Chrome casting not working

[andrewilley]

1 hour ago, AweStun said:

 install it on an s23 Ultra or any Samsung device and see if you can get your power amp software to Chromecast because I don't think you'll be able to thank you

Works fine on my Samsung device with a 1st gen Google Chromecast dongle. And as far as I know it's fine on S23s too, but there are a lot of other factors involved of course. You don't mention what type of Chromecast receiver you are using (and wired or wireless, etc) nor the ROM you are running. 

Andre

[maxmp]

@AweStun please be a bit more specific what "not worked" means, as there are multiple steps audio takes before reaching the Chromecast device. Based on the issue we can guide you further.

• no cat icon in Poweramp
• you can't find/select your device in Poweramp cast dialog
• you can select device, but it doesn't show anything (devices with the screen/TVs)
• device shows UI and shows playing status, but no audio

 

[Arlaor]

Hi @maxmp @andrewilley

For several weeks now, I have been trying to play audio via Chromecast from Poweramp build 971-976 to my Sony srs-ra3000 speaker, without success. PA shows the Chromecast logo and the name of my speaker. Apparently I manage to connect and it shows the logo color change (white fill), but as soon as you press the play button it stops and doesn't stream it. if I disconnect, the audio continues on my phone, but if I reconnect to the Chromecast, the audio stops again. I also use Deezer and I have no problems using Chromecast with this. Thanks 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Arlaor

[maxmp]

@Arlaor that’s typical symptom of the device being unable to connect back to the phone (usually firewall/router/blocked phone ports).

 

[Arlaor]

4 hours ago, maxmp said:

@Arlaor that’s typical symptom of the device being unable to connect back to the phone (usually firewall/router/blocked phone ports).

 

Hi @maxmp

Is there a tutorial or manual that explains the configuration of the firewall, router and ports that Should they be unlocked for the Poweramp connection via Chromecast to work correctly? I don't understand how connecting to Chromecast from YouTube or Deezer works normally and Poweramp doesn't.

[GeilerHeinz]

Maybe adjusting the settings of your WiFi network will help.

For me casting local music with PA via Chromecast was not possible for a long time. Then I connected my three streaming speakers and my mobil device exclusively to the 5 GHz band, which has a different SSID name compared to the 2.4 GHz band. For the 5 GHz WiFi a permanent channel is set, which isn't reserved for preferred user (e.g. radar). WiFi band-steering is deactivated. 

Now chromecasting is more or less stable.

Regards

[Arlaor]

16 hours ago, GeilerHeinz said:

Maybe adjusting the settings of your WiFi network will help.

For me casting local music with PA via Chromecast was not possible for a long time. Then I connected my three streaming speakers and my mobil device exclusively to the 5 GHz band, which has a different SSID name compared to the 2.4 GHz band. For the 5 GHz WiFi a permanent channel is set, which isn't reserved for preferred user (e.g. radar). WiFi band-steering is deactivated. 

Now chromecasting is more or less stable.

Regards

Hi @GeilerHeinz

I'm using a 5g network to stream from Poweramp via Chromecast. all the services that allow me to stream do so (YouTube, Deezer, star+, Disney, hbo max, prime video etc.), except Poweramp. What is the special configuration that I must apply to my 5g network, so that Poweramp works on Chromecast?

[MotleyG]

Remember that for all of these other audio applications (YouTube, Deezer, star+, Disney, hbo max, prime video etc.), they are streaming from the web source to the Chromecast device, your phone is only used as a control point.

When using Poweramp, your phone is the source. So the communication between your device, the network, and the Chromecast device must all maintain a solid and secure connection at all times, and be on the same network.

This is often why you can get Chromecast working for some apps, but not necessarily with Poweramp.

[Arlaor]

12 hours ago, MotleyG said:

Remember that for all of these other audio applications (YouTube, Deezer, star+, Disney, hbo max, prime video etc.), they are streaming from the web source to the Chromecast device, your phone is only used as a control point.

When using Poweramp, your phone is the source. So the communication between your device, the network, and the Chromecast device must all maintain a solid and secure connection at all times, and be on the same network.

This is often why you can get Chromecast working for some apps, but not necessarily with Poweramp.

Hi @MotleyG

Thanks for the information, I was not clear about the differences between Poweramp and other applications. I will check to see what problems my phones have that do not allow the use of Chromecast with Poweramp.

[andrewilley]

In addition to the difference between remote network streaming (such as Spotify or YouTube music, where all the phone does is say where the audio content can be found online, and leaves the Chromecast to find it and stream it directly over the internet; the phone never sees the audio data) and local file playback where the entire audio data is sent from your phone directly to the Chromecast device over you local network, there is also an extra layer of complication in that I believe Poweramp doesn't use CC's default methods for local streaming due to audio compression issues. Instead PA sends higher quality (larger) data, which also requires access to some remote configuration settings held on a server that Max has defined. And then different versions of Chromecast, Android, target SDK levels for app compiles, all come into the equation too.

Andre

[6b6561]

Crude description on what's what in the Chromecast world, take it with a quite big grain of salt...

Chromecasts are quite simple and doesn't work without internet connectivity as they loads the operating system from google once they are powered on.

Google provides a simple Web Receiver for receiving content on the Chromecast and the other option is to develop a custom Web Receiver with your own bells and whistles. The custom Web Receiver must be hosted by the app developer. PA has it's custom Web Receiver hosted on a server owned by Max.

Streaming steps goes something like:

1. Chromecast boots and downloads the default Web Receiver from Google
2. PA tells the Chromecast to go and fetch the custom receiver
3. Streaming from phone -> chromecast starts

Two quite interesting google documents

• https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/web_receiver
• https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/media

Kim

[Arlaor]

Hi @andrewilley @6b6561

I usually try to use an m3u playlist with radio stations from different broadcasters that broadcast over the internet. Doesn't Poweramp make any difference with this type of data, compared to what is stored on our phone? I say this because in this way, it should work like the other applications that can transmit via Chromecast do. or would there be no difference?

[andrewilley]

@Arlaor As far as I know, shoutcast streams are decoded into PCM data in Poweramp for processing just like any other source. Then that PCM data is fed out to whatever output device you have selected (wired headset, Bluetooth, USB DAC, Chromecast, etc). So in that case you'll have two data streams being accessed by the phone simultaneously (inbound and output).

Andre

[Arlaor]

39 minutes ago, andrewilley said:

@Arlaor As far as I know, shoutcast streams are decoded into PCM data in Poweramp for processing just like any other source. Then that PCM data is fed out to whatever output device you have selected (wired headset, Bluetooth, USB DAC, Chromecast, etc). So in that case you'll have two data streams being accessed by the phone simultaneously (inbound and output).

Andre

So, regardless of the type of media to stream, Poweramp has it very difficult 

[maxmp]

@Arlaor Chromecast is media playback device designed for the Internet content. Local content was never considered for it by Google for obvious reasons, so there is no simple solution for it, but Poweramp casting works fine provided devices can talk to each other in the local network.

[Arlaor]

8 hours ago, maxmp said:

@Arlaor Chromecast is media playback device designed for the Internet content. Local content was never considered for it by Google for obvious reasons, so there is no simple solution for it, but Poweramp casting works fine provided devices can talk to each other in the local network.

Hi @maxmp

I really don't know what settings I should modify on my phone or my router to be able to transmit my list of radio stations from the internet using Poweramp Chromecast. Thanks 

[andrewilley]

@Arlaor If you want to listen to a radio stream on your Chromecast, it would seem to make more sense to play the source stream directly, rather than streaming to Poweramp, decoding and processing in the phone, and then streaming out again to the Chromecast. However I don't know of a method to get it to do that.

Andre

[Arlaor]

6 hours ago, andrewilley said:

@Arlaor If you want to listen to a radio stream on your Chromecast, it would seem to make more sense to play the source stream directly, rather than streaming to Poweramp, decoding and processing in the phone, and then streaming out again to the Chromecast. However I don't know of a method to get it to do that.

Andre

@andrewilley

What happens is that I have a selection of radio stations (more than 30) extracted from the same number of pages and I have created an m3u playlist of these, so I don't have to open page by page every time I want to listen to them. Poweramp made this task easier for me and I could use it for this purpose, unfortunately now, I don't know what changes have been generated in Chromecast or Poweramp, which is not allowing it. I did it before

[6b6561]

@Arlaor I use Hi-Fi Cast for casting from my DLNA server to Chromecast and it's also good for Radio casting. Basically it tells the CC to play the URL and the stream will not pass through your device. (Can be tested by starting the stream and turn off WiFi on the device and the CC will continue to play).

You can import your m3u file in Hi-Fi Cast in one go, so should be easy to test.

-> Music Sources -> Radio -> Internet Radio -> Playlists -> "three dots" -> Import

[Arlaor]

Hi @6b6561

Thanks for your recommendation. 

I had always opted for the benefits of Poweramp, I bought it a long time ago, but I think that with the passage of time, other applications are adapting better to new technologies.

We are in a moment, where if you don't update, you lost. I will stop fighting against the current and clinging to the nostalgia of Poweramp and what it was back in the day.

Thank you for your time and collaboration.

[6b6561]

PA works fine for casting streams to Chromecast as long as your device can handle to receive the stream from internet, process it and cast it to your CC. My only grunt in that regard is that it renames the streams by the title of the stream, and there is a feature request open for stream naming.

Hi-Fi Cast is fine for casting DLNA content to CC, and can also handle radio streams.

Then there is a myriad of radio apps out there which are good at handling radio streams.

Thing is that PA is primarily a player for local content, and it's one of the best apps for this purpose. 

Different apps for different purposes.

[Arlaor]

@6b6561 thank you 

[AweStun]

It's 2024 and looks like power Amp still does not work. Without opening security holes in my network.. Maybe say will chromecast if you open hole for pwramp.com or whatever.. Everyone 

[6b6561]

This is not a Poweramp problem, this is how the Chromecast devices are designed. Chromecast has more or less just a basic boot loader stored on the device, and requires as a bare minimum access to Googles servers to be able to cast.

The CC's has a default media player that is capable of playback of the most common formats and only minor customization can be done to the screen. Most streaming providers creates there own media receivers which are always downloaded over the internet at the beginning of a playback session from the streaming provider.

So what the CC does at the beginning of a Poweramp playback session is that it downloads Poweramps own media receiver from Poweramps server. The CC then starts the media receiver before the actual Playback.

Personally I would be happy with the default media receiver as I never see the visualizations etc. provided through the custom media receiver as I'm always casting to audio only CC's. Maybe there should be an option to select between the more limited Google provided default receiver or the more feature rich Poweramp provided receiver.