Issues casting to Chromecast

[ngilmore 5]

Hi Emby team and community,

I am seeing some issues - or at least unexpected behavior - when casting from my Android phone Emby app to my Chromecast. The most notable is that when I connect to my Chromecast I just see the Emby logo with the text "Ready to Cast". That's all I ever see until I start playing media. And sometimes it won't even connect to the Chromecast. Up until a few months ago I would see a lot more including the show thumbnail and synopsis when selecting a show. The other issue I've noticed is the controls are slow to respond (like hitting pause) and the transcoding lags and skips parts frequently. I do not have any issues when watching it in the Emby app on my Android phone. 

Here's what changed a few months ago: I started running Emby behind a reverse proxy (Caddy) and a domain name I purchased (only three lines in Caddyfile). I also switched internet providers to Xfinity. I'm sure the problem has something to do with one of those changes. 

What I have tried to narrow down the problem:
- I turned off the reverse proxy and disabled some security settings on my router - no changes.
- I tried connecting to the Emby app on my phone using my domain address instead of the local ip and then casting - no changes.
- I skimmed the embyserver logs for any errors and nothing jumped out to me.
- I tested casting to my Chromecast from other apps (YouTube and Netflix) and it works great and runs smooth.

I have attached the emby server logs with debugging enabled while I connected to my Chromecast, streamed a TV episode (which experienced lags multiple times), and disconnected the casting. If you have any pointers for me to try, or want me to upload any additional information, please let me know. I've been a subscriber for Emby for a couple years now and never had these problems before so I know I broke something. Thank you in advance!

embyserver.txt

[Luke 42077]

Hi, the reason we removed all those graphics is because a lot of these chromecast devices don’t handle it very well. What ends up happening is you press play and if the graphics are still loading it can cause playback to take a long time to start or sometimes even not start at all.

[Luke 42077]

Regarding the slow controls we’ll take a look at  that. Thanks.

[brothom 177]

+1 also having issues with the controls being extremely slow, that the app (android/web) don't show the chromecast's actual playstate or that control stops working sometimes right after starting playback.

[visproduction 315]

As I understand, casting sends content from either mobile, tablet, notebook, or possibly a workstation with Wifi to the player, which is mostly a TV.  It is the remote hardware that is playing the media and serving it to the TV.

This is very different from having an app running on the TV pulling directly from the Emby server, either Wifi or direct Ethernet connection. You can do this more direct playback by using the TV apps or, just pull with a web app from the Emby server and avoid casting to anything.   In this case, the TV is pulling the media stream from the Emby server without having to use the mobile, tablet, notebook as an in between player. With this non-casting method, If you turned off or walked out of range with the controlling mobile, tablet or notebook, the TV would continue to play the media, because it doesn't need your remote playing the content.  If you are casting and walked away, the playback would stop.

In my opinion, casting is always slower, a pain to deal with, has delays and crashes often.  The fact that it works, at all, is sort of amazing.  It's sort of like you're renting a golf cart and are complaining that it's hard to drive on the highway.  The short answer is stop using casting.  Run apps on the player either TV apps or a browser using the Web access, which is actually also a pain to use on a TV, but works fine on a notebook or workstation.  In that case, have the notebook / workstation connected with HDMI cable to the TV and just forget about casting.

 

Edited December 9, 2025 by visproduction

[ngilmore 5]

1 hour ago, visproduction said:

The short answer is stop using casting.  Run apps on the player either TV apps 

 

Wish I could, but my TV is old and doesn't have apps. And the only other thing I have is a PS5 which Emby doesn't have an app for yet. 

[Neminem 1518]

I would get a NVIDIA SHIELD - The Best Streaming Media Device

Its still the king of home media streaming devices

[yocker 1247]

Chromecast can't skip forwards or backwards when transcoding either.

[visproduction 315]

22 hours ago, ngilmore said:

Wish I could, but my TV is old and doesn't have apps. And the only other thing I have is a PS5 which Emby doesn't have an app for yet. 

Get a streaming box that can plug into the TV. This can load Emby in it's own memory.  This one is an amazing deal for what it can do.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/onn-Google-TV-4K-Streaming-Box-New-2023-4K-UHD-Resolution/2835618394

Then whatever adapter you prefer for your older TV to go from HDMI to either RCA audio / video or coax inputs.
https://www.walmart.com/search?q=HDMI+to+Coax+adapter

Also, any used  or refurbished smart TV for around $100 would probably support Android.  This link goes to TV that all have extra RCA inputs that can be handy if you have also an old DVD or VCR.  Not all TV"s can play these sources without extra adapters.  These TV's can.  DVD players might have component out.  You probably can find great deals locally from Goodwill, pawn shops or TV repair locations.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dcat=11071&_fsrp=1&Audio%2FVideo%20Inputs=Stereo%20Audio%20L%2FR%20RCA|Component%20%28YPbPr%29%20RCA|Component%20%28YPbPr%29%20BNC|Composite%20Video%20RCA|Composite%20Video%20BNC&rt=nc&_from=R40&_nkw=smart+TV+43"&_sacat=0&Screen%20Size=40%2D49%20in&_udhi=100

Edited December 10, 2025 by visproduction

[ngilmore 5]

I hope you all had a good holiday! I did some testing with other apps on my phone casting to my Chromecast most notably the PBS app. What's interesting is I have not encountered a single skip or lag after many hours. I'm wondering if that's because PBS doesn't need to do any transcoding since they control the source file format or do work upfront? Is it possible for to configure Emby to something like that?

Thanks and happy new year!

[Luke 42077]

On 12/29/2025 at 10:02 PM, ngilmore said:

I hope you all had a good holiday! I did some testing with other apps on my phone casting to my Chromecast most notably the PBS app. What's interesting is I have not encountered a single skip or lag after many hours. I'm wondering if that's because PBS doesn't need to do any transcoding since they control the source file format or do work upfront? Is it possible for to configure Emby to something like that?

Thanks and happy new year!

Hi, we’d have to look at an example but Emby won’t transcode when it doesn’t need to.

[ngilmore 5]

Thanks for the reply Luke. I've found a pretty reliable work around. If I start playing media on my phone and then cast, I won't have any issues until it starts playing whatever is next in the queue. But if I start casting from the landing page before selecting any media, that's when I see issues. Maybe that helps narrow down the issue, maybe it doesn't, but with a work around I'm happy and can resolve this issue. 

[Luke 42077]

OK we'll take a look at that. Thanks.