Update – Using Chromebook With Roku
Remoku is a Chrome extension that allows you to control your Roku from a web app. It is a kind of Roku Remote that you can use from your Chromebook.
Here is the official description:
Remoku is a network remote control for Roku streaming players, written in Javascript, CSS, and HTML5. This extension adds a shortcut icon to Chrome, that launches Remoku in a popup window. You can control your Roku after setup using the on-screen icons, or with the keyboard. See help.remoku.tv for more information.
Chromecast, DIAL and Roku
Frank, a Chromecast expert has found that his Roku is being listed as one of the available devices under his Chromecast extension on the Chromebook.
I recently renamed the Chromecast category here to “Google Cast” expecting bigger things for the Google Cast platform, beyond Chromecast. Looks like the first big hit of that season is coming. Big. News. This. Is.
To give this some context, Google Cast is the platform that powers Chromecast. (You could read about Chrome’s efforts to become a facilitator between content platforms and streaming devices here.) The Chromecast we all know, the physical device is just one device that is using this platform.
What happens when Google opens up this platform for third party devices? Can your Roku become another device on the Google Cast streaming set up? Looks like it can.
Unless this is some kind of software glitch somewhere, I see just 5% chance for that though.
Our friend Frank here was testing Chrome OS Beta v.41 on couple of networks (2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz connections on his dual band router). When he clicked the Chromecast icon on his browser while playing a Youtube video, the menu that usually lists only his Chromecast for streaming, showed him his Roku too. The Roku was happily playing some other media that Frank had selected using the device, but when he asked Chrome to cast this Youtube video to Roku, it did so, overriding the content that Roku was already playing.
If this is not a mistake, expect big announcements this Google I/O and many other partners. I am sure there are many stream device makers who would love to be part of a stable platform maintained by Google.
Let me know your thoughts
Update: Ace Android developer Koushik Dutta has clarified this for us in the comments section: “This is DIAL, and has been around for a while. It’s supported by Youtube, Netflix, etc to any DIAL compatible device like the Roku, smart TVs, and others. It’s kinda like Chromecast, but it’s not.” Thank you, Koushik Dutta.
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