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Kino docs

Casting

Kino ships with a Chromecast receiver and a server-side Cast sender. The Cast protocol runs entirely on the Kino backend, so the Cast button works from any browser — Firefox, Safari, and Chromium alike — without the Chrome Cast SDK and without browser permissions.

What you need

Section titled “What you need”
  • A Chromecast or Google TV device on the same LAN as Kino
  • Kino reachable from the Chromecast (which loads the receiver page from your Kino URL)
  • Network that allows mDNS, or the Chromecast’s IP address for a manual add

Casting

Section titled “Casting”

  1. Open the playback page for whatever you want to watch.

  2. Click the Cast icon in the top bar (next to Settings). The popover lists every Chromecast Kino has discovered on the LAN.

  3. Pick a device. The kino receiver launches on the TV and playback starts there. The browser’s player pauses; the Cast popover becomes a mini-controller (play / pause / seek / volume / stop).

  4. Click Cast again to disconnect. The browser player resumes at the position the Chromecast was at.

While casting, you can navigate around Kino in the browser without losing the session — the controls stay live in the top-bar popover.

What the Chromecast can play

Section titled “What the Chromecast can play”

Chromecasts are capable but not unlimited. Kino’s playback decision takes the receiver’s capabilities into account, so:

  • 4K HDR10 plays through directly on Chromecast Ultra and Google TV Streamer
  • Dolby Vision is stripped down to the HDR10 base layer (the Chromecast doesn’t support DV in MKV)
  • TrueHD / Atmos is replaced with the AC-3 / EAC3 compatibility track when the file has one — no audio transcode in that case
  • Subtitles are delivered as a WebVTT track and rendered by the receiver

This means a typical 4K remux casts at full visual quality with the compatibility audio track and the Dolby Vision dynamic metadata stripped — good, just not the absolute top of the chain.

Discovering devices

Section titled “Discovering devices”

Kino discovers Chromecasts via mDNS the moment the backend boots and keeps the device list fresh as devices come and go. Most networks just work.

When discovery doesn’t work

Section titled “When discovery doesn’t work”

mDNS is link-local multicast and gets blocked in a few common setups:

  • Docker bridge networks — the default Docker bridge drops multicast from host to container. Run Kino with network_mode: host to fix it.
  • VLANs / “guest network” isolation on home routers — the Chromecast and the Kino host need to be reachable from each other.
  • Some mesh systems suppress mDNS for power-saving reasons.

When discovery isn’t an option, add the device manually:

  1. Find the Chromecast’s IP address (Google Home app → device settings → device information).

  2. Open the Cast popover in Kino’s top bar.

  3. Click Add device by IP, paste the address, and confirm.

The manually-added device persists across restarts and is flagged manual in the device list.

Receiver app

Section titled “Receiver app”

The receiver is registered with the Google Cast Developer Console under Kino’s default app ID; nothing to configure.

If you’ve published your own custom Chromecast receiver app and want Kino to launch that instead, paste its app ID into Settings → Playback → Cast → Custom Cast receiver app ID. Leave it blank to use the default.

Common issues

Section titled “Common issues”
  • Cast button never appears in the top bar — the device list hasn’t loaded yet, or no devices were found and you haven’t added one manually. Reload after a few seconds; if it still doesn’t show, your network is blocking mDNS — use the manual add path.
  • “Failed to launch” — usually means the receiver couldn’t reach Kino’s URL (e.g. Kino is on http://localhost:8080 which the Chromecast can’t resolve). Set up a reachable hostname or reverse proxy and reconfigure Kino to advertise that.
  • Picture plays but audio doesn’t — the file has only audio codecs the Chromecast can’t decode and transcoding is disabled. Re-enable transcoding in Settings → Playback.
  • Session drops after Wi-Fi blip — Kino reconnects automatically in the background; the controls usually catch up within thirty seconds.

What’s not supported

Section titled “What’s not supported”
  • AirPlay — different protocol, not implemented
  • DLNA / UPnP — different protocol, not implemented
  • Native LG webOS or Android TV apps — planned, not shipped today