INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 19 for Windows => Topic started by: JimH on May 14, 2014, 02:30:36 pm
-
Gizmo can now stream audio or video from MC 19.0.134 to a Google Chromecast (http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromecast/index.html). Requires latest Gizmo.
When ChromeCast hardware is installed and setup in your local WiFi network, other supported hardware can detect it. It will then be paired with each device.
Once that is done, a ChromeCast logo will show up in Gizmo at the top right. Clicking on it will allow you to select a Cast Device to Cast Audio/Video to, and once connected, any media you play will play to the ChromeCast instead.
When connected, the ChromeCast logo in Gizmo will change to a "filled" screen, and to disconnect simply click it again.
While the ChromeCast is playing, your phone/tablet with Gizmo does not need to remain on, once the ChromeCast has taken over it can safely be put aside. However, if you're playing an audio playlist, Gizmo will need to remain in standby at least to load the next track after the current one finished.
Seeking in video is not instant when playing to the ChromeCast, as our design right now requires re-opening the video at the new position. This can feel a bit disruptive, and depending on how fast the ChromeCast reacts, Gizmo may even show the "Stopped" screen for a brief time while it's working. As long as the TV still shows a loading animation, there is nothing to worry about, and it should resume in a moment. Do not press the "Resume Playback" button in Gizmo at that time, as this will disrupt the seek.
We'll be trying to improve the seeking experience in the future, but for now its good to keep this in mind.
-
Very NICE!
-
Made my day. Thank you 😃
-
Can't get it to play. My Chromecast links right up, but when I choose a song, the screen on the TV quickly shows the track's art work and then returns to the gray page that say JRiver. On my device it acts like it is going to play (it says "working...") but never does. Anybody else having issues?
-
OK - upgraded everything and I have it working on my chromecast. Seeking audio works fine. If I try to seek video, I get the 'resume playback' button immediately and when I click that button, it starts at the beginning. So, seeking is not working at all for me.
Any thoughts,
Alex
-
Can't get it to play. My Chromecast links right up, but when I choose a song, the screen on the TV quickly shows the track's art work and then returns to the gray page that say JRiver. On my device it acts like it is going to play (it says "working...") but never does. Anybody else having issues?
Make sure you're using the latest MC. Chromecast support requires MC19.0.134 (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89244.0) or above.
-
Just updated to 19.0.134. Still no luck. Are there any settings in MC that I need to adjust?
-
Did you update Gizmo?
-
Awesome!
-
If I try to seek video, I get the 'resume playback' button immediately and when I click that button, it starts at the beginning. So, seeking is not working at all for me.
Seeking Video is not instant. Look at the TV instead of Gizmo, if it shows a loading animation just wait until its done, and don't press the button.
-
Hendrik, thank you for your work in getting this going. Unfortunately, I am having some Video issues.
Video does not seem to work unless I select Use Live HTTP Streaming in Gizmo. If I use the "old way," it locks up the Chromecast badly. The Episode Name shows up on the screen with the working bar moving, then eventually it just freezes. My phone's screen shows it as "working...," but it does nothing. After several minutes, the Chromecast reboots itself. If I try to connect to it again, the Chromecast icon disappears from Gizmo, and I have to reboot my phone.
Is Live HTTP Streaming required? If so, that should probably be mentioned in the release notes/wiki.
The issue hampering me is that Live HTTP Streaming does not work to play files locally on my phone as reported here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=87063.msg601433#msg601433 Droid 4 running Android 4.1.2, Gizmo 19.0.133, and MC 19.0.134. The "old way" only works to play Video locally, and Live HTTP Streaming only works to play to Chromecast. It would be nice if I had one option I could just set and forget.
Also, the release only mentions Audio or Video, but I did try sending Images. They only play locally on the phone. Any chance Image support will be added as well?
-
Great to see this added. Thank you
I only have 2 min to try it but here is what i noticed on my nexus 4.
When i start a song then start Chromecast. It played on my phone and on the chrome cast.
If i started casting then started the song it only played on chromecast.
Is this supposed to happen?
No luck with video. But didn't have time to test more.
Thank again!
-
This is great. Thank you Hendrik. It works really well on my system!!
[Edit] Watched a full MKV movie last night. Video quality and audio were very good (ie I didn't miss anything), the film buffered a few times but the stream was successful. This saves me a 30ft hdmi cable to connect server to TV.
-
Video does not seem to work unless I select Use Live HTTP Streaming in Gizmo. If I use the "old way," it locks up the Chromecast badly. The Episode Name shows up on the screen with the working bar moving, then eventually it just freezes. My phone's screen shows it as "working...," but it does nothing. After several minutes, the Chromecast reboots itself. If I try to connect to it again, the Chromecast icon disappears from Gizmo, and I have to reboot my phone.
Is Live HTTP Streaming required? If so, that should probably be mentioned in the release notes/wiki.
Are you sure you were testing with MC 19.0.134?
It should automatically enforce HLS if ChromeCast requests video.
-
Positive
-
Did you update Gizmo?
Yes. It is really strange. It connects just fine and when I choose a track to play, it acts like it is going to play, but the yellow progress bar on the TV goes by in a matter of about one second and then returns to the gray JRiver screen. Meanwhile on the device, the screen shows as though the song is playing except that instead of where the Artist and and Album information usually are, it says "Working..." ?
-
Firewall?
-
It's really great to see this working now. Thanks for your work on this Hendrik.
I have done some testing and have the following to report.
MC version 19.0.134
Gizmo version 19.0.133
Gizmo device - Google Nexus 7
When I first select a video file to play the loading bar and video thumbnail will appear on the Chromecast display briefly but will then revert to the 'JRiver Gizmo' logo and Gizmo will show the 'Resume playback' button. If I then press the 'Resume playback' button Chromecast will then proceed to load the video and playback fine.
If I try to seek when a video is playing I will again Briefly (around 1 second) get the loading bar and video thumbnail display but will then go to the 'JRiver Gizmo' logo and Gizmo will show the 'Resume playback' button. When I press 'Resume playback' button the video will start playing from the beginning again. So I am unable to seek through a video file at all.
The above two issues do not happen with audio files at all. When selecting audio the playback starts immediately and seeking works as it should.
I hope the above information is helpful.
-
When I first select a video file to play the loading bar and video thumbnail will appear on the Chromecast display briefly but will then revert to the 'JRiver Gizmo' logo and Gizmo will show the 'Resume playback' button. If I then press the 'Resume playback' button Chromecast will then proceed to load the video and playback fine.
If I try to seek when a video is playing I will again Briefly (around 1 second) get the loading bar and video thumbnail display but will then go to the 'JRiver Gizmo' logo and Gizmo will show the 'Resume playback' button. When I press 'Resume playback' button the video will start playing from the beginning again. So I am unable to seek through a video file at all.
I found the reason for this, and it'll need a new MC build to fix it - video streaming had a small bug that caused this.
It'll be fixed in MC 19.0.135.
-
I found the reason for this, and it'll need a new MC build to fix it - video streaming had a small bug that caused this.
It'll be fixed in MC 19.0.135.
Great news, thanks Hendrik.
-
I found the reason for this, and it'll need a new MC build to fix it - video streaming had a small bug that caused this.
It'll be fixed in MC 19.0.135.
Greetings:
I am using build 134. Even the build before this has similar issues with Gizmo in the middle of nowhere while playing a movie will go back to the browse screen where you have all the cover arts. Also I noticed, cover arts will delete at random.
Thanks.
George
-
Firewall?
Tried turning the firewall off an no change. I'll keep tinkering
-
I found the reason for this, and it'll need a new MC build to fix it - video streaming had a small bug that caused this.
It'll be fixed in MC 19.0.135.
19.0.135 is available now:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=89325.msg613226#msg613226
-
19.0.135 is working fine now and I can seek through the video without issue.
Many thanks for all the work you've put into this Hendrik.
-
Also, the release only mentions Audio or Video, but I did try sending Images. They only play locally on the phone. Any chance Image support will be added as well?
I second that, any chance to also cast Photos ?
-
Got a chance to test it today, and the latest version of Gizmo fixes the issue so Chromecast automatically uses HTTP Live Streaming regardless of what options are checked. Thank you.
I still can't use HTTP Live Streaming for playback on my device; however, if I leave it turned off, it plays fine and streams to Chromecast fine so that works.
-
I had the opportunity to use Gizmo and chromecast extensively this weekend. The kids thought it was pretty cool when I moved the TV outside for them to watch cartoons. Overall it worked great, but I noticed a couple little things I wanted to mention:
1 - the progress bar in Gizmo does not update. Not a big deal, but when trying to skip through commercials or get back to a position in a movie, it is hard to guess which point to advance to, since you don't know where you are currently.
2 - Periodically, playback would just stop. I don't have this issue with any other chromecast software (Netflix or Hulu), it still could be something on my network because it looks like the chromecast just drops off the network, so I am looking into it as well, but with issue #1 above it makes it a pain to resume.
3 - If my wife starts a show with her phone and I connect to the chromecast, I can't control the program with my phone. This works in other apps and I think it is basic chromecast concept. I tried going to playing now and stopping/ pause the program, etc and nothing happened.
4 - Lastly, volume control. I know it has been mentioned, but it would be nice. - Nevermind, just saw the latest update.
Thanks so much for implementing this. None of the above are major problems, but I wanted to give some feedback on my experience over the weekend.
Alex
-
I am considering buying a chromecast now that it has just been launched in Japan. Before I do though I'd like to ask a couple of questions about how MC sends video to it.
1. Most of my movies are mkvs. Will MC send the original mkv to the chromecast?
2. If not, how is multi-channel audio handled? Does it get mixed down or remuxed into a format the chromecast can understand?
3. Can we toggle/choose subtitle streams on the chromecast?
-
1. Most of my movies are mkvs. Will MC send the original mkv to the chromecast?
No, ChromeCast doesn't support MKV, the video will be re-encoded, just like streaming to Gizmo on the phone.
2. If not, how is multi-channel audio handled? Does it get mixed down or remuxed into a format the chromecast can understand?
Multi-channel audio is currently always downmixed to stereo, we may change this in the future to allow multi-channel streaming as well, but not right now.
3. Can we toggle/choose subtitle streams on the chromecast?
No, subtitle or audio stream selection is not available.
In general, it really works the same way as streaming to Gizmo would, with the same features and limitations.
We may expand on this in the future, but no promises yet.
-
Thanks for the reply.
I may still buy one to toy around with, but it doesnt look like it is going to be particularly useful for me for a while at least.
-
Just been released in Aust and grabbed one. Works well though in a quick test I noticed that when play video using "low" the encoded audio stream has the unpleasant chipmonk squeak (goes away when set to High). I presume it is casting AAC (did not have time to check sorry). Has there been any improvements recently on the AAC encoding front with ffmpeg?
Thanks
Nathan
-
Low uses extremely low audio bitrates, so don't expect too much.
-
Ok, thanks (Gismo was set on Low from when I was travelling)
-
I actually had a question about this: is Chromecast streaming using the quality settings from Gizmo or does it do its own thing (ala using HTTP Live Streaming regardless of Gizmo settings)? The reason I ask is my TV always shows the signal as 1920x1080 regardless of what Gizmo settings I use, and 720p is the highest anyway. Is that what Chromecast is getting or does Chromecast just automatically up it?
What about Audio quality settings?
-
Looks good, and the kids think it is "Cool" (not bad for iStuff users!). Only thing I'd mention so far is when starting to play a video, Gizmo starts by saying media playback is Stopped/Resume Playback (Chromecast is showing the preparing bar), then Gizmo after a bit says preparing just before playback starts.
-
I actually had a question about this: is Chromecast streaming using the quality settings from Gizmo or does it do its own thing (ala using HTTP Live Streaming regardless of Gizmo settings)? The reason I ask is my TV always shows the signal as 1920x1080 regardless of what Gizmo settings I use, and 720p is the highest anyway. Is that what Chromecast is getting or does Chromecast just automatically up it?
ChromeCast uses the same settings as Gizmo itself. I've been thinking about separate settings, but not sure how to do that without just cluttering everything up.
Just bumping it up to max may not work for a whole bunch of people, if you're streaming over Internet to the ChromeCast for example.
-
I bought one out of interest but am not very excited by it to be honest. It would be better if my amp/receiver were able to auto switch to/from it whenever I throw media to it, but since that's not the case it's kind of a p.i.t.a to reach for the remote to switch away from my htpc. I'd love to see Media Center act as a chromecast receiver, like how the chrome extension "Allcast Receiver" works.
-
Just a quick question is that I am using Chromecast with my Android phone HTC One (M8) but every time I play movie, it will just randomly stop. I thought it might be my WiFi dropping out but I've also set up my Android to keep the WiFi alive. I am wondering if anybody else got this issue? It is not consistent though. Sometimes I can get through whole movie without it dropping but sometimes it just drop like 15 minutes into it.
I wonder if it has anything to do with Android cleaning up the background app and shutting down or suspending Gizmo even though it is playing. I kind of think that this is the case because the player control on the lockscreen will disappear when the playback stops.
Just wonder if anybody got any solution to that.
-
Just a quick question is that I am using Chromecast with my Android phone HTC One (M8) but every time I play movie, it will just randomly stop. I thought it might be my WiFi dropping out but I've also set up my Android to keep the WiFi alive. I am wondering if anybody else got this issue? It is not consistent though. Sometimes I can get through whole movie without it dropping but sometimes it just drop like 15 minutes into it.
I wonder if it has anything to do with Android cleaning up the background app and shutting down or suspending Gizmo even though it is playing. I kind of think that this is the case because the player control on the lockscreen will disappear when the playback stops.
Just wonder if anybody got any solution to that.
I have that also with music, after a while it just stops playing.
With Google Music I don't have this issue, so it seems not to be related to the Chromecast device itself
-
Just a quick question is that I am using Chromecast with my Android phone HTC One (M8) but every time I play movie, it will just randomly stop. I thought it might be my WiFi dropping out but I've also set up my Android to keep the WiFi alive. I am wondering if anybody else got this issue? It is not consistent though. Sometimes I can get through whole movie without it dropping but sometimes it just drop like 15 minutes into it.
I wonder if it has anything to do with Android cleaning up the background app and shutting down or suspending Gizmo even though it is playing. I kind of think that this is the case because the player control on the lockscreen will disappear when the playback stops.
Just wonder if anybody got any solution to that.
I have seen this as well. I haven't spent much time trying to troubleshoot it, but do have issue with shows just stopping and the screen changing to 'JRiver Gizmo'
-
I have seen this as well. I haven't spent much time trying to troubleshoot it, but do have issue with shows just stopping and the screen changing to 'JRiver Gizmo'
+1 with gizmo and also the new eos.
George
-
Has anyone else noticed that casting using Gizmo isn't reflected in the "Last Played" field in MC?
-
Has anyone else noticed that casting using Gizmo isn't reflected in the "Last Played" field in MC?
Yes, and its really inconvenient. There's a post about it but no responses.
-
I have that also with music, after a while it just stops playing.
With Google Music I don't have this issue, so it seems not to be related to the Chromecast device itself
Similarly, if I'm watching multiple TV shows in a row, it seems to be random if Gizmo is still going to be connected to the Chromecast after each one. Sometimes it's still connected and I can move right along. Other times it's not connected (no Chromecast icon in top bar) but then the icon appears shortly thereafter and I can click it and reconnect. About 30% of the time neither of those things happens and I have to force quit Gizmo in order for it to register the Chromecast again. Is there a way to force it to rescan or similar (not sure how it's detecting if a Chromecast is available or not) instead of having to force quit?
-
I got mc 19 , 19.0.146
and gizmo 19.0.135.
I just got my CC today.
And I'm giving it a test run.
It works with my phone, and my laptop under chrome.
I opened jriver, and the gizmo app.
Gizmo recognised the CC, and I can manage to connect.
However when I press play, video or audio, I get nothing on the tv....
All I get is 'JRiver Gizmo'
I have not yet used any streaming (my default word for a connection without wires).
With the exception of wifi.
So, my previous connection have been for audio a usb-dac.
And for video/movies hdmi.
Is there mayby a 'streaming' setting I have to make?
Cause so far it's not working
-
I have that also with music, after a while it just stops playing.
With Google Music I don't have this issue, so it seems not to be related to the Chromecast device itself
Strangely enough, my google music app does not have a 'cast icon'.
The google video has got one and it works fine.
I have checked to see I got the latest update.
I'm updated just fine, just do not have a cast icon .
-
I've removed some discussion of other applications. Sometimes we allow it. Sometimes we don't.
-
I got mc 19 , 19.0.146
and gizmo 19.0.135.
I just got my CC today.
And I'm giving it a test run.
It works with my phone, and my laptop under chrome.
I opened jriver, and the gizmo app.
Gizmo recognised the CC, and I can manage to connect.
However when I press play, video or audio, I get nothing on the tv....
...
And for video/movies hdmi.
Is there mayby a 'streaming' setting I have to make?
Use the menu button to try HTML5.
-
Have you restarted your cc. The latest chomecast updated with screen casting. You needed to restart. Or audio didn't work.
I did have a problem where gizmo stopped after every image and vidieo. Anyone Ne else have this problem?
-
I did have a problem where gizmo stopped after every image and vidieo. Anyone Ne else have this problem?
we did/are having same problem, dad came back from Germany and we tried chromecasting his images, and after every image in slideshow, it would stop
-
Use the menu button to try HTML5.
Thanks for your reply.
But I am going to have to need more info then 'try HTML5.'
I have looked and been trough the menu, but can not find any settings related to this.
-
It's in the menu. Try updating Gizmo.
-
Upper right, three dots, options, HTML live streaming is what I suspect he's recommending.
-
Upper right, three dots, options, HTML live streaming is what I suspect he's recommending.
Thank you very much.
I have already looked into that , and tried both, box checked, and unchecked.
Neither of them was the culprit.
However, I might have got it.
I wil play some more with it over the weekend, but it seems to working now
-
I can manage to get it to work on the CC.
And i'm loving it.
However, jriver keeps stopping..
I keep getting 'unfortunalty jriver has stopped working'
And I have no idea why.
I have tried all the thing I could think off.
I have even uninstalled jriver, and reinstalled it.
JRiver is the only program that is running.
It works flawless with a hdmi cable.
But when I'm casting it, something is making jriver stop, and have no idea why.
Sometimes it goes smooth for an hour, sometimes it's only 10 minutes.
Any feedback about things I can try are muchly appreciated.
-
So I have JRiver running on my Windows 8.1 PC. It is attached wired to my home network. I also have wireless router (same box) which my Chromecast is hooked up to. I can get to the WebGizmo on my iPad attached to the wireless router. But I do not see the Chromecast on the list of devices to play too. Another bit of information, on my PC I can get to Gizmo through a chrome tab(same thing...missing the Chromecast) and I could cast via the Chromecast plugin. What I'd like to do is use my iPad and Gizmo to project to my TV while I'm in bed rather than having to come to the computer and press the cast on the Chrome Tab. Any help or suggestions? Am I correct in thinking this should be possible? Thanks for the help
-
Gizmo supports Chromecast. WebGizmo doesn't.
Could you use DLNA to play to the TV? You could use JRemote on the iPad to control it if the TV is visible in MC.
-
-
This is still a pretty big issue for me. I've been unable to figure out the cause so far. The SO *hates* it. It's especially annoying because you can't seek precisely, so it usually takes multiple "loads" to get playback to where it was before, and you can never get it exact, so either you miss stuff or you re-watch things.
-
Works well for audio and video, but I don't get images to show on the tv. They show up just fine on my android, but the tv screen only shows JRiver logo (?) and greyish background.
Any chance you would be fixing this anytime soon?
EDIT: I run latest build MC20, right now 20.0.54
-
i have JRiver Remote and it can control the Media Player installed on my computer. I also can "cast" to Chrome from my computer. I do not see a "cast" icon on JRiver Remote on my phone. Do I need the Chrome app on my phone?
-
If you mean JRemote when you say "JRiver remote", then Chromecast isn't supported.
-
I'm sorry for not understanding but the start of this thread says "Gizmo can now stream audio or video from MC 19.0.134 to a Google Chromecast. Requires latest Gizmo.". I guess I was thinking JRemote and Gizmo were interchangeable nomenclature for the same app. What is "Gizmo"? There are a million apps with the name Gizmo in them.
Thanks!
-
Gizmo is on the wiki.
-
OK - for others like me that have an IOS Phone, it looks like Gizmo is only for Android and us IOS folks get JRemote which does not have the same Chromecast functionality as the JRiver Gizmo Android app http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Gizmo (http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Gizmo)
I got confused thinking the two apps were the same thing after reading many different Forum Posts and now realize my error.
Here is the link to the JRemote App for an IPhone https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jremote/id486222633?mt=8 (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jremote/id486222633?mt=8) not to be confused with the Media Center Remote hardware http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_Remote (http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Media_Center_Remote) that is a separate hardware device you can buy.
I know this is redundant info for the experienced JRiver users/developers who probably cannot conceive how someone can be so ignorant, but for a newbie to the JRiver software this takes time to understand, especially if you are not familiar with all the ins and outs of media players. I hope others can find this little post helpful.