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SamDel / ChromeCast-Desktop-Audio-Streamer

Stream the sound of your desktop to your Chromecast Audio device
MIT License
416 stars 30 forks source link

Audio Time-Lag #17

Closed FA-Bubba closed 5 years ago

FA-Bubba commented 5 years ago

REVISED... See attached comment

I downloaded and installed audio-cast,exe on my Windows 7 Pro PC (16 GB RAM). Audio-cast sees my Google devices (2 minis, a hub, 1 Chromecast Audio & 1 Chromecast). I selected the 2 Minis & the Chromecast Audio, and heard the connect sound from each speaker. I started a Playlist in iTunes, and it played to all of the speakers, but there a time-lag in the sound stream. That is, the speakers are not sync'd, but output the sound with various delays. The delay can be minor, or significant, with no consistency...

What tools &/or actions can I try to get the sound output to all speakers on the same time-line?

Thank you!

FA-Bubba commented 5 years ago

My post above was from an older version (0.3) that I found a few days ago. I eventually found this version by SamDel (v 1.3) that has a more finished UI, and seems to work very well... I am not noticing lags between the Google speakers, but the audio does seem to be buffered from the PC, so there is a significant lag between the PC and the Audio Stream from the Google speakers...

Turning the PC speakers OFF was a quick fix, but it would be nice to eliminate the lag altogether, if that is possible.

GREAT App, SamDel... THANK YOU for your App -- I now have multi-room music !!!

SamDel commented 5 years ago

You're talking about two different projects :). Audio-cast.exe is the project by Acidhax, which has a complete different codebase. Both projects work basically the same.

Syncing devices is not supported by Chromecast, but two devices can be (accidentally) in sync of course. You can also try the trick I described here. Chromecasts support synchronizing devices by creating Chromecast groups in the Google Home App, groups will be supported in version 2.0 of this application.

There will always be a lag between the PC and the Chromecast, that's mainly the buffer on the Chromecast. You can reduce the lag with the (experimental) lag control, but the sound quality will degrade.

FA-Bubba commented 5 years ago

Thank you for the follow-up!... I eventually surmised they were two different solutions. Yours seems much more evolved, and I have been using it since I discovered it -- KUDOS for your coding!!!

Earlier today, I realized that the speakers I have set up (6) are not always in sync; that's not really a big issue, except where two speakers are in the same room (something I will change later this week). I did note that stopping iTunes, waiting a short while, then restarting it does seem to get the speakers "closer" in sync...

FYI, on Friday, I was in a long discussion with Google Home Support, when I asked them how to cast from PC Audio to Google Home Speakers -- they thought the Desktop could be cast via the Chrome browser, but nothing they asked me to try worked, and they eventually concluded it was not possible with existing Google software. At the time, I was only aware of the Acidhax, App, and suggested they take a look at that. They said they were interested in a solution like that -- should I redirect them to your solution? (They seem to open to suggestions for Google Home solutions: They are working on a different idea I suggested to them a few weeks ago.)

In any event, THANK YOU for your great work!

SamDel commented 5 years ago

Stopping playback is also a nice trick! I didn't think of it but then the buffers on the devices are also (most likely) more in line with each other (because when you don't play music nothing is streamed to the devices).

It would be nice if Google makes something that works out of the box, so please continue to inspire them!

FA-Bubba commented 5 years ago

A new discovery last night: I was using your Desktop Audio App to cast to 5 speakers in different rooms. The PC was upstairs, and I was downstairs -- I went to two speakers and said "Hey Google, Stop Casting", and those speakers each stopped. Later, when I went upstairs, I checked the App, and it showed those two speakers as OFF, and I was able to resume casting by simply clicking each device name. But it did not work the other way -- I went to a speaker I had silenced above, and said "Hey Google, Resume Casting"; the speaker responded "Nothing is playing right now".

SamDel commented 5 years ago

I don't have a Google Home device, so I can't try it. Some people on the internet say it sometimes helps if you add the device name: "Hey Google, Resume Casting on "

FA-Bubba commented 5 years ago

I have some interesting UI observations for this App I would like to send you. How can I send you a PDF ?

SamDel commented 5 years ago

You can drag & drop files in the comment box, or click the following text below the comment box:

Attach files by dragging & dropping, selecting them, or pasting from the clipboard.

More info is in on github help.