Casting support is still available on older Chromecast devices or TVs that support Google Cast natively, according to Netflix’s support page
As a Chromecast user, it seems like Google is trying to kill this feature anyway.
I guess I don’t do the casting thing much, but what would the application have to do with it? I mean you cast the presentation from the device, does it care what is on the screen at the time?
Yes. DRM
I had no idea. Stupid drm. My device dammit. It will play where I want it to.
The kind of people they’re pissing off with this, are the same people most likely to switch to bittorrent.
Hell BitTorrent is outdated, these days you just watch the movie through an online streaming site. It requires zero technical knowledge
And (in the experience of hypothetical pirate goblins I’ve hypothetically spoken to) won’t result in your ISP shutting your internet off until you agree to be nice and never do that again.
Nope. Either they can’t view(encrypted )it or they don’t care. The isps that actually do something, will send you multiple warnings, like 7 plus.
Then you just get a VPN and carry on as usual. In 25 years or so I have gotten 2 warnings.
Use Jellyfin. Fill your server with treasures procured from the high seas. Watch on any device. Sync play with far away friends or family.
I tried jellyfin for about a month last year, but it lacked a lot of what I was used to in plex, so I returned to it. But lately plex is really going downhill… has jellyfin improved somewhat in this time frame?
I’m not sure what features you feel are lacking. And I haven’t used Plex at all.
For me, all I want is being able to connect to it from any device, and sync play.
I’m not sure what features you feel are lacking
As I said, it was about a year ago. I vaguely remember not liking the layout when displayed on my TV, sorting shows/episodes not working correctly, watched list not being properly updated… that and assorted little bugs that finally tired me and I went back to plex
What features? I have both and I vastly prefer Jellyfin. Plex is slow and the menus dont get right to the point.
Plex is slow and the menus dont get right to the point
That is true. I also hate having to change each episode separatedly to change subtitle/audio track. Apropos, jellyfin didn’t have subtiles download integrated on their menus, has that changed since last year? Not having that means manually downloading and syncronizing subtitles, and life’s too short for that kind of drudgery
Jellyfin has a plug in for open subtitles. I think all my media already has subtitles so I don’t need to download them.
Haven’t tried JF in over a year, but last attempt was full of errors. I’ll give it another shot.
Only reason I’m still on Plex is I have a lifetime pass, and it’s working. But it’s sure inshitifying every day… Remote play with plex pass is super easy, and plex amp was promising but replaced it with navidrome and so much happier. I’m ready to ditch Plex if JF is better now, I’ll install it next time I have time to mess with my setup.
I have had a lifetime pass for years since maybe 2014 or so? They added photo sync, that was awesome, then they took it away. That sucked.
I simply run both at the same time on my server, they point to the same library. The compose file is stupid simple (as is plex’s) so why not.
Better is relative, but I like Jellyfin better. Plex’s choices for my library layout suck. Jellyfin gets to the point, and fast.
Either way, doesn’t cost anything to run both, and set up is about 10 minutes if you already are using docker.
The best part is how in the end-stages of capitalism, everything keeps getting worse for consumers. While prices go up, even. It’s awesome. /s
Vote with your dollar and go to Jellyfin, or even simpler, a folder with your media in it.
What possible benefit does this offer to Netflix? Are they trying to avoid paying licensing fee or something?
Probably. Or they want to reduce their development and maintenance costs with the extra code for those devices. Or maybe they somehow make more money when users are watching on some other device/software.
Just go Piracy. Real-Debrid + Stremio, Torrent + Hayase or anything else that’s with Piracy.
qbittorent server + jackett + flaresolverr + jellyfin.
Just go Piracy.
go Servarr or go bust, despite it requiring some amount of tinkering with docker to run smoothly
My lazy ass just torrents on my pc and plugs the HDD into my Shield which has Kodi on it.
Homelab + Jellyfin.
kodi + elementum is the best combo i’ve found so far
Changes like this are always made to “Enhance the user experience” yet the UX only goes backwards
They recently made everything massive blocks of color so now it’s impossible to read anything. Damn splash screen takes up a third of my TV
They’re made to “Enhance the
user experienceprofit”“Enhance the user experience” is just what the dev or documentation team writes when management dictates that they drop a feature. The only reasons they would have dropped it:
- Dev work vs actual customer usage (e.g. it wasn’t getting a lot of users but devs had to maintain it with each update)
- People were using it to intercept the stream and capture movies to pirate.
Every decision is about increasing profits first, and UX almost always takes a back seat to that
UX almost always takes a back seat to that
If it even makes it on the bus in the first place
When is the next VC driven company that focuses more on growth than profit coming? I feel Netflix and all the other streaming services are ripe to be overtaken in the same way Netflix overtook tv channel packaging.
To streaming?
Never.
Streaming is a finite market that is already covered. The moment old money (aka existing media companies) jumped on it, it was done for.
I definitely understand your view and personally don’t see a way to disrupt the market either. I just hope someone else finds a way.
the next VC driven company…
With you so far
that focuses more on growth than profit
Ah - there’s your problem. VC companies simply don’t do that.
The investors focus on growth first, then they enshittify. They were just saying it’s time to start that cycle again.
Ah - there’s your problem. VC companies simply don’t do that.
They most certainly do and then either cash in by selling to the next more risk adverse VC or sells it at a loss if they believe the company failed to disrupt the market.
Well if they stay private and don’t let the other companies just buy them out when they are small to squash the competition. Otherwise it’s impossible to be a disruptor now.
Mandatory licensing of video content to anyone who can pay for it (similar to what the music industry does) is the only thing that the might disrupt the streaming industry, like a sort of Paramount Decrees for the streaming age, since monopolies on originals is what keeps people locked in
Thou shalt buy a smart tv or other device that we can pull metrics from and force advertising to.
And require to login too
Make no mistake, this was intentional before the holidays so families visiting relatives can’t just cast Netflix from their phone to watch something and will require someone to login and use it one of their authorized devices…or coerce them to upgrade if they already have too many authorized devices
Yeah… There goes my subscription. I’m casting everything to Chromecast on my older TV.

Seems like if you’ve got the ad-free plan and an older chromecast you’re still ok… For now. This is indicative though that the service may not be viable for long for you.
It’s been a minute, are there Netflix subscriptions which one pays for but which still have ads?
The cheapest tier is sold at low margin and recouped with ads.
Gross. That’s how it starts, and then the only thing cheap about is its cost relative to the other tiers.
I thought for Chromecast the “casting” part is just telling the Chromecast what to play. Do you need your phone on while Chromecast shows content?
You need the phone for any controls issued to the Chromecast like volume, subs, pause, seek, etc… But you don’t strictly need it once the video has started playing, presuming you’re not using any control commands.
Thanks for the details, seems like that may be why the older Chromecasts are still supported.
I mean, you still need it, the phone has to be on and connected to the same wifi as whatever it’s casting to.
Nah you can turn the phone off once the video has started. I only know this because my kids have regularly failed to charge the ‘phone that we only use for Chromecast to the tv’ and it sometimes dies while they’re watching something. Keeps playing until the end.
Lol why?
Genuinely seems pretty arbitrary given you need to use their app to start the cast anyway
The fact that casting to older devices is allowed on the expensive plan but not the ad-supported one offers a clue.
Because fuck you, that’s why. I’m sure they will re-introduce the feature behind a paywall soon.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Once you tell a company that you are willing to pay for something more than once, prepare to get fucked, because that’s all you’re gonna get. And not the fun kind.
Casting support is still available on older Chromecast devices or TVs that support Google Cast natively, according to Netflix’s support page, but only for subscribers on pricier ad-free plans, which start from $17.99 per month. Netflix users with an ad-supported subscription ($7.99 per month) will be unable to cast from their phones even if they own legacy Chromecast devices.
Paywall already there. Excerpt taken from the linked article.
Yikes. You know, I just in comfort the “pay for ad free” sales pitch for renewing my Amazon subscription. Shit bags.
Edit: i’m only subscribed to Amazon because I live in a food desert, and it’s the only way I can get groceries
Over the last weekend I was surprised to learn that you can’t stream from the mobile web interface of at least some, if not most, of the streaming apps.
Use desktop mode on the broswer and then just use regular screen sharing. Its how I block ads on prime video since i can still use ad block on firefox and just stream to my tv instead of using the native app on the tv with ads. I assume the same thing will work with Netflix as well. Worst case if you have a samsung device use dex to stream the device to the tv open a browser with ad block and then watch the show. Or alternarively just pirate the content and forget about the shitty streaming services
I was gonna say this could be a way to make account sharing more annoying, so say if you go to a friend’s house and you gotta fiddle to log in with the remote instead of picking up your phone and starting a cast they might be motivated to get their own subscription.
But it seems you can still log into an account by scanning a QR Code, so… ehh???My understanding is they already made it more annoying. Your devices have to connect to the home accounts “home” wifi within a certain amount of time or that device gets locked out.
I quit Netflix when they announced the pilot program for removing account sharing in South America, and I stand by that decision to this day.
As if I needed another reason to never get netflix again. 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
enshittification
Between their new interface and this, it’s like they are actively trying to get you to use it less.
Keep paying them but use it less = more profit.
Yup, exactly what I was thinking. They’re no longer under any obligation to make their product easy to use.











