Cannot cast a text to my devices. Only to my own PC speakers.

[RuT]

Hello,
I'm trying to cast a text
1) to my local PC speakers:
OK. I can set the volume, listen to my text, listen to a mp3 file ... Perfect !

2) to a google home or any chromecast audio devices:
I can set the volume: OK (i ear a notification sound on the google home)
But the text is not sent to the device.

In debug mode, I see that the .wav file is well prepared. I can listen to it.
But I have a timeout: could not get response from the request LoadRequest at SharpCast.Channel.SendRequest (args...) in E:\Documents\VBNet\cast\SharpCast\Channel.cs at line 144.
But I have no subdirectory E:\Documents\VBNet on my PC. Any idea where is the issue ?

Attached the debug screenshot

[RobLatour]

Hi thanks for reporting this.

I'm having trouble recreating it, and I've tried a couple of machines which work fine for me.

The reference to the SharpCast Channel.cs file at line 144 is where SharpCast, an open source component used by Cast, sends a request to your chromecast device.

By default, cast does a send on port 55123. I am suspecting that this port is either in use or being blocked by a firewall (software or router) somewhere on your network.

there is an option
-port <portnumber>
which you can use to change the port number cast uses. The port number needs to be between 1025 and 65535 inclusive.

can you please try using the same command that you are already using but also use the port option to see if that helps.
For example:
cast -ip 192.168.1.69 -text test -debug -volume 30 -port 2222
and see if that works.

Please let me know if it does or not.

Also, if it does not, please see if you can find a firewall setting someplace that may be blocking cast.

[RuT]

Thanks for you reply.

No unfortunately, i have the same issue when using another port or even when stopping my firewall.
I don't think that the port is an issue, as I can increase the volume of my google home using cast.exe.
I just cannot cast a text or a music to the device.

[RobLatour]

Do you have another PC you can try it from?

[ceemjay]

Thanks for developing this excellent piece of software and for sharing it too. I have been working on a way of using Google Assistant to play music from my own collection of MP3s onto the Mini or local PC and this could be just the tool I am looking for.

However it looks like I am having the same problem.

Casting to Home Mini it plays the wav file but that's all tried different ports and in debug mode get this too:
Streaming will begin immediately
StartWebServer 29/01/2019 11:15:15
Start Listen 29/01/2019 11:15:15
Casting to Living Room speaker D:\Music\Bellowhead\Broadside\Well.mp3
Preparing to cast C:\Users\TheJusts\AppData\Local\Temp\~cast~fceca3c43986468bb114076267ee92a9.mp3
System.TimeoutException: Could not get response for the request LoadRequest
at SharpCast.Channel.SendRequest(String ns, Request request, String destinationId) in E:\Documents\VBNet\cast\SharpCast\Channel.cs
:line 144
at SharpCast.Player.Load(Uri contentUri, String contentType, MediaMetadata metadata, Boolean autoPlay, StreamType streamType) in E
:\Documents\VBNet\cast\SharpCast\Player.cs:line 98
at #=zmOXDnc6$y9hHQzm1edvD4KU=.#=qEB6iybB4Qjeyymbq8PuFYbtH0gHTf78JeEw4VwL6_GI=.MoveNext()
Duration: 00:03:40.0290000


I am running Windows Version 1803

Cheers

[RobLatour]

If it's not copyright protected, can you please email me ( info.cast@rlatour.com ) the file Well.mp3 you are trying to cast?

[ceemjay]

Hi Rob

Thanks for a speedy response but I dont think the MP3 has anything to do with it. My problem seems to be identical to RuT - I can change the volume on the mini as can he but cant cast text or any MP3

Is there a debug version ? If so will you email it to me cceebies at gmail.com and I will send you the output straight back.

Also happy to send the MP3 if you really want it?

Cheers

[ceemjay]

Thought I'd submitted a reply to this but it's disappeared

I am fairly certain it has nothing to do with the MP3 - everyone I try fails with the same error - the same too when casting TEXT.

Think you have my email address if you want to send me a debug version.

Cheers

[RobLatour]

ok - thanks

There is no debug version, but there is a debug option - which you have found and I saw your results.

The dump is saying Cast is having a problem in a component it uses to do the casting. The file you sent me separately worked on my system just fine, so I'm wondering if there is a firewall somewhere (either on your PC or on your router) blocking the casting.

Can you try closing all other programs, and then if you're ok with it your firewall for the length of time it takes to run a test of cast to see if that is what is doing the blocking. If it is, then its a question of finding the right firewall setting to let things thru.

Also, as I'm typing this, I'm wondering if you can cast from youtube using google chrome to your google device?

[RobLatour]

Do you have write access to the following directory on your PC:

C:\Users\TheJusts\AppData\Local\Temp\

if you're not sure, just go to that directory and see if you can copy a file to it.