casting OGG/Vorbis audio to Google speaker groups?

[bellstrom 0]

Hello.  Casting OGG/Vorbis audio to Google speaker groups does not work.  I have four speakers in the group, but the audio only plays on one or two of them.  The chromecast audio devices are identical and have the same firmware version.  MP3 audio plays properly on all speakers.  Something strange going on here.

[Luke 42077]

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[bellstrom 0]

Thanks for your reply.  The server log is attached.  In this case, i created a speaker group named "Group2" that included 3 speakers "Loft", "Kitchen", and "Living room".  When i select the group, all three speakers play the initiation tone, however "Anthropology" only plays on the the "Loft" speaker.

Before I started using Emby, I used Plex.  Plex had the same problem and failed to cast OGG media to more than one speaker in each group. 

Spotify always works properly (i believe that Spotify media are MP3 encoded).

I tried to capture an Android app log, but turning logging 'on' and restarting the app does not capture a log.

emby_server_log_failed_ogg_cast_01-31-2025.zip

[Luke 42077]

@bellstromwhen you started the cast session in the Emby app, what device did you connect to?

[bellstrom 0]

Thanks for your reply.

In the earlier log, the "sender" was a mobile phone that was connected to the same LAN & subnet as the Emby server and the 3 Chromecast audio devices in the speaker group.

If I use Emby to "convert" the media and then play the converted media (now MP3-encoded) then the MP3 media plays on all speakers in the group.

[Luke 42077]

So are you saying it only happens with ogg?

[bellstrom 0]

My library contains MP3 and OGG media.  I tested a single FLAC file and it played correctly on all speakers in the group.

[Luke 42077]

Does it support the ogg directly or does it get transcoded?

[bellstrom 0]

I do not know whether Emby transcodes the OGG or not.  I suspect not.  The server log, which I attached (above) does not answer this question?

My OGG files are 48000 Hz, stereo, bitrate 192K (quality level 6).  Just for kicks, i used ffmpeg + libvorbis to try a couple other parameter sets (e.g., 128K + 44100Hz).

I tested the media using VLC, which misbehaves similarly to Emby.  In every case the OGG/Vorbis stream only played on a single speaker in the group.  In contrast, FLAC media play on all 3 speakers.

[Luke 42077]

On 2/15/2025 at 7:49 PM, bellstrom said:

I do not know whether Emby transcodes the OGG or not.  I suspect not.  The server log, which I attached (above) does not answer this question?

My OGG files are 48000 Hz, stereo, bitrate 192K (quality level 6).  Just for kicks, i used ffmpeg + libvorbis to try a couple other parameter sets (e.g., 128K + 44100Hz).

I tested the media using VLC, which misbehaves similarly to Emby.  In every case the OGG/Vorbis stream only played on a single speaker in the group.  In contrast, FLAC media play on all 3 speakers.

OK can we please look at an example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks.