Casting to google hub max video times out after 10mins

[chathway 0]

I recently switched from an alexa show 8 in my kitchen to a google hub max.  Unfortunately where I used to be unable to open silk on alexa show and open Emby Web app to play media without issue the google hub max only supports casting.  No problem though as my emby android app sees the hub max just fine and casts to it without issue.  We'll almost without issue; after 10mins of casting the video will stop playing and the hub max display will revert to its inbuilt photo slideshow.   The audio continues and the emby app on android still shows connected.  Emby server shows all connected too and streaming fine. Emby logs just show that streaming media, no indication of any issue. I have to disconnect the casting and reconnect, then get another 10mins.

Very simular issue raised for home assistant casting here: https://github.com/home-assistant/frontend/issues/5729

Youtube and BBC iplayer cast without issue to the hub max, I have casted youtune to it for few hours and its not been a issue.

[Abobader 3464]

Hello chathway,

** This is an auto reply **

Please wait for someone from staff support or our members to reply to you.

It's recommended to provide more info, as it explain in this thread:

Thank you.

Emby Team

[Luke 42077]

Hi, so you started playback all using our android app, not using any voice commands?

[chathway 0]

No voice commands, just selected cast from within the android emby app and choose the Google hub max as the target.

Forgot to also mention that Emby server is running in docker container on synology NAS (DSM os and Emby latest version)

Container on host network, same network subnet the Google hub max on.  

[visproduction 315]

On the max, is there a display setting - Turn screen off after some minutes when the room goes dark?  Or other screensaver?

[chathway 0]

There is a display timeout setting after 5mins of inactivity but I have that disabled. 

[chathway 0]

Another app that doesn't have a problem casting to the Google Hub max is Smooth radio app.  This app streams various radio stations from smooth radio UK.  It doesn't play video but does show information about what's playing and the presenter.

Had it casting for a few hours this week and the Google Hub Max screen always stayed on the casted content.

There must be something these apps are doing that Emby isn't when casting.

Link to smooth app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thisisaim.smoothradio

[Luke 42077]

OK @chathwaylet's look at a specific example. Please provide the information requested in 

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.

[chathway 0]

Thanks @Luke, Logs attached.

The times to look at for when I tested are:

• started casting: 15:56 (Live tv channel - ITV HD)
• Hub Max screen went to photo slide show: 16:06 (audio continued to play)
• Stopped casting: 16:08

You will also see in the logs at 15:20 another google casting session.  This one was initiated from my Emby Android  app to my Nvidia Shield TV.  This casted fine for around 30mins.  

embyserver.txt

ffmpeg-remux-6b954815-1378-47c3-9bcd-546f4f9ce02e_1.txt session to Hub MAX

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-remux-6b954815-1378-47c3-9bcd-546f4f9ce02e_1.txt

[Luke 42077]

@chathwayare you still having an issue with this? When I google this it seems like a lot of apps are impacted by this. I found the github thread that you linked to earlier.

The workarounds in that thread are also quite nasty - one restarting video every 9 minutes, another playing silent audio which throws off all of the remote controls. 

I don't really know what the sensible thing to do is. Can this device sideload android apps?

[chathway 0]

Hi Luke, no the device can't sideload apps. It only supports casting, there is a web browser that can support loading the Emby web view but it's very clunky.  You can't type a URL and saying "Emby" nearly always types "MB"! And if I do get to web view it won't remember credentials nor go full screen.

Home assistant which I run also seems to have sorted there casting issues.  I can cast dashboards to the Google hub max fine (even interact with the casting on screen).

I recently setup Plex to see how that did and again was fine casting live TV from hdhomerun source (tested for up to an hour).  

Seems like there is some secret sauce to fix however, considering very little interaction with my post from other Emby users maybe not much use case.  With that in mind would understand if from a developer time perspective there wasn't an appetite to investigate further.

[visproduction 315]

Casting to Hub Max may have Wifi connection issues.  If the media stream has a high bit rate you could be looking at dropped packets from router issues, hub-max internal TCP/IP  settings of how many out of order packets are allowed before dumping the cache and requesting the packet series again.  Wifi needs to be setup on a channel that has no other local traffic. 
Have a look here for more troubleshooting steps:  https://www.digitaltrends.com/home/common-google-nest-hub-problems-and-how-to-fix-them/

[visproduction 315]

Some settings to check when using Hub Max.
https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9240155

[SilverTongue1 1]

I also have this experience with Emby only. Casting from iPhone 11 iOS 17.4.1 to a Google Nest Hub 1st generation. I can cast from all other apps (YouTube, hayu, Channel4, BBC iPlayer) without this timeout issue.

[visproduction 315]

I believe Youtube still uses automatic step down to lower bitrate and lower res copy when there are bandwidth issues.  I think they automatically upgrade popular videos to multi bitrate playback.  As I understand it, Emby can determine a preferred playback rate when there are multiple resolution copies of the same media determined at the initial playback start.  I notice that when I have 480P, 720P, 1080P versions, that mobile data connection seems to prefer a lower res choice with Emby.

I don't know the actual code inside either Emby or Youtube.  I believe that the approach to this issue is very different and could perhpas explain why you are getting stuttering with Emby which may have made it's choice of playback, or you don't even have a multiple resolution available on such media.  Youtube does have this available.  If this is true, it is understandable why there would be a difference.

Hope that makes sense.

[Geoffevans42 1]

I am having the same issue, precisely as described. When I cast to my Nest Hub Max, the video stops after 10 minutes and the clock displays, but the audio continues. It happens when casting from the Android app, or from the web app using Chrome on Windows 11.

In my case, I would doubt that it's a network connectivity issue, as I have recently moved, and the issue appears precisely the same in my new house (with a new wifi router) as it did in my old one.

[Luke 42077]

Have you seen this?

https://forums.wyze.com/t/streaming-fails-after-10-minutes-google-home-hub/46470/9

[Swartskapie 0]

Something changed in the last two weeks, as this is happening to me as well and I have not found a way to stop it. 

Previously, the video would play and then stop, with the sound still playing, but I was able to say 'hey Google, rewind 10 seconds' and it would then go back and pick up the video again. This is on a Google Nest Hub 1st gen. 

Now when I cast from my phone (tried different phones and a tablet), no matter what settings I specify (currently on 'auto' for Chromecasting) there is no way to pause, forward or rewind the video on the Google Nest Hub and it times out after 10 minutes. 

Please, this is breaking Emby for me in a bad way. I tried various work-arounds, including trying to use VLC DLNA and then casting (won't even play) and factory resetting the Google Nest Hub. 

Netflix still works 100%, so the device itself is not the problem. If anyone knows any way to successfully case from Emby to a Google Hub Nest I would love to hear it. 

[visproduction 315]

Possible workaround:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/kycelt/increase_the_pause_timeout_on_chromecast_with/?rdt=56315

Quote

Edit: As of August 2022 it seems that Google has now disabled developer access to these settings as well. All the apps that I'm aware of that used to allow access to this menu no longer do. The next best solution is to disable the screensaver entirely, if you don't want it at all. That can be done by enabling Developer Mode on you CCwGTV.

Go to Settings > System > About > Android TV OS Build and keep clicking until it says Developer Mode enabled.

Then go back to Settings > System > Developer options > Stay awake.

Pressing the back button from the Home screen will still activate the screensaver, but it won't come up automatically regardless of how long you're paused.

 

[Swartskapie 0]

21 hours ago, visproduction said:

Possible workaround:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/kycelt/increase_the_pause_timeout_on_chromecast_with/?rdt=56315

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but that is for Android TV and I don't see the same option for developer settings on the Nest Hub. I've enrolled for their preview program out of desperation, perhaps there will be a future update to address this.

[btgerold 3]

I've had this issue as well.  I've found if I keep touching the screen, it will continue to work, but if I miss, it will have the behavior described by others.

[Swartskapie 0]

I've resorted to using a tablet in the kitchen, could not bear it anymore. The Google Nest is now just for YouTube and photos, sad. I was seriously considering Emby Premiere for the hardware encoding but this has eliminated 50% of my use case for it. 

[Carlo 4560]

I don't have a Max to test with.

Is it possible to open a web interface to Emby, staying logged in and cast to the Emby browser rather than Chrome Casting?
Is it possible to use Home Assistant on the phone to cast to the Max? And if so, does that work?

[Chiefmas 40]

I just picked up a Hub Max, and I'm running into this problem as well.

I don't believe it to be a bandwidth problem- Youtube streams fine to it with no hiccups or anything. But I also don't think Youtube is actually chromecasting, I think they are doing a handoff to a Youtube app on the device.

On 12/16/2024 at 6:43 PM, Carlo said:

 

Is it possible to open a web interface to Emby, staying logged in and cast to the Emby browser rather than Chrome Casting?
Is it possible to use Home Assistant on the phone to cast to the Max? And if so, does that work?

I know you asked these a while ago to someone else, but I'll answer them.

The home hub, while clearly running Android, is a very limited function device. It's almost like it's an Android tablet that's mainly locked into running a modified version of the Google Home app. There's no browser...even the apps that are sorta there, like Youtube, you control either by voice command, or from another device. There's no virtual keyboard or anything like that.

Home assistant I'm still experimenting with, but I can stream audio from my HA install to it with no problem(I have an automation that streams an mp3 to it). I haven't tried video yet, but I'll give it a look and report back if anything is different if I can get it to do so.

 

[Swartskapie 0]

The sad part is that it used to work well. 

I don't know if the Hub changed or something in Emby, but a clear way to tell things are not as they should be is when you touch the screen there are no play / pause controls while casting Emby to the screen.

If you cast Youtube, Disney or Netflix you do see the controls when you touch the screen. 

I get this might not be the highest priority item for Emby to address, but it is highly annoying and I have basically given up trying to use Emby on my screens. I mean, you cannot even finish one episode of Seinfeld before it cuts out, which is pointless.