Chromecast transcoding

[UsernameMkayy]

Hey guys,

 

I'm hoping what I need to do is very simple.  Given any media "key" (e.g. /library/metadata/9) I need to grab a URL from the Plex Server that I can send off to a Chromecast to play.  Since all my videos aren't natively supported by Chromecast, I'll need to (I guess) request a transcode session/URL from Plex for this.

 

Poking around in Firebug and Plex/Web, I'm able to see a couple m3u8 files pop up, e.g.:

 

http://localhost:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/start.m3u8?path=http%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A32400%2Flibrary%2Fmetadata%2F195&mediaIndex=0&partIndex=0&protocol=dash&offset=0&fastSeek=1&directPlay=0&directStream=1&videoQuality=60&videoResolution=1920x1080&maxVideoBitrate=8000&subtitleSize=100&audioBoost=100&session=pshsdb1rg9&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=2crc6t07k98&X-Plex-Product=Plex+Web&X-Plex-Device=Windows&X-Plex-Platform=Firefox&X-Plex-Platform-Version=32.0&X-Plex-Version=2.2.8&X-Plex-Device-Name=Plex+Web+%28Firefox%29

 

... and with that, the server responds with a new session cookie (pshsdb1rg9, in the URL below), and then the Plex/Web client calls:

http://localhost:32400/video/:/transcode/universal/session/pshsdb1rg9/base/index.m3u8

 

Now, I've tried sending both of these URLs (immediately after I got them in Plex/Web) to my Chromecast, and neither of them are playing.  I can send any "normal" web URLs using this same method, and I can even send URLs that I get directly from Plex (e.g. /library/parts/337/file.mp4), as long as it's a format the Chromecast supports.

 

What do I have to do in order to get the Chromecast to read a transcoded stream from Plex?  Please note that I'm not interested in using the Chromecast UI functionality in the Plex clients -- I'm setting up my own simple client for this.  I just need to get Plex to generate a valid URL (being transcoded) that I can send off to the Chromecast.

 

Any suggestions?