Is there any open source chrome cast? I know of one project but it required a special server as well. I just want to plug something into my HDMI port so I can cast dumb YouTube videos, why does it have to be this hard.
All I want is something that I can put on a raspberry pi, and then from my phone use the "share" menu to share a URL to some app that communicates with the pi and plays the video URL.
Why doesn't that exist yet? Share YouTube video to rasp. Pi, then have and controls on the phone app.
Have a look at LibreELEC "just enough OS for Kodi" for the Pi - at least if you plan on using it primarily for running Kodi as a "casting receiver". (LibreELEC even supports Docker containers as Kodi add-ons too, if you need the Pi to run more than just Kodi.)
Kodi will natively play some types of links shared to it through the "Kore" remote app's "Play on Kodi" in the share menu.
Even more types of links are supported with the right add-ons such as YouTube links through Invidious add-on (or YouTube add-on with your own token), local broadcasters' VoD content, some paid streaming services and many more but it's a bit hit and miss...
With DLNA enabled in Kodi, many more types of stream URLs can be extracted from websites and sent to Kodi with apps like "Web Video Caster". I think this one has the option of routing the stream through the phone (which is only necessary for some types of streams).
Depending on your media consumption habits and requirements, it might not be the perfect solution, but possibly prettttty good one for a Raspberry Pi.
https://github.com/MayaPosch/NymphCast this exists. I built a proxmox server and patched qemu so I could have a gaming virtual machine, and yet that repo looks like more work than I want to do 😅
This looks great. My Chromecast just died so I replaced it with a Google TV Chromecast thing, so I don't have the bootloader exploit. Gonna look at the "unofficial" exploits they mention soon.
Yes, but that has its limitations to my knowledge. One of them is streams will be at a lower 720p. To tinker around it will work, but it will not be a fire and forget solution
The new Chromecast TV bullshit makes it a bit more complicated, but the article also says that Google is making changes.
I agree with you though, I have used a Chromecast as my main way to get stuff on my TV for years and years. I don't want them to complicate it or make me sign in to it, etc.
I don't know if Kodi is still around, I used it years ago on a raspberry pi. Bit of a faff but if YouTube is all you need then it should be good enough. Or maybe a second hand Chromebook?
I linked it somewhere else here but look up NymphCast on GitHub. It looks great and I don't mean to cast aspersions on the another, I just haven't spent time learning how to use it.