Windows "Cast To..." Settings

Deathstroke · July 23, 2015

Ok, I've been trying to figure this one out for a few days now, or find a method around it, but can't seem to make it happen how I want.

Basically, I recently discovered the "Cast To..." setting in Windows 10, and hear it's also in window 8.1. It's great. BUT, it crushes a ton a compression, and runs through Media Player, which is better than before, but still no VLC.

What I've been trying to find, is the compression settings, or some kind of settings outside the Windows Media Player settings that will effect this "casting" and not compress 1080p files down to 480p WMV files. After trying different formats, it looks like it's only MKVs that are causing the issue, but Media Player supports MKV, so why does it have to compress and change format on delivery?

My TV (LG 40UB8000) supports all the regular formats, including MKV, and when accessing the files through the TV, it plays them back how they should be, no issues.

But with most of my media on an external, the TV can't access it unless I move it to a local folder like "Videos". I don't wanna do that.

So, does anyone know if there's some hidden config files for this "Cast To..." setting or Miracast somewhere? Or do you know another software that can easily stream content from my pc over LAN to my TV, which appears as a "Play device" in windows.

Thanks!

Murdoch · July 23, 2015

Personally I'd use a DLNA server like Serviio. If your TV can support all codecs natively it works like a charm. Or there is always Plex if you need some transcoding for unsupported formats. It's always best to use native video though, the real-time transcoding of video in any of these "casting services" can really diminish the quality of your videos.

Deathstroke · July 25, 2015

After doing a few more tests and playing around a bit, I found that if I send something to the queue in the Cast window, the first play will be compressed, the second will be true quality.

So, what I've found is, click to Cast something, then once it has began in it's compressed form, simply double click it again in the queue, and it will begin again with full quality.

Odd, but whatever, it works.