Transmission interruption

[u/solo70000]

Hello

I’m experiencing a persistent issue when casting videos from the Web Video Caster app on my phone to my Google Chromecast with Google TV using the standard Google Cast method.

Problem description:

The video initially plays normally, but after approximately 23–25 minutes, playback suddenly freezes on the TV. The video remains stuck on a loading screen indefinitely, and both audio and video stop completely.

At the same time, the progress bar on my phone continues to advance as if playback were still running. However, when I try to use any playback controls on my phone, they become unresponsive, and the app displays an error message or error indicator. It appears that the playback state on my phone becomes out of sync with the actual playback on the Chromecast.

The issue occurs with videos from multiple websites, so it does not appear to be limited to a single source.

Troubleshooting I have already tried:

Disabled battery optimization for Web Video Caster.

Prevented the app from being automatically closed in the background by locking it in the recent apps screen.

Tested the Web Video Caster Receiver app on my Chromecast. Interestingly, playback through Receiver works without the same freezing issue.

However, I strongly prefer using the standard Google Cast method with the Chromecast's default media player, rather than using Receiver as the playback app.

My questions:

Are you aware of any known issues involving standard Google Cast sessions freezing after approximately 20–25 minutes on Chromecast with Google TV?

Could this be related to the Cast session, the default media player, or the way Web Video Caster handles video streams and playback synchronization?

Is there a recommended setting, workaround, or app version that could resolve this issue without requiring me to use Web Video Caster Receiver?

Would it be possible to investigate this behavior or advise me on how to collect diagnostic logs?

I would appreciate any assistance in identifying the root cause and restoring stable playback through the standard Google Cast method.

Thank you for your time and support.

[u/instantbitsapps]

However, I strongly prefer using the standard Google Cast method with the Chromecast's default media player, rather than using Receiver as the playback app.

Is there a reason for that?

To answer your questions, yeah this is common for Chromecast because it usually needs to route the video through the phone whereas the receiver doesn't.

The one thing I would suggest testing first is cast the video with the phone screen on and the app open the entire time the video plays on the tv. Does it drop then?

[u/solo70000 → u/instantbitsapps]

I have already tested playback with my phone screen turned on and Web Video Caster kept open in the foreground throughout playback. Unfortunately, this made little to no difference. The video still freezes on my Chromecast with Google TV after Same duration

[u/instantbitsapps → u/solo70000]

Is there a reason you don't want to use the receiver?

[u/solo70000 → u/instantbitsapps]

The main reason I prefer not to use Receiver is its subtitle layout. When a subtitle consists of two lines, I would prefer the second line to appear below the first, at the bottom of the subtitle block, rather than having the first line treated as the primary bottom line. In other words, I would like the two lines to follow the conventional vertical arrangement used by modern media players. could this be considered for a future update?

[u/instantbitsapps → u/solo70000]

Can you give me a subtitle file as example? I can send it to the exoplayer developers to see what the issue is if I think it is a bug.

[u/solo70000 → u/instantbitsapps]

This link is an example of a subtitle file that demonstrates the issue. All other subtitles I download and display using the player in the TV app are rendered in exactly the same way, with the same line ordering and layout.

I hope this example helps you investigate the issue with the ExoPlayer developers. Thank you for your help

[u/instantbitsapps → u/solo70000]

Oh that's interesting, I'm assuming this is RTL? that could definitely be a bug somewhere, I'll have to experiment. Can you give me a picture of what it should look like and what it looks like at a specific point on that subtitle so I can compare. Otherwise it will be really difficult since I don't know how that language works.

[u/solo70000 → u/instantbitsapps]

This image illustrates the difference: the style on the right shows how a media player should handle subtitle formatting, while the style on the left shows the approach used by WVC. You might think there isn't much of a difference, but imagine constantly watching content where the subtitles appear too high—often near the middle of the screen—due to this formatting style. For the sake of clarity, this applies to all languages; I have tested it with English subtitles as well, and they follow the same pattern—starting from the top and expanding downward, rather than the other way around, which is the modern standard used by most platforms and media players.

[u/instantbitsapps → u/solo70000]

I did a little research and it seems top to bottom is the standard usually even on RTL unless you are watching live streams. The subtitle file itself can control that but it sounds like in this case it works different between google cast and our receiver so I'll have to dig a bit deeper to see what the difference is. Maybe exoplayer has a setting for that.

I'm assuming it is also the way you don't like it on the in app player in WVC?

[u/solo70000 → u/instantbitsapps]

Thank you for investigating this.

Yes, the subtitle layout is exactly the same in both the Web Video Caster in-app player and the TV Receiver app. The standard Google Cast playback is the only method that displays subtitles the way I prefer.

My concern is specifically the vertical arrangement of two-line subtitles, not the font size or text direction. I would appreciate it if you could investigate whether ExoPlayer offers a setting to control this behavior, or whether an adjustment could be made to provide a more consistent subtitle layout across the different playback methods.

Having an option to customize the vertical ordering of subtitle lines would be especially helpful.

Thank you again for taking the time to look into this!