Automation - Chromecast Play

Intro

This accessory will play/cast audio and/or video to your Chromecast on demand. It can be used for automation.

The list of media (audio/video) to be played must be stored on a file. The plugin will pick a random media from the file every time you turn on the switch. If you want to apply always the same, create a json file with only one media.

Media file

Example:

[
  {
    "name": "Ukulele Song",
    "url": "https://freepd.com/music/Ukulele%20Song.mp3",
    "author": {
      "name": "Rafael Krux"
    }
  },
  {
    "name": "Pond",
    "url": "https://freepd.com/music/Pond.mp3",
    "author": {
      "name": "Rafael Krux"
    },
    "mimeType": "audio/mp3",
    "streamType": "BUFFERED"
  }
]

The JSON file must contain an array of objects. Each object will be a media.

Format of each media object:

| Attribute | Required | Description | Example | |-----------|----------|-------------|---------| | name | Yes | The name of the media | Ukulele Song | | url | Yes | The URL of the media to be streamed | https://freepd.com/music/Ukulele%20Song.mp3 | | author.name | No (default: unknown) | The name of the author of the media | Rafael Krux | | mimeType | No (default: autodetect based on file extension) | The MIME type of the file. See Chromecast supported types | audio/mp3 | | streamType | No (default: BUFFERED) | The type of stream. For files, use BUFFERED, for live feeds use LIVE | BUFFERED |

You can find an example file in this repo under media.json. This file contains some public domain audio (but you can stream video too).

Config

Example config.json:

{
  "accessories": [
    {
      "accessory": "AutomationChromecastPlay",
      "name": "Living Room Play",
      "chromecastDeviceName": "Living Room",
      "mediaFile": "./media.json"
    }
  ]
}

This accessory will create a switch. Turning on the switch will stream the media to your Chromecast. The switch will turn off automatically after 1 second.

The switch has the following properties:

| Name | Description | Example | |------|-------------|---------| | Author | The name of the author of the current media | Rafael Krux | | Media |The name of the current applied media | Ukulele Song | | Status |The current media status | Playing |

Note: some properties are not compatible with iOS Home app, use Elgato Eve app instead.

Configuration options

| Attribute | Required | Usage | Example | |-----------|----------|-------|---------| | name | Yes | A unique name for the accessory. It will be used as the accessory name in HomeKit. | Living Room Play | | chromecastDeviceName | Yes | The name of your Chromecast device as shown in your Google Home App (case insensitive). This plugin will use Bonjour/mdns to detect the IP address of the Chromecast based on this name. | Living Room | | mediaFile | Yes | The path of the media file (relative to the Homebridge current working directory) | ./media.json |

Other useful plugins

Do you want to automatically turn on the speakers when you stream some audio? Or adjust the volume of the speakers?

Check my homebridge-automation-chromecast plugin.