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Comment by chrissnell | Hacker News Reader

It seems like Cast would be an inferior way to stream HD content to a TV for many users. If the source host is wifi-connected, you're tripling the amount of traffic that's passed through your access points: once from the content source (e.g. Netflix) to the laptop via the AP, then presumably from the laptop to the AP and back out to the Chromecast device.

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That's not how it's done. That's a complete fallback.

For Netflix what happens is your browser tells the cast device what URL to go to to play the content. Your browser does not need to steam the video to the cast device. It can fall back to that so you can cast anything, however.

This is true but there are a couple caveats, one being the device playing the content has to already be authenticated properly.

You cannot simply go near a Cast-enabled device and start playing your stuff, unless I am mistaken. If that is the functionality then that would be terrifying as I would be handing my credentials to this Cast-enabled device.

Actually this is how the chromecast works. You never interact with the chromecast directly to configure your Netflix account for example. I assume (hope) they send a URL to the movie it should play with a one-time token to access the movie source.

It is inevitable that plaintext username/password will be used. This is why I am terrified.

Most likely it isn't a username/password but an authenticated URL... https://foo.bar.netflix.com/(UUID-OR-SIMILAR) where that is resolved to a resource, and the user authentication is valid for X hours from start...

There's no need for a plain username+password to be used... it's just an authentication token as the resource or part of the url.

They really just need to send the Netflix cookie from your browser to the chrome cast. But I don't think they do that, like sarnowski said, i believe they put some data in the url thats like a 1 time key for your account and the video you want to watch.

Are you really terrified that your Netflix username and password may be revealed? It's a bit much.

Don't people check their assumptions before asserting them as facts?

I don't know why it's a terrifying concept either.

Anyway, Chromecasts can be configured to allow guest access at the device level. Phones that are even on distinct networks can still guest-Chromecast via ultrasonic noises emitted by the Chromecast. It's pretty nifty. It's nice to have a bunch of people over and have a shared YouTube queue. For more details (https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/6109297?hl=en) expand the section "How do mobile devices connect with a Chromecast in guest mode?".

Not sure if it works with desktops/laptops, but there is a guest mode (disabled by default) in the settings (on the Android app) that allows anyone to add thing sto the player queue.

Only app I know for sure it works is Youtube. I'm not sure what other app handles it, maybe GPM and Spotify.

This is not the case for apps such as Netflix, YouTube, and HBO. They all stream directly to the Chromecast from your internet connection, your browser or app on your phone just acts as a remote.

> It seems like Cast would be an inferior way to stream HD content to a TV for many users. If the source host is wifi-connected, you're tripling the amount of traffic that's passed through your access points:

That's a fallback method, but the expected methods for most sources is that the you send the Google Cast receiver (chromecast, etc) a URL for the media, and it goes and streams it directly.

Which sadly is default/enforced behaviour. One day I downloaded something on Play Movies, and moved to another location that has Chromecast connected via a 3g access point. I expected the movie to play from the cached file, but no - it just silently downloaded a new version. Most expensive streaming session ever...

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