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Chromecast |OT|

DarkFlow

Banned
Yeah. Chromecast has google dns hard coded. For me the easiest solution was use my router firewall to block outgoing calls to google dns ips. Then the chromecast just drops back to the dns settings in my router.

Oh, i did not know you could do that. I thought I was SOL since the DNS was locked in. How would I do that on my Asus RT-AC68R?
 

Quasar

Member
Oh, i did not know you could do that. I thought I was SOL since the DNS was locked in. How would I do that on my Asus RT-AC68R?

Well...looking at the online manual it seems you'd do that with the Network Services Filter setting in the router. Thats apparently in the Firewall settings of the router.

I just blocked all outbound traffic to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, but you could limit it to DNS traffic only (port 53 UDP).
 

Quasar

Member
Got sound working but I don't particularly like my solution.

What was the solution. I'm rather curious as theres basically no configuration options on the device it just works (or is at least supposed to - and I've used it in really old (10 years)hdtvs).
 
What was the solution. I'm rather curious as theres basically no configuration options on the device it just works (or is at least supposed to - and I've used it in really old (10 years)hdtvs).

I restored the TV to factory settings. Previously, my TV's output was directly to my sound system. So now I have sound for chromecast off the TV's speakers but still haven't figured out how to output directly to my sound system..
 

Quasar

Member
I restored the TV to factory settings. Previously, my TV's output was directly to my sound system. So now I have sound for chromecast off the TV's speakers but still haven't figured out how to output directly to my sound system..

Well on my parents aquos there was a setting to redirect audio out an optical connection to an avr, albeit only stereo.

For mine, I have a chromecast plugged into my avr directly.
 

DrSlek

Member
I just got a Chromecast on Thursday. Immediately purchased the Plex app and installed the media server.

Totally worth it. It works so much better than my Smart TV. Plex automatically goes and grabs the info for the videos I have seemingly based on embedded info and filenames. One of the little things that surprised me is when I select a TV series in the Plex app, my phone will begin playing the theme for the show.
 

PaulLFC

Member
I restored the TV to factory settings. Previously, my TV's output was directly to my sound system. So now I have sound for chromecast off the TV's speakers but still haven't figured out how to output directly to my sound system..
This happened to me, I didn't have ARC enabled. Enable ARC (audio return control) on your TV and sound system and all TV audio should be output through it, including the Chromecast.
 

kehs

Banned
what do you guys use to play media off a nas (synology)

without something like plex that needs a computer running
 

DarkFlow

Banned
Well...looking at the online manual it seems you'd do that with the Network Services Filter setting in the router. Thats apparently in the Firewall settings of the router.

I just blocked all outbound traffic to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, but you could limit it to DNS traffic only (port 53 UDP).

Just wanted to say, this worked great. Blocked them and used unlocator and it played UK netflix like a charm.
 

GiJoccin

Member
got plex on that amazon sale and fired it up for the first time...

totally awesome! any way to cast from your pc directly, or do you have to use the plex app on your phone?
 

Quasar

Member
Are there any inklings about which apps might add support?

I'd love Spotify

It seems to me that app makers don't really announce these things ahead of time. As for spotify who knows. Maybe their closeness to FB will hold them back. I think for the most part that any app that already supports airplay on ios will get chromecast, unless there are political reasons not to support google.

I know Sonos just announced support, though I'm not sure how that works. I guess as an end point so you can cast audio to a sonos system rather than a chromecast.
 

yyzjohn

Banned
It seems to me that app makers don't really announce these things ahead of time. As for spotify who knows. Maybe their closeness to FB will hold them back. I think for the most part that any app that already supports airplay on ios will get chromecast, unless there are political reasons not to support google.

I know Sonos just announced support, though I'm not sure how that works. I guess as an end point so you can cast audio to a sonos system rather than a chromecast.

From everything i've heard from other apps that add Chromecast support, it's fairly simple to implement as well, so there's nothing holding them back other then fear of alienating other deals (like the aforementioned facebook)
 

Quasar

Member
Yeah. And looking at spotify, they don't support airplay on ios (unlike rdio for one) so I guess they wont support chromecast either. Not that I'm bothered myself, as I prefer the google music service anyway. I like the ability to mix the catalogue google has with my own music it doesn't Though of course I'd be happier with an add supported option rather than a subscription.
 

yyzjohn

Banned
Yeah. And looking at spotify, they don't support airplay on ios (unlike rdio for one) so I guess they wont support chromecast either. Not that I'm bothered myself, as I prefer the google music service anyway. I like the ability to mix the catalogue google has with my own music it doesn't Though of course I'd be happier with an add supported option rather than a subscription.


Songza in Canada has streaming music and Chromecast support.
 

Trouble

Banned
Picked one up for $30 in the deal a few days ago.

Chromecast + Plex is totally rad. I plunked down the $5 for the Plex Android app. Being able to use my laptop, phone or tablet to tell Plex to stream something to my TV and have my TV magically switch over inputs due to HDMI-CEC is fantastic.

The only downside I've run into is some 1080p movies stutter at times, likely due to me living in a an urban area with really really noisy wifi. If I could hardwire this thing into my LAN, I would.

I have a WDTV live, which I'm hoping this can largely replace. I hate the clunky interface of the WDTV and it takes forever when you run a library update and constantly hangs. However the upside (and why I bought it) is it has the ability to natively decode just about everything. Plex transcoding seems mostly transparent, but it does seem to get hung up from time to time. Moving positions in a video inevitably induces a delay while the transcoder picks back up and buffers.

The idea behind the chrome extension and tab casting is great, but the latency is atrocious. The Youtube integration is amazing and basically is worth the price alone. The ability to click a button on a Youtube video and send it to the TV is fantastic.
 
^ Yeah I've had a few problems with 1080p videos, but on the whole it's fine. I think there's also options to change the quality of streaming so I'll have to look into it.

So, picked one of these up yesterday. I'm incredibly impressed. Been playing around with Netflix. YouTube, and Plex. I really think they're onto something here; the affordability and ease of use is a fantastic twofer. I've been showing it off to my parents, and they already want to pick one up for the other rooms in the house. Why wouldn't they for £30?

It's a little limited right now, and I'm having trouble with getting stuff like US Netflix, but it's been a very surprising impulse buy so far. And the portability is great; I can just pack this thing in my bag and take it over to my girlfriend's house, and save us from the monotony of UK terrestrial TV.
 

thespot84

Member
for people casting from android phones:

I'd noticed at points that my stream would randomly disconnect, often just a minute or two after starting, specifically with google music.

Changing my wifi settings (under advanced) to always 'keep wifi on during sleep' seemed to alleviate the issue. Maybe that will help someone.
 

Quasar

Member
for people casting from android phones:

I'd noticed at points that my stream would randomly disconnect, often just a minute or two after starting, specifically with google music.

Changing my wifi settings (under advanced) to always 'keep wifi on during sleep' seemed to alleviate the issue. Maybe that will help someone.

What is your signal strength like? I can't say I've noticed it at all, even with 1080p video (either from plex or netflix). But yeah this is exactly why I hope for the AndroidTV thing to be real, just to get something that I can cast to like a chrome, but has ethernet.
 

thespot84

Member
What is your signal strength like? I can't say I've noticed it at all, even with 1080p video (either from plex or netflix). But yeah this is exactly why I hope for the AndroidTV thing to be real, just to get something that I can cast to like a chrome, but has ethernet.

it didn't seem to be a signal strength issue, as it's happend with all sorts of setups, and seemed specific to my phone. since the wifi keep awake thing fixed it it's been great. For netflix and hbo go it's been great regardless
 

Quasar

Member
it didn't seem to be a signal strength issue, as it's happend with all sorts of setups, and seemed specific to my phone. since the wifi keep awake thing fixed it it's been great. For netflix and hbo go it's been great regardless

It shouldnt be phone specific as the phone only just tells the chromecast what URL to grab the video from. Video is not sent from the phone.
 

thespot84

Member
It shouldnt be phone specific as the phone only just tells the chromecast what URL to grab the video from. Video is not sent from the phone.

yeah that's why video was rarely a problem, yet music was. I theorize that when playing a google music radio station, the phone has to tell CC every song to stream. After a few minutes the phone would turn off wifi to save battery during sleep, and stop telling CC what to play next, and the connection would drop.
 

Quasar

Member
yeah that's why video was rarely a problem, yet music was. I theorize that when playing a google music radio station, the phone has to tell CC every song to stream. After a few minutes the phone would turn off wifi to save battery during sleep, and stop telling CC what to play next, and the connection would drop.

The only thing I've noticed with google music is the track changes are a bit slow as it loads a new page with album art after every track. Which I thought might have just been my shitty internet.

But yeah if your wifi is disabled guess that might be causing trouble. Have you tried using Google Music from a wired PC and see if it happens there too?
 

Ashhong

Member
Do you guys think it will be possible that a future iteration of chromecast has no need for a power source? Would hdmi port be able to power anything?
 

DrFurbs

Member
Guys are any of you having this problem? My phone loses connection to my chrome cat regularly and it seems to have gotten worse. To solve the problem i have to reset the CC by pulling the power lead out.

This is really beginning to get on my nerves because it was rock stable weeks ago. My tour is only 15 get away and I'm on fibre optic so when it works it's fantastic.

Ideas why this is happening?
 

DrFurbs

Member
Actually earlier in this thread someone mentioned turning off an advanced option in the wireless that turns wireless off when the phone sleeps. In going to try this.
 

SimleuqiR

Member
http://www.androidcentral.com/playon-bringing-100-channels-chromecast

The popular media server PlayOn has announced today that their PlayOn and PlayLater services now offer support for Chromecast. PlayOn users will now be able to beam content from over 100 channels to Chromecast including NBC, ABC, Comedy Central, Hulu and more. Using the PlayOn mobile app, users can browse content on a mobile device and also access the PlayLater option to record videos for viewing at a later time.

Never heard of PlayOn. Is this better the Plex?
 

Quasar

Member

Depends what you want. It sees a pretty different thing, being a 30$ a year service to stream various things, whereas Plex is mainly just a home media streamer that has a small one-off cost for a android client but free otherwise.

I remember hearing about it many years ago as one of the first things that could stream stuff to a PS3. Before the Playstation Media Server, before probably anything.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Google Drive Can Now Cast Presentations To Chromecast, Desktop Version Only For Now

EWmof.gif


Redbox Instant Joins The Ever-Growing List Of Streaming Apps With Chromecast Support

Dailymotion Tries Its Hand At Chromecast Streaming With The Latest Play Store Beta
 
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