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Stream2Chromecast

A Chromecast media streamer for Linux.

Stream2Chromecast casts audio and video files to a Chromecast device from Linux.

It can also transcode any unsupported files in real time and play them on the Chromecast.

It is written in Python 2.7 and uses either ffmpeg or avconv for transcoding.

Installation

To play media file types that are unsupported by Chromecast, either ffmpeg or avconv need to be installed to do the transcoding.

On Ubuntu, either install ffmpeg:-

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

...or avconv:-

sudo apt-get install libav-tools

On some older Ubuntu versions (e.g. 14.04), a third party PPA is required to install ffmpeg:-

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media
sudo apt-get update
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade # optional
apt-get install ffmpeg

Functionality

To stream supported media files to a Chromecast.

    stream2chromecast.py my_media.mp4

To transcode and stream unsupported media files to a Chromecast. (This requires either ffmpeg or avconv to be installed. See Installation.)

    stream2chromecast.py -transcode my_mpeg_file.mpg

To play a supported file from a URL. This plays the file directly from the remote address, so the file must be streamable and cannot be transcoded. This option will only play downloadable files, it will not stream internet radio stations. In situations where this option does not work, the transcode option will accept URLs as well as local file paths and will often cope better.

    stream2chromecast.py -playurl http://www.example.com/my_media.mp4

Control playback

  • pause playback (currently only works when not transcoding)

     stream2chromecast.py -pause

  • continue (unpause) playback (currently only works when not transcoding)

     stream2chromecast.py -continue

  • stop playback

     stream2chromecast.py -stop

Volume control

  • set volume (takes a value between 0.0 and 1.0)

     stream2chromecast.py -setvol <volume>

  • increase or decrease volume by 0.1

     stream2chromecast.py -volup
 stream2chromecast.py -voldown

  • mute volume

     stream2chromecast.py -mute

Status

  • get Chromecast status

     stream2chromecast.py -status

Specifying a device when there are multiple Chromecasts on the network

To specify a device by name or IP address, use the -devicename parameter. e.g.

  • To play a file on a device named "my_chromecast"

     stream2chromecast.py -devicename my_chromecast my_media.mp4

  • To play a file on a device at IP address 192.168.1.10

     stream2chromecast.py -devicename 192.168.1.10 my_media.mp4

  • To search the network and list the available devices

     stream2chromecast.py -devicelist

Specify which transcoder to use

If both ffmpeg and avconv are installed, ffmpeg will be used by default.

  • To specify avconv to be used and transcode a playback, use the -transcoder option

     stream2chromecast.py -transcoder avconv -transcode <file>

Supply custom transcoder parameters

It is possible to pass in specific parameters to ffmpeg or avconv using the -transcodeopts parameter with the options surrounded by quotes. These options are applied to the transcoder output.

  • To specify an output video bitrate of 1000k and an audio bitrate of 128k

     stream2chromecast.py -transcodeopts '-b:v 1000k -b:a 128k' -transcode <file>

  • To specify a stereo (2.1) output froma 5.1 input (required for some old Chromecasts)

     stream2chromecast.py -transcodeopts '-af "pan=stereo|FL < 1.0*FL + 0.707*FC + 0.707*BL|FR < 1.0*FR + 0.707*FC + 0.707*BR"' -transcode <file>

It is also possible to pass in parameters to the transcoder to be applied to the transcoder input using the -transcodeinputopts parameter, again with the options surrounded by quotes. This can be useful for specifying a "seek" position.

  • To specify a seek position of 15 minutes from the start of the media file

     stream2chromecast.py -transcodeinputopts '-ss 00:15:00' -transcode <file>

Specify a port to use for streaming media.

By default, a random unused port will be selected to serve the media from. In a firewalled environment, it can be useful to be able to specify the port to open

  • To specify port 8765 to serve media from

     stream2chromecast.py -port 8765 <file>

Subtitles

Only the WebVTT format is currently supported and not when transcoding.

  • to cast the subtitles on /path/to/subtitles.vtt

     stream2chromecast.py -subtitles /path/to/subtitles.vtt <file>

To specify the port from which the subtitles file is streamed. In a firewalled environment, it can be useful to be able to specify the port to open

  • to serve the subtitles on port 8765

     stream2chromecast.py -subtitles /path/to/subtitles.vtt -subtitles_port 8765 <file>

To specify the subtitles language. The language format is defined by RFC 5646. (in most cases, this option should not be needed)

  • to serve the subtitles french subtitles

     stream2chromecast.py -subtitles /path/to/subtitles.vtt -subtitles_language fr <file>

Specify a buffer-size for the transcoder process

By default, the transcoder process returns its data to be sent to the device without buffering. Buffering the data can help in situations where the network connection is slow.

  • To specify a buffer size of 5 megabytes

     stream2chromecast.py -transcodebufsize 5242880 -transcode <file>

Notes

avconv is a fork of ffmpeg. For a time, (when this script was first written) it was included in the Ubuntu repositories rather than ffmpeg. There was a PPA repository available which contained the latest builds of ffmpeg (see the installation notes). For those who are using the 14.04 release, this might still be a good option.

To Do

Automatic identification of media types that need transcoding.
Python 3 compatibility...?
curses interface.

License

stream2chromecast.py is GPLv3 licensed.

Thanks

The excellent PyChromecast library by Paulus Schoutsen has been a great help for information on building the interface.

https://github.com/balloob/pychromecast

Thanks to TheCrazyT for this gist:-

https://gist.github.com/TheCrazyT/11263599

Thanks to dohliam for bug fixes and additional functionality.

Thanks to interlocuteur for bug fixes, error reports & advice.

Thanks to jsalatiel for suggestions & advice.

Thanks to palaviv for the subtitles functionality.