1.
ChromeCast
and the future
of Android TV
Sebastian Mauer
GDG Aachen

2.
This Presentation
contains QR-Codes

3.
Who am I?
Sebastian Mauer
GDG Aachen Co-Lead CS Student
Software Engineer I don’t work for Google…yet

4.
Part I: Google TV
(aka „The History“)

5.
GoogleTV
• Google’s first attempt to „own“
the TV
• Introduced at Google I/O 2010
• First Device, x86-based
Logitech Revue
• US only at launch

6.
By the summer of 2012, the majority of the
televisions you see in stores will
have Google TV embedded.
- Eric Schmidt at LeWeb 2011

7.
GoogleTV
http://9to5mac.com/2013/07/16/report-at-56-apple-tv-takes-majority-of-streaming-device-marketshare-in-2012/

8.
Three Generations
1. Generation, late 2010
based on Android 3.2
2. Generation, Summer 2012
based on Android 3.2
3. Generation, 2013
probably on Android 4.2.2

9.
GoogleTV: Pros
• Part of the Android-family.
• Deploying apps is easy™ (via Play Store)
• Re-use most of your existing Android code

10.
GoogleTV: Cons
• Does not evolve as fast as mainline Android
• Not many devices sold (500,000 - 1,000,000)
• Late start in the European Union (2012)

11.
Help me Android. You're my only hope

12.
Part II: ChromeCast
aka Google Cast Devices

13.
ChromeCast: Hardware
• Model Number: H2G2-42
• It’s not based on ChromeOS
• It’s based on Android
and Chromium
• It’s not going to kill GoogleTV
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Chromecast+Teardown/16069

14.
ChromeCast: Pros
• Very cheap hardware (35$)
• Very easy to use (My Grandma can do it™)
• Web Developers can easily write „Receiver“-Apps
• Simple Protocol Stack

15.
ChromeCast: How does it work?

16.
ChromeCast: Cons
• Google Cast SDK is still a Developer Preview
(read: things will break, things will change)
• You have to manually whitelist
all your apps with Google
• It’s not officially released outside the U.S.
Things have been broken. But the SDK is stable now.

17.
WebTech
UDP
ChromeCast: Protocol Stack
• SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol)
• DIAL (DIscovery And Launch)
• RAMP (Remote Application Media Protocol)
• HTML5 & JS (You know that this is)
• WebSockets (Bi-directional communication Browser<>WebApp)
• WebRTC (Web Real Time Communication)

18.
TCP
WebTech
UDP
ChromeCast: New Protocol
• mDNS (Multicast Domain Name System, aka Bonjour)
• Protobuf over TLS Sockets
• RAMP (Remote Application Media Protocol)
• HTML5 & JS (You know that this is)
• WebSockets (Bi-directional communication Browser<>WebApp)
• WebRTC (Web Real Time Communication, ex. Screen Mirroring)

19.
ChromeCast: How it works!
1. Advertises ChromeCast
using mDNS (UDP Broadcast)
!
2. Discovers Endpoints using mDNS
!
!
3. Requests App and opens
TLS Socket connection
!
!
!
4. CC fetches HTML5 based 1st
Screen App (opens WebSocket)

20.
ChromeCast: How it works! II!
!
!
!
5. Sends request to play media
!
!
!
!
!
6. HTML5 app receives
media request (WebSocket)
starts fetching content.
!
!
!
!
!
!
7. Media is downloaded/streamed
by ChromeCast device

21.
ChromeCast: Sender App
• Cast SDK available for
• You need to pay $5 to create an account
on the Google Cast Developer Console

22.
ChromeCast is not just
for „streaming“ video
content.

23.
It’s a remote controllable
Chrome Browser
running on your TV.

24.
Use Cases: PhotoCast

25.
Use Cases: CastPad

26.
Part III: ChromeCast
without ChromeCast*
* includes shameless plug

27.
CheapCast all the Droids
• Is an app that emulates a
ChromeCast (or Google Cast)
device on almost any Android
Device
• Implements DIAL, RAMP/WS
Proxy-ing
• Does not care if your id is
whitelisted or not.
• Written by me

28.
CheapCast: Components
WebView
SSDP Service
DIAL REST WS
ChromeCast API Ext
1st Screen Output
Receiver App
Sender App

29.
CheapCast: Use Cases
• Start developing ChromeCast apps without owning
an actual ChromeCast Device
• Turn one of your old Android-devices into a
ChromeCast Dongle (connect via MHL<->HDMI)
• Cast content from your Android Smartphone
to your Android Tablet just for the hell of it.

30.
CheapCast: OpenSource
https://github.com/mauimauer/cheapcast
Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License
Made possibleby Chromium
Totally useless
right now!
But it mightcome back…

31.
Part IV: Android TV
(aka „What might be…“)

32.
Just Rumours?Yes!
But Google Cast ist not going
away soon.

33.
Q&A
Follow me on G+

34.
First one to scan this QRCode
to find out the Codeword wins.

35.
Thanks.
Teşekkürler.