Sounds like you're repeating the tests that many people have already done. Tab-casting is not perfectly smooth even on a very fast computer running at less than 12% CPU utilization in my experience. I would guess that the most likely explanation is a poor implementation in Google's "beta" code combined with too little buffering. You can easily see and hear that there is only a fraction of a second of buffering if the TV is in audio/video range of your computer. The video stream stutters and loses frames for an instant whenever Google's code can't keep up with a momentary increase in workload, even though the overall CPU utilization is low. Proper buffering should fix it, but Google hasn't seen fit to do that in the last 7 months.
WiFi Bandwidth and Router considerations
- Thread starter bhiga
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Yes, and an efficient mirroring model would hook into the display updates rather than continually "scraping" the screen. I feel like it's someone at Google's pet project and they've been busy with other mainstream stuff like troubleshooting all the fringe router issues.
Sent from a device with no keyboard. Please forgive typos, they may not be my own.
I doubt that Google's tab-casting code is scraping the screen for its video feed (or at least it only does that when you use the experimental full-desktop mode). I'm pretty sure it's smart enough to pick out the video stream on the page and transcode it for the Chromecast. But it's obviously not very efficient at that, since Plex or Playon can do that trick and maintain a smooth flow of video, while Google's code can't. But maybe they're not keen to fix it, since there's no revenue in helping people to stream their computer video to the TV for free.
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So I've been going in circles with support with them asking the same questions over and over. Finally today, they want to initiate a warranty replacement.
Now, I actually didn't discover the AllCast app until today. I tested a 720p clip and it plays fine looking pretty good. Network speeds are between 200-1000 kByte/sec. And thats with a 60MBit/sec wifi connection. So I'm pretty sure the Chromecast is fine.
I tried the Chromecast Video extension on my laptop and can get similar results.
I'm pretty sure it is something with chrome or the extension itself.
I'd agree with the previous poster(s) that the extension simply doesnt work that well, however it sounds like other people in this thread have gotten it to work.
Now, I actually didn't discover the AllCast app until today. I tested a 720p clip and it plays fine looking pretty good. Network speeds are between 200-1000 kByte/sec. And thats with a 60MBit/sec wifi connection. So I'm pretty sure the Chromecast is fine.
I tried the Chromecast Video extension on my laptop and can get similar results.
I'm pretty sure it is something with chrome or the extension itself.
I'd agree with the previous poster(s) that the extension simply doesnt work that well, however it sounds like other people in this thread have gotten it to work.
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Prior to HBOGO becoming CC compatible, I would cast a tab from my desktop Chrome browser streaming a movie or show from HBOGO without any issues.
Now I should point out that except for the CC, phone and tablet, all my devices (various PCs) are hard wired and I am running DD-WRT on my router and wireless access point.
Dan
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Now I should point out that except for the CC, phone and tablet, all my devices (various PCs) are hard wired and I am running DD-WRT on my router and wireless access point.
Dan
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Sometimes other Chrome extensions can interfere.
This is generally ideal. Any devices that can be reasonably kept off of wireless should be.
You can use a program like WiFi Analyzer to determine the best wifi channel with your router. For some area with congested wifi traffic it might help optimize your network speed.
I've tweaked my 2.4ghz band as best as I could using that program and did a file transfer benchmark between my main pc and laptop. It's been running pretty smoothly without issues.
I've tweaked my 2.4ghz band as best as I could using that program and did a file transfer benchmark between my main pc and laptop. It's been running pretty smoothly without issues.
This is interesting. I've looked at newer routers and wondered if/when I'd need to upgrade. I tried Allcast the other day. It worked great with photos and even an .mp4 of the latest True Detective. But a video of my daughter drumming was stuttering like YouTube on a bad day.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
hopefully someone can help me. i cannot stream movies taken from my phone (nexus 5) to my chromecast without severe lag. 1080p videos i downloaded from youtube will play fine however. all stored on the same phone in the same folder. i have tried dropping the resolution down to 720 to see if that would help but it does not. i have tried allcast, avia, you name it i have tried the app. i figured it must be my old router so i went to walmart today and dropped $200 on a top of the line new router. linksys smart wifi router ac. http://www.linksys.com/en-eu/products/routers/EA6500 supposedly the fastest router available at walmart. anyways not any better. is there a certain way i need to set up this router for maximum bandwidth? there is a smart wifi app by linksys that allows me to set priorities to each device to make sure they get the most bandwidth and i set them to the cc and my n5. my regular internet is through centurylink and it's only a 10 MB connection ( the fastest they have) but that shouldn't matter since i'm casting from my phone to the router and the router to the cc right? any advice (in laymans terms) would be greatly appreciated
It's probably not the router so much as the WiFi signal strength either increasing the latency or decreasing the bandwidth.
Once the bandwidth requirement is filled, it comes down to latency.
I'm assuming you have a 10 Mbit (2.25 MB/sec) connection, rather than a 10 MByte (80 Mbit) connection, though 80 Mbit is possible in high-end tiers in some areas, or if you have fibre.
bubbleguuum posted some some real-world experience and said essentially anything over 5 Mbit will be problematic, and most 1080p stuff is recorded at higher than 5 Mbit/sec.
Remove any obstructions between Chromecast and the router's line-of-sight. Make sure they're both near the same altitude, not stacked, as wireless generally does not travel up/down well in standard antenna orientation (ie, if your router is upstairs or downstairs with respect to Chromecast you'll have reduced signal).
Use the HDMI extender or HDMI extension cable to get Chromecast out from behind the TV - the TV's electronics do wonders to block WiFi signal.
If your device has a 5 GHz radio, use it so you don't have traffic going both ways on the 2.4 GHz band.
You can also try lowering your phone's recording Quality - that should reduce the bitrate for (new) recordings.
so you are saying that the speed of my isp affects streaming videos stored on my device to chromecast even though it is not going to the internet through any servers? i'm talking just allcast or avia casting content stored on my Nexus 5
No it doesn't, but I was curious whether you really meant 10 megabytes or 10 megabits.
I now think that 5Mbps is a bit low. I think problems *can* definitely happen in the 8-20Mbps range, depending on the WiFi connection quality and its ability to sustain a stable bitrate.
For reference, 1080p videos taken by the Nexus5 camera are about 17Mbps (close to 2 MB/s). I recorded such a video and one day it stuttered repeatedly, then the other day it played almost fine.
WiFi is really hit and miss (often miss) for streaming high bitrate content.
The problem with WiFi (vs wired) is that it is horribly bad at maintaining a stable high output bitrate: it can get high but it is very spiky and can get very low. Unlike Ethernet. This is really visible of you compared both with a network monitoring tool showing network bitrate output over time, streaming a high res video.
No it doesn't, but I was curious whether you really meant 10 megabytes or 10 megabits.
10 megabits but i don't have any problem streaming from the internet through the chromecast. for instance any home videos uploaded to google plus photos stream fine through avia but the same videos stutter when streamed directly from my phone. also 1080p videos i download from youtube stream fine from the device. the only time i get stutter is when i stream home movies shot in 1080 or 720 from my device
If the same file (that isn't being transcoded) plays OK from Internet and not from a device, then it's either the device not being able to send fast enough, or your WiFi is being overloaded (because there's double the traffic to the router).
well my phone is a nexus 5 and has the fastest processor currently available and my router supports transfers up to 350Mbs on wireless N so i don't know what could be the issue. is everyone else able to stream from their device without stutter?
I have some homework for you. I know this can be extremely frustrating. I've gone through it. Now Take 2 files, one that works fine and one that doesn't. Transfer them both to a pc. Right click--->properties--->details. Compare the two files. I would guess that the file(s) that doesn't work will have a much higher bit-rate.
Despite what routers claim, and what the Chromecast claims, and what the guy at best buy claims, the numbers on the boxes aren't close to real world, sustained usage (it seems from my experience anyway). This is why the CC should have Ethernet. Period. And this is why Google doesn't officially support local video. If you want to cast your recorded vids, I suggest you run them through Handbrake with the settings I posted in the linked thread and they'll work. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=50682486#post50682486 Is that a pain in the balls? Yes. Was the Chromecast sold to you promising local video casting? No. Local video is something we're all trying to steal out of the device. Doing something with a device it wasn't designed for will ALWAYS come with hurdles and/or downfalls. It seems we all want our $35 apple tv
Edit:
Suggestions other than Encoding:
Put all media onto a lan connected device and/or have the CC connected to a router that nothing else uses which you connect to when you want to cast local media.
Reason why:
If you don't have any kind of media shaping or QoS (Quality of Service) set up, a router splits attention with all the devices that are talking to it. This means 5 devices and 2 way talking (phone to router--->router to CC) chop up that advertised 350mbps real quick (and like I said, that 350 is a peak theoretical value).
Do keep in mind that this is all as i understand it...afaik
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so i hooked up a toshiba USB hard drive to the router and put my media files onto it. using the bubbleupnp app i tried streaming from the hard drive to the cc. it does make an improvement but still choppy. the hard drive is hooked to the usb 3.0 port on the back of the router so i don't know what else i could do besides moving the tv into the room with the router and that isn't possible. guess i just have to wait until chromecast 2.0 comes out and hope they fix whatever is ailing it now. thanks for the help guys
so i hooked up a toshiba USB hard drive to the router and put my media files onto it. using the bubbleupnp app i tried streaming from the hard drive to the cc. it does make an improvement but still choppy. the hard drive is hooked to the usb 3.0 port on the back of the router so i don't know what else i could do besides moving the tv into the room with the router and that isn't possible. guess i just have to wait until chromecast 2.0 comes out and hope they fix whatever is ailing it now. thanks for the help guys
To address this bandwidth issue, the next version of BubbleUPnP will allow to specify a max bitrate that force transcoding if the original video is of a higer bitrate.
For example, if you play a 1080p camera video whose bitrate is 18Mbps and you've specified a max bitrate of 10Mbps, it would be transcoded to a 10Mbps 720p video and play smoothly.
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When streaming from your phone, each device only gets one half of the routers bandwidth capability if you are running both devices on 2.5ghz.
When streaming from the Internet, the Chromecast is the only device on your wifi involved and gets close to all the router's wifi bandwidth.
Sent from my DROID Maxx using Tapatalk
When streaming from the Internet, the Chromecast is the only device on your wifi involved and gets close to all the router's wifi bandwidth.
Sent from my DROID Maxx using Tapatalk
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14Because Chromecast communicates solely via WiFi, the minimum sustained wireless bandwidth is critical for streaming quality.
This is usually not a problem for "normal" Chromecast applications that pull streams from the Internet - those services are designed to adapt to and scale with the available connection speed.
Content streaming from local devices is a different scenario altogether.
Chromecast doesn't necessarily work the same as traditional set-top media players (Apple TV, WDTV, Roku, etc) when streaming media from your phone/tablet/computer (device-local) and LAN-based (from a server) media can consume more bandwidth than you would expect.
Depending on where the media is located and how it is being sent to Chromecast, up to 3x the media's bitrate may be consumed (and required) on the WiFi network. If you have high bitrate media, this can easily overload an 802.11g connection or even an 802.11n connection.
Keep in mind that connection speed is not constant, and is limited by both your environment and your router.
Other nearby WiFi devices can cause interference, and the 2.4 GHz wireless band that Chromecast uses is "crowded" with many devices like cordless telephones and microwave ovens using overlapping frequencies.
Also, routers vary in the wireless speeds they can maintain. Just because you have a 802.11n 150 Mbps connection, that does not mean your router can truly sustain 150 Mbps throughput.
Better routers advertise use cases for "HD streaming" and have Gigabit LAN ports rather than 100 Mbps LAN ports found on cheaper models.
Just like a Gigabit Ethernet USB 2.0 adapter will never reach full Gigabit speed due the USB 2.0 bottleneck (480 Mbps), cheaper routers often are limited by their internal processor's lack of forwarding speed.
See the attachments for use examples and how the required bandwidth can multiply: Note that the 10 Mbps figure is just an example.
- Standard Internet stream example
YouTube, Hulu Plus, HBO Go, VEVO, etc use this methodology - Direct stream from LAN storage example
Plex (from a local Plex server) and fling (from a desktop) work this way. Desktop and Tab casting from Chrome also uses this data flow.
Data is sent from the LAN device via WiFi
Chromecast receives data from the LAN device via WiFi - Streaming from wireless device storage example
Casting content stored on the device (device-local) from Avia or RealPlayer Cloud use this method.
Data is sent from the casting device via WiFi to Chromecast
Chromecast receives data via WiFi - Forwarding from LAN storage example
Casting content stored on a LAN device (DLNA, network share, etc) from Avia uses this method.
Data is sent from the LAN device to casting device running Avia via WiFi
Data is sent from the casting device running Avia via WiFi to Chromecast - this is the forwarding piece, data travels through
Chromecast receives data via WiFi
To optimize available bandwidth for Chromecast:
- Use an 802.11n dual-band router and put your other wireless devices on the 5 GHz access point whenever possible
or use a separate WiFi access point connected to the wired network for Chromecast - Use wired connections for cast sources (server/desktop/laptop) wherever possible
- Reencode high-bitrate media to lower bitrate (4 Mbps should be fine for most use)
- Optimize Chromecast's ability to get a stable WiFi signal - move it away from the TV using the HDMI extender or an HDMI extension cable
and/or move your router so it's closer to Chromecast (but not too close - too close can get into a "drowned in the noise" situation)
1Sounds like you're repeating the tests that many people have already done. Tab-casting is not perfectly smooth even on a very fast computer running at less than 12% CPU utilization in my experience. I would guess that the most likely explanation is a poor implementation in Google's "beta" code combined with too little buffering. You can easily see and hear that there is only a fraction of a second of buffering if the TV is in audio/video range of your computer. The video stream stutters and loses frames for an instant whenever Google's code can't keep up with a momentary increase in workload, even though the overall CPU utilization is low. Proper buffering should fix it, but Google hasn't seen fit to do that in the last 7 months.1
I now think that 5Mbps is a bit low. I think problems *can* definitely happen in the 8-20Mbps range, depending on the WiFi connection quality and its ability to sustain a stable bitrate.
For reference, 1080p videos taken by the Nexus5 camera are about 17Mbps (close to 2 MB/s). I recorded such a video and one day it stuttered repeatedly, then the other day it played almost fine.
WiFi is really hit and miss (often miss) for streaming high bitrate content.
The problem with WiFi (vs wired) is that it is horribly bad at maintaining a stable high output bitrate: it can get high but it is very spiky and can get very low. Unlike Ethernet. This is really visible of you compared both with a network monitoring tool showing network bitrate output over time, streaming a high res video.1
I have some homework for you. I know this can be extremely frustrating. I've gone through it. Now Take 2 files, one that works fine and one that doesn't. Transfer them both to a pc. Right click--->properties--->details. Compare the two files. I would guess that the file(s) that doesn't work will have a much higher bit-rate.
Despite what routers claim, and what the Chromecast claims, and what the guy at best buy claims, the numbers on the boxes aren't close to real world, sustained usage (it seems from my experience anyway). This is why the CC should have Ethernet. Period. And this is why Google doesn't officially support local video. If you want to cast your recorded vids, I suggest you run them through Handbrake with the settings I posted in the linked thread and they'll work. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=50682486#post50682486 Is that a pain in the balls? Yes. Was the Chromecast sold to you promising local video casting? No. Local video is something we're all trying to steal out of the device. Doing something with a device it wasn't designed for will ALWAYS come with hurdles and/or downfalls. It seems we all want our $35 apple tv
Edit:
Suggestions other than Encoding:
Put all media onto a lan connected device and/or have the CC connected to a router that nothing else uses which you connect to when you want to cast local media.
Reason why:
If you don't have any kind of media shaping or QoS (Quality of Service) set up, a router splits attention with all the devices that are talking to it. This means 5 devices and 2 way talking (phone to router--->router to CC) chop up that advertised 350mbps real quick (and like I said, that 350 is a peak theoretical value).
Do keep in mind that this is all as i understand it...afaik1so i hooked up a toshiba USB hard drive to the router and put my media files onto it. using the bubbleupnp app i tried streaming from the hard drive to the cc. it does make an improvement but still choppy. the hard drive is hooked to the usb 3.0 port on the back of the router so i don't know what else i could do besides moving the tv into the room with the router and that isn't possible. guess i just have to wait until chromecast 2.0 comes out and hope they fix whatever is ailing it now. thanks for the help guys
To address this bandwidth issue, the next version of BubbleUPnP will allow to specify a max bitrate that force transcoding if the original video is of a higer bitrate.
For example, if you play a 1080p camera video whose bitrate is 18Mbps and you've specified a max bitrate of 10Mbps, it would be transcoded to a 10Mbps 720p video and play smoothly. - Standard Internet stream example
