Plex & Chromecast

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Does anyone have any experience with casting Plex content to a Chromecast?

 

I've got a Plex server running off a WD My Cloud drive and if I'm watching content without casting e.g. via web browser on a PC, or through an iPhone app, the content plays fine. If I'm casting it, it rarely works. Files will fail to play.

 

Sometimes it works fine. Sometimes I need to start the content playing first on the iPhone, and then cast it. But that doesn't always work. It's really temperamental. It's pretty irritating as casting the content is the ideal way of watching it for me.. and if I've got company and I'm fiddling around trying to make something play.. It's lame!

 

I've got 2 Chromecasts. One that's built into an Android TV (Equivalent to a Chromecast Ultra) and another which is your usual non-ultra one. They both kinda act the same way. I know it's not gonna be wireless range as I've got a large mesh network with more than enough coverage.

 

The error is either "Sorry! Something went wrong" on the TV, or on the iPhone app it'll say "Couldn't retrieve the play queue  for this item. Please try again." (But If I press it a few times it'll then proceed and work fine. Wtf?), and sometimes it'll give me a codec error on the TV.

 

Is Plex just bad at this? Or is there something I'm not doing right?

[heyitsheather]

I haven't used my Chromecast in some time, but last I did, it worked well with Plex. I'll fire it up tonight, and see if I run into any issues.

[Circaflex]

I've used it a few times(to my nVidia Shield), but never had the issues you have described. Is your plex server up-to-date? You can check for updates under settings. Are your chromecasts up-to-date firmware wise? You can always download the Plex app onto your Android TV and let the native app play the stream on your TV.

 

 

Quote

The wireless adapter that the Chromecast device uses operates on the 2.4GHz band, rather than the faster 5GHz band. This means that the connection is slightly slower than you might be used to, but also means that the Chromecast operates on a much more crowded wireless band. Wireless home phones, microwaves, and the neighbor’s WiFi could all be crowding the band and possibly causing interference.

 

Perhaps even more important, though, the wireless adapter in the Chromecast is very susceptible to network interference and low signal strength. Even if other wireless devices in the same room may operate fine, unless the Chromecast itself has an excellent connection with your wireless router, you may still experience issues.

 

Try switching the WiFi channel your router uses to a less crowded one. You may also wish to try testing with your wireless router and Chromecast device much closer together. Some users may wish to try to extend their wireless network by placing a second wireless access point closer to the Chromecast location. The Ethernet Adapter for Chromecast may also be useful.

It seems you arent the only one with this issue though, many have had it for over a year now

 

https://forums.plex.tv/t/new-buffering-lag-issues-with-chromecast/226859/65

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Yep, everything is up to date. Even the app on the Android TV doesn't work perfectly now that you mention it.

 

There is a possibility that interference could be an issue as I've got various networks set up, but then again I use Chromecast for many other things without any issues - it's purely Plex where the problems lie.

 

I don't get why it works perfectly on the computer though -- it's even connected to a completely different WiFi network unlike the Chromecast and iPhone. ?