I have developed Plex Cast, a Google Chrome Extension for sending online content to be played on your Plex Client. Supported content include YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, CollegeHumor, LiveLeak, TED and so much more!
How to use:
Download the extension (only for Chrome right now)
Configure your settings (right click on the icon -> options; make sure the client you want to cast to is open)
A fully working Plex Client (tested with PHT and Rasplex)
Compatibility:
Works with 100+ websites! Plex Cast uses Plex URL Services to determine wether or not it will be able to cast a video. You can find the list of compatible websites using this github repo.
Known issues:
Some videos from youtube won't stream: this is related to Plex URL Services so there is not much I can do on my end.
You will need to update your settings for every Incognito sessions you open. I am working on a fix.
This is my attempt to develop a Chrome extension (and also my first Javascript app), so the extension might not be fully optimised. Do not hesitate to contribute on the Github repo.
If you find this extension useful or just want to support this project, I would appreciate it if you could rate it on the Chrome Web Store page (I already got a one star rating before doing any king of advertisement, which makes me kind of sad...).
I'm trying to get this to work in my setup. I have plex media server 0.9.9.14.531 installed (latest I believe) on Win7 64bit PC. I have chrome and have installed your extension and google cast from the plex faq links.
So I play the you tube link and click plex cast in the chrome tool bar. It comes up with server not found do I want to update my settings. I click yes and enter 127.0.0.1 (PMS is on same PC). I've saved that and second time of trying it doesn't ask for that again so that seems to have stuck. What is does ask for it the client IP. Which is where it gets complex.
I want to use PMS as a server for playto on my nexus tablet which can then push into my Nowtv box (cut down roku). One of the channels on the nowtv box is playto. Playto can see the PMS server but I dunno what to put in as client as there isn't one until I play in playto and send that to the now tv box.
I've also got plex for roku (2.6.9) installed on the nowtv box. I can open that on the nowtv box, select a movie from PMS on the win7 PC and play that. I can't seem to work out how to cast. I tell it to cast but nothing happens on the nowtv box.
You should be able to see your client in the drop list and save your configuration.
If your client is running and you see an empty list, can you copy the content of this webpage http://127.0.0.1:32400/clients and paste it in this thread.
Thanks for the reply and the walk through. Very useful. What happens is that I follow that, it finds the client ok. I get the video screen page, 26s in the walk through, my IP is shown. Then it goes to the throbber, but I don't get to the casting point (30s in walk through). It just says problem with client.
I've also updated plex for roku on the now tv box (it has to be sideloaded in dev mode). It is now 3.0.8.
The clients dump gives this
I also have installed google cast to work with plex cast. I see the cast icon in the top bar of plex control page and I can click that and select now tv box. However in chrome the cast button just says no cast devices found. Both casting seem to have the same issue I think. They don't seem to be able to find the cast device at the browser level.
Is this a firewall issue? I'm running comodo but that isn't reporting any blocking.
Is it a network issue? My home network is 192.168.0.x but I have 2 wifi regions, name1, name2, bridging the network. Wifi and wired side the PC is one is Name1. The now TV box is on wifi Name2. They are all in the same mask region though (192.168.0.0 / 255.255.255.0) and plex works ok.
I'm not sure how I sure run the now tv box. Should this be left showing my channels, or should I start plex and it be left showing the plex library? The playto channel (which I have installed) I think takes control whatever.
I think I have found your issue. Plex Cast was attempting to communication with your client on port 3005 (which is the default port for PHT) while yours is on 8324.
I have pushed an update to fix this issue (v 1.2.1), it should automatically update in a few hours. Once the update is available, you will have to update your settings (redo all steps of the video) for the fix to work.
Please also note that my extension has nothing similar to google cast, and you wont be able to use google cast with this extension or your nowtv box.
Thanks. Not showing yet but I'll keep my eye on it.
I mentioned google cast in case it gave you a useful insight into the problem. I realise they are different extensions. I did first try google cast but couldn't find out why that wouldn't work and then I came across your extension which seemed easier.
BTW is is possible to cast Netflix with plex cast?
Really nice work, ledge74! Great extension, and even more impressive that its your first. It works great for me casting to PHT, haven't tried it with other clients yet. I'm really impressed not just with the functionality but the overall design, layout and icons.
A small suggestion... it would nice if the 'remote control' screen could be made into a collapsable menu window or something (like Chromecast), rather than having to be a full screen tab, if that's possible. Also, add a stop button?
I've checked again and it doesn't look like the plex cast extension has updated. I still see version as 1.2 and if I do check website and then details that says V1.2 and Aug 18 so it looks like google hasn't updated or the update you uploaded has registered. I've also ticked developer mode in chrome extension to get the update button and hit that too.
And of course I've tried it too, just in case the .1 in 1.2.1 isn't showing. It still doesn't work for me so it all points to no update.
Really nice work, ledge74! Great extension, and even more impressive that its your first. It works great for me casting to PHT, haven't tried it with other clients yet. I'm really impressed not just with the functionality but the overall design, layout and icons.
A small suggestion... it would nice if the 'remote control' screen could be made into a collapsable menu window or something (like Chromecast), rather than having to be a full screen tab, if that's possible. Also, add a stop button?
Thanks for your work, I really like it!
Thanks for the kind feedback and the review on the web store David, I really appreciate it !
My first thought was to include an iframe with the time and volume seekers, like the remote in plex web. But I still haven't found a way to do this without overloading the client with http requests. If a find a way to do it, I might include this in a next update.
I see that you have a bunch of different Plex clients! Do you think you could take some time to test on each one of them if Plex Cast works once version 1.2.1 is live (which will also bring the stop button!) ?
I've checked again and it doesn't look like the plex cast extension has updated. I still see version as 1.2 and if I do check website and then details that says V1.2 and Aug 18 so it looks like google hasn't updated or the update you uploaded has registered. I've also ticked developer mode in chrome extension to get the update button and hit that too.
And of course I've tried it too, just in case the .1 in 1.2.1 isn't showing. It still doesn't work for me so it all points to no update.
Hi macl_b, version 1.2.1 is still in standby on the Chrome Web Store, it usually takes only a few hours but this one takes longer to be published, I don't really know why. I will keep you posted as soon as the release is available, As for Netflix, it is not supported by Plex URL Services so it won't work with Plex Cast.
I see that you have a bunch of different Plex clients! Do you think you could take some time to test on each one of them if Plex Cast works once version 1.2.1 is live (which will also bring the stop button!) ?
Sure, happy to help test. I'll give it a go when the update is out... and thanks for the stop button too!
If you close the streaming tab or click the X up by settings (which takes you back to the video) the extension keeps streaming to the player. One would expect the streaming to stop. (I added this to the issues on github).
If you close the streaming tab or click the X up by settings (which takes you back to the video) the extension keeps streaming to the player. One would expect the streaming to stop. (I added this to the issues on github).
Hello tedrock, thanks for your feedback. The fact that the playback continues after closing the tab or using the "X" button is the normal behaviour for Plex Cast, as some people use this extension just for the remote function and not only for the streaming feature. You can also use the stop button if you want to stop the playback.
Hello Sisco's, thanks for your feedback and sorry for the late reply. Unfortunatly I don't have any android client to test with. But you can try this:
test 1: can you add an online video (say youtube for exemble) to your play queue via the "Plex it" bookmark and see it if plays on your client (it doesn't work on iPhone for example).
test 2: can you play a local video on your Android client and try to control it (play/pause/change subs) via Plex Web.
