Hello all,
First time posting here and hoping someone can help me out. I have two google homes and a chromecast device. All are connected to the same SSID in the home. I use Plex, and often use the casting feature from plex to cast to my chromecast. Now that I have Google Home, i'd love to be able to cast music from Plex to my google homes. Now, from my phone (wireless), i can cast music without issue from Plex to google home. But, from my desktop (plugged into network), all i can see in the plex cast feature is chromecast, there are no options to cast to either Google Home. I can't figure out why my desktop can see chromecast but NOT the google homes. They are all on the same network, whether wireless or wired, they all connect back to the same switch. Can anyone provide any info here?
Thanks,
Jeff
Related
Hello,
Ive just got my Chromecast from Zavvi.com and got it all set up and connected to the wifi. I am ready to cast but am having some issues.
I cant get any videos or sound to come out from it
When I try to send a youtube video, it switches to that video, tells me what it is but the video doesnt play, simply displaying a black screen.
When I go to play music, it goes to tell me I am in play music but I cant hear anything.
When I go to play videos, same thing. Says I want to watch transformers - but then just displays a black screen.
I have also tried casting from my chrome tab, which works fine - but as soon as you go to youtube.com within your chrome tab and try to cast it... guess what... chromecast is aware of the film you have chosen to watch, but it doesnt actually play it.
I have it updated, devices are as follows:
Nexus 5
BT homehub 5
Acer laptop running latest chrome browser
Chromecast using latest firmware - it updated itself
The only thing it does flawlessly so far is casting from a chrome tab.
Iain
When you tab-cast from Chrome on your desktop, the video stream is being received by your computer and re-transmitted to Chromecast over your local network. But when you send a Youtube video to the Chromecast, it is trying to receive the stream directly, which fails in your case. Answer is obvious: the Chromecast does not have full access to the internet. Something in your router or network configuration is blocking it, but not blocking your computer.
DJames1 said:
Thanks for the reply. When you tab-cast from Chrome on your desktop, the video stream is being received by your computer and re-transmitted to Chromecast over your local network. But when you send a Youtube video to the Chromecast, it is trying to receive the stream directly, which fails in your case. Answer is obvious: the Chromecast does not have full access to the internet. Something in your router or network configuration is blocking it, but not blocking your computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read on another forum, that UPnP and IGMP multicast is required at the router level for Chromecast to work. And that BT's new homehub 5 doesn't support this?
Is this true,would this be a likely cause?
Why would BT output a new router that didn't have functionality of old routers?
Any other ideas what might be the cause? The chromecast thinks it is online - it doesnt seem to say it isnt.
Iain
Hi,
Do I need a standalone WiFi network available to cast from my device to the TV or not?
Will I be able to go to friend and cast something from my tablet to his TV even thou he does not have WiFi at home?
Yes, you need a WiFi network and an Internet connection accessible from that.
If you just have your tablet and Chromecast, the Chromecast won't be able to find a network, as your tablet is not a WiFi access point.
I don't know of anyone who has tried setting up their phone/tablet as a WiFi hot spot and connecting Chromecast to that. I'm not certain how Android hotspot NATs and/or isolates clients.
Best to just bring a small wireless router. There are a number of "travel router" devices that have an internal battery or can be powered via USB.
Connect it to your friend's Internet connection, then off you go.
If the goal is just to show stuff from your tablet on your friend's TV, it might be easier/cheaper to just go hardwired with an HDMI or VGA output adapter for your tablet, if it has that option.
bhiga said:
I don't know of anyone who has tried setting up their phone/tablet as a WiFi hot spot and connecting Chromecast to that. I'm not certain how Android hotspot NATs and/or isolates clients.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ooOOoo interesting idea.
I'll have to try that this weekend.
-Lawless said:
ooOOoo interesting idea.
I'll have to try that this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember that Chromecast still needs a connection to the Internet in order to negotiate the application launch.
Thus the Hotspot. Just might work.
My friend is technologically challenged
He's got no internet at home apart from out mobile phones which we can use for internet at his place...
So, can I use my phone's Wifi hotspot to and use my phone/tablet to stream the web to his TV?
How does the Chrome cast work? Is the tablet interphase only used to set up a link between the dongle and the wifi sender/ router?
For native apps, Chromecast works more like a your phone/tablet in the fact that it pulls the requested data and plays on its own. The video isn't going from the Internet to your phone/tablet, then from your phone/tablet to the Chromecast, your phone/tablet "hands off" the request to the Chromecast and the video goes directly from the Internet to the Chromecast. The control via tablet/phone is done through a "side" channel that Chromecast listens on, which also lets your phone/tablet know what Chromecast is doing.
For example, YouTube...
You open YouTube on your phone/tablet
You find a video
You cast it to your Chromecast
Chromecast "phones home" to Google to figure out how to handle the request (I think)
Google replies with "Use the YouTube app"
Chromecast runs its YouTube app to open the link and starts playing
While it's playing on, Chromecast sends its status to your phone/tablet and listens for control commands.
So... Using your phone's WiFi Hotspot for the Chromecast might (should?) work, and what'll happen is Chromecast will connect to your phone via WiFi, and your phone will connect to Internet via mobile network.
In this case the streaming performance will be limited by both your phone's mobile data speed as well as the WiFi connection speed/stability between your phone and the Chromecast.
While I don't necessarily think this will provide a good viewing experience, it's an interesting experiment.
If you have a rooted Chromecast with Kyocast, you should be able to use the un-timebombed AllCast/AirCast to stream video stored on your phone to the Chromecast. It'll still use mobile data to "phone home" (to the Kyocast server) to figure out how to deal with the request, which will launch the AllCast/AirCast magic. From there I believe the video data will stream directly from your phone to the Chromecast, not using your mobile data... I think.
bhiga said:
For native apps, Chromecast works more like a your phone/tablet in the fact that it pulls the requested data and plays on its own. The video isn't going from the Internet to your phone/tablet, then from your phone/tablet to the Chromecast, your phone/tablet "hands off" the request to the Chromecast and the video goes directly from the Internet to the Chromecast. The control via tablet/phone is done through a "side" channel that Chromecast listens on, which also lets your phone/tablet know what Chromecast is doing.
For example, YouTube...
You open YouTube on your phone/tablet
You find a video
You cast it to your Chromecast
Chromecast "phones home" to Google to figure out how to handle the request (I think)
Google replies with "Use the YouTube app"
Chromecast runs its YouTube app to open the link and starts playing
While it's playing on, Chromecast sends its status to your phone/tablet and listens for control commands.
So... Using your phone's WiFi Hotspot for the Chromecast might (should?) work, and what'll happen is Chromecast will connect to your phone via WiFi, and your phone will connect to Internet via mobile network.
In this case the streaming performance will be limited by both your phone's mobile data speed as well as the WiFi connection speed/stability between your phone and the Chromecast.
While I don't necessarily think this will provide a good viewing experience, it's an interesting experiment.
If you have a rooted Chromecast with Kyocast, you should be able to use the un-timebombed AllCast/AirCast to stream video stored on your phone to the Chromecast. It'll still use mobile data to "phone home" (to the Kyocast server) to figure out how to deal with the request, which will launch the AllCast/AirCast magic. From there I believe the video data will stream directly from your phone to the Chromecast, not using your mobile data... I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx so much for all this data. Not sure whether I wanna try the rooting now. Will wait to see what Google has in store in the next month. It's rooting the dongle easy? Rooting phones comes naturally by now...
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk 4
It's really easy with Flashcast but if your Chromecast has been connected to the Internet for more than a few minutes then it has probably auto updated to a non-root able state.
-Lawless said:
ooOOoo interesting idea.
I'll have to try that this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been doing that for weeks now, if you access 3G (4G) from your device then set it as an access point, and connect to its network with CC. Then all you need is something else to connect to Netflix and the same WiFi access point (a tablet for example or another phone) and you can send it to CC.
The other device is necessary because the Netflix app doesn't show the CC share icon when connected to 3G, whereas on the other device because it's connected to 3G through a mobile WiFi access point it does.
You could use a MiFi instead.
I use it in hotels this way with the CC plugged into the hotel TV (if I'm lucky)
Rooted with latest Eureka firmware. The Chromecast is already configured and tested for the local WiFi.
However, the TV displays the following Chromecast screen with WAN disabled:
"reconnect me
'MyChromecast' connected to MyNetwork, but can't access the internet
Check that your internet connection is working
Otherwise, run the Chromecast app to choose a different network"
This is reported by BubbleUPnP when attempting to play a file:
"Cannot Play: GoogleApiClient is not connected yet."
After enabling the WAN, the Chromecast works as normal. The WAN can then be disabled again, and the Chromecast can still work. However, if the Chromecast is powered off, then it needs to connect to the internet again in order to work.
One would think it wouldn't have to call home every time you turn the device on. Seriously, just that idea that this thing has to connect to an external online server to work locally is ridiculous. Does anybody know how to work around this limitation?
xdadevnube said:
After enabling the WAN, the Chromecast works as normal. The WAN can then be disabled again, and the Chromecast can still work. However, if the Chromecast is powered off, then it needs to connect to the internet again in order to work.
One would think it wouldn't have to call home every time you turn the device on. Seriously, just that idea that this thing has to connect to an external online server to work locally is ridiculous. Does anybody know how to work around this limitation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chromecast loads the player apps via web requests. Google's whitelist determines what application should be loaded for a particular request type.
It's primary design is to stream from Internet-based services (YouTube, Hulu Plus, Pandora, etc) so it needs Internet access.
Chromecast is not a wireless HDMI connection.
bhiga said:
Chromecast loads the player apps via web requests. Google's whitelist determines what application should be loaded for a particular request type.
It's primary design is to stream from Internet-based services (YouTube, Hulu Plus, Pandora, etc) so it needs Internet access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right but it does also some caching of the apps loaded (this doesn't survive power down). That's why OP could kill WAN connection and still have it (semi) working.
Hi,
I just got a Chromecast yesterday now that they are finally available in Canada, and for the life of me I can't get it to work. I have it setup and connected to my wireless network no problem, but I can't get it to cast anything to the screen. Right now, i'm trying to use the Chromecast as a way to stream media on my local SAMBA/miniDLNA server, to my TV. The computer that serves the files (Samba/miniDLNA) is a Raspberry Pi, and in no way can transcode files. So, I am trying to use Allcast from my phone to transcode and cast the file to my TV.
Problem is, everytime I try to cast, Chrome changes screen and shows the file name, but sits there and never actually shows the video. So, thinking it was just the app I tried Pandora and tried to cast to my TV, that didn't work either, says it is unable to connect to cast. I'm at my wits end trying to figure this out, and from all that I have read and researched, I can't find a good reason why I can't get anything to work yet.
Anyone else have these problems? Is there something in my router that I need to open up for this to work?
Help please!
colhavoc said:
Hi,
I just got a Chromecast yesterday now that they are finally available in Canada, and for the life of me I can't get it to work. I have it setup and connected to my wireless network no problem, but I can't get it to cast anything to the screen. Right now, i'm trying to use the Chromecast as a way to stream media on my local SAMBA/miniDLNA server, to my TV. The computer that serves the files (Samba/miniDLNA) is a Raspberry Pi, and in no way can transcode files. So, I am trying to use Allcast from my phone to transcode and cast the file to my TV.
Problem is, everytime I try to cast, Chrome changes screen and shows the file name, but sits there and never actually shows the video. So, thinking it was just the app I tried Pandora and tried to cast to my TV, that didn't work either, says it is unable to connect to cast. I'm at my wits end trying to figure this out, and from all that I have read and researched, I can't find a good reason why I can't get anything to work yet.
Anyone else have these problems? Is there something in my router that I need to open up for this to work?
Help please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Allcast does not transcode....
Read this thread....http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2689141
colhavoc said:
Hi,
I just got a Chromecast yesterday now that they are finally available in Canada, and for the life of me I can't get it to work. I have it setup and connected to my wireless network no problem, but I can't get it to cast anything to the screen. Right now, i'm trying to use the Chromecast as a way to stream media on my local SAMBA/miniDLNA server, to my TV. The computer that serves the files (Samba/miniDLNA) is a Raspberry Pi, and in no way can transcode files. So, I am trying to use Allcast from my phone to transcode and cast the file to my TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As Asphyx said, Allcast doesn't transcode, so if your media isn't in a Chromecast-compatible format, it'll just show the filename but just have black screen.
Beyond that, the first step is usually to verify that the native/optimized Chromecast applications work - YouTube, Pandora, etc.
That will help eliminate some router issues from the equation.
I seem to be at an impasse. I currently use a cellphone from metropcs as my home internet connection. It has unlimited data usage on the phone and 8gb of hot spot data a month. In order to utilize the unlimited data on the phone I watch things like netflix and hbogo on the phone so I would love to be able to mirror my phone to my tv. I was able to set up a chrome cast to connect to the phone directly by connecting the it to the phones hot spot. The only problem is that the chrome cast uses hot spot data instead of the mobile data when I launch netflix on my phone and cast it to the chromcast. It's as if when I cast netflix, instead of the phone running it and mirroring it on the chromecast, the phone hands it off to the chromecast completely and it runs everything there. Is this the case? Is there anyway I can mirror netflix from my phone to my tv while using mobile data?
Thanks in advance.
I would like to do this too. Can you cast to CC using guest mode and still use your unlimited data?
Not possible with netflix cause it won't allow you to screencast which is the only way to send content to CCast without internet.
When you cast netflix to the CCast all it does is load up the Netflix app built into the CCast which needs internet to work.
Connect to the chromecast with your phones hotspot. Go to google home app, options, cast screen/audio. That will mirror your screen to the tv. Go to netflix app and play the video on your phone (without selecting the cast option). Since it's actually playing on your phone it will use regular mobile data. The hotspot is just used to connect to the cc since it's broken without it. Just gotta leave your screen on the whole time so lay it flat and plug it into a charger. Cool thing is that the netflix app stretches the screen automatically so don't worry about it flipping. Hope that helps.
Mirroring works... but... choppy
The mirroring method does work, but it is very choppy on with my phone (Note 8) and TV (LG circa 2015 model). Any suggestions?