Author Topic: Musicbee Chromecast Plugin  (Read 76550 times)

TRoJAnV

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Hey,

I quickly made a plugin allowing you to cast music from Musicbee to a chromecast enabled device. The functionality is quite barebones, but was made in mind to just let Musicbee act as the controller and just send songs over.

https://github.com/TroyFernandes/MusicBeeChromecast

Please read the Setup carefully as there's some important info to note about the pre-requisites to make this plugin work properly.

I originally intended to not post this plugin as I won't really work on this further, but I'm posting it since it can be useful to someone and I encourage anyone to simply fork the repo and develop it further if you'd like.

New update: Please look at post #21
Last Edit: October 29, 2020, 05:05:24 PM by TRoJAnV

Steven

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Thanks for this. I am actually 3/4 the way through doing a chromecast plugin as well but will have a look at what you have done

alec.tron

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Neato, looking forward to what comes out of this.
Churs.
c.

TRoJAnV

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Thanks for this. I am actually 3/4 the way through doing a chromecast plugin as well but will have a look at what you have done

I'd love to see chromecast get some first party integration!

I'm not sure which chromecast library you are using, but I've tried SharpCast, SharpCaster, and GoogleCast. I found GoogleCast to work the best/reliably.

Someone also made a fork implementing a Queue system which sounds quite promising: https://github.com/MattMckenzy/GoogleCast

marp68

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I couldn't find any release at github

Could someone post a link, please. Would be awesome to have it working

Thanks
Martin

phred

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Go to the link in the first post > click on "3 releases" (above the green line) > Beta Release V3 > MB_Chromecast.zip
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

marp68

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Big thanks. Don't know why I didn't see it before. /M

marp68

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Hi again

Tried to make it work, but didn't. Anyone that might be able to help out?

I followed the 3 steps in the setup instructions.

But when I inserted the text "netsh http add urlacl url=http://*:8080/ user=Everyone" in cmd prompt and hit Enter, I got the error message:

"Create SDDL failed, Error: 1332
 Felaktig parameter. (*swedish for incorrect parameter)"

So what did I do wrong?

I continued with the other steps. When I hit the created Chromecast button, I get the error message:

"An exception error has occurred for the target for an activation"
followed by the message:
"Error starting the webserver. Webserver exception."

When looking the Chromecast status in MB, it just says:

"Chromecast Connection: NOT CONNECTED
Library Set: OK
Server Running: NOT RUNNING"

I suppose I started to get it wrong in the cmd prompt, but why?

Please help




marp68

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I now solved one problem

Since I am running MB in Swedish, I needed to change "Everyone" to "Alla" (Swedish for Everyone). Then cmd accepted the phrase.

Everything went fine. I connect to the Chromecast and it shows a little blue chromcast icon on my tv. But when playing music there is no sound on my tv speakers (or connected hifi system). When starting the music on MB, the chromecast icon on the TV change to a moving circle, like it's waiting for something. I can see that MB is playing the file and the soundwave is changing. So it's probably trying to send sound through through the network to the chromecast. And the sound doesn't get through. After one minute the circle icon change to the blue Chromecast icon again. Sort of connected and ready. The MB is still playing, but no sound on my laptop neither. When I choose Disconnct from Chromecast, MB stops playing the song.

EDIT: When  pressing the Chromecast button, the volume of MB goes down to zero. That's why I didn't hear it on my laptop. So even though the icon change on the TV to moving circle when I start the music, like MB is trying to send soemthing, it's play the sound on my laptop. Since I got the Chromecast blue icon when connecting, I suppose the MB connected, which also the Status shows. Just that it doesn't get the sound through when starting a song. 

So MB sends the music to Chromecast, but the sound doesn't get through

Checking the chromecast status in MB everything is OK.

Chromecast Connection: OK
Library Set: OK
Server Running: OK

I tried the troubleshooting nr. 2 check, but I don't find the files on my browser.

"If you hear the connection sound, but no music is playing, you most likely have an issue with your port forwarding on the webserver. A good tip to try is after connecting to a chromecast, go on your phone and enter in a browser the <machines IP>:<Port#> e.g 192.168.1.27:8080. If you're able to see the files, then the chromecast will be able to as well."


So, please, anyone knows what's wrong? Everything is fine, but no sound...
Last Edit: March 30, 2020, 10:28:43 AM by marp68

Steven

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if you dont get a response from the plugin author, i am creating an official plugin but i havent been able to spend much time on it so it might be a few weeks off

marp68

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Wow, that's great. Now I have done everything my IT skills allow me to do. I'm learning by doing, so it always take a while to troubleshooting things, but I don't think I'll manage this.

So I will definitely look out for yours. Will you put it somewhere?

marp68

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I posted a question on the his youtube video for the plugin. Don't know his alias here.

phred

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I posted a question on the his youtube video for the plugin. Don't know his alias here.
Look at the first post in this thread.
Download the latest MusicBee v3.5 or 3.6 patch from here.
Unzip into your MusicBee directory and overwrite existing files.

----------
The FAQ
The Wiki
Posting screenshots is here
Searching the forum with Google is  here

marp68

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Now I feel like an idiot. Of course, he started the thread. Thanks 😊

marp68

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Finally I managed it to work by creating a rule for it in the firewall. With some help from the builder. Thanks.

The only strange thing was also that the sound didn't start in tv (and external receiver speakers) until I played next song. And also that after a few songs the sound disappears from the TV. But checking status, the chromecast is still connected.

How is your plug in coming along, Steven?