Apps in portrait on Chromecast with Google TV - Google Chromecast

Hey folks
I bought a Chromecast with Google TV and I am experiencing an issue and I wonder if anyone can save me. I am trying to use an app which I know it wasn't developed for this device, but I know it works because have it installed on an Android TV. The difference is that on Google TV its opening as portrait and sits in the middle of the screen - doesn't stretch, where in the Android TV it expands and takes the whole screen. Same thing happens, for example, with Instagram. I've tried a dozen of apps that supposedly force the orientation, but none of them resolved this issue.
Is there anything that can be done or am I am chasing ghosts?
Thank you in advance

is there maybe an option in the settings of that app to set its orientation?

Unfortunately there isn't

unleetz said:
Hey folks
I bought a Chromecast with Google TV and I am experiencing an issue and I wonder if anyone can save me. I am trying to use an app which I know it wasn't developed for this device, but I know it works because have it installed on an Android TV. The difference is that on Google TV its opening as portrait and sits in the middle of the screen - doesn't stretch, where in the Android TV it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make the panel completely transparent in the settings, there are many different functions. Sorry, I write through a translator, I'm Russian.

@unleetz
You can try the little app attached
Works fine for me

Related

Can't multitask in full screen mode

When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
swillard said:
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, it works fine for me, and I have the latest update. Maybe reinstall?
aiiee said:
Sorry, it works fine for me, and I have the latest update. Maybe reinstall?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do I reinstall? I've reinstalled the cast extension and that didn't fix it. I have the most current version of Chrome. I can only thing to uninstall and reinstall Chrome to see if that fixes the problem.
swillard said:
What do I reinstall? I've reinstalled the cast extension and that didn't fix it. I have the most current version of Chrome. I can only thing to uninstall and reinstall Chrome to see if that fixes the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, I don't have the problem.
What about Flash?
swillard said:
When I first got my Chromecast, I was able to play a video (on hulu for example) in fullscreen mode, then alt tab back to Chrome so I could still use my laptop while casting to the TV in full screen.
In the past week, it no longer works. When I alt tab, it automatically goes out of full screen mode. So now I have to have my laptop playing the video in fullscreen if I want to cast it in fullscreen to the TV.
I can't find anything in my searches about this happening to anyone else when I google the problem. Has anyone else run across this issue?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is this is related to the Flash Player or the player on the site that you are using. I have seen this happen on my two monitor setup where when I go to the second screen it breaks out of full screen mode on the first monitor. I'm pretty sure all i had to do was restart my machine. But I would try reinstalling Flash, clearing cache, cookies, etc.
Do you see the same behavior when you are not using Chromecast?
Good luck.
srgibbs99 said:
My guess is this is related to the Flash Player or the player on the site that you are using. I have seen this happen on my two monitor setup where when I go to the second screen it breaks out of full screen mode on the first monitor. I'm pretty sure all i had to do was restart my machine. But I would try reinstalling Flash, clearing cache, cookies, etc.
Do you see the same behavior when you are not using Chromecast?
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It happens with any video, whether casting or not. I used to be able to watch Hulu.com in fullscreen and cast it to the tv, then I could alt tab to another tab to check FB or something. Now it doesn't work. I've tried hulu, youtube, and some other video sites and they all the the same thing. When you hit Alt they immediately go back to the small screen page. I've rebooted my computer and reinstalled the Cast extension. Wondering if I need to reinstall Chrome. It did crash one me a few times this weekend, though not in the past couple of days.
swillard said:
It happens with any video, whether casting or not. I used to be able to watch Hulu.com in fullscreen and cast it to the tv, then I could alt tab to another tab to check FB or something. Now it doesn't work. I've tried hulu, youtube, and some other video sites and they all the the same thing. When you hit Alt they immediately go back to the small screen page. I've rebooted my computer and reinstalled the Cast extension. Wondering if I need to reinstall Chrome. It did crash one me a few times this weekend, though not in the past couple of days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had a similar issue. I received mine on Tuesday and the first day full screen worked for espn and I was able to Alt+Tab to continue browsing. Last night, I tried to do the same thing but It would only display a picture of the tab with the embedded video (when I would go to full screen, the embedded video was black with the tab content around it. when I would exit full screen the embedded video began playing again.) Essentially, I can no longer go into full screen mode for any flash based video (tried with NFL network too). Mine did an update first thing when I turned it on yesterday. I didn't write down the original version I had nor what it updated to. My flash player also updated recently but I think that was before I tried it for the first time. I did not try to reboot my machine or reinstall flash / chrome but I did attempt to do it from 2 different computers on my network and both suffered from the same issue.
m2cool2go said:
I have had a similar issue. I received mine on Tuesday and the first day full screen worked for espn and I was able to Alt+Tab to continue browsing. Last night, I tried to do the same thing but It would only display a picture of the tab with the embedded video (when I would go to full screen, the embedded video was black with the tab content around it. when I would exit full screen the embedded video began playing again.) Essentially, I can no longer go into full screen mode for any flash based video (tried with NFL network too). Mine did an update first thing when I turned it on yesterday. I didn't write down the original version I had nor what it updated to. My flash player also updated recently but I think that was before I tried it for the first time. I did not try to reboot my machine or reinstall flash / chrome but I did attempt to do it from 2 different computers on my network and both suffered from the same issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found a post on another forum that helped me resolve the issue. In your google chrome browser (assuming that's what you are using), type in about://plugins. Click on the Details icon (+) on the far right of the Plugins title bar. Look for Adobe flash and you probably have 2 plugins listed. Look for pepflashplayer.dll . It should be listed in the location section. Click on disable. You may need to restart the browser. Try your fullscreen again.
That fixed it for me, so I hope it fixes it for you.
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
hpcolombia said:
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
swillard said:
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have the same problem. Cant switch tab by using alt+tab
Does anyone has another solution?
ps: i am using mac
swillard said:
Thanks for the tip but I can't get it to work. I have Chrome Toolbox installed, went to Hulu and cast that tab and not getting anything when I hover over the view to pop it out as a separate window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's working now. Thanks for the tip. I can use this trick to cast to the TV and still use my laptop for other stuff.
Toolbox Pop-out link??
Hi guys!
Any chance of a link to the Chrome Toolbox in the app store? The one I'm looking at is probably not the one I'm looking for.
BTW, Alt-Tab is working for me, but the full-screen video is playing in the background so I can see it in place of the Windows taskbar. I can move about the desktop though
hpcolombia said:
I just found a pretty neat trick to do fullscreen.
Install the "Chrome Toolbox" which allows you to open flash videos by themselves, separate from anything else on that webpage.
Go to the page with the flash video you are playing. Cast that tab. Hover over the video and an icon will appear to allow you to put it on its own window. Chromecast will now only show the video, same as if you went fullscreen. Video quality seems better when the window is not minimized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately Chrome Toolbox doesn't work on Windows 8? And isn't available anymore anyway?
This is really annoying. Just got Chromecast.
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Fiddling with flash plugins doesn't seem to change it. I looked for other possibly relevant extensions in the web store but none really worked.
This seems to me a fundamental but should be pretty simple problem for Google to fix.
Any other ideas now?
Thanks, Tom
tomwood said:
Unfortunately Chrome Toolbox doesn't work on Windows 8? And isn't available anymore anyway?
This is really annoying. Just got Chromecast.
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Fiddling with flash plugins doesn't seem to change it. I looked for other possibly relevant extensions in the web store but none really worked.
This seems to me a fundamental but should be pretty simple problem for Google to fix.
Any other ideas now?
Thanks, Tom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about Windows 8, but in 7 I am pretty sure I can hit the Windows key + D which will minimize the browser and allow me to continue what I am doing.
Obskure said:
BTW, Alt-Tab is working for me, but the full-screen video is playing in the background so I can see it in place of the Windows taskbar. I can move about the desktop though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like that "feature" - my old ATI TV tuner card used to have that.
tomwood said:
But when casting a tab of full screen video on certain websites and I move from the tab it reverts to its original frame.
Basically I just want to be able to play full screen content from sites like BBC's iPlayer while doing other things on the computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to depend on how the player achieves full-screen. Some sites have a full-screen option from the browser level, and that seems to behave differently (also sometimes different resolution) than using the full-screen/zoom option in the player.
Good example is www.BabyFirstTV.com
The blue-background full-screen button just full-screens the video in the tab and shows the Exit Fullscreen button when casted.
The full-screen button in the player window (bottom right corner) make the video full-desktop size (and replaces my desktop background), and doesn't show the (annoying) Exit Fullscreen button. The bottom does get cut off, likely because my desktop is 1920x1200 so I'm losing the bottom 180 pixels.
For me at least, either method allows me to Alt-Tab to another application without messing up the Chromecast playback though.
bhiga said:
It seems to depend on how the player achieves full-screen. Some sites have a full-screen option from the browser level, and that seems to behave differently (also sometimes different resolution) than using the full-screen/zoom option in the player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, unfortunately though for me when using that browser-level full screen video, and I move from the tab, it reverts to its original frame.
I'm using Windows 8 x64 with Chrome Beta 32.
Obskure said:
Hi guys!
Any chance of a link to the Chrome Toolbox in the app store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-cast/boadgeojelhgndaghljhdicfkmllpafd
Also found another interesting Chrome App....
Turns your Browser into a Chromecast Target that you can stream to!
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cr-cast/acmfmindblghbicdipoakcolegkcddbk
tomwood said:
Thanks, unfortunately though for me when using that browser-level full screen video, and I move from the tab, it reverts to its original frame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you try it on www.babyfirsttv.com ? I'm guessing any browser/tab-level zoom will depend on how the site is coded.
bhiga said:
Can you try it on babyfirsttv? I'm guessing any browser/tab-level zoom will depend on how the site is coded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, if it takes up just the tab it's ok, but when going completely full screen it doesn't stay like that if I move... And unfortunately many sites with video, like the ones I want to use, only have that option.

Waze not filling the full screen ?

Hi
I bought T325 and i wanna use it as a big GPS (when i'm passenger, it's more funny than watching video while wife is driving)
So i tried Waze. Working fine on all my FullHd devices, but not with T325 2560*1600. Screen is not fulfilled.
Waze is not screen resolution compatible atm with T325. Porbably app will be updated in the future, devices like LG G3 are coming with huge resolution.
Is there a way to solve this problem for the moment, modifying DPI for example ?
White squares WAZE SM-T325...
luminouche said:
Hi
I bought T325 and i wanna use it as a big GPS (when i'm passenger, it's more funny than watching video while wife is driving)
So i tried Waze. Working fine on all my FullHd devices, but not with T325 2560*1600. Screen is not fulfilled.
Waze is not screen resolution compatible atm with T325. Porbably app will be updated in the future, devices like LG G3 are coming with huge resolution.
Is there a way to solve this problem for the moment, modifying DPI for example ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have lot of white squares on the map using WAZE SAMSUNG TAB PRO 8.4" SM-T325 on the corners or at the top and the bottom! How can it be corrected?
youtube.com/watch?v=wn1AU0qziow&feature=player_detailpage
I've just bought a glaxy tab pro 8.4 for the specific reason to use waze ( i'm a taxi driver ) to my horror i'm having the same problems as described here. I had a tab 4 7 inch and it worked fine. Please be a solution for this, is there any way around this?
Guys, haven't received my T320 yet, but try fiddling around with 'Xposed' + 'App Settings', some DPI change or fullscren force would probably resolve this.
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but Waze still has yet to fix the rendering issues on higher res screens. I've played with a bunch of settings in X App Settings and nothing seems to help. I think we'll have to wait on a fix from Waze

How about just the desktop ?

I have googled how to display just the desktop on gear VR and always come up with results/aps showing how to stream games to the headset. All I want is to display the desktop so i can launch whatever i want (normal youtube, websites etc) all while using the gear vr. Latency is not much of an issue with this i would not think.
Anyone doing this? and if so can you share how (aps etc) or if its already been documented can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks
rpmbnsf said:
I have googled how to display just the desktop on gear VR and always come up with results/aps showing how to stream games to the headset. All I want is to display the desktop so i can launch whatever i want (normal youtube, websites etc) all while using the gear vr. Latency is not much of an issue with this i would not think.
Anyone doing this? and if so can you share how (aps etc) or if its already been documented can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a single person has done this...or wants to?
actually thats not true, with secondsight we're doing exactly this late 2013
here's some poor demo's of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puUugeYkT1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-UjHYbPgM
We made a custom libsurfaceflinger that renders all 2d apps in SBS mode, we're updating it for android lollipop but it's not ready yet.
jarradhope said:
actually thats not true, with secondsight we're doing exactly this late 2013
here's some poor demo's of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puUugeYkT1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-UjHYbPgM
We made a custom libsurfaceflinger that renders all 2d apps in SBS mode, we're updating it for android lollipop but it's not ready yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First Vid did not play but second one did. I like the idea with the augmented setup. I was more talking about a simple solution like using Splashtop to send the desktop to the Gear VR and then some type of app that splits the streaming screen into SBS mode. Anything like that?

Google home hub and casting your screen to the smart display

Has anyone checked on the Google Home Hub if you can cast your entire screen onto it using the cast icon in the pull down menu on say a pixel phone or some other Android type phone?
no you cannot it work with apps like youtube, movies and other apps that support casting but for some reason casting the entire screen does not seem to work currently
Similar to if you try casting Netflix to the Hub. It does it for about a second, then it seems to remember "that's something I'm supposed to tell the user I can't do," so it stops and says (best HAL9000 voice) "I'm sorry Dave. I don't know how to do that yet."
So CAN it do this (is it technically capable)? Yes. WILL it do it? No.

New Chromecast even more limited and closed than other android tv

Hello everybody.
For some time now I have the new Chromecast with Google TV and I would like to share my feelings on certain aspects that disappointed me and which scare me for the future of Android TV.
Android TV has always been a more closed system than Android but I have the impression with this new device that it is even more the case and that Google is trying to lock its system even more.
On the new device, if you want to install applications that are not on the play store, you must activate the options for developers, then start again several times to install these applications (it does not necessarily work the first time ).
I also noticed that a lot of Android apps didn't do image rotation or stretching and displayed vertically like a smartphone but with parts of the image cut off. Some Android apps are therefore not even usable now on the new Chromecast. I searched this new Chromecast for a setting that would help me display its Android apps properly but couldn't find anything.
Is there a setting to properly display its applications there? Are these only corrections that will be made in the next updates or is it, as I think, a desire by Google to limit Android TV more and more to Android TV applications?
Thank you for your many responses.
The orientation issue may have something to do with how the Android TV device is identifying itself. That could get fixed in a new release. Haven't dug in enough to know that yet. I haven't had any trouble installing stuff via side loading.
As for being locked down, Android TV certified devices are way more locked down than AOSP or even phones. I wish they'd put the Android TV portions (or even just the casting stack) into AOSP, but that ship has long sailed.
Averix said:
The orientation issue may have something to do with how the Android TV device is identifying itself. That could get fixed in a new release. Haven't dug in enough to know that yet. I haven't had any trouble installing stuff via side loading.
As for being locked down, Android TV certified devices are way more locked down than AOSP or even phones. I wish they'd put the Android TV portions (or even just the casting stack) into AOSP, but that ship has long sailed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok so you had no problem with Android applications. I may have had no luck with apps that started badly. Perhaps it is not Google's desire to prevent or complicate the use of applications that are not from the Android TV Play Store.
We will see if other users have this problem.
I too would have loved to have the cast on Android box.
Do you know of an application that allows you to rotate the image like you can find in the Ugoos box system?
From what I can tell, it is just as open** as my Nvidia Shield. Installing sideloaded apps is just as simple. Apps that do not have manual rotation options can be tricky, or those coded to be used in portrait mode only. Other than that, sideloading works identically. PS, you still need something like Sideload Launcher to launch these sideloaded apps.
Android TV/Google TV has always been very limited when it comes to customizability. Probably has a lot to do with the fact that Google assumed, and rightly so that, most consumers just want to plug it in and watch stuff, not mess around with it. Do I agree with that? No, I love making devices do things they weren't designed to, but even I have no reason or motivation to root these devices.
** = Equally as locked down.
Have you tried using a sceen rotation app? I use to use a modded spectrum tv app on fire tv and to fix rotation issue you had to use a screen rotation app.
jkbee26 said:
Android TV has always been a more closed system than Android but I have the impression with this new device that it is even more the case and that Google is trying to lock its system even more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel your pain.
That's Google 2020 for you, get ready for Google 2021 and 2022
I am thinking of replacing a fire tv stick 4k with the new Chromecast, hoping to gain bitstreaming audio from 3d party apps. It won't work for me on the amazon device.
I want to continue using wolf launcher and some sideloaded apps, which are not all available on the play store.
How much of free storage is available on the Cromecast?
Hey folks
I bought a Chromecast with Google TV and I am experiencing this same issue. I am trying to use an app which I know it wasn't developed for this device, but I know it works because have it installed on an Android TV. The difference is that on Google TV it opens as portrait and sits in the middle of the screen, where in the Android TV it expands and takes the whole screen. Same thing happens, for example, with Instagram. I've tried a dozen of apps that supposedly force the orientation, but it never worked.
Is there anything that can be done or am I am chasing ghosts?
(p.s. is it worth to post this as a new thread?)

Categories

Resources