Streaming media to a chromcast device

Hello everybody,

i’m trying to find a good setup to stream the various media files (music, movies and images) stored on my nextcloud server to a chromcast device (in my case a Onkyo AVR) using a android device as a remote control.

Basically, i need a android app that connects to the nextcloud server using webDAV and then streams it to my chromcast device. Unfortunatly, the apps that i find are only covering either one half of that needs: There is the CloudBeats app e.g. that connects your android device to your nextcloud using webDAV (works like a charm from everywhere), but can’t stream the content nowhere; on the other hand, there are numerous apps that can stream LOCAL files on your android device to a chromecast device, but can’t connect to sources in clouds. The closest thing there ist is BubbleUPnP, that can connect to major cloud services such as google, dropbox, onedrive etc. but has no nextcloud support.

So what to do? I’m open for a different setup since all these devices could communicate in one way or another (i can also throw in a nvdia shield hooked to the Onkyo AVR), but i’ve got to tell you, that i’m bit of a noob and don’t have to much of experience.

But i am thank ful for any ideas, i immagine i’m not the only one using a nextcloud server as part of a home media setup. Thank you!

I’m doing this with Kodi: http://kodi.tv
It can open WebDAV as well.

so you run the kodi app on your android device and then stream the content to a chromecast?

I don’t use Chromecast anymore but it should work: https://nerdschalk.com/kodi-chromecast-android/

I think it is possible with every cast app for chromecast, for example Web video cast or even VLC.
In nextcloud app you can choose “streaming” for media file. Just point web video cast/vlc. When the playback begins, push cast button and choose the chromecast device.

As far as i know that will only work for h.264 videos with AAC sound saved as MP4 and not for MKV videos, but Kodi can stream every file format.

Thank you everybody! Unfortunatly, the suggestions do all miss the point…let me explain:

https://nerdschalk.com/kodi-chromecast-android/

Yep, i’ve been there. Since kodi doesn’t have a cast function integrated, there is a workaround using the local cast app, which should pop up and ask for where to cast the content once you start playback in kodi. Problem is, it only seems to work with movies and NOT with music files. Which sucks endlessly, because that’s what i would really need. Actually, there is no point using it for movies in my case: acessing movies from a nextcloud with a android device in order to stream them from there to an AVR doesn’t make much sense when this AVR is also hooked to an Nvdia shield, which runs android - so you’ll install the kodi app (or the nextcloud app or any webdav explorer) on the shield and choose your movie and play it. Because you already sit down in front of the screen (or beamer, in my case) since you want to watch something.

Not so much when it comes to listening to music. That’s where streaming from an android device makes sense, because you want to control it from your handheld device (phone, tablet) on the go, easily, quickly and without a fuss. You don’t want to fire up the big screen (or the beamer!) or your PC when you just want to listen to your music while you are cooking. It’s frustrating that, however, all music solutions are either thought through a smart TV or a PC that’s always on (fortunatly not my case) or are closed-shop-services (SONOS, Spotify…). Sigh.

Sorry for the rant. But i’m looking for a way to do this for quite some time already. So, in order to be precise:

I’m looking for a way to navigate my music files stored on nextcloud with an android device and stream it from there my chromecast-enabled AVR.

So that the second suggestion

In nextcloud app you can choose “streaming” for media file

got my interest, but navigating your music library with the nextcloud app is just something that this app wasn’t made for. it’s an file explorer, not a music player. You would have to pick every single song you want to hear out of a 5000+ file list, what’s the point…

Sorry for the lenghty post, but i thought better to be precise. Sorry also if i didn’t get something right in your suggestions, please correct me.

If to speak about music, maybe you should look into Stream you music with Nextcloud Music and Power Ampache – Own your bits

I used this way, but have never thought about streaming music via chromecast. Maybe there is a good app that can cast to it, they say vlc can.

P.S. Just looked at google play. In description there is a chromecast support: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ghenry22.substream2&hl=en_US&gl=US
Not tried it myself yet.

Finally, if there are no other ways, you can use music app of your nextcloud instance in chrome to navigate your library and cast music via chromecast.

Wow! Thank you so much for all the good stuff! Will look into it right tomorrow!

I finally got to test the variant with substreamer. I activated the nextcloud music app in my nextcloud instance, createtd an API-token for the android app and installed the substreamer app on my android devices (a fairphone 2 and a samsung tablet).

the substream app can nicely connect to the server and play music. Casting it to my chromecast-enabled AVR didn’t quite work out though. The substream app did actually find the AVR, even could fire it up from Standby, the AVR’s Display also read “Chromecast built-in…connecting…” But nothing ever started. At somepoint, the App froze. Same result with both android devices.

I think substreamer is fine, but it’s something with my AVR (some time-out or whatever) that doesn’t make it work with that app. I’ll try with the VLC app.

Just for interest installed 10 minutes ago substreamer to my old asus tablet and succesfully sent music stream to google chromecast connected to the TV.

Thank you for sharing this. This sort of proofes that my AVR is for some reason not a good partner to the substream app, which would actually be the way to go.

The VLC app instead of substream app on the other hand can’t do it since VLC can’t connect to a nextcloud server (at least that i know - VLC has no webdav capabilities or can be directed to the ampache / subsonic backend like substreamer can. Instead, VLC can handle URLs and UPnP sources, but i found no way to configure my nextcloud server as a UPnP-device).

In the meantime i found a very simple workaround by looking at the bigger picture: why bothering so much with the chromecast-abilities of my AVR, when it also has bluetooth?? :man_facepalming: :sweat_smile: Turns out it works right away with any audio signal i play on the android device and doesn’t sound so bad as you might think (maybe that’s what this AVR is good for). Since lacking chromecast capabilities are no longer an issue this way i use the cloudbeats app (because it has a nicer and more usable interface than the substreamer app, i think) to connect via webdav to my nextcloud server and simply turn on the bluetooth to stream it to the AVR. Works.

So conclusion:

Stream Audio from your nextcloud server to a chromecast device:

  1. Install the nextcloud music app from the apps panel on your nextcloud instance
  2. In the nextcloud music app, go to settings and configure it by directing it to your music directory and let it read your music library
  3. In the settings menu, create a API passwort for the subsonic backend. Note it, together with the URL provided (something like <cloud_url>/index.php/apps/music/subsonic)
  4. Take your android device and install the substreamer app from the Play store. Log on with the credentials above
  5. that should do it, when playing a song in substreamer, you should have a chromecast icon with which you can cast the song to a chromecast device of your choice.

Seems to work with most chromecast devices. Did not work with my chromecast-enabled Onkyo AVR (TX-NR656). Further flaws of the substreamer app i noticed: substreamer has difficulties to display album artwort (maybe that’s down to what the subsonic backend provides), a (in my oppinion) not-so-organized user interface and a strange behaviour when exiting (keeps asking if i want to run it in the background and won’t shut down).

There is another android app that can connect to the subsonic backend in nextcloud music and can stream to chromecast devices, called DSub for Subsonic . I didn’t try it yet because it costs and i found no trial version. Any Experiences, anyone?

So, another take on this since bluetooth is fairly common:

Stream Audio from your nextcloud server to a bluetooth device:
Well thats way easier and seems bulletproof. I recommend the Cloudbeats android app. It acesses your nextcloud server via webdav and has a nice and clear user interface. Make the app log on to your nextcloud server using your webdav-URL and your credentials. Once you’ve done this, you pair the android device with the bluetooth device before you open the cloudbeats app and off you go.

Of course, bluetooth is not ideal for a high end audio experience due to it’s compression. But when it comes to listening experience and audio quality, it’s also a bit abacadabra, so just trust your ears and some bluetooth devices surely do sound better than others, so i wouldn’t completly exclude it and go ‘chromecast or bust’ because bandwith and compression.

Hope this helps others with the same issues. Thank you everybody so much for sharing your knowledge!

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