WebCast-Reloaded

Description:

Detect multimedia URLs in each tab. Present them as organized lists. Each list item includes links to either forward the corresponding multimedia URL to an external website or copy its value to the clipboard. The external website provides additional tools to utilize the forwarded multimedia URL; such tools include: HTML5 video players, a Chromecast client sender, an AirPlay ^[1] client sender, and an HLS-Proxy configuration utility ^[2].

• ^[1] The AirPlay client sender uses the AirPlay v1 protocol. The only AirPlay v1 receiver that is officially supported is the Android application: ExoAirPlayer.
• ^[2] After the multimedia URL for an HLS manifest has been configured for use with HLS-Proxy, it can then be forwarded to any of the other tools… and its multimedia will be streamed through the proxy.

Background:

• WebCast is a really nice enhancement to Chromium-based desktop web browsers
• Its purpose is to identify video files as they are loaded into a webpage, and provide a mechanism by which to cast their links
  • when a link is "cast", Chromecast uses its embedded HTML5 browser to play the video
  • the device which was used to "cast" the link doesn't proxy the stream
• The tool consists of two parts:
  • an external website
    • an AngularJS SPA (single page app)
    • the default route allows a user to enter the URL to a video file
    • another route can be passed a base64 encoded URL to a video file
    • after a URL is received, the following page elements are rendered:
      • an HTML5 video player
      • a Chromecast button, which uses Google APIs to scan for Chromecasts on the LAN and display a list of devices that could be used to play the video file
  • a Chromium extension
    • it hooks into the HTTP API to listen for requested URLs that end with a supported file extension
    • each URL that matches is made available to "cast"
    • clicking on any such video will open a new browser tab to WebCast's "external website" component
      • it's provided with the base64 encoded URL of the video file

Status:

• WebCast hasn't been updated since:
  • version 0.2.1
  • June 2, 2014
• It tests for the following file extensions:
  • .mp4
  • .mov

Purpose for Fork:

• keep a backup of the "external website"
• detect more types of video formats:
  • .3gp
  • .avi
  • .m1v
  • .m4v
  • .mkv
  • .mov
  • .mp4
  • .mp4v
  • .mpeg
  • .mpg
  • .mpg2
  • .mpv
  • .ogm
  • .ogv
  • .webm
  • .xvid
  • .m3u8
    • HLS: HTTP Live Streaming
  • .mpd
    • MPEG-DASH
  • .ism, .ismv, .ismc, .ism/Manifest
    • Microsoft Smooth Streaming

Additional Notes:

• not all of the videos detected ( see above ) will work in Chromecast
  • the preference is to find too many video links, rather than too few
• the "external website":
  • can be used without any Chromium extension
    • the URL to cast would need to be manually entered into a form field
  • can be loaded into the Chromium desktop web browser from the local filesystem
    • ex: file:///C:/path/to/external_website/index.html#/watch/:base64-encoded-URL
    • ex: file:///C:/path/to/external_website/index.html#/watch/:base64-encoded-URL/subtitle/:base64-encoded-URL
    • no server is required
  • hosted:
    • original WebCast player
    • GitHub Pages (HTTPS)
      • main entry-point
        • mirror of WebCast player
        • VisualOn HTML5 Player
        • THEOplayer HTML5 Video Player
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - stable release
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - stable release w/ experimental support for using external subtitles on Chromecast
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - latest release
        • Video.js HTML5 Video Player - stable release
        • Video.js HTML5 Video Player - latest release
      • redirect entry-point for HLS-Proxy
    • mirror: surge.sh CDN (HTTP)
      • main entry-point
        • mirror of WebCast player
        • VisualOn HTML5 Player
        • THEOplayer HTML5 Video Player
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - stable release
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - stable release w/ experimental support for using external subtitles on Chromecast
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - latest release
        • Video.js HTML5 Video Player - stable release
        • Video.js HTML5 Video Player - latest release
      • redirect entry-point for HLS-Proxy
    • mirror: raw.githack.com CDN (HTTP)
      • main entry-point
        • mirror of WebCast player
        • VisualOn HTML5 Player
        • THEOplayer HTML5 Video Player
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - stable release
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - stable release w/ experimental support for using external subtitles on Chromecast
        • Clappr HTML5 Video Player - latest release
        • Video.js HTML5 Video Player - stable release
        • Video.js HTML5 Video Player - latest release
      • redirect entry-point for HLS-Proxy

Possible To-Dos:

• add an option to the Chromium extension that allows the user to change the URL of the "external website"
• change the methodology used by the Chromium extension to detect matching video files
  • inspect the HTTP response "Content-Type" header

Links to Related Apps for Android:

• WebCast for Android
  • minimal app
    • apk size is around 3.5 MB
    • only does what it says it will do
      • open source, no ads, no data collection, no communication with any 3rd-party server
      • uses the same methodology to detect video formats (as the WebCast-Reloaded Chromium extension)
    • not perfect, but works pretty darn good
• EZ Web Video Cast
  • a minimal app that doesn't have ads and works great

Legal:

• copyright:
  • WebCast
  • THEOplayer HTML5 Video Player
  • VisualOn HTML5 Player
  • Warren Bank
• license:
  • GPL-2.0
    • only applies to changes made to code in the original WebCast extension