Enable Chromecast support

[bsclifton]

Need to enable Chromecast?

See #209 (comment)
and #209 (comment)

Description

It should be easy to toggle support for Chromecast. Given the steps above (enabling in brave://flags, etc) it isn't trivial to enable.

Original issue description

Carried over from browser-laptop

Starting with Chrome 51, casting support should be built in. We need to:

• ensure this functionality is available in Chromium (do we need keys?)
• determine if it should be enabled/disabled by default (see privacy audit for MVP)

[weems]

I would like this feature as well, and am willing to help if/when needed

Cheers

[CaseyLabs]

Just checking in on the status of Chromecast in Brave. It looks like it's partially supported as an option, but trying to use it results in "No cast destinations found".

Chromecast support is basically the one road block preventing me from switching from Chrome to Brave full-time.

[Brave-Matt]

Several +1's from Community:
https://community.brave.com/t/cast-not-finding-any-devices/31757/4
https://community.brave.com/t/chrome-extension-err-failed/3198/2
https://community.brave.com/t/chromecast-support/38148

[Brave-Matt]

+1 from Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/brave_browser/comments/a41h2n/when_are_we_getting_chromecast_support/

[mailtoharshit]

+1 for this, I can help

[eljuno]

+1 from Community https://community.brave.com/t/casting-does-not-find-any-devices-no-devices-found/39656?u=eljuno

[Brave-Matt]

It seems that there's a flag that can be flipped to enable Chromecast support.
#load-media-router-component-extension works. Is there any special reason users shouldn't enable this flag?

[liamaharon]

Hi @Brave-Matt, could you please elaborate on how you enabled Chromecast support? I've tried starting brave with that flag, but still none of my Chromecast destinations appear. Checking in Chrome, they appear with no issues.

How I'm launching brave: brave-browser --load-media-router-component-extension

Would love to get this working, thanks for your help.

[Brave-Matt]

@liamaharon,
Bare in mind that this hasn't been fully tested on our end - I cant guarantee complete compatibility. That said, I enabled this via brave://flags, although that command should work. What OS/build?

[liamaharon]

@Brave-Matt no worries, I understand it's still experimental.

I updated Brave to make sure I was on the latest version, and it's exhibiting some different behaviour to before:
Regardless of if the load-media-router... flag is enabled or disabled (using the brave://flags GUI now:

• The 'Chromecast' button appears on content it should be (ie YouTube)
• Clicking 'Cast...' from the hamburger menu or the 'Chromecast' button on compatible content (YT) doesn't appear to do anything; no 'casting' menu appears asking me to select my device.

Tried casting from Chromium v71.0.3578.80, which worked fine.

OS: Ubuntu 18.04
Brave build: Version 0.58.16 Chromium: 71.0.3578.98 (Official Build) (64-bit)

[ngtvpgmnt]

Any further news on Chromecast support? It's the main feature I'm waiting for before I can fully adopt.
Updated to Version 0.58.18 Chromium: 71.0.3578.98 (Official Build) (64-bit) on MacOS.
Enabled suggested flags but still the same result as @liamaharon was having above.

[olibri-us]

Hey guys, same here, would love to cast so a big +1 :)
Also, enabling the "load-media-router..." option didn't do the trick, using Brave version 0.58.18,
works fine on the same Chromium version as @cbretski

[Jeff9000]

Is Casting an issue or not?

[olibri-us]

Yeah it is, nothing shows up when I click the option in the hamburger menu of my browser, on both mac and linux. At least they could maybe hide the option if it's not supported because it's very confusing :/

[mandree95]

EDIT: It works for me.

[ghost]

After enabling "#load-media-router-component-extension", I noticed the Chromecast dialog opens on the left side of the browser window, rather than in the middle.

As a result, when the browser window is full-screen, it seems like nothing happens after selecting "Cast..."

[olibri-us]

OMG you are right @glowacky, i can definitely reproduce what you are doing in the GIF.
I don't have a chromecast at home but I will try at work to see if I can cast something.
Then the problem would only be the location of that dialog.

[olibri-us]

Ok so more info about my problem :

I do have the window appearing where @glowacky mentionned, but for some reason on Fedora 29 using Plasma Desktop (KDE) It is cropped so I can't reach its content (cf. screen capture)

Still using Brave 0.58.21 Chromium: 71.0.3578.98

[ghost]

I had the exact same issue.

I'm running:

• MacOS: Version 10.14.3 (18D42)
• Brave Browser: Version 0.58.21 Chromium: 71.0.3578.98 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Manually enabling the #load-media-router-component-extension flag in brave://flags worked for me though.

[Brave-Matt]

You must enable the #load-media-router-component-extension as well as the #views-cast-media in order to cast.

This will resolve any issue with any unable to interact with or view the dialogue box.

Edit: #views-cast-dialog is the correct second extension. My mistake!

[olibri-us]

Hi, thanks for the feedback !
I tried to do as you suggested : manually enable #load-media-router-component-extension.
I could not find #views-cast-media in my version, but I found #views-cast-dialog and enabled it just to try.
With or without it, I still have the same bug : cast dialog appears truncated on the left, just like in my last screenshot...
It's a pity because that's all I need to remove this Chrome from my computer...

[liamaharon]

I'm experiencing the exact same as @jamendub

[ghost]

@jamendub can you cast your screen? It looks the same for me.

[olibri-us]

Well i don't know, as i can't see the content of the window which is supposed to allow me to cast

[Brave-Matt]

For everyone trying to cast after enabling both the #load-media-router-component-extension as well as the #views-cast-dialog:

• Are you attempting to cast to a Chromecast "stick" - the actual Google chromecast device - or a chromecast enabled device, like a smart tv?
• From what sources have you tried to cast from?

[LesterCovax]

@mcouvill It appears you may be on the release version, and I'm not sure if the support has made its way to that version yet. When you enabled the Media Router Extension, did you do so during the flags or the extensions section in setting? You should have the following in your settings tab if the functionality is implemented.

[mcouvill]

Yeah, looks like I'm on release. Had to set it through the flags. Where do I grab the latest for Win10?

[LesterCovax]

@mcouvill There are links for each branch on their site.

https://brave.com/download-nightly
https://brave.com/download-dev
https://brave.com/download-beta

[mcouvill]

new issue. Grabbed both the beta and the nightly build but now stuck on it Connecting To The Internet and failing. Going dig through the archives first.

[TheRoarkster]

Is anyone else unable to change the volume using the Chromecast button?

Previously, the Chromecast dialog box would open separately from the Chromecast button if you disabled Views Cast Dialog. But now, that option is no longer available in brave://flags.

Is there a way to get it back? Or change the volume for the cast on the browser?

[jumde]

@TheRoarkster - Can you check if enabling brave://flags/#mirroring-service fixes it for you?

[TheRoarkster]

Nope (but thanks!). It looks like this is a Chrome change, not a Brave change (see Reddit).

@TheRoarkster - Can you check if enabling brave://flags/#mirroring-service fixes it for you?

[kjozwiak]

Verification PASSED on macOS 10.14.16 x64 using the following build:

Brave	0.69.130 Chromium: 77.0.3865.90 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	58c425ba843df2918d9d4b409331972646c393dd-refs/branch-heads/3865@{#830}
OS	macOS Version 10.14.6 (Build 18G95)

• ensured that Cast is disabled if Media Router is disabled via brave://settings/extensions
• ensured that Cast is available when Media Router is enabled via brave://settings/extensions
• ensured when Media Router is enabled, all the devices ready to cast are being listed
• ensured that casting tabs & desktop worked as expected (tried several websites)
• ensured that the casting button is correctly being displayed on tabs that are being casted
• ensured the Cast icon is correctly coloured blue when casting/connected to a device

Verification PASSED on Mint 19.1 x64 using the following build:

Brave	0.69.131 Chromium: 77.0.3865.90 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	58c425ba843df2918d9d4b409331972646c393dd-refs/branch-heads/3865@{#830}
OS	Linux

• ensured that Cast is disabled if Media Router is disabled via brave://settings/extensions
• ensured that Cast is available when Media Router is enabled via brave://settings/extensions
• ensured when Media Router is enabled, all the devices ready to cast are being listed
• ensured that casting tabs & desktop worked as expected (tried several websites)
• ensured that the casting button is correctly being displayed on tabs that are being casted
• ensured the Cast icon is correctly coloured blue when casting/connected to a device

Verification PASSED on Windows 10 x64 using the following build:

Brave	0.69.131 Chromium: 77.0.3865.90 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	58c425ba843df2918d9d4b409331972646c393dd-refs/branch-heads/3865@{#830}
OS	Windows 10 OS Version 1809 (Build 17763.737)

• ensured that Cast is disabled if Media Router is disabled via brave://settings/extensions
• ensured that Cast is available when Media Router is enabled via brave://settings/extensions
• ensured when Media Router is enabled, all the devices ready to cast are being listed
• ensured that casting tabs & desktop worked as expected (tried several websites)
• ensured that the casting button is correctly being displayed on tabs that are being casted
• ensured the Cast icon is correctly coloured blue when casting/connected to a device

[TheRoarkster]

Has anyone been able to get it to work with volume control?

[bric3]

For me what worked, enabling these two flags, relauching Brave after toggling on each of the following flags :

• brave://flags/#load-media-router-component-extension
• brave://flags/#mirroring-service

[joejoejo]

bric3 that fixed the problem for me but there should be a permanent solution that does not require to keep changing flags inorder to keep it working.

[elvey]

I wonder - for the folks for whom this isn't working - could their firewall settings be the culprit? (For example, on MacOS, I don't have "Automatically allow downloaded signed software to to receive incoming connections enabled, and my initial response if I was prompted asking if I wanted to allow or deny incoming connections would be to deny.) It would help to clarify what the desired vs expected UI & behavior is on various OSes if there's a firewall block.

[timojuonoja]

Does not work for me.. I enabled #load-media-router-component-extension, but couldn't find other flags listed. Brave browser can see my chromecast device and connection can be initiated. However it disconnects immediately and TV flashes from black back to chromecast desktop showing slideshow.

OS: Solus Linux
Brave: 1.18.77

Tried already if reboot helps, but same problem still...

[amine250]

Does not work for me.. I enabled #load-media-router-component-extension, but couldn't find other flags listed. Brave browser can see my chromecast device and connection can be initiated. However it disconnects immediately and TV flashes from black back to chromecast desktop showing slideshow.

OS: Solus Linux
Brave: 1.18.77

Tried already if reboot helps, but same problem still...

It works for me running the latest brave, the second flag is called brave://flags/#allow-all-sites-to-initiate-mirroring

[timojuonoja]

It works for me running the latest brave, the second flag is called brave://flags/#allow-all-sites-to-initiate-mirroring

That flag doesn't help for me. Still the same... tries, but fails.

Edit Seems to problem on my machine somehow.. even Chrome is not working anymore. I can cast Youtube, which I guess has some native support, but desktop or tab casting fails every time on both browsers. Works on other devices though... weird.

Edit2 Seems to problem on video acceleration in Linux. It tries to use VA-API, which fails. I can bypass this by starting Brave with --disable-gpu. Hopefully this will be resolved sooner or later somehow..

[raduliviu]

Hey guys, I tried enabling the load-media-router-component from brave://flags and after relaunching, the browser crashes instantly. I can't even open up brave://flags again since it crashes. Any thoughts on how to disable it from some other place than the GUI?
I'm on macOS btw

[simonhong]

EDIT - You can pass --no-experiments command line switch to disable all changes from flags like below.
open /Applications/Brave\ Browser.app --args --no-experiments
I recommends using this instead of below Local State file editing.

@raduliviu You can reset changes of flags by editing Local State file from user-dir.
If you're using stable channel, it's /Users/USER_ACCOUNT_NAME/Library/ApplicationSupport/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/Local State
In that file, you can see "load-media-router-component-extension@1".
To make it have default value, you can delete the whole "load-media-router-component-extension@1" from that file.
Before editing Local State, please back up that file and edit.
Hope this helps.

I also tried to repro this crash by toggling this feature also, but couldn't on stable and nightly channel.