Why doesn’t Wiseplay work correctly with Chromecast?
When casting content from your Android device to your Chromecast you may have some problems that may make the experience not so pleasant. This is why we would like to explain how this system works so you know it better, and understand its complexity.
Chromecast supports just the following multimedia formats AAC, MP3, MP4, WAV, WebM and the codecs H.264 and VP8 (according to the official site), any other format is not supported by this Google device. Initially, most of the videos and lists that can be played in Wiseplay are not compatible with Chromecast and that is why Wiseplay makes an internal process to make this happen, this process is called “Transcoding”.
If you play a video using Wiseplay, that is not compatible with Chromecast, you can cast it anyway, the app will initiate a process called transcoding, in other words, it will convert the video to a format supported by Chromecast in real time and send it via Wi-Fi. As you can imagine, this process requires many resources and not all mobile devices are capable of doing it with the same quality. This process gets even more complicated if the video we are trying to play is streaming live and a it is a high quality video, also, if it loses signal it may have cuts when playing. In conclusion, to have a good quality in your videos when you play them using the “transcoder”, you must consider the following:
The quality and fluidity of the video we want to play.
The band width we have available; this is the ADSL or Fiber connection.
The Wi-Fi speed, this means not only if we get a lot of signal but also the real speed of the the streaming and the speed between the router and the Chromecast.
Our device’s capacity, its processor, ram, available memory, Wi-Fi type, etc.
Besides de things mentioned before, there may be other problems with the transcoding if you have Chromecast connected to the USB port in your TV. It is possible it does not get enough power (it just happens with some TVs), this may create micro cuts when playing a video, we recommend to have it plugged in. Also check the Chromecast is close enough to your router, Google recommend at least 6 meters (around 20 feet) for it to work correctly.
Make sure Chromecast and your device are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, it is common in devices that use 3g/4G to forget the Wi-Fi. Sometimes, even if they are both connected to the same network, the icon won’t show, you need to restart Chromecast or your device.
Supported Formats
Chromecast supports just the following multimedia formats AAC, MP3, MP4, WAV, WebM and the codecs H.264 and VP8 (according to the official site), any other format is not supported by this Google device. Initially, most of the videos and lists that can be played in Wiseplay are not compatible with Chromecast and that is why Wiseplay makes an internal process to make this happen, this process is called “Transcoding”.
Transcoding
If you play a video using Wiseplay, that is not compatible with Chromecast, you can cast it anyway, the app will initiate a process called transcoding, in other words, it will convert the video to a format supported by Chromecast in real time and send it via Wi-Fi. As you can imagine, this process requires many resources and not all mobile devices are capable of doing it with the same quality. This process gets even more complicated if the video we are trying to play is streaming live and a it is a high quality video, also, if it loses signal it may have cuts when playing. In conclusion, to have a good quality in your videos when you play them using the “transcoder”, you must consider the following:
The quality and fluidity of the video we want to play.
The band width we have available; this is the ADSL or Fiber connection.
The Wi-Fi speed, this means not only if we get a lot of signal but also the real speed of the the streaming and the speed between the router and the Chromecast.
Our device’s capacity, its processor, ram, available memory, Wi-Fi type, etc.
If you often get cuts when streaming
Besides de things mentioned before, there may be other problems with the transcoding if you have Chromecast connected to the USB port in your TV. It is possible it does not get enough power (it just happens with some TVs), this may create micro cuts when playing a video, we recommend to have it plugged in. Also check the Chromecast is close enough to your router, Google recommend at least 6 meters (around 20 feet) for it to work correctly.
Chromecast Icon doesn't show
Make sure Chromecast and your device are connected to the same Wi-Fi network, it is common in devices that use 3g/4G to forget the Wi-Fi. Sometimes, even if they are both connected to the same network, the icon won’t show, you need to restart Chromecast or your device.
Updated on: 25/10/2019
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