Chrome OS devices could soon be able to beam local media to any Chromecast streaming stick without the need to use any workarounds: Latest Chromium commits found by Chromestory.com suggest that the native Chrome OS video player is getting Chromecast support in the near future.
Chromium developers recently started to separate the Chrome OS video player from the Files app and turn it into a standalone app. At the time, it looked like this was primarily about making it easier to use the Files app, which is essentially the Chrome OS version of the Finder in OS X or File Explorer in Windows, and the video player at the same time; however, it now looks like the update could also bring casting to Chrome OS.
Currently, Chrome OS users have to load any media they want to cast into the Chrome browser and then use tab casting, which essentially mirrors the content of that browser tab. However, this process involves transcoding, which can degrade the quality if a video, and generally requires a pretty powerful computer to run smoothly.
In the case of Chromebooks, tab casting often leads to stuttering videos. Native casting should resolve these issues and make beaming videos from a Chromebook to a Chromecast streaming stick a lot more enjoyable.
However, it's unclear when we will exactly see this feature come to Chrome OS. The commit found by Chromestory only refers to setting a flag for Chromecast support, with a developer writing that "the implementation will be committed later."
Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
