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nickr · (This post was last modified: 2013-08-23, 23:51 by nickr.)

Work in Progress:

People keep talking about integrating Chromecast and XBMC so I thought I would see if I could implement a Chromecast Receiver app on a XBMC box. The approach is to set up leapcast which in turn opens google-chrome. The chromium-browser included in most linux distros doesn't seem to work, you need the full job from Google. This has been tested on Mythbuntu 12.04, which I use as a basis for my media machines.

(Actually this has little to do with XBMC - leapcast sits in the background until someone casts to it, then it pops up google-chrome fullscreen to play the video, then chrome can be closed either with the sending machine (typically your smartphone) or with a keypress that you assign on your remote.)

1. Install Prerequisites

We need git to get the leapcast source code and we need python-tornado and python-setuptools as a pre-requisite of leapcast:

Code:
sudo apt-get install git python-tornado python-setuptools

2. Install leapcast

Code:
cd Downloads

git clone https://github.com/dz0ny/leapcast.git

cd leapcast

sudo python setup.py develop

leapcast should be installed to /usr/local/bin/leapcast

3. Install google-chrome

First it's dependencies:

Code:
sudo apt-get install libcurl3 libnspr4-0d

I found instructions which suggested this way to install google-chrome:

64 Bit Systems

Code:
cd ~/Downloads

wget -O g-chrome-NoobsLab64.deb https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i g-chrome-NoobsLab64.deb

32 Bit Systems

Code:
cd ~/Downloads

wget -O g-chrome-NoobsLab32.deb https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i g-chrome-NoobsLab32.deb

4. Run it

I found this commandline ran it best:

Code:
DISPLAY=:0 leapcast --user_agent TV --fullscreen --chrome /usr/bin/google-chrome

Now get your android or iphone cast something to it via the youtube app.

5. To Do

*Implement remote control keybindings

*Make a startup script so it runs on boot

*Work out why my android phone doesn't let me choose which of several leapcasts running in the house to cast to.

flaviobrandao · 2013-08-22, 04:58

Do you have a video of this feature working?

nickr · 2013-08-22, 21:57

no. why?

Voodooguru · 2013-08-23, 17:02

Thanks for the guide, it works a charm. You missed an s off "stable" in the installing chrome 32bit command.

For choosing which instance of leapcast to connect to, could you try naming each PC's leapcast something unique using --name in the script to run? Just an idea.

flaviobrandao · 2013-08-23, 20:21

(2013-08-22, 21:57)nickr Wrote: no. why?

Sorry but I use the standalone xbmc and I don't get how this solution works

flaviobrandao · 2013-08-23, 21:41

well, I've just try to make it work, but I think there is something wrong, I'm getting this half size Window, the connection seems to be working well, but maybe there is different command for 64 bit chrome? http://imgur.com/Byb2EZf

nickr · (This post was last modified: 2013-08-23, 23:55 by nickr.)

(2013-08-23, 17:02)Voodooguru Wrote: Thanks for the guide, it works a charm. You missed an s off "stable" in the installing chrome 32bit command.

For choosing which instance of leapcast to connect to, could you try naming each PC's leapcast something unique using --name in the script to run? Just an idea.

Thanks, fixed the typo. Yes the --name parameter would probably fix it!

(2013-08-23, 21:41)flaviobrandao Wrote: well, I've just try to make it work, but I think there is something wrong, I'm getting this half size Window, the connection seems to be working well, but maybe there is different command for 64 bit chrome? http://imgur.com/Byb2EZf

Not sure whats up there, I use 64 bit so the command should be the same. Are you sure you used the --full-screen parameter to leapcast? There is also a --window_size parameter.

Code:
nick@envy ~/Downloads $ leapcast --help

usage: leapcast [-h] [-d] [--name NAME] [--user_agent USER_AGENT]

                [--chrome CHROME] [--fullscreen] [--window_size WINDOW_SIZE]

optional arguments:

  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

  -d                    Debug

  --name NAME           Friendly name for this device

  --user_agent USER_AGENT

                        Custom user agent

  --chrome CHROME       Path to Google Chrome executable

  --fullscreen          Start in full-screen mode

  --window_size WINDOW_SIZE

                        Set the initial chrome window size. eg 1920,1080

flaviobrandao · (This post was last modified: 2013-08-24, 00:42 by flaviobrandao.)

(2013-08-23, 21:41)flaviobrandao Wrote: well, I've just try to make it work, but I think there is something wrong, I'm getting this half size Window, the connection seems to be working well, but maybe there is different command for 64 bit chrome? http://imgur.com/Byb2EZf

nickr Wrote:Not sure whats up there, I use 64 bit so the command should be the same. Are you sure you used the --full-screen parameter to leapcast? There is also a --window_size parameter.

Code:
nick@envy ~/Downloads $ leapcast --help

usage: leapcast [-h] [-d] [--name NAME] [--user_agent USER_AGENT]

                [--chrome CHROME] [--fullscreen] [--window_size WINDOW_SIZE]

optional arguments:

  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

  -d                    Debug

  --name NAME           Friendly name for this device

  --user_agent USER_AGENT

                        Custom user agent

  --chrome CHROME       Path to Google Chrome executable

  --fullscreen          Start in full-screen mode

  --window_size WINDOW_SIZE

                        Set the initial chrome window size. eg 1920,1080

Just get this working!!!!
I've remove the option user_agent and sent to leapcast the size as you said. this is the final command line for my future script. Thanks and sorry for my bad english.

Code:
DISPLAY=:0 leapcast --name MediaCenterPC --fullscreen --window_size 1920,1080 --chrome /usr/bin/google-chrome

nickr · 2013-08-24, 01:12

--user_agent TV gives a different interface, one that seems better for a 10 foot interface, for me anyway. Would like to know what other options there are for that parameter.

flaviobrandao · 2013-08-24, 01:29

(2013-08-24, 01:12)nickr Wrote: --user_agent TV gives a different interface, one that seems better for a 10 foot interface, for me anyway. Would like to know what other options there are for that parameter.

looks like PS3 interface...I'm thinking, now with the pipelight, maybe can leapcast send videos from netflix

nickr · 2013-08-24, 02:23

Not sure, can't use netflix in NZ anyway.

flaviobrandao · 2013-08-24, 03:05

Netflix service is very popular here in Brazil, can't wait to see this working with xbmc

nikiiv · 2013-08-25, 12:04

Nice.. however I got this
[7:24:0825/130023:ERROR:platform_thread_linux.cc(99)] Failed to set nice value of thread to -10

I had to run it with sudo to actually get anything.. However the sound comes form the movie that plays
Also it was chopping..
But nice work..

pesm01 · 2013-10-27, 17:47

works great, thanks for the guide. Now my daughter can see the teletubbies all day long Wink

klikkamongo · 2013-11-01, 17:05

Hi,
Great work!
Does the "Cast entire screen (experimentally)" button work? (See this video if you dont know what I am talking about).

I also wondered if anyone of you know if there is a similar feature for Windows?