ChromeCast Audio DLNA - Exercise in frustration

[rmel66]

I purchased a ChromeCast Audio dongle to be used as a DLNA renderer/endpoint sometime ago. To see the device as a renderer I installed BubbleUPnP Server, which allows ChromeCast devices to be recognized as UPnP devices on my main computer. Initially this worked well but then I started experiencing sporadic disconnects, remedied only by rebooting the dongle and/or restarting BubbleUPnP.

 

The connection was inconsistent enough to make me decide to remove it from my playback stream. I have since found another way of enabling it as a renderer, namely utilizing LMS and White Bear Server. LMS is employed with the LMS to Cast add on which allows the ChromeCast to be seen as a Squeezelite device, and then White Bear allows the newly created Squeezelite device to be seen as a renderer.

 

Still, I have been burnt and have not yet reincorporated it into my system.

 

Has anyone else had problems with their ChromeCast device?

 

rmel66.

[Cebolla]

Looks like you may have had a network device discovery issue. Both the BubbleUPnP Server & the CastBridge LMS plugin use mDNS to discover Chromecast devices and require multicast packets to be properly forwarded by your network management device(s) (eg router). A classic sign of a wireless router not behaving itself, is when wired devices can discover other wired devices, but have issues discovering wireless devices and vice versa.

 

Is/was the machine running BubbleUPnP Server connected to the network by cable & the one running CastBridge connected to the network by WiFi, by any chance?

 

Or, perhaps you've since changed your router so no longer have a problem?

[Cornan]

 

 

3 hours ago, rmel66 said:

I purchased a ChromeCast Audio dongle to be used as a DLNA renderer/endpoint sometime ago. To see the device as a renderer I installed BubbleUPnP Server, which allows ChromeCast devices to be recognized as UPnP devices on my main computer. Initially this worked well but then I started experiencing sporadic disconnects, remedied only by rebooting the dongle and/or restarting BubbleUPnP.

 

One thing to try is to set a static ip on the Android tablet BubbleUPnP or other control point is installed on. It is possible if you go into settings/wifi. Long-press on your current wifi SSID and select "change network". This usually solves issues with BubbleUPnP server drop-outs IME.

[rmel66]

On 12/19/2017 at 1:50 PM, Cebolla said:

Looks like you may have had a network device discovery issue. Both the BubbleUPnP Server & the CastBridge LMS plugin use mDNS to discover Chromecast devices and require multicast packets to be properly forwarded by your network management device(s) (eg router). A classic sign of a wireless router not behaving itself, is when wired devices can discover other wired devices, but have issues discovering wireless devices and vice versa.

 

Is/was the machine running BubbleUPnP Server connected to the network by cable & the one running CastBridge connected to the network by WiFi, by any chance?

 

Or, perhaps you've since changed your router so no longer have a problem?

The machine/s running BubbleUPnP server have always been hard wired ie. ethernet. Additionally, both LMS and BubbleUPnP were at one time on the same machine.

 

It is instructive to note that my other devices acting as renderers/end points (AudioCast M5 - a dongle identical in size to the ChromeCast Audio, a mini pc running Fb2K with UPnP and UPnP_out components, August WS150 wireless speaker and a re-purposed AcerEEE mini laptop with Lubuntu running FB2K under WINE) have no connection issues.

 

rmel66.

[Cebolla]

What about the use of 5GHz vs 2.4GHz WiFi with the various devices? Again, some routers have issues properly forwarding multicast packets with one signal, but not the other, especially when they've been assigned/tied to the same SSID.

 

It could well be that you no longer have the problem, eg, you are using a different router, or there's been a firmware update on the router, or you've changed one or more of the router's settings, or a BubbleUPnP Server update (unlikely, as I don't see any mention of a Google Cast discovery fix in its changelog), etc.

Have you tried the BubbleUPnP Server Chromecast Audio combo recently, ie, is it still not working properly wiith you current network setup?

[mjb]

OP: you don’t say whether you’re running bubbleUPnP on Mac or Windows, but ports 58050 and 58051 must be open, and you may need to edit the servers hosts file (Mac). Trouble shooting tips are here: http://www.bubblesoftapps.com/bubbleupnpserver/#download_and_installation

[rmel66]

I have resolved to using the chromecast device with LMS/Whitebear as this combo is proving more stable. Thanks for all the advice and happy 2018 to all.

 

rmel66.