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Comment by Osiris | Hacker News Reader

How does the Chromecast work for someone like me that has their movie collection stored on a NAS? I currently use XBMC in my living room, but for the bedroom I'd love to have something like the Chromecast if I could use it to stream content (MKV, x264) from my NAS plus maybe some Netflix/Pandora. Is that possible with the Chromecast?

If not, does this SDK open up more possibilities for playing local content vs. streaming?

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http://elan.plexapp.com/2013/12/06/plex-on-the-chromecast-it...

This app[1] for android is being updated to add support for chromecast, and from what I remember by checking the SDK it is quite simple to do as well, something like preparing an HTML5 video page and sending the link to play.

[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koushikdut...

I've been patiently waiting for an XBMC tie in. I've tried PLEX, but IMO it doesn't compare to the experience that I get with XBMC.

I think it will require the XBMC community to embrace it and push it in. I'm not sure if they could do this via a skin, if we'll have to wait for an XBMC release after Gotham, or if someone will figure a way to have Chromecast act as a second monitor.

Any of those and I feel that my home media center will be complete, but until then I'm stuck waiting.

I'd be interested to see what comes out, but the strength of the chromecast is the ability to browse and such and your phone, and just click a button to instruct the chromecast to play certain content. I'm not sure it makes sense to replicate the xbmc interface on your TV - it's not really inline with what the chromecast is trying to do.

More apps should be on their way now that the SDK is officially released, here's one demo from 6 months ago sending XBMC files, browsed via upnp, to Chromecast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neLkKbfl42E&feature=youtube_...

Not a free option but Plex, the commerical spin off of XBMC, does this now.

They have publicly said it would be free in the future at some point. The intro period is just paid only.

Plex Media Center.

NOTE: Requires MONTHLY FEE to enable streaming to ChromeCast

You only have to be a paid Plex supporter for early access. This will be a free feature soon.

Plexpass is only $29.99 a year or $74.99 lifetime.

Personally I think everyone using Plex on a daily basis should be a paying member and support future development.

Or a one time $75 payment.

I grabbed an app called "Avia" which will do streaming of local-to-the-device content. Chromecast support is a $3 in-app (i.e. per-device, not per-account) purchase once you download the app, which is itself free.

It works. Note that the chromecast has very limited codec/container support, so lots of my library has to be transcoded.

Does it/can it work headless? It would be great if it had a nice interface on the phone and could send my NAS content to the Chromecast.

It has no "head" to begin with, so yes it works headless.

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