Controlling Google cast devices programmatically (Chromecast and Home)

Published: 2019-10-02
Last updated: 2020-05-13 21:19

google
cast
ha
miniguide

pychromecast has the code for controlling the cast device. It becomes very simple with it, just install it from pip pip install pychromecast and then follow along:

$ python
Python 3.7.3 (v3.7.3:ef4ec6e, Jul 18 2019, 21:03:00)
[GCC 4.9.2] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.

>>> import time
>>> import pychromecast
>>> chromecasts = pychromecast.get_chromecasts()
>>> chromecasts
[Chromecast('192.168.0.13', port=8009, device=DeviceStatus(friendly_name='Living Room Speaker', model_name='Google Nest Mini', manufacturer='Unknown manufacturer', uuid=UUID('f7033a0a-9fc6-1846-9ed8-ee2d88521f65'), cast_type='cast')), Chromecast('192.168.0.13', port=42834, device=DeviceStatus(friendly_name='Test', model_name='Google Cast Group', manufacturer='Unknown manufacturer', uuid=UUID('0e008ac1-4d6b-4545-80e0-1c703a7c775c'), cast_type='group'))]
>>> [cc.device.friendly_name for cc in chromecasts]
['Living Room Speaker', 'Test']
>>> cast = next(cc for cc in chromecasts if cc.device.friendly_name == "Living Room Speaker")
>>> cast
Chromecast('192.168.0.13', port=8009, device=DeviceStatus(friendly_name='Living Room Speaker', model_name='Google Nest Mini', manufacturer='Unknown manufacturer', uuid=UUID('f7033a0a-9fc6-1846-9ed8-ee2d88521f65'), cast_type='cast'))
>>> print(cast.device)
DeviceStatus(friendly_name='Living Room Speaker', model_name='Google Nest Mini', manufacturer='Unknown manufacturer', uuid=UUID('f7033a0a-9fc6-1846-9ed8-ee2d88521f65'), cast_type='cast')
>>> cast.device.friendly_name
'Living Room Speaker'
>>> cast.wait()
>>> print(cast.device)
DeviceStatus(friendly_name='Living Room Speaker', model_name='Google Nest Mini', manufacturer='Unknown manufacturer', uuid=UUID('f7033a0a-9fc6-1846-9ed8-ee2d88521f65'), cast_type='cast')
>>> print(cast.status)
CastStatus(is_active_input=False, is_stand_by=True, volume_level=0.30000001192092896, volume_muted=False, app_id='CC32E753', display_name='Spotify', namespaces=['urn:x-cast:com.google.cast.debugoverlay', 'urn:x-cast:com.google.cast.cac', 'urn:x-cast:com.spotify.chromecast.secure.v1', 'urn:x-cast:com.google.cast.test', 'urn:x-cast:com.google.cast.broadcast', 'urn:x-cast:com.google.cast.media'], session_id='43d9042c-3d6e-4a05-aec6-06682f9f0e5d', transport_id='43d9042c-3d6e-4a05-aec6-06682f9f0e5d', status_text='Spotify', icon_url='https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HOX9yqNu6y87Chb1lHYqhKVTQW43oFAFFe2ojx94yCLh0yMzgygTrM0RweAexApRWqq6UahgrWYimVgK')
>>> mc = cast.media_controller
# Get an URL to an mp4 video
>>> media_url = "https://r6---sn-jvhixh-5go6.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1572732827&ei=O6u9Xf-gDsWBhAetzI3IDA&ip=185.27.134.50&id=o-AKt2dwvxIXleT5YfxQ0EYLIRT-aUV6Rtkio0gzk8vrgO&itag=22&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mime=video%2Fmp4&ratebypass=yes&dur=917.768&lmt=1572418007364260&fvip=6&fexp=23842630&c=WEB&txp=5535432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cmime%2Cratebypass%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ALgxI2wwRgIhALD9kMpaG8nqIMSpEz5e5PTlLeW48TMTqx7MPlrqg92MAiEAvNAAQrfixl4acN2-m2eVrneCMRsgbLG9IG_bJDPRggA%3D&redirect_counter=1&rm=sn-aigezz7d&req_id=24c4935b3749a3ee&cms_redirect=yes&ipbypass=yes&mip=80.216.68.127&mm=31&mn=sn-jvhixh-5go6&ms=au&mt=1572711125&mv=m&mvi=5&pcm2cms=yes&pl=19&lsparams=ipbypass,mip,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pcm2cms,pl&lsig=AHylml4wRgIhAJfnlLfRghpCGUSOrEQKNmIgFzqdcMKILzv0Fo66EwK5AiEA2iMdvpfojKnQ1WcSaG9Vfk_j79EBdrHiPC_HuKpxBqQ="
>>> mc.play_media(media_url, 'video/mp4')
>>> mc.block_until_active()
>>> print(mc.status)
<MediaStatus {'metadata_type': None, 'title': None, 'series_title': None, 'season': None, 'episode': None, 'artist': None, 'album_name': None, 'album_artist': None, 'track': None, 'subtitle_tracks': [{'trackId': 1, 'type': 'VIDEO'}], 'images': [], 'supports_pause': True, 'supports_seek': True, 'supports_stream_volume': True, 'supports_stream_mute': True, 'supports_skip_forward': False, 'supports_skip_backward': False, 'current_time': 1.055187, 'content_id': 'https://r6---sn-jvhixh-5go6.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?expire=1572732827&ei=O6u9Xf-gDsWBhAetzI3IDA&ip=185.27.134.50&id=o-AKt2dwvxIXleT5YfxQ0EYLIRT-aUV6Rtkio0gzk8vrgO&itag=22&source=youtube&requiressl=yes&mime=video%2Fmp4&ratebypass=yes&dur=917.768&lmt=1572418007364260&fvip=6&fexp=23842630&c=WEB&txp=5535432&sparams=expire%2Cei%2Cip%2Cid%2Citag%2Csource%2Crequiressl%2Cmime%2Cratebypass%2Cdur%2Clmt&sig=ALgxI2wwRgIhALD9kMpaG8nqIMSpEz5e5PTlLeW48TMTqx7MPlrqg92MAiEAvNAAQrfixl4acN2-m2eVrneCMRsgbLG9IG_bJDPRggA%3D&redirect_counter=1&rm=sn-aigezz7d&req_id=24c4935b3749a3ee&cms_redirect=yes&ipbypass=yes&mip=80.216.68.127&mm=31&mn=sn-jvhixh-5go6&ms=au&mt=1572711125&mv=m&mvi=5&pcm2cms=yes&pl=19&lsparams=ipbypass,mip,mm,mn,ms,mv,mvi,pcm2cms,pl&lsig=AHylml4wRgIhAJfnlLfRghpCGUSOrEQKNmIgFzqdcMKILzv0Fo66EwK5AiEA2iMdvpfojKnQ1WcSaG9Vfk_j79EBdrHiPC_HuKpxBqQ=', 'content_type': 'video/mp4', 'duration': 917.699048, 'stream_type': 'BUFFERED', 'idle_reason': None, 'media_session_id': 1, 'playback_rate': 1, 'player_state': 'PLAYING', 'supported_media_commands': 274447, 'volume_level': 1, 'volume_muted': False, 'media_custom_data': {}, 'media_metadata': {}, 'current_subtitle_tracks': [], 'last_updated': datetime.datetime(2019, 11, 2, 16, 14, 33, 902682)}>
>>> mc.pause()
>>> mc.play()

If you want to get the mp4 link for a video on youtube, then you can use the following service http://youlink.epizy.com/?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5BID%5D (taken from this SO answer). These can be casted to home devices as well (only sound).