I developped a chromecast receiver application that simply loads a web page from a local web server. The default app being the Backdrop, when the latter is launched (e.g. after the chromecast is turned on), I simply launch my app by its registered app id.
For some reason, if the TV is turned off, and the chromecast switches from the Backdrop to my receiver app, the TV turns on and shows the loaded page. I suspect this is a CEC related issue, but I wonder why this doesn't happen with the Backdrop too?
The only code I use in the receiver page is:
<script>
cast.receiver.CastReceiverManager.getInstance().start();
</script>
I'm using the API v2.0.0.
This is not the typical use of the Cast SDK so its likely you might run into issues. CEC is used for turning on TV's when it makes sense but unfortunately doesn't work consistently good across various manufacturers.
Related
Studying the possibility to achieve the following:
We have a CMS that from time to time posts to a web hook a media URL (video) (public internet hosted)
This web hook post we would like to post directly to a ChromeCast which is plugged in to a TV
Questions:
1. Can a web server like nodeJS be installed on a chrome cast?
2. Is it possible to use for example DynamicDNS to link the Chromecast to a domain name so the post from the web hook can be made?
ChromeCast has a sender API which allows you to "send" content to a specific Chromecast. Right now, the sender API works on Android, IOS and Chrome OS. You can read more about it here: https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/sender_apps.
And, here's how a receiver application that would receive your content on the ChromeCast would work: https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/receiver_apps or if you're content is a standard type, then you can use a prebuilt receiver application without building your own.
To answer your specific questions:
Can a web server like nodeJS be installed on a chrome cast?
No, not without enormous hacking and development yourself to basically take over the hardware somehow and get your own stuff to run on it.
Is it possible to use for example DynamicDNS to link the Chromecast to
a domain name so the post from the web hook can be made?
Not that I know of.
The chromecast has an android like google chrome operating system. It is possible to root it, but you will not be able to (to my knowledge) get a server on it. I would suggest taking a look at the Raspberry Pi. You should be able to run a slim server on it. After you get that set up it might be feasible to pass command line commands to chrome or another web browser to display the data you like. A browser is not necessary, but I'm not sure if you know of any other way to display the media.
A different approach would be to have a server anywhere (could be in your home) and have something like the raspberry pi (any computer for displaying the content) connect to a webpage hosted with that server. Using websockets something like socket.io, you could set it up so that the server could send messages (url of video) to the browser session you have open. The javascript of your webpage would then use that message to open that url.
I've written a non-published (personal) Chrome extension that performs page checking and then performs actions such as opening new tabs if certain conditions are met. I would like to be able to "remote control" it from my phone though, e.g. turn on or off or adjust settings when I'm away from my desk.
I considered if the extension can read/write to a file in Dropbox, which I could then edit from my phone too, or any other device. But I'm not sure if extensions are allowed to arbitrarily read/write in the filesystem, or only "apps". Any other suggestions?
Assuming you can't directly connect to your computer (otherwise wOxxOm's answer is valid)..
You could make a companion phone app and use GCM push messages; your phone would message your server via it (which can be hosted on a free App Engine tier easily if it's just for your private use) and the server will push out the message.
Though it'll probably be much easier to just have said App Engine server up and providing a WebSocket endpoint that your extension can connect to to receive commands in real-time, and some sort of API / control panel on the web (authenticated, of course).
Any free webserver-based solution would lag, as bad as 500ms, I think.
Try making a complementary native PC program: mobile apps for remote control usually have their PC part running as a background service or an application with just a shelltray icon. Such program opens a TCP/UDP port on PC and listens for commands from the mobile app, and can communicate with your extension via Chrome's native messaging API.
I recently purchased a LG Music Flow H3 to test my Google Cast app with an 'audio-only' device. I've enabled audio-only device support within the Google Cast Dashboard and I've registered the device for development. My app works as expected when played to Google Chromecasts, however when attempting to load the receiver app on the LG device I get the following error:
{"reason":"NOT_FOUND","requestId":1,"type":"LAUNCH_ERROR"}
Thinking that perhaps 3rd-party devices can't be registered for development, I went ahead and published my app. Unfortunately this did not address the problem.
Upon further investigation, I'm noticing that other Google Cast apps (i.e. Songza, TuneIn, Pandora, etc. on both Android & iOS) aren't able to play to the LG Music Flow H3 either.
I discovered that the only way to get the H3 to play from Google Cast apps (both my app and others) is to first run the LG Music Flow multi-room audio app. Running the LG Music Flow app appears to effect the device's _googlecast._tcp zeroconf service discoverability. And sometimes the H3 shows up in zeroconf yet you still can't play to the speaker unless the LG Music Flow app is running.
This seams like very strange behavior. I called LG Tech Support, and they recommended I return the device and exchange it for a different one. I did this, and I still get the same result.
Is this how Google Cast on 3rd-Party devices is intended to work? Have I encountered a buggy 3rd-party implementation?
This is not the intended behavior for sure. You are supposed to be able to launch your 3rd party application on the speaker.
And it works for me.
The fact you are not able to use any other 3rd party apps (TuneIn, Pandora etc) indicate this is a some general problem and not specifically with your app.
Couple of steps I would try:
- Setup you H3 speaker on Wifi (vs Ethernet) and get the latest SW version using the Music Flow app.
Have you Factory reset the device? if you did, you will need to go through setup again. I have noticed Google Cast becomes enabled only after first complete setup.
Please try rebooting, and than try casting apps like TuneIn or Pandora and than see if this works (without using the MusicFlow app). I have noticed in the past that if some app is loaded and is behaving badly (for example uses tons of memory) it will put the speaker into a bad state that don't allow any app to work until reboot. So perhaps when you are casting your app, it gets into a bad state causing other apps to fail afterwards.
Have you made sure not to consume to much memory? avoid graphics or video?
I've embedded dash.js player into Multi Device Hybrid App template, feed it with working live video link (tested with the same dash.js in trivial html page). When app is starting in Ripple (Apache Ripple™, web based mobile environment simulator), I see debug info in VS with errors "net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED". After a few attempts it stops to try and doesn't play a thing.
However, to check if network is working between client and server I've created a website with test image on the server side and embedded this image into application on the client side. It manages to load it, so at least network is working. Firewall disabled both sides.
So, the same exact MPEG DASH manifest is working inside an html with embedded dash.js in Chrome browser, but doesn't work when in Hybrid App in Ripple. But remote image can be loaded inside that app, so network is fine and Ripple let the app to request remote resources from the net.
What the reason? How can I debug it?
Is the HTML5 MSE (Media Source Extentions) supported within Ripple? You may also try it with some basic sample code like this or this, or try another DASH web player like dash-js or bitdash
I would like to add the ability to cast my chrome packaged app to a google chromecast device.
So far google states that all you have to do is add
to your page and the API will inject itself.
For me that doesn't happen. No code is injected.
Am I doing something wrong?
There doesn't seem to be a demo showing this type of capability.
EDIT:
I just wanted to clarify a bit. All that I would like to do is display my app to a screen.
I have no media. I simply want to display it exactly as the chrome extension in the chrome browser would.Therefore I would follow the directions for a sender only. The app is packaged so it is running only CSS/JS/HTML5 code. The app is designed to run offline.
Steps I've taken to cast:
1. I've added the extra bit to the HTML line:
2. I've followed the whitelisting, to the best of my understanding, by adding my "website address" to the chrome extension. So I've added the only two address that should matter.
127.0.0.1
192.168.1.106
There is a good chance Content Security Policy is blocking the implementation of the cast API being injected. I see that you've filed Issue 287254: Google cast (chromecast) ability for packaged apps, and suspect we will need to wait for it to be implemented in a packaged apps compliant way.
You must whitelist your device and your Chrome app. See here for more details:
https://developers.google.com/cast/whitelisting#whitelist-chrome