Chromecast support for Smooth Streaming with PlayReady

Question

I'm aware that developer-preview of Chromecast receiver does not fully support Smooth Streaming manifest URL (See Update#1).

I have tested content provided by Microsoft PlayReady(TM) Test Server - Smooth Streaming assets using sample receiver app provider in GitHub project.

Smooth Streaming Support

As expected, manifest file does not work (See Update#1). But I was able to play individual ismv file (but only low bitrates). When I use higher bitrate, the video container stays black.

PlayReady Support

When I tried to play PlayReady protected low bitrate ismv file, I was expecting some sort of call back MediaProtocolMessageStream.onKeyRequested(). But there did not happen. Here is my android CustomMediaProtocolMessageStream implementation.

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So, does anybody know how PlayReady or Widevine supposed to work with Chromecast? I have seen Netflix invokes some binary shell command when app is loaded in chromecast. But I assume, they worked with Google to accomplish this.

Additional SO Resources

• How to play smooth streaming video in Chromecast?
• Is it actually possible to play SmoothStreaming videos on Chromecast without using (format=mpd-time-csf)?
• Playing Smoothstreaming URL by providing Manifest file of smoothstreaming to Chromecast device

Update #1

Based on Les Vogel's answer, smooth streaming manifest file for adaptive bitrate streaming is supported by Chromecast. You need custom player to handle that. As far as I am aware of, currently there are two JS player which can handle that, but I don't know if they will work on Chromecast.

1. dash.js - By DASH Industry Forum (https://github.com/Dash-Industry-Forum/dash.js)
2. Microsoft HTML5 Player Framework - Part of Microsoft Media Platform (http://playerframework.codeplex.com/)

Answer 1

Currently, you need to write your own media player to support adaptive bitrate streaming on Chromecast.

Unfortunately, the MS test server assets do not correctly provide a CORS header, which would be needed if you wrote a javascript player.

PlayReady and Windvine are both supported. We'll be providing additional documentation shortly.

EDIT We announced the beta of the Cast Media Player Library today 2/3/14 - it supports HLS, SmoothStreaming, and MPEG Dash.

Answer 2

Yes, you can use "com.microsoft.playready" for PlayReady and "com.widevine.alpha" for widevine.