Test videos for casting: MP4 and HLS (M3U8)

1. MP4

2. HLS

Both are public sample files from Google’s Cast sample bucket. The HLS one is an M3U8 playlist, so you can also paste its link straight into CastAway.

Big Buck Bunny © 2008 Blender Foundation (www.bigbuckbunny.org), licensed under CC BY 3.0.

3. Audio (needs the next update)

A 30 second track Spruik made for CastAway, as an M4A (AAC) file on this site. The page names its title, artist and cover art, so once the update’s out your TV shows “CastAway theme” by Spruik with the CastAway icon as the cover. Today’s CastAway casts video only, so it lists the two videos above and leaves this track out.

What the two videos are

The MP4 is a single video file, the simplest kind of web video. The HLS one is a playlist (the .m3u8 link above) that points to the same film at three quality levels, 360p, 480p and 720p, all in H.264, which every Chromecast plays. Most streaming sites send video this way, so if the HLS sample casts, your setup is working.

What a good cast looks like

Tap Cast to TV, pick your TV, and the video starts on the TV while your phone becomes the remote: play, pause, jump back or forward 10 seconds, and volume. These files are public, so the TV fetches them itself. You can lock your phone or switch apps and it keeps playing.

Casting the link on its own

Copy the M3U8 address under the HLS video, open CastAway and paste it in. CastAway finds the stream and it’s ready to cast, with no web page needed. If the link is already on your clipboard, CastAway shows an “Open link from clipboard” banner, so it’s one tap.

If it doesn’t work

If your TV doesn’t show up, check your phone and TV are on the same wifi (not a guest network) and turn off any VPN. If these samples cast but a video on another site won’t, tap Report in CastAway to see exactly what was sent and what the TV said. The support page has the full checklist.