reason
behind this?

~~~
SquareWheel
Chrome is deprecating Chrome Web Apps in favor of native Web Apps. Essentially
it's a push towards a more open web now that the APIs have caught up. It
really has nothing to do with services.

------
tiles
Since Google Cast has been open-sourced (upstreamed to Chromium), does this
make it the de-facto alternative to Miracast? My Roku supports screen
mirroring, but the fact that apps and companies are more keen on supporting
ChromeCast has been frustrating.

------
mashlol
I really want a feature that would allow me to cast from my phone to my
desktop. I have a big TV plugged into my desktop but I can't cast to it from
my phone, I have to remote in and manually control the desktop, it's painful.

~~~
mappu
Windows 10 added a built-in Miracast receiver, that works well with Android 6.

------
dvcrn
I was surprised to hear that not many people knew that Safari does something
similar (kind of) with AirPlay. A lot of videos and content (on YouTube for
example) can be Airplayed when using Safari, but not when using Chrome or
Firefox.

------
balls187
Thank you for the extra and unnecessary bloat on the main browser I use for
work.

~~~
azinman2
Safari has gotten quite good, btw, if you're on a mac. I mentioned this to a
guy on the original Chrome team, and he said he wouldn't be surprised if it
were faster now.... Chrome used to be all about speed but now it's about
features.

~~~
dandandans
Safari dev tools kills adoption for me, specifically the styles inspector and
the lack of an individual input/focus state for the property and value.

------
sfifs
So will it work on Chrome for Android? It's not been available there yet.

~~~
Frank2312
It has been available for quite a while, but only for videos (they added a
button in the video player).

If you want to cast a tab, while it's not the optimal solution, you can cast
your whole screen using the quick settings tile.

------
dingo_bat
The time is coming for me to switch back to Firefox.

------
Vexs
Can't say I'm surprised. It's built into android now too, and the cast
extension has been showing a lot of change recently.

------
breakingcups
Yet for some reason the ability to cast HTML5 video's from my Nexus 5 has
silently disappeared for months without a fix?

------
rblatz
I'm hoping that the Sonos event tomorrow includes an announcement about
supporting the audio portion Google Cast.

~~~
echelon
How open is Sonos' API? I've been thinking about investing in some of their
audio hardware.

~~~
jrockway
There is a PulseAudio extension that writes to both Sonos speakers and
Chromecast:

[https://github.com/masmu/pulseaudio-
dlna](https://github.com/masmu/pulseaudio-dlna)

DLNA is some sort of standard, maybe that's what Sonos uses. I personally just
use their phone app though.

~~~
rblatz
That is an awesome find, thanks!

------
agumonkey
I don't know if it's related but chromecast was a bit buggy. Reboot level
buggy.

~~~
ihsw
I have a Roku and casting YouTube and Netflix works great.

One caveat is Netflix doesn't autoplay to the next episode after casting a
video.

I really wish it had Google Play Music though.

~~~
andrewpi
Google Play Music support was one of the main reasons I added a Chromecast to
my setup. It's a frustrating gap in the wide variety of content that Roku can
handle.

------
ForFreedom
Can I cast a video playing on vlc or is it only from the browser?

~~~
urmish
There is a command on unix for this

[https://alan-mushi.github.io/asap/2015/03/21/vlc-stream-
to-c...](https://alan-mushi.github.io/asap/2015/03/21/vlc-stream-to-
chromecast.html)

vlc -vvv ./file.mp4 --sout "#chromecast{ip=192.168.1.4}"

You can find out the ip of your chromecast with the command "arp -a" and it
should list Chromecast as one of the devices if its switched on and on the
same wifi

Only works with VLC nightly builds 3.x.x. Also it is not very stable but gets
the job done if you don't care about subtitles and scrolling through the video
frequently.

THe best option is plex (works for many file formats). Second best option is
videostream extension on Chrome (not on chromium). But videostream doesn't
support all file formats. They keep updating though.

~~~
ForFreedom
hmm.. Could I mirror my macbook screen?

------
Angostura
Anyone know if this includes the iOS version?

~~~
Frank2312
You can't cast a browser window, but you can cast videos :
[http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/google-adds-
chrome...](http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/google-adds-chromecast-
support-for-ios-chrome-app/)

------
denzil_correa
I am unable to mirror Chromecast from my Mac. Basically, it mirrors the video
but does not mirror the audio.

~~~
chatmasta
Assuming you're talking about casting from a chrome tab, I thought i had this
issue, but it's a simple fix.

After you start casting, click the cast button again. You should see a volume
slider that you can adjust.

~~~
denzil_correa
It is not a question of volume. It just does not play on the TV. Here's the
error I get.

[http://imgur.com/a/Hpzmb](http://imgur.com/a/Hpzmb)

~~~
unfocused
I think as of this July post, you can't send audio when mirroring your
_Desktop_ from a Mac:
[https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/chromecast/jGSayxcIng...](https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/chromecast/jGSayxcIng4/30jGuullCwAJ)

"Grace Y. said: Hello,

Thanks for your patience. Currently, audio is not supported when casting your
desktop from a Mac computer/laptop. However, casting a tab does support audio.
We're always looking for ways to improve, so your feature request has been
duly noted.

Best, Grace"

~~~
denzil_correa
Thanks! I noticed some people on the forum were able to cast audio by changing
"chrome://flags/" but I could not.

