[nokian]

what's a roku ?

I think it's a mythical bird, maybe?

Guys, are you being sarcastic

Meet Roku 3. A popular streaming device with an RF remote and Angry Birds for $99

http://www.roku.com

[awp0]

Hedda, I triple dare you to buy a new Chromecast today and root it. Once you prove that it can be done on a Chromecast that has the first update installed, then I'll jump onto your side of this and advocate for a Chromecast port of XBMC (not that anyone would listen to me). Until then it's a moot point.

[davilla]

I dare you to play vc1 on a Chromecast without transcoding, even better, try mpeg2...

[awp0]

Yeah, that's another good point. No MPEG2 means no PVR functionality in the US.

[davilla]

see box, see outside of box...

[nickr]

... I dare you ... I double-dare you ...

What are you. 5 years old?

[Asphyx]

You know what an Android stick is, right? When "HTPC" means "Android stick no bigger than a Chromecast" and "library sharing" is as simple as dropping a single file onto each stick, then yes I'm saying it's pretty darn easy. With a smartphone remote like Yatze, finding and playing media on multiple XBMC instances is incredibly simple (and fun). And, of course, you'd also have the benefit of a full-featured Android device with the Play Store for anything else that your friends and family might want to do on each of those TV's (i.e. Evernote Food for the kitchen, Plants versus Zombies in the playroom).

I'm not sure this would accomplish your second scenario (which you had never mentioned before), but I'm not sure that scenario is very popular or common anyway. Frankly, I'm not even sure this would be possible with Chromecast support. I suppose it depends on how it's implemented.

And I'm not arguing that Chromecast wouldn't be great to have. Just pointing out that many of these use cases that people claim to want so badly are accomplishable right now.

Yes I know what an Android stick is and I know it won't play video being played on my HTPC at all! It will play the same content my HTPC does but it does not become a SECOND MONITOR for my HTPC!

Thank you and Goodnite!
I know full well how to play my content on all TVs...
I don't want that i have that already!
I want to be able to SEE (not just be able to play) what is playing on my HTPC on MULTIPLE MONITORS!

Your solution isn't a solution to my problem or request at all!
When you figure out what MULTIPLE MONITORING means tell me your method actually does what I want!

Please I know you think you have a clue what I'm looking for but judging from your answer you don't!
I can already play all my content to my TVs that have Chromecasts by using my Tablet to stream them via Plex!
Can even control them too!

But I still can't see what is playing on my XBMC HTPC with it nor any android stick you can suggest!

[Asphyx]

You and I have already established that your point was moot because the two sites it doesn't work with (Netflix and Amazon Prime), are 100% the most important. Nobody cares if XBMC can have Youtube or Vimeo or any of those other sites streamed to it, as long as it can't play Netflix and Amazon.

And you never will until such time as they WANT you to have it on your HTPC! It has to do with their contracts and DRM which they change frequently which is why the few Netflix apps you have seen keep breaking!

But if you wanted XBMC to be able to act as a Chromecast does all that is required is to add code to XBMC services that identifies the ALREADY CODED AND BUILT IN DLNA player in XBMC as a DIAL Target!

If that were true and it happened, that would make my day. It certainly hasn't happened yet though and to my knowledge not a single developer inside or outside of XBMC has even begun to submit code that would make it a possibility, making me question your casual offhand remark. For one thing, it's very possible that to make XBMC truly work like a Chromecast, we'd need webkit built in, which we obviously don't have. I'd be interested to know your coding background to see exactly how much of the code subject you are actually aware of. And further, if you have the necessary background, I'm curious why you are arguing about this instead of submitting code for the feature you so clearly want.

Only person who can make that happen for you is Netflix! XBMC could try and mimic a DIAL receiver so that the apps that support DIAL devices (Like the NetFlix App) would be able to play their streams on it!

Then you obviously aren't one of the thousands of people who regularly asks us when we're going to get Netflix support.

You have two choices for that...Get Netflix to make an XBMC compatible app or do as I suggested get XBMC to add DIAL support so the apps that DO work with Netflix can send it's stream to it!

[

The irony here is that if XBMC could act like a Chromecast, you wouldn't need "yes another Chromecast." Frankly, I'm honestly not sure why we're having this argument. I'm not arguing against XBMC being able to send to Chromecast. That'd just be an extension of the already existing Play To function that XBMC already has built in. It'd be a lot of work that I'm not sure any dev would want to do for free, but that being said, I'm always a fan of new features. The only thing I'm ultimately arguing for is eliminating the need to buy yet more hardware, if you've already got XBMC installed all around the house.

I would need it for TVs that don't have a connection to the XBMC wouldn't I?
How many TVs does one of your HTPCs connect to?
How many HTPCs do you Have one for every TV?
How many Monitors can one HTPC stream to at once? More than one?

Now you see what I'm asking for and why the Chromecast at $35 is better than spending a couple of hundred to put an HTPC on every screen in the house!

Whats more if you got rid of the HTPCs and put a chromecast on the Input instead Guess what you would get?

Thats right FULL NETFLIX support on EVERY TV!

[Ned Scott]

Yes I know what an Android stick is and I know it won't play video being played on my HTPC at all! It will play the same content my HTPC does but it does not become a SECOND MONITOR for my HTPC!

Thank you and Goodnite!
I know full well how to play my content on all TVs...
I don't want that i have that already!
I want to be able to SEE (not just be able to play) what is playing on my HTPC on MULTIPLE MONITORS!

Your solution isn't a solution to my problem or request at all!
When you figure out what MULTIPLE MONITORING means tell me your method actually does what I want!

Please I know you think you have a clue what I'm looking for but judging from your answer you don't!
I can already play all my content to my TVs that have Chromecasts by using my Tablet to stream them via Plex!
Can even control them too!

But I still can't see what is playing on my XBMC HTPC with it nor any android stick you can suggest!

Chromecast does not do anything like "multiple monitoring". It can load a web browser URL on an internal copy of Chrome, or it can play a video URL/stream from a portable device. That is all.

Any "mirroring" of the display is done on the computer/phone/tablet itself by encoding the screen output and sending it as a video file/stream. The dongle doesn't do anything more than play (plus some DRM stuff). Yes, you can mirror content from a phone or a computer to an Android stick. Just look at some of the options available right now on the Google Play store.

Seriously, read up about UPnP. We're not trying to be dicks about this. We're telling you that we know what Chromecast is doing, and that there is a better protocol that XBMC supports already.

...all that is required is to add code to XBMC services that identifies the ALREADY CODED AND BUILT IN DLNA player in XBMC as a DIAL Target!...

Think about that for a moment. All you have to do is add code? Yeah, that's all that's stopping me from creating the next #1 video game, adding code.

...Only person who can make that happen for you is Netflix! XBMC could try and mimic a DIAL receiver so that the apps that support DIAL devices (Like the NetFlix App) would be able to play their streams on it!...

Negative, sir. There's DRM in that there DIAL protocol.

This is why the Chromecast receiver for Windows Media Player doesn't work with Netflix. Same with the one made for the Raspberry Pi.

Take a look: http://gigaom.com/2013/09/20/windows-med...t-support/

[nickr]

@Asphyx Please stop shouting.

[Asphyx]

Chromecast does not do anything like "multiple monitoring". It can load a web browser URL on an internal copy of Chrome, or it can play a video URL/stream from a portable device. That is all.

Any "mirroring" of the display is done on the computer/phone/tablet itself by encoding the screen output and sending it as a video file/stream. The dongle doesn't do anything more than play (plus some DRM stuff). Yes, you can mirror content from a phone or a computer to an Android stick. Just look at some of the options available right now on the Google Play store.

Seriously, read up about UPnP. We're not trying to be dicks about this. We're telling you that we know what Chromecast is doing, and that there is a better protocol that XBMC supports already.

You really need to look at the Chromecast SDK because you guys obviously aren't up on what and how it does it and it's apparent you haven't played with one to see it in action. In most cases the Computer Phone Tablet doesn't even need to be ON for the Chromecast to continue streaming.
Chromecast will very easily act as a second monitor if you chose to make it one! It's already done via the Cast this Tab in Chrome. Two Screens, Same content! There are TWO ways to send to Chromecast, Direct Stream which I just described and PLAYER App which sends a player and URL for the player to access the content you want played. Netflix uses this and while that implementation does not do DUAL screen it also doesn't start the video from the Beginning like some DLNA player that gets sent a link. This is not about DLNA at all...XBMC is pretty useless as a DLNA server due to it's missing Transcode ability. Which is why many of us have been forced to put Twonky or Plex on our HTPC as well in order to stream content seamlessly to many different devices who require lower quality streams.

...all that is required is to add code to XBMC services that identifies the ALREADY CODED AND BUILT IN DLNA player in XBMC as a DIAL Target!...

Think about that for a moment. All you have to do is add code? Yeah, that's all that's stopping me from creating the next #1 video game, adding code.
Oh so because you can't do this you decide to tell everyone it's IMPOSSIBLE or USELESS? Really?
Here is why I asked here and don't just do it myself! Only the developers for XBMC can REGISTER XBMC as a DIAL device and get the SDK needed to create this! Unless your suggesting I make a fork of your source, create a new product and do this myself.

Negative, sir. There's DRM in that there DIAL protocol.


This is why the Chromecast receiver for Windows Media Player doesn't work with Netflix. Same with the one made for the Raspberry Pi.

Take a look: http://gigaom.com/2013/09/20/windows-med...t-support/

No there is DRM in the Player that gets sent via the Dial protocal. And since they support Chromecast I guess your suggesting Chromecast is more powerful than some computer Front end?

Windows Media and Raspberry don't work because they are trying to direct cast to those programs where Chromecast merely sends a DRM player to that BROWSER you talked about and it plays just fine.

It isn''t the DIAL that is DRMed it is the player which is required to GET that content...Windows media doesn't have the deciding player in it just gets the encrypted stream from netflix but has no way to decode!

Thats why it doesn't work....

Jeez I thought I was dealing with smarter people than this....
Too many only half knowing how it works, what I'm asking for and even what is possible with just a little bit of research on what is required!

I should add the Bubble is adding full Chromecast support soon....perhaps we have reached the limits of XBMC....

[awp0]

I should add the Bubble is adding full Chromecast support soon....perhaps we have reached the limits of XBMC....

Well there you have it. "The Bubble" is where it's at. You should probably stop wasting your time here.

[Ned Scott]

Chromecast does not do anything like "multiple monitoring". It can load a web browser URL on an internal copy of Chrome, or it can play a video URL/stream from a portable device. That is all.

Any "mirroring" of the display is done on the computer/phone/tablet itself by encoding the screen output and sending it as a video file/stream. The dongle doesn't do anything more than play (plus some DRM stuff). Yes, you can mirror content from a phone or a computer to an Android stick. Just look at some of the options available right now on the Google Play store.

Seriously, read up about UPnP. We're not trying to be dicks about this. We're telling you that we know what Chromecast is doing, and that there is a better protocol that XBMC supports already.

You really need to look at the Chromecast SDK because you guys obviously aren't up on what and how it does it and it's apparent you haven't played with one to see it in action. In most cases the Computer Phone Tablet doesn't even need to be ON for the Chromecast to continue streaming.
Chromecast will very easily act as a second monitor if you chose to make it one! It's already done via the Cast this Tab in Chrome. Two Screens, Same content!

When you "cast" the browser tab, Chromecast is loading the tab in Chrome that is running directly on the Chromecast. It does not transmit the screen of your phone/device, it just simulates a mirror. That's why you can't currently use it for anything other than web content.

There are TWO ways to send to Chromecast, Direct Stream which I just described and PLAYER App which sends a player and URL for the player to access the content you want played. Netflix uses this and while that implementation does not do DUAL screen it also doesn't start the video from the Beginning like some DLNA player that gets sent a link.

UPnP/DLNA can resume from the middle of a movie and does not necessarily start from the beginning. How do I know this? I do it all the time with XBMC's v13 nightly builds and the "Play with" command. Heck, I bet you didn't know that UPnP can also transmit URLs, embedded metadata, and that the "transmitting" device doesn't even need to be turned on.

This is not about DLNA at all...XBMC is pretty useless as a DLNA server due to it's missing Transcode ability. Which is why many of us have been forced to put Twonky or Plex on our HTPC as well in order to stream content seamlessly to many different devices who require lower quality streams.

XBMC. is. not. a. goddamn. server.

It has server features, but XBMC is primarily a front end media GUI and player. It's just not an area that most of our devs are even interested in, and there's no good or bad about it. It's just a different type of application for a different type of use.

Regardless, I don't know why you are bitching and moaning about transcoding when that is something being worked on for XBMC. The dev working on it had to pull back and deal with real life issues, but that's only a delay. What more do you want?

...all that is required is to add code to XBMC services that identifies the ALREADY CODED AND BUILT IN DLNA player in XBMC as a DIAL Target!...

Think about that for a moment. All you have to do is add code? Yeah, that's all that's stopping me from creating the next #1 video game, adding code.

Oh so because you can't do this you decide to tell everyone it's IMPOSSIBLE or USELESS? Really?
Here is why I asked here and don't just do it myself! Only the developers for XBMC can REGISTER XBMC as a DIAL device and get the SDK needed to create this! Unless your suggesting I make a fork of your source, create a new product and do this myself.

*facepalm* no, I'm saying the way you worded your statement was retarded, but you seem to have completely missed that point.

Negative, sir. There's DRM in that there DIAL protocol.


This is why the Chromecast receiver for Windows Media Player doesn't work with Netflix. Same with the one made for the Raspberry Pi.

Take a look: http://gigaom.com/2013/09/20/windows-med...t-support/

No there is DRM in the Player that gets sent via the Dial protocal. And since they support Chromecast I guess your suggesting Chromecast is more powerful than some computer Front end?

There's no "power" in this situation. There is DRM, encrypted video content that no one has been able to crack. People have been trying for years to crack the Netflix DRM and no one has. It's not because one device is more powerful than another, it's because one device has a decryption key and the other one doesn't.

Windows Media and Raspberry don't work because they are trying to direct cast to those programs where Chromecast merely sends a DRM player to that BROWSER you talked about and it plays just fine.

It isn''t the DIAL that is DRMed it is the player which is required to GET that content...Windows media doesn't have the deciding player in it just gets the encrypted stream from netflix but has no way to decode!

Thats why it doesn't work....

Forgive me, I meant the content being sent via DIAL. However, the point still stands that your rant was 100% incorrect, and that adding DIAL support to XBMC and having it "simulate" a Chromecast would not do anything for playing back Netflix content in XBMC. Or did you forget about that? It's this post, right here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?pid...pid1575639

Jeez I thought I was dealing with smarter people than this....
Too many only half knowing how it works, what I'm asking for and even what is possible with just a little bit of research on what is required!

I should add the Bubble is adding full Chromecast support soon....perhaps we have reached the limits of XBMC....

Really? In case you missed it, we keep calling you out on your bullshit:

•Android sticks and boxes CAN and DO mirror content from other Android devices and even iOS devices and desktop OSes. They also don't cost hundreds of dollars and provide a full HTPC experience that doesn't require a second device. They even have Netflix.

•Adding DIAL support won't add Netflix support to XBMC.

•XBMC is not a server for shitty hardware, no matter how good of a deal you think that hardware is

•There is nothing the DIAL protocol can do (for the sake of video playback) that UPnP can't do. In most cases, if not all, UPnP can do it better.

•No one is rejecting the idea of adding Chromecast/DIAL support to XBMC for sending and receiving for the content that we can process (video content that doesn't have DRM). However, we are rejecting the idea DIAL it is some kind of magic diamond pony that poops out purple level weapons.


But hey, go enjoy your 720 streams (did they mention the 720 streams because of the weak wifi? sure, it can output at 1080, but almost all of your video streams are downscaled), your inability to watch anything without a phone or computer, that transcoded garbage video with horrible audio, and shittastic Netflix content (every month they drop more and more content. Can't even watch Stargate anymore on Netflix). You get what you pay for.

[nickr]

Oh so because you can't do this you decide to tell everyone it's IMPOSSIBLE or USELESS? Really?

There you go shouting again. Please stop.

Here is why I asked here and don't just do it myself! Only the developers for XBMC can REGISTER XBMC as a DIAL device and get the SDK needed to create this! Unless your suggesting I make a fork of your source, create a new product and do this myself.

Well you could do that, then XBMC devs could copy your code back into XBMC (given your presumed compliance with the GPL) and we all win, or you could get polite and helpful and a lot less argumentative and develop it in conjunction with the existing devs.

What you need to realise is that (like many OS projects) XBMC is developed by people with an itch to scratch. No XBMC dev has that itch sufficiently at present. You do. So scratch it and benefit the community.

But shouting and arguing is not the way to do it.

Cheers, look forward to your positive contributions.

[natethomas]

But shouting and arguing is not the way to do it.

Cheers, look forward to your positive contributions.

Indeed. This thread has turned into nothing but a series of non-communicative shouting matches that are getting us nowhere.

If a Dev becomes interested, he or she will do the work. If that means forking XBMC and registering it somewhere, so be it. If not, then likewise so be it. Until then, pretty much every one of us is in danger of violating the first rule of the forum for no actual purpose, since those arguing both for and against every option clearly aren't going to be doing any of the actual coding.

As such I'm shutting it down. Cheers for the lively conversation.