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https://github.com/aykevl/plaincast

Server that acts like a lightweight/headless Chromecast that only includes YouTube (for the time being)
https://github.com/aykevl/plaincast

Last synced: 4 months ago
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Server that acts like a lightweight/headless Chromecast that only includes YouTube (for the time being)

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# Plaincast



**This project is unmaintained**. Feel free to fork it and take over maintainership if you're interested in using it.



This is a small [DIAL](http://www.dial-multiscreen.org) server that emulates

Chromecast-like devices, and implements the YouTube app. It only renders the

audio, not the video, so it is very lightweight and can run headless.



It can be used as media server, for example on the [Raspberry

Pi](http://www.raspberrypi.org/).



## Installation



I'm going to assume you're running Linux for this installation guide, preferably

Debian Jessie (or newer when their time comes). Debian before Jessie contains

too old versions of certain packages.



First, make sure you have the needed dependencies installed:



 *  golang 1.3 (1.1+ might also work, but 1.0 certainly doesn't)

 *  libmpv-dev

 *  youtube-dl (see also 'notes on youtube-dl' below)



These can be installed in one go under Debian Jessie:



    $ sudo apt-get install golang libmpv-dev youtube-dl



If you haven't already set up a Go workspace, create one now. Some people like

to set it to their home directory, but you can also set it to a separate

directory. In any case, set the environment variable `$GOROOT` to this path:



    $ mkdir golang

    $ cd golang

    $ export GOPATH="`pwd`"



Then get the required packages and compile:



    $ go get -u github.com/aykevl/plaincast



To run the server, run the executable `bin/plaincast` relative to your Go

workspace. Any Android phone with YouTube app (or possibly iPhone, but I haven't

tested) on the same network should recognize the server and it should be

possible to play the audio of videos on it. The Chrome extension doesn't yet

work.



    $ bin/plaincast



## Notes on youtube-dl



`youtube-dl` is often too old to be used for downloading YouTube streams. You

can try to run `youtube-dl -U`, but it may say that it won't update because it

has been installed via a package manager. To fix this, uninstall youtube-dl, and

install it via pip. The steps required depend on the version of Python in your

`$PATH` variable. Check it with:



    $ python --version



Install using pip for **Python 2** (usually version 2.7.x), on Debian stretch

and below:



    $ sudo apt-get remove youtube-dl

    $ sudo apt-get install python-pip

    $ sudo pip2 install youtube-dl



Install using pip3 for **Python 3** (version 3.x). Only required when you have

configured the `python` binary to point to Python 3, or maybe on newer versions

of Debian.



    $ sudo apt-get remove youtube-dl

    $ sudo apt-get install python3-pip

    $ sudo pip3 install youtube-dl



Afterwards, you can update youtube-dl using:



    $ sudo pip install --upgrade youtube-dl



Or for Python 3:



    $ sudo pip3 install --upgrade youtube-dl



It is advisable to run this regularly as it has to keep up with YouTube updates.

Certainly first try updating youtube-dl when plaincast stops working.



## Known issues



 *  So far, only DIAL is implemented, so the Chrome extension for Chromecast

    doesn't work yet (I suspect it uses mDNS, which is the successor of DIAL on

    Chromecast).



## Thanks



I would like to thank the creators of

[leapcast](https://github.com/dz0ny/leapcast). Leapcast is a Chromecast

emulator, which was essential in the process of reverse-engineering the YouTube

protocol and better understanding the DIAL protocol.