Google Cast

Configuration

To add the Google Cast integration to your Home Assistant instance, use this My button:

Google Cast can be auto-discovered by Home Assistant. If an instance was found, it will be shown as Discovered. You can then set it up right away.

Support for mDNS discovery in your local network is mandatory for automatic discovery. Make sure that your router has this feature enabled. If mDNS does not work in your network, the IP addresses of the Cast devices can be manually entered in the configuration as mentioned below.

Options

Options for Google Cast can be set via the user interface, by taking the following steps:

• Browse to your Home Assistant instance.
• Go to Settings > Devices & Services.
• If multiple instances of Google Cast are configured, choose the instance you want to configure.
• Select the integration, then select Configure.

Home Assistant Cast

Home Assistant has its own Cast application to show the Home Assistant UI on any Chromecast device. You can use it by adding the Cast entity row to your dashboards, or by calling the cast.show_lovelace_view service. The service takes the path of a dashboard view and an entity ID of a Cast device to show the view on. A path has to be defined in your dashboard’s YAML for each view, as outlined in the views documentation. The dashboard_path is the part of the dashboard URL that follows the defined base_url, typically “lovelace”. The following is a full configuration for a script that starts casting the downstairs tab of the lovelace-cast path (note that entity_id is specified under data and not for the service call):

cast_downstairs_on_kitchen:
  alias: "Show Downstairs on kitchen"
  sequence:
    - data:
        dashboard_path: lovelace-cast
        entity_id: media_player.kitchen
        view_path: downstairs
      service: cast.show_lovelace_view

Playing media

Using the built in media player app (Default Media Receiver)

Chromecasts can play many kinds of modern media (image/audio/video) formats using the built in app Default Media Receiver. As a rule of thumb, if a Chrome browser can play a media file a Chromecast will be able to handle that too.

The media needs to be accessible via HTTP(S). Chromecast devices do not support other protocols like DLNA or playback from an SMB file share.

You can play MP3 streams like net radios, FLAC files or videos from your local network with the media_player.play_media service, as long as the media is accessible via HTTP(S). You need to set the media_content_id to the media URL and media_content_type to a matching content type.

# Play a video file from the local network:
service: media_player.play_media
target:
  entity_id: media_player.chromecast
data:
  media_content_type: "video"
  media_content_id: "http://192.168.0.100/movies/sample-video.mkv"

# Show a jpeg image:
service: media_player.play_media
target:
  entity_id: media_player.chromecast
data:
  media_content_type: "image/jpeg"
  media_content_id: "http://via.placeholder.com/1024x600.jpg/0B6B94/FFFFFF/?text=Hello,%20Home%20Assistant!"

Extra media metadata (for example title, subtitle, artist or album name) can be passed into the service and that will be shown on the Chromecast display. For the possible metadata types and values check Google cast documentation > MediaInformation > metadata field.

# Play a movie from the internet, with extra metadata provided:
service: media_player.play_media
target:
  entity_id: media_player.chromecast
data:
  media_content_type: "video/mp4"
  media_content_id: "http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckBunny.mp4"
  extra: 
    metadata: 
      metadataType: 1
      title: "Big Buck Bunny"
      subtitle: "By Blender Foundation, Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license"
      images:
        - url: "https://peach.blender.org/wp-content/uploads/watchtrailer.gif"

# Play a netradio, with extra metadata provided:
service: media_player.play_media
target:
  entity_id: media_player.chromecast
data:
  media_content_type: "audio/mp3"
  media_content_id: "http://stream.tilos.hu:8000/tilos" 
  extra: 
    metadata: 
      metadataType: 3
      title: "Radio TILOS"
      artist: "LIVE"
      images:
        - url: "https://tilos.hu/images/kockalogo.png"

Casting with other apps

It’s possible to play with other apps than the default media receiver. To do so, media_content_type should be set to cast, and media_content_id should be a JSON dict with parameters for the app, including the app name.

BBC iPlayer

This app doesn’t retrieve its own metadata, so if you want the cast interface or media player card to show titles and/or images you will have to provide the data yourself. See the examples below.

Note: Media ID is NOT the 8 digit alphanumeric in the URL, it can be found by right-clicking the playing video. E.g., this episode shows:

With b09w70r2 being the media_id

Media parameters

Mandatory:

• app_name: bbciplayer
• media_id: Item ID

Optional:

• is_live: Item is a live stream

Example

Example values to cast this episode

  alias: "Cast BBC iPlayer to My Chromecast"
  sequence:
    - service: media_player.play_media
      target:
        entity_id: media_player.my_chromecast
      data:
        media_content_type: cast
        media_content_id: '
          {
            "app_name": "bbciplayer",
            "media_id": "b09w70r2"
          }'
        extra: 
          metadata: 
            metadataType: 0
            title: "Bitz & Bob"
            subtitle: "Castle Makeover"
            images:
              - url: "https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1280x720/p07j4m3r.jpg"

BBC Sounds

This app doesn’t retrieve its own metadata, so if you want the cast interface or media player card to show titles and/or images you will have to provide the data yourself. See the examples below.

Media parameters

Mandatory:

• app_name: bbcsounds
• media_id: Item ID

Optional:

• is_live: Item is a live stream

Example

Example values to cast BBC Radio 1

  alias: "Cast BBC Sounds to My Chromecast"
  sequence:
    - service: media_player.play_media
      target:
        entity_id: media_player.my_chromecast
      data:
        media_content_type: cast
        media_content_id: '
          {
            "app_name": "bbcsounds",
            "media_id": "bbc_radio_one",
            "is_live": true
          }'
        extra: 
          metadata: 
            metadataType: 0
            title: "Radio 1"
            images:
              - url: "https://sounds.files.bbci.co.uk/2.3.0/networks/bbc_radio_one/background_1280x720.png"

BubbleUPNP

The BubbleUPNP app has similar functionality to the built in Default Media Receiver app, and can be used as a backup if the default app fails to play the media.

Media parameters

Mandatory:

• app_name: bubbleupnp
• media_id: The URL to play

Optional:

• media_type: Media type, e.g. video/mp4, audio/mp3, image/jpeg, defaults to video/mp4.

Example

'cast_bubbleupnp_to_my_chromecast':
  alias: "Cast a video to My Chromecast using BubbleUPNP"
  sequence:
    - target:
        entity_id: media_player.my_chromecast
      data:
        media_content_type: cast
        media_content_id: '
          {
            "app_name": "bubbleupnp",
            "media_id": "http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckBunny.mp4",
            "media_type": "video/mp4"
          }'
      service: media_player.play_media

Plex

To cast media directly from a configured Plex server, set the fields as documented in the Plex integration and prepend the media_content_id with plex://:

'cast_plex_to_chromecast':
  alias: "Cast Plex to Chromecast"
  sequence:
  - service: media_player.play_media
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.chromecast
    data:
      media_content_type: movie
      media_content_id: 'plex://{"library_name": "Movies", "title": "Groundhog Day"}'

Supla

Note: Media ID is NOT the 8 digit alphanumeric in the URL, it can be found by right-clicking the playing audio clip. E.g., this episode shows:

With p009ycqz being the media_id

Media parameters

Mandatory:

• app_name: supla
• media_id: Supla item ID

Optional:

• is_live: Item is a livestream

Example

Example values to cast the item at https://www.supla.fi/audio/3601824

'cast_supla_to_my_chromecast':
  alias: "Cast supla to My Chromecast"
  sequence:
    - target:
        entity_id: media_player.my_chromecast
      data:
        media_content_type: cast
        media_content_id: '
          {
            "app_name": "supla",
            "media_id": "3601824"
          }'
      service: media_player.play_media

YouTube

Media parameters

Mandatory:

• app_name: youtube
• media_id: YouTube video ID

Optional:

• enqueue: Enqueue only
• playlist_id: Play video with media_id from this playlist. Note that only providing playlist_id but no media_id does not work.

Example

'cast_youtube_to_my_chromecast':
  alias: "Cast YouTube to My Chromecast"
  sequence:
    - target:
        entity_id: media_player.my_chromecast
      data:
        media_content_type: cast
        media_content_id: '
          {
            "app_name": "youtube",
            "media_id": "dQw4w9WgXcQ"
          }'
      service: media_player.play_media

Troubleshooting automatic discovery

mDNS relies on UDP multicast, which may fail for various reasons. If none of the tips in this section helps, the recommended solution is to ensure all cast devices have static IPs assigned to them and configure a list of known hosts.

Zeroconf configuration

The Google Cast integration relies on the Zeroconf integration for mDNS discovery. The Zeroconf integration has some configuration options which impact mDNS routing.

Cast devices and Home Assistant on different subnets

Cast devices can only be automatically discovered if they are on the same subnet as Home Assistant because mDNS packets are not routed across subnets. Automatic discovery in setups with cast devices on a different subnet than Home Assistant is not recommended and not supported. If it is not possible, it’s necessary to either enable mDNS forwarding between the subnets or to configure a list of known hosts.

Home Assistant Container

When running the Home Assistant Container in Docker, make sure it is running with host network mode. Running without it is not supported by the Home Assistant project, and will cause this integration to be unable to discover to your Cast devices.