Multi-Room Audio on Chromecast devices offer no Video

I got excited when I learned that Chromecast devices (Generation 2 and above of video) will offer multi-room audio support. I already owned Chromecast Audio devices for a few years now, and enabled multi-room audio on those already. However, I have a Gen.  2 Chromecast on my patio which I wanted to pair with the Chromecast Audio device that connects to a receiver that feeds audio output to speakers already in that area. I thought it was going to be a fantastic option to stream from YouTube Music into My TV that is then simulcasted to my Chromecast Audio.

I tried yesterday, and found out that there is no video streaming available on my Gen. 2 Chromecast. Just Audio. Bummer!

So, at least for now, Multi-Room Audio will be for just that, just audio. Would have been great to see Video also streamed in simultaneous with Chromecast Audio.

Archiving MiniDV videos to MP4/M4V

I forgot how to, and it took me some time to remember. I decided to itemize my steps in a blog post.

What you need before you start:

  1. Ensure that you got a video camera that can playback MiniDV tapes.
  2. A Firewire (IEEE 1394) interface in your PC or laptop.
  3. A Firewire cable that connects your video camera with your PC or laptop.

Steps:

  1. Capture your videos using Windows Movie Maker or WinDV. This will create raw AVI files on your hard drive.
  2. If you ended up with multiple AVI files you wish to concatenate, use VirtualDub. Append your videos using the Append option in the File menu. Ensure that under the Audio and Video menu options, you select the Direct Stream Copy option.
  3. Encode your AVI video using HandBrake. Default options are fine (H.264 for video, AAC for Audio). Just ensure that the Deinterlace option is ON under Filters; Slow is fine.

Final thoughts:

I recommend you keep a backup of both the raw AVI files and the MP4/M4V file you have created. You can even upload them to YouTube (as private for instance) and share it to the ones you care.

Happy archiving!

HandBrake

HandBrake