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FOSS Alternative to Chromecast? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago by eodur@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I'm in the process of degoogling and I'm stuck trying to find a reasonable alternative to Chromecast. It would be great if I could stream music/video from my phone to my TV from apps like RiMusic, Tidal, and NewPipe. Are there any good solutions? Even better if friends and family can use it with minimal additional setup.

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[-] MattMckenzy@lemmy.ml 36 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

If you're up for using Jellyfin and have satellite devices, you can check out something I'm working on to achieve this: https://github.com/MattMckenzy/Homehook

The main branch was compatible with chromecast devices, but I've stopped maintaining it in favor of the v2 branch, where HomeHook communicates directly with satellite devices through HomeCast.

Let me know if you have any questions about it, always glad to help!

[-] eodur@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Oh that isn't quite what I was looking for but I've got Home Assistant and Jellyfin already. I'll have to play with this! Thanks!

[-] zygo_histo_morpheus@programming.dev 23 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

There are probably better alternatives, but I have a raspbery pi plugged into my tv and use KDE connect to remote control the mouse and keyboard from my phone. If I wanna watch youtube I'll navigate to youtube.com and click on a video.

[-] ayaya@lemdro.id 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Plasma actually has a UI for smart TVs if you weren't aware, although I have never used it myself so I'm not sure how good it is. https://plasma-bigscreen.org

[-] ECB@feddit.org 3 points 3 months ago

I've heard that the focus is on the ARM versions (so maybe they are much more developed) but I tried the x86_64 version on my HTPC recently and it was super barebones.

In the end I found Gnome with a few extensions to be a better solution for my needs

[-] mastazi@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Any suggestions about Gnome extensions?

I use Gnome on a 42" tv the only thing I've done is increasing zoom level since the couch is a bit far from the screen. In the browser I set up the new tab screen to have big icons that link to some of my bookmarks, using a browser extension. That's all I've done compared to a vanilla setup. I have been using that for a few years with no issues but curious about how I could improve my experience!

[-] ECB@feddit.org 1 points 3 months ago

Yeah that's basically what I did too.

I just installed dash to dock and made the icons quite large, then rebound a button on my air-mouse to the super key (to bring up the dash). I also installed Just Perfection and used it to hide the top bar unless the dash is open.

90% of the time, I'm just using Firefox, so I don't need anything too fancy.

[-] mastazi@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

ah cool, yeah I also hide the top bar but I'm using this one https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/545/hide-top-bar/ your one looks more flexible I might try

the dash to dock extension looks nice I will give it a go as well

Thanks!

[-] zygo_histo_morpheus@programming.dev 2 points 3 months ago

Nice, I'll check it out. I've been meaning to customize the desktop a bit more but it works well enough for the moment.

[-] dadarobot@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 3 months ago

If you get a usb remote you can bind the home button to rofi or something similar to make a quickstart menu for apps and websites you use most often.

[-] vikingtons@lemmy.world 20 points 3 months ago

Have been keeping an eye on https://fcast.org/ but haven't gotten involved yet.

[-] eco_game@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 3 months ago

Yesss fcast looks incredibly promising. Sadly the only app implementing it seems to be GrayJay, I really hope it will catch on more.

[-] warmaster@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Since no proprietary streaming service will ever implement this, I wish Jellyfin & PeerTube did.

[-] azron@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 months ago

I'm also hopeful fcast gets some more love. The ability to mirror my whole android screen to an fcast server would be great they have servers for Mac, Linux, Windows, and Android but not a lot of clients.

Grayjay integration works well I use it instead of casting.

[-] eodur@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

This looks exactly like what I'm looking for!

[-] vikingtons@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

Oh neat. Hope it works for your needs. Let us know how it goes.

[-] dadarobot@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 3 months ago

Macast is pretty cool too. Think it uses upnp or something.

[-] vikingtons@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

will need to check it out. Thank you for the tip

[-] net00@lemm.ee 13 points 3 months ago

I think a few more details are needed to get you a clear alternative:

  • Which devices you want to cast from? what content you want to cast (DRM content like netflix, and/or your own media)? what kind of TV you have?

In my case after degoogling, I use mainly apple devices besides my windows pc. 2 of my TVs have AirPlay built in, so there's no issue casting anything. If your TV is rather recent it's likely to have it too.

The third TV is tricky, it's an older 4k LG. I have a linux box connected to it and installed UxPlay in it. It only works with AirPlay "mirroring" so you kinda need an app that can treat the TV as a second monitor. Otherwise the mirroring won't cover the entire TV screen. I'm still assuming apple devices here, but there's OutPlayer and nPlayer in the appstore that can do this. It does support sound-only casting, so if it's music you want it should be able to direct cast from your apps.

The second caveat for UxPlay is that it only works with DRM-free content (youtube, self hosted media). For DRM content I haven't found a nice alternative for the old TV , so I use its built in apps (netflix, amazon prime). Kodi exists, but the plug-ins support for streaming sites isn't good, often getting stuck to low-res content.

I'm guessing buying an apple tv/fire stick/roku is the only alternative for DRM content casting. I also explored the idea of "degoogling" my unused chromecast 3rd gen, but absolutely nothing exists for this and it just collects dust in a drawer.

[-] eodur@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

I've got a handful of Android-based TVs that I'm becoming increasingly irritated with. Google regularly pushes updates that break stuff. I already have Jellyfin and Navidrome running on my network and can play them on the TV without issue. Netflix et al are also no issue, but being able to stream other sources such as YouTube/NewPipe.

I am not a fan of Apple either, so adding to them to the mix is a nonstarter.

[-] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 months ago

Just a suggestion. Try SmartTube on TV instead of NewPipe/Tubular. I find the UI infinitely more intuitive foe remote control and large screens.

[-] anzo@programming.dev 12 points 3 months ago

The protocol is called DLNA

[-] Wojwo@lemmy.ml 12 points 3 months ago

DLNA is going to be your best bet, but it's such a deep and convoluted rabbit hole. There's a lot of ways to configure a setup.

[-] i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 3 months ago

Or use Miracast, AKA WiDi, Smart View, SmartShare if you just want to mirror a screen.

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[-] InFerNo@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago

I setup miniDLNA once, many years ago and it just kept working. Downside is that I completely forgot how it's set up.

[-] Wojwo@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 months ago

The trouble for me was always getting people to use the controllers. I had some success with some family members using bubbleupnp on their Android phones. But the separation between sources, renderers and controllers is a little confusing for non technical people

[-] dan@sffa.community 10 points 3 months ago

Chromecast is fraud. Use DLNA

[-] sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 1 points 3 months ago

How so? It seems like chromecast does exactly what it says it does, even if it's a suboptimal solution for not being FOSS.

[-] dan@sffa.community 1 points 3 months ago

What is does is stupid. You always want to stream the media, not mirror your screen!

[-] sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 1 points 3 months ago

I wonder if you've ever used a Chromecast based on this criticism.

For a standard Chromecast, you open the app on your phone, then press the cast button, then the device you want to cast to, and the the device begins to stream the media independently of your device. You can shut off the device you used to start casting and it doesn't matter because Chromecast is pulling the data on its own.

On some websites such as YouTube on PC, you also have a cast button and you can press it, select the device and it'll start playing. you can get this button to work on all kinds of sites, and a lot of open source software supports it to a degree such as VLC, Peertube (through a plugin), and Jellyfin.

Using google chrome you can cast your current webpage or your desktop, but that's not the standard use of Chromecast.

It takes some finagling, but you can cast from Jellyfin to a standard Chromecast right from your phone.

The latest version out is Chromecast with Android TV, which is really nice (for now). It's running a version of android and has the play store, so you can set up the Jellyfin android TV app, and stream from your home server without requiring a domain name or https like you do to stream properly on straight Chromecast.

The big issue with Chromecast in my view is that it's a Google product which means 3 things:

  1. it's proprietary, which has many risks coming from that nature and a crappy largely hidden API
  2. it can be shut down any moment if they desire (see google graveyard), and being an always-on device it's possible they just brick it on the way out
  3. it will suck up as much data as they can from you to try to sell you more crap
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[-] neclimdul@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Don't think half the comments understand what the Chromecast is...

Interested in finding out more about fcast now though.

[-] eodur@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Fcast seems pretty promising but it looks like it's only implemented in Grayjay thus far.

[-] Suoko@feddit.it 7 points 3 months ago

Matchstick looked promising but someone killed it. A kaiostick could be nice though

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchstick_TV

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I have a Linux PC with Jellyfin hooked up to the TV but i find it awkward to use with a keyboard and trackpad while lying on the couch. It would be great to have a remote like the Chromecast one but I'm not sure if anything like that is available that would work with JF.

[-] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 3 points 3 months ago

they have CEC adapters and remotes for PCs that you can use.

[-] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The BubbleUPnP app can cast to Chromecast (and DLNA) and has built-in support for Jellyfin as a media source (you can browse your Jellyfin content from the Bubble app). It's basically the "remote" you want.

Bubble can also act as a media player so if you launch a video file from a file manager and tell it to play on Bubble while it's connected to a Chromecast, it will cast it.

Bubble can also directly access local files on the phone, Samba shares, and various types of cloud storage accounts.

Its only shortcoming is no SSH support but there's a workaround for that: the Solid Explorer file manager has a built-in relay that will pipe a video file over SSH to a local video player... pick Bubble as that player and you can play to Chromecast from SSH.

[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 1 points 3 months ago

I was going to say you could use a smartphone with the Jellyfin app to control it, but it looks to be limited (just the actual launching of videos not play/pause etc).

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracast

[-] thejevans@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago

Your best bet is to just avoid the need altogether. I use an nvidia shield with clipious, smarttube, and jellyfin. There is a qobuz app that is okay and a USB Media Player Pro that is pretty bad. I haven't tried any apps for subsonic streaming.

I'd bet there is a tidal app, but I think tidal also integrates with Plex?

For when I want to "cast" a random video file, I use VLC on my PC and on my shield to stream to the TV, and it works well enough.

I haven't found a good solution to have similar functionality as Google cast for other people to use, but none of my guests have ever been upset that it wasn't available.

[-] jlh@lemmy.jlh.name 6 points 3 months ago

Apparently there's something called fcast, but I've never tried it.

https://fcast.org/

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

There's a litany of them, but the issue is more about what apps will connect to them reliably. The support on apps is really what you're looking for, as a single app can support multiple streaming targets.

Since you're talking about some pretty widely adopted apps, maybe look at an Airplay alternative as well, since there's also a ton of those, and a lot of them are actively developed.

[-] UnH1ng3d@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

Can you give some examples 😅

[-] just_another_person@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Well, I don't understand your technical wants or needs, but you can Google or hit GitHub and find dozens pretty easily. Look into what Home Assistant is using these days as an easy starter list maybe. Also worth using Raspberry Pi as an included search term to find projects specifically geared for turning an RPi into a Chromecast or Airplay target.

[-] Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyz 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
RPi Raspberry Pi brand of SBC
SBC Single-Board Computer
SSH Secure Shell for remote terminal access

2 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 9 acronyms.

[Thread #900 for this sub, first seen 31st Jul 2024, 00:15] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[-] rezz@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Jellyfin and self host!

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this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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