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On the contrary, an open alternative to Google Cast is very welcome and much better than a Chomecast clone. The protocol is not very good so trying to re-implement it is just asking for trouble.

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And even better would be to support the Google Cast protocol to increase adoption while offering a roadmap to transition to a better protocol.

Unfortunately that's not possible for receivers barring a break in crypto. Receivers are authenticated by the sending devices:

https://blog.oakbits.com/google-cast-protocol-receiver-authe...

An alternative Chromecast receiver needs cooperation from the sender one way or another.

Yes but it’s unusable in 99% of apps, so it doesn’t matter how technically brilliant it is

Chromecast is also unusable for 99% of apps. On Linux, there is no reliable way to use it to play movies with embedded subtitles on your TV. Probably because the protocol is too hard to implement.

Yet Linux is not 99% of the apps, 99% of the apps are the Android and iOS apps used by billions of users.

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