0017540: Casting: incompatible files are sent to the chromecast without auto-conversion - MantisBT

ID	Project	Category	View Status	Date Submitted	Last Update

0017540	MMW 5	Casting (Google Cast / UPnP)	public	2021-02-12 16:49	2022-11-04 11:14

Reporter	rusty	Assigned To
Priority	urgent	Severity	minor	Reproducibility	always
Status	closed	Resolution	reopened
Product Version	5.0
Target Version	5.0	Fixed in Version	5.0

Summary	0017540: Casting: incompatible files are sent to the chromecast without auto-conversion
Description	Casting some MP4 files that play correctly in MM --> MM doesn't attempt to auto-convert them to a format that's compatible with the chromecast gen2. I guess the Supported formats need to be tweaked for each different type of Chromecast? https://developers.google.com/cast/docs/media
Tags	No tags attached.

Fixed in build	2335

Ludek 2021-04-07 17:20 developer ~0062727 Last edited: 2021-04-07 17:25	Yes, the sample file is H264 (avc1), 1280x720 (16:9), 29 fps that Chromecast 1st and 2nd Gen. cannot play (supports only H.264 High Profile up to level 4.2 (1080p/60fps), but e.g. Chromecast with Google TV can play it (supports H.264 High Profile up to level 5.1 (4Kx2K/30fps) So we would really need to adjust the default auto-convert profiles per Google Cast device type, currently we use generic profile for all Google cast devices -- that can be customized by user manually then (per the device type) via the 'gear' button associated with player output. For 5.0: I fixed a delay (when the file to be played is unsupported) in build 2333 (reduced from 15 seconds to just several seconds)

Ludek 2021-04-08 07:18 developer ~0062757	Another (and more universal) approach would be fallback to auto-convertion whenever we found that particular file is unsupported.

Ludek 2021-04-08 18:13 developer ~0062761	The fallback is implemented in 2334 Tested on the Rusty's sample file and Chromecast v2

rusty 2021-04-15 20:32 administrator ~0062840	Tested 2334 and there are several issues: 1) The original restrepo file plays locally but always fails to play via the chromecast. This occurs whether the codec pack is installed or not! 2) The smurfs file plays locally and plays to the chromecast if the codec pack isn't installed, but fails to play to the chromecast (can't decode error) when the codec pack is installed! 3) The captain america file plays locally and sometimes plays to the chromecast, but sometimes returns an error (can't decode) even as it's playing on the chromecast!

rusty 2021-04-15 21:15 administrator ~0062842 Last edited: 2021-04-15 22:05	On further testing, there may be 2 issues here: 1) The Restrepo file is being converted to the wrong format for some reason (Ludek indicated that it's being sent to .avi despite the webm auto-conversion rule) 2) Initially, both Smurfs and Captain America cast correctly. But whenever there's an attempt to cast Restrepo, not only is there a decoding error, but the vhelper process _remains open_ consuming 45% of CPU horsepower even after the decoding error. Worse, each subsequent attempt to play Restrepo opens an additional vhelper process that fails to close, sometimes triggering a thermal shutdown!

rusty 2021-04-15 22:08 administrator ~0062843	Here's the associated auto-conversion rule. auto-conversion_rule.png (30,542 bytes) auto-conversion_rule.png (30,542 bytes)

Ludek 2021-04-16 12:45 developer ~0062844	Fixed in build 2335

rusty 2021-04-16 15:45 administrator ~0062847	Verified 2335: Tested the original usecase along with manual conversion to AVI.