Videostream
Videostream is an application that streams video, music, and image files wirelessly to Google's Chromecast. It was originally a Google Chrome application, until Google announced the Chrome App Store discontinuation. Since 2018, Videostream runs directly on the computer as well as in a Chrome App.
 | |
| Headquarters | Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer Internet |
| URL | getvideostream |
| Launched | February 2014 |
| Current status | Abandoned |
Stating that it's the simplest and most reliable way to stream videos to your Chromecast, in one click it will take any local video file and play it wirelessly onto any Chromecast. Under the hood, Videostream transcodes the audio and video of incompatible files into a format supported by the Chromecast. The product received favourable reviews by the sites Engadget, Lifehacker and Tekzilla, all of which praised the software's ease of use and ability to handle multiple video formats.[1][2][3]
Videostream was first launched in February 2014 by Jason Moore[4], Matthew Gardner[5], and Graham Kennery[6], and is built and maintained by their team in Kitchener, Ontario.
History
While living together the creators became frustrated with the need to plug an HDMI cable into their computers to get videos onto the TV. The team set out to create an app which made it easy for internet-connected televisions to receive video wirelessly from a laptop or mobile phone. The project was initially launched as a hobby, however quickly became the group's main focus after receiving early traction. According to the Chrome App Store, Videostream currently has just over 2,000,000 active users as of May, 2016.
Technology
The app makes use of a number of open source libraries including the FFmpeg project.
Major Features
Video Casting
Videostream currently supports over 200 different audio and video codecs with multiple quality options to allow playback under various network conditions, Videostream does fail to cast to chromecast if you have AVG and Avast internet virus software.
Subtitle Support
Support for both internal and external subtitles is included within the app. Currently .srt and .ssa subtitles are supported. Custom styles are also supported. Premium now offers the option to load subtitles from OpenSubtitles.org.
Mobile File Browsing
In a major update in February 2015, a media library was added to the application allowing file browsing from a mobile device.
Monetization
Videostream is free of charge and free of advertisements. A premium upgrade is offered which adds several non-standard features.
References
- "Play nearly any video on your Chromecast using this browser add-on". Engadget.
- Henry, Alan. "VideoStream for Google Chromecast Streams Any Video to the Big Screen". Lifehacker.
- "Best Chrome App For Streaming to Chromecast" – via www.youtube.com.
- http://startupmanagement.org/events/fireside-chat-with-entrepreneurs-ben-yoskovitz-and-jason-moore/
- https://www.crunchbase.com/person/matthew-gardner#section-overview
- https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/57997-27