Before you burn hola to the ground here is their response. Seems to be legit too me but that's just my opinion but I don't use hola but pia.
OG (original gangster) Videostream was getting a little "long in the tooth", so we've rewritten it practically from the ground-up for more stability, reliability, and future goodness! :)
Features:
Version 2.0 is the foundation for the future of Videostream, so expect to see a lot of cool new stuff soon!
This list includes:
As always, thanks for tolerating us, using Videostream, and sending your love :) Means a lot to our small team!
Always feel free to email!
Matt, Mat, Phil, Jason, and Graham
edit: I ****ed up, here is a download link for anyone looking: getvideostream.com
Write down the MAC address of the chromecast, you should be able to see it in the app for your chromecast. I know people are saying it is cheap, but it could lead to the rest of your stuff and I personally hate people stealing from me. If you think it was someone in your apartment complex, you can use software to sniff MAC addresses nearby since you don't really care about the network traffic. Look here http://superuser.com/questions/42757/how-to-sniff-for-wireless-mac-addresses-in-area-my-laptop-got-stolen
Plex. Life changing for me. Made my TV sat connection redundant. It runs a media server on your pc/mac, organizes all TV shows according to seasons, downloads subs automatically and supports playlists/resuming. Even allows casting to Android devices or other computers.
I setup an old desktop with Sonarr to download shows automaticall. I ran my main Plex server on it which organizes these new downloads. This makes for a near automated system for getting HD quality shows and movies, and watching then on my TV, phone or other laptops.
Edit: Added Links
Hi! Matt here with the newest Videostream update! AFter a ton of feedback from a lot of redditors in the beta group for Videostream Remote we've finally pushed the update and launched Videostream Mobile - we feel like it's so much more than a remote now!
Check out the album, ask questions in this thread, try it out, and yell at us - we're all here!
Feature Overview:
Oh yeah, Play store link for if you're sold :)
Also, for those asking, yes we're working on iOS. A stripped down version closer to the old android remote will be out by the end of the month!
Finally, I see the /r/chromecast guidelines have updated to make it mandatory to submit a haiku ;)
We have tried our best
To make Videostream rock
Even harder now
I am the author of PictureCast. It uses JS for a lot of transitions and visual effects. It is 100% a terrible experience on the ChromeCast. The Chromecast has one thing is good at. Displaying 1080p h.264 video content over WiFi. Every penny of the $35 went into that. If you want to do things outside of that arena, you are gonna have a bad time. Most of the work on that application went into figuring out how to make the ChromeCast not choke to death on images over 1080p in native size. Feel free to ask any questions you might have.
Link to app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.unstableapps.picturecast.app
That's actually going to do more harm than good.
When a wifi network is on the same channel, they will "work together" in a sense to each yield some time to the other networks. WIFI A will stop sending for a moment so WIFI B can send some stuff, then WIFI A will start back up, etc...
When you are on a "close" channel (that still overlaps) it will not do this, and they will instead "shout" over each other, and in that situation everyone looses because they will all keep shouting the same thing again and again until it gets through, each getting louder each time.
This means that you will get better throughput when your neighbors' WIFI is not doing much, but significantly worse when they are.
You can read about it more from this SuperUser question, or can read this Cisco study if you enjoy really dry material!
I am a developer... and I really want this feature. Spotify does have an apps api, and I'm going to look into creating a spotify caster app later tonight. I've created a Trello board where you can review my progress and make feature suggestions. https://trello.com/b/bz9D0gvG/spotify-caster
EDIT/UPDATE: The Preview program has ended and developers with access to the SDK (which I submitted app and was accepted to 2 weeks ago), can now publish their apps to the marketplace. This will also make it easier to get a few test users for the development/beta of MY app, so if you're interested, reach out to me on the Trello board above, or hit me up with PM. For developers or GH mems leave your feature requests or contribute at: https://github.com/LongLiveCHIEF/Track-Caster
My Top Three:
Plex = movies and higher def TV shows using my ipad
Vidcast = Streaming TV quickly when I get home
Rdio = ambient / party music
I'm definitely going to try out the cards for humanity apps!
There doesn't seem to be anything for iOS to do this. I know you said not to suggest Android apps, but for the people who are reading this thread who do have Android devices and wondered the same thing, Dashboard Cast seems perfect.
Found the offer details in the emails: https://tv.youtube.com/welcome/terms/#chromecast-offer
"You’ll be able to redeem your Google Chromecast after your free trial ends and you make your first payment. We’ll send you an email with directions once that happens."
Denmark here, I have access to most if not all of the content available to USians.
Netflix region switching isn't really Chromecast specific - see or .
I even pay the much lower US rate for netflix ($7.99) which is half of what they would charge in my local currency. Using a Danish credit card, even.
You can access Google Play Music All Access by signing up while on a US IP (with VPN or DNS trickery), from there on it just works even with your non-US IP.
Songza works for me (using Unlocator nameservers).
Youtube obviously works as expected.
So yeah, absolutely worth it. The HDMI CEC automation alone is a huge win for me.
I'm going to copy the instructions here for safekeeping.
> 1. Open Popcorn Time, search for a movie and start playing. Then pause it. 2. Open Chrome (with the Chromecast extension installed) 3. Go to this URL: https://dabble.me/cast/?video_link=http://[YOUR_COMPUTER_IP]:8888 4. Just click the cast button and play.
CardCast let's you play Cards Against Humanity / Apples to Apples-style games. You can use pre-built card decks that are copied from those games, as well as making your own cards. It works great and is a lot of fun.
I'll copy my comment from /r/cordcutters about the Prime Video app for Android TV:
>Quite possibly, there's an agreement that Amazon must make an Android TV app.
>They have. It's in the Play store, but it doesn't work for any actual Android TV devices (it has between 100 and 500 downloads).
>I would think YouTube doesn't consider that as keeping to the agreement.
I just tried that site with Chrome Beta on Android and it works. You have to put it fullscreen on your phone and then there will be a chromecast icon on the top left. Use this to activate casting in Chrome Beta: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/enable-chromecast-streaming-in-latest-chrome-beta-for-android/
Edit: I think in the latest version of Chrome beta you don't need the procedure
The latest version is actually 4.2.42 which can be found here. It has resolved the chromecast duplication issue for some.
Hi. I don't really follow the religious part of this but I'm interested in understanding it. Is this part of the concept where you can't use machinery on the sabbath, as this guy is controlling your TV making you either have it on all day, or break you religious obligations by turning it off?
That was just for my interest. He's a dick regardless of that for a) controlling your chromecast and b) sticking his nose in your religion.
As said elsewhere here - maybe look into getting another router. Maybe this one. Allows you to connect the router to your current wifi, and set-up a private network from that that your neighbour won't be able to use.
Still is. Hamburger menu -> Offers in the Google Home (formerly Chromecast) app, or go to https://cast.google.com/chromecast/offers/ while connected to the same wifi network as your Chromecast.
Bubbleupnp is the best app I have used for sending anything to Chromecast that doesn't already have it's own app. Supports casting local media, media from local or remote DLNA servers, and a multitude of cloud services. Even supports transcoding of media not natively supported by Chromecast.
Not that it helps you specifically, but for Android Spoticast is pretty good. It's a little bit of a hack and puts your phone on silent while it casts, but I've used to pretty extensively and been happy with the results.
One of the reviews complains about lag:
> Far from being as good as Wii sports, the lag makes it unenjoyable and a pain to play, and the requirement of lives in order to play is the last straw. Good concept though
My thoughts (without even installing the app):
Use Plex. Your NAS doesn't have enough power to transcode, so you'll have to install the server on your desktop and point it to the NAS for its library. That's what I do and it works beautifully.
Sign up with plex here. When in the http://plex.tv/web/app interface you can add channels to your plex account, CBC being one of them. When the games are on just go to the CBC channel and cast the stream. If you have trouble casting with your pc download the plex app in the play store, it works much better.
Netflix and Youtube are great starts, then the android app store has a ton of apps if you search "Chromecast". Cast store in the android app store is a good way to keep up to date. As well the side bar over here-------->
has a good section called "Useful Links" that will help you.
Finally, I'll be a jerk and plug our product, Videostream - People here seem to like it! It lets you cast your local/downloaded videos and music from your computer to your Chromecast really easily in full HD. If you have a huge media library and you're a technically-inclined person, you may also want to try our sort-of-competitor, Plex. It's harder to set up, but it's nice if you have a lot of movies and TV shows downloaded already, like dozens you want to watch :)
Welcome to Chromecast ownership!
€5 is the true cost, the Plex server app on Windows/Mac is totally free.
There is a premium offering, Plex Pass, but you don't need it to watch your films on the Chromecast.
That's because the Chromecast is pulling the content directly from Crunchyroll. If you want to block the ads from showing on your Chromecast, you'll need a network-wide blocker like pi-hole
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ostec.photocast&hl=en
I just started using this for my D&D games to run a slide show on the big screen to give my players atmosphere and ambiance of whatever place they may be at and it has so far been perfect. You can run local files or Google Photos and select speed of transitions. YMMV but so far so good.
You can create albums on your Google Photos and upload pictures to them. Then using the Chromecast app you can set up the Chromecast as a picture backdrop when idle, and point it to an album from your Google Photos to show. It will cycle through the images in the background when the device is on but not in use.
I've also published the IFTTT recipe if anyone just wants to use it instead of making it (despite it being super easy), you can find it here:
Best way is to VPN your router
A few words of advice:
1. Don't use Hola - they use your computer as a node in a p2p network, and they sell your viewing history to advertisers. If you want to use a browser extension, try one of the German companies like Zenmate or Proxmate that don't violate your privacy.
2. If you want to try an unblocking DNS, why not use one of the many fine Australian-based services that are cheaper, such as dns4me?
3. You'll still have to block Google DNS in your router in order for the Chromecast to work. This can be done by the static route method in most consumer routers. But be aware that Netflix has made changes to their Android app so that it won't play titles on the Android device if Google DNS is blocked - you have to select Chromecast as the destination first. Netflix continues to make changes to their Android app on a weekly basis, so expect further problems.
I've never used Tasker, but I know it's pretty popular on reddit. There's a plugin for the Chromecast: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.joaomgcd.autocast
I imagine that it'd be possible to set Tasker to automatically cast an mp3 at a certain time
When you are tab casting you are essentially recording your PC screen and sending it over to the Chromecast. When you are playing a video on your mobile and telling it to cast it the actual address of the video is being sent to the Chromecast and the Chromecast plays the video for you. The two video streams could be identical but having to stream it through tab casting has a lot of issues, first it is dependent on your computer speed to capture, encode and send the content over the Chromecast, and second, it is now tied to your computer resolution/screen size which might not be as good as your TV.
You might ask yourself, why doesn't the PC just send the video address? well the Chromecast supports a limited set of video codecs. A lot of mobile videos happen to use codecs the Chromecast understand. Most desktop browser videos are played using flash which the Chromecast does not support. Even when the flash video is something the Chromecast would support (like an mp4), it is being played by the flash player and not by the browser html5 video player so it would be much harder for the browser to know what the actual video address is.
Source: I wrote Web Video Caster which does this.
They don't seem to be selling them online anymore at Costco:
Maybe they are clearing them out. Probably WAY too early for a Chromecast 3.
Okay, so this has been a couple of months in the making, since I found out it was possible to stream videos from uTorrent (uTorrent provides an http://localhost/ streamable video url for every MKV and MP4 it can knowingly stream)
There's some magic going on to get this to work: I wrote a chrome extension that can interact with uTorrent on your local machine via the pairing API, and the whole thing interacts with your favorite series calendar.
For more info, please check http://schizoduckie.github.io/DuckieTV/ or come visit our subreddit on /r/duckietv/
It's not perfect yet, and much of the chromecast API is still in pre-beta but feedback is appreciated!
You can do it with an HDMI audio extractor plus wires/optical cable to the soundbar.
You can further make it wireless with a full-range wireless link -- if your projector has any audio out capabilities this may actually be all you need. There are similar devices using Bluetooth but there tends to be lag issues with those.
This is a somewhat hacky solution as all these devices need powered by wall warts and require fiddly set up. A wired solution is always preferred and may be easier than you think if you ever had any signal wires going to the projector that can be used to fish new ones.
I use this all the time. It also has a windows server that can transcode on the fly to play videos whose audio codecs aren't supported by Chromecast.
A couple of weeks ago I released "Doodle it" a Pictionary like game for your android device. Today I just finished the support for Chromecast and now it is live :).
The game is still being developed, but I'd appreciate feedback and comments in how make it better :)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hiona.doodleit
According to the other reply, Draw King was killed in an update. Another game in the same vein is Doodlecast for Chromecast. It's another Pictionary clone, works the same as described in the parent comment.
While it wasn't intended, something I like about this one is that you can sort of play it using a single device. While you're expected to have other devices paired in to make the guesses, if you're struggling to get everybody invested enough to set it up, you can just cast from one drawing device and have your players guess out loud rather than via a device. There's a Skip button you can use to select a new word, so you can just hand off the device and have the next player hit Skip to start over.
If you cast Netflix 'properly' (that is by using the cast button as opposed to doing the 'tab casting' of a tab in your browser which is playing a video) then it is the Chromecast itself which pulls the video from the NetFlix server. In this design Hola does nothing as your browser isn't getting the video stream, it's just acting as controller. You need to get the Chromecast itself to 'get around' the geo blocks.
The best (only?) way to do this is to use one of the many DNS unblocker services. This reroutes the traffic a device sends to the NetFlix server responsible for checking your location through a proxy behind the scenes so it looks like you're in the US even though you're not using a browser extension.
My current favourite is Unlocator.
If you use them then consider signing up via my affiliate link
EDIT: Hola! Unblocker is getting a bad rep for injecting ads covertly into web pages you may visit (it's considered malware by some for this reason). You should consider moving over to the MediaHint extension if this bothers you.
if someone with a lot less time and money then amazon can make this then there is no reason amazon couldnt get their service on other products.
you don't.
the chromecast doesn't really do anything other than take a video/audio input, via wifi, and convert it to hdmi.
it doesn't hold any apps, which is why you use your phone to send stuff to it.you connect to it via wifi from your phone, using the chromecast app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.chromecast.app&hl=en
Haystack might include MSNBC. Maddow puts out her show as a video podcast, so you can subscribe to that and watch it using an app like Pocketcasts which supports Chromecast.
Long thread on chromecast discussion board: https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/d/msgid/chromecast/56c304b6-15d8-4bbf-b86c-575c572b22eb%40googleproductforums.com
I can't get any tech blogs to pick up the story. Maybe Reddit?
Hi, I'm with Stevie's product team. It Isn’t necessary and we don’t record this. I assume you’ve seen this on the Testfairy TOS. It’s their generic TOS for all kind of apps, any dev can decide which specific permissions to take, the only ones we take are what you see when installing Stevie (see attached pic). https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Ii0RcmjC_MMXQ5LUx2OHZNRlN3VjdHX0xRcVo2MWNvZE1z/edit?usp=sharing
Yes - supposedly. https://www.netflix.com/YourAccount click on Subtitle Appearance - Netflix has their system setup so to change quality of stream, subtitle appearance etc - you do it on your account and all devices are supposed to obey the settings. I've never tested it - so I can't tell you if it works.
I made something similar in an hour that uses nodejs to host static movie files on disk, including a HTML and JavaScript on the the client side that generates links to the files on the web server to vidcast based on what's on disk).
An example link can be https://dabble.me/cast?video_link=http://192.168.1.101/m.mp4
Since that Is an internal ip, it is secure as well, as long as you don't open your web port in your router, and there's no need to make a player interface since dabble has one already. Simple list the links on the server that chromecast can read, and send to dabble on click.
You could open the port on the the router, use a public ip, and cast anywhere in the world, but your files are open on open to the public at that point.
Web Video caster if you're looking for an Android App.
It's wonderful and beautiful. There's ad-supported and you can pay to remove the ads. Paying is worth it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instantbits.cast.webvideo
I have an app called Web Video Caster with this functionality, feel free to try it, and if it doesn't work let me know the website it didn't work with.
FIGURED IT OUT!
It was so simple im facepalming.
Download a free or paid music visualizer:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.h6ah4i.android.music_visualizer2&hl=en
Or if you want a more Milkdrop like experience purchase this one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.psperl.projectM&hl=en
Play music on phone > open chromecast app > cast android devices screen. Sound and visualization is then on the TV.
Here comes some dev promotion: we developed a free browser casting app for Android which can be used with Chromecast. The key difference to tab casting is that you remotely control the display with your mobile by using it as a pointer and input device so you can always keep your eyes on the big display. Appreciate any kind of feedback (especially bug reports ;-)). https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nyomalabs.broca
Yes, there is a fun test video which if you let it run for up to 5 minutes will tell you the bandwidth and resolution.... let me dig it out for you - they don't make it easy to find.... https://www.netflix.com/title/70136810 note though - this doesn't tell you what resolution you will always stream at, it just tells you what your connection is capable of, I see it go above 1080p even though the Chromecast isn't capable of that.
Cool. Here's a description of how to enable the casting feature.
Maybe we should make a list of sites that enable streaming with this new feature.
Does this even exist online yet? Search for a show, press play and it opens the service it is on? (Assuming your pay for the service of course.) Could also list purchasing and renting prices from multiple platforms.
EDIT: yep: http://www.canistream.it/
Yep we're in exactly the same boat. The stereo I got is 5.1 surround sound, and I can play movies with surround sound on the chromecast. I also use Plex, which is awesome. You can install it on any computer to organize your movies and TV shows, and then play them on your Chromecast. And Netflix also sends 5.1 sound through the Chromecast.
I'd also recommend checking out the Nexus Player, which is like a Chromecast with apps and a remote. It supports Netflix, Hulu, and Plex.
>Plex appears to be free
Plex has a free service tier and a paid service tier. If you pay for a subscription or lifetime pass, one of the perks is that you don't have to pay for the app. If, like me, you don't need the paid services then the app costs $4.99 (IIRC)
Rebrand: to change the way that an organization, company, or product is seen by the public.. Example : Google rebranded Google Cast to Google Home so that it will make sense that it will now control all of the devices google wants to put in your home.
> left my computer wide open
The above de-auth attack you mention doesn't leave "your computer wide open" you originally mentioned and, it isn't just solely Chromecasts that are vulnerable to these attacks.
Whilst it's not going to do much to your phone/tablet the app is basically adware.
That above signature is for an old version I've kept tucked away since I've been told the newer ones limit the amount of binge watching you can do so don't update it. Also doesn't have the Accounts permission either ;)
This is the app wireframe found on behance that shows a chromecast icon in the UI flow. Content aside, I have to say I'm glad to see their following the android design guidelines, those are some nice curves (in the app)
Yes you need an internet connection. The easiest way is to have a tablet, turn on your hotspot so the chromecast and tablet are connected to the hotspot and stream locally from the tablet using local cast or something.
I say use a tablet because I had issues originally just streaming the files from my phone to the chromecast while it hosted the hot spot but you can try that too.
Connect the chromecast to the hotspot. Use the cast app on her phone to see if it can see the chromecast. If it can then local files being streamed dont affect mobile data.
The downside is you may want to keep the phone plugged in because its definitely a battery drain.
This is the app I use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.stefanpledl.localcast
123movies is opening fine.
If your ISP is blocking the connection then just use any of these 5 VPNs recommended by other Redditors for unblocking 123movies.
I am using CyberGhost and NordVPN without any issues at all.
If you are using a VPN like TunnelBear or PIA, you won't have the ability to cast to anything in your home whilst the VPN is connected. Also a good idea if you are browsing for porn, might as well do it anonymously. Just a thought.
There will always be a way around things like this. Just about any VPN worth paying for (Nord, Slick, Torguard, there's literally thousands) updated a couple of days after Netflix tried to stop them.
Alternatively you can set up iptables if you know how. I use DD-WRT on my router and it's incredible simple with just 2 lines I have Chromecast using my UnoTelly DNS servers.
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -d 8.8.4.4 -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -d 8.8.8.8 -p udp --dport 53 -j DNAT --to
Just replace the XX's at the end to your DNS servers. Done.
No, not at all. Go into your existing router and just add two static routes:
8.8.8.8 to your primary DNS provider 8.8.4.4 to your secondary DNS provider
This redirects requests to Google DNS away to your own provider (UnoTelly, Unblock Us and the like).
Edit: nevermind. It looks like OP is using the Google WiFi app, which is used by Google Wifi points or OnHub.
Edit2: This works for me: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidinspain.speedcast&hl=en_US
NBC Sports Live Extra just added Chromecast support - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.nbcuni.com.nbcsports.liveextra&hl=en
Between all of the NBC affiliates you'll be able to watch almost every competition.
For Android use tinyCam Monitor PRO for streaming the camera to Google Cast devices. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alexvas.dvr.pro
For iOS - Baby Monitor for IP Camera also supports Chromecast https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/baby-monitor-for-ip-camera/id511651356
I think vlc can do that, not sure
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.videolan.vlc.betav7neon
Also try local cast
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.stefanpledl.localcast
To add on to this, you can get a WiFi analyser app on your Android phone and see what bands have the most interference from other routers in your area. This is the one I use.
Note, though, that that app won't pick up non-WiFi sources of interference, so you may still want to try changing the channel. Most routers are set up to automatically choose channels, but most consumer grade routers are really terrible at doing this. Honestly, even the enterprise APs we use at work did a pretty poor job at it (we tried it out during deployment, just to see how well it worked). For optimal performance, you're generally better off setting your own channel.
You may also want to turn off guest mode on your Chromecast (if it's on), as it broadcasts its own network and could potentially cause some interference (unlikely, but possible).
Try to restart the chromecast. You can do that via the official chromecast app.
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.chromecast.app
IOS: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/chromecast/id680819774?mt=8
Then also restart the phone just to be sure.
I use BubbleUPnP. It supports a variety of media sources (dlna, samba, etc) so if you've got a media share of some kind it should work and it chromecasts fine. There's optional server-side software you can run on your PC if you want it to transcode on-the-fly (to support media that isn't in a format chromecast supports).
You can try dashboard cast, its pretty neat and very customizable. I played with it a while ago, but couldn't find any real use for myself.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rir.dashboardcast
This app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.libspeed4cast.app will give you a speed test at your Chromecast. What is your download speed on this app?
Is your wireless router distant from the Chromecast? Is it shielded by the TV? Can you move it from behind using an HDMI extension cord?
I made this to mirror my notifications a while ago: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amandle.castboard.demo
It's been somewhat neglected but if there is interest I can start working on it again.
What protocols does your NAS support? I have an app called Server Cast which supports local files, ftp, ftps, dropbox, dlna/upnp and this week I will be releasing weddav support. Anyways if your NAS doesn't have dlna/upnp then let me know what it offers and I will see if I can make it work.
CBS is simulcasting football games live online this post-season. You can stream the AFC title game and cast the tab. Hopefully you're a Patriots fan!
This might be exactly what you're looking for. It's a free service that creates "applets" which are basically commands of your choosing.
For example, there's an applet that turns on your WiFi connection on your Android device when you get home. It may take some work and thinking, but I believe what you're looking to do should be able to be done on IFTTT
Another example of IFTTT's abilities: I receive a summary weather report every morning at 4:45am so I know what to wear for the day.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that IFTTT stands for "If This Then That"
$49 from b&h with google pay
>My up/down is 40Mpbs/5Mpbs
Note that your ISP speed has nothing to do with using the network locally. Any router (wireless or wired) made within the past 10 years should suffice.
Like someone else said, you can also try Videostream GetVideoStream.com which uses very minimal resources to stream content locally if you're having trouble streaming with Plex.
Plex Pass is far more expensive ($75 once, or $30/year), and gives you early access to things and a few other bonuses.
https://plex.tv/subscription/about
If all you wanna do is stream from your Plex server to a Chromecast or an Android device, you don't really need Plex Pass.
I use Plex to stream from my computer. You need the Plex Pass right now to use Chromecast with it, but it's worth the couple dollars a month. There's an Android app for Plex as well, so you can stream media from your computer to your phone or tablet.
One option would be to use an HDMI audio extractor. Search that phrase on Amazon; here's an example product: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KRWYN4R
The Chromecast or fire stick would plug into the extractor input. HDMI cord connected to extractor output goes to the projector. Audio output on the extractor goes to the sound bar/speakers.
If you're looking for a way to switch back and forth between the Chromecast and fire stick, search for "HDMI switch audio extractor." Here's an example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073TTS9QG
Check the specs on the product you buy to make sure it can handle the resolution and frequency your projector expects. And be ready to use Amazon's return feature if the Chromecast/fire stick/projector have trouble negotiating a frequency and resolution through the device.
I use this app from my Android devices: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.acestream.media
On Windows I use Ace Player, check this link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/4vl5s9/acestream_windows_to_chromecast_a_short_guide/
For this to work with the Chromecast, you need to set your router up to redirect Google's DNS (8.8.8.8 and ~~8.8.8.10~~ 8.8.4.4 iirc) to Unlocator's DNS. This will only unblock on the Chromecast, because barely anything uses Google's DNS.
I can't get to my Chromecast right now, but I believe that is a setting you can change in the Google Home app on your phone. If you have an Android phone or tablet, you likely already have Google Home installed.
No additional devices required
Check the file type. I only use .Mp4. TTV had a lot of sources with .Flv and .Mkv files which aren't compatible.
I download with Loader Droid. Best downloader I've ever used and you can see the file type before starting.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zloy.android.downloader
And to Chromecast, I stream via Web Video Caster (beta).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instantbits.cast.webvideo
The new app came out lately works pretty the same way as Web Video Caster, it automatically detects video links from websites and lets you cast them to Chromecast, now with the new update you have the option to set the title and subtitle, and hide what you're actually watching, which gives you a bit more privacy.
Amaze browser does an extra step by saving the video links, so even if you stop casting, close the app, when you open it the links you found are still there, so you can easily resume your playback.
[UPDATED] Amaze Browser is back to playstore, Google finally decided to reinstated it. The downloading is - Amaze Browser
Cardcast seems to be the one that's the most popular.
Dehumanize your Friends get a lot of love but it says it's unfinished.
try web video cast on your android.
You should be able to browse any site you want. The app tries to dig into the source code of the website and find the direct link to the stream which it then (probably) sends to your chromecast. (Routing through your phone is also an option, as far as I remember)
Haven't tested many sport related sites though.
//Edit: Fullscreen works for me.
The Chromecast IS a web browser, it's just a glorified Chrome browser running in Kiosk mode with some extra functionality thrown in, all the "apps" you run are just webpages with HTML5, CSS and Javascript. There are some Android apps to tell it to load a specific URL like - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myfknoll.cast.browser and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rabidgremlin.web2cast (this is one I use so I know it works)
Hi! We've just published a free Android app that shows great beach views on your TV!
You can pick from a tropical beach or a beach view at sunset.
The live backgrounds are not streamed from the internet and so, you can keep the live backgrounds running for hours without wasting your network bandwidth.
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dunitiapps.cast.beach
BubbleUPnP is the only app you will ever need for playing anything from your phone, a computer on the LAN, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. Even supports Transcoding from both the phone or a server. Hands down the best Chromecast App I've used.
I've seen Chromecasts pop up on a Sunday night. You just have to check Best Buy's inventory checker every night to see if they get any in stock to be sold the next morning.
I personally would recommend plex considering ease of use after a good setup process, but a NAS is a good alternative. This article gives a decent guide, and there are plenty more that you could find. Depending on your wireless router, you could set it up so that a connected usb hard drive is accessible over your network. I'd really suggest giving plex another try, and feel free to check out /r/PleX for setup guides and advice.
You have an option to cast the full screen from within chrome and then just run the PowerPoint as normal http://www.howtogeek.com/199565/mirror-anything-from-your-computer-to-your-tv-using-google-chromecast/
You CAN stream your entire screen to a chromecast, but it really isn't great for a gaming.
A lot of online video players have their own cast button that will appear which will play the video on the chromecast very smoothly. Sending individual videos is the best way to do it. Screen mirroring is basically just a neat additional feature of chromecasts IMO.