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BBC Radio streaming to Google cast devices
19-10-2021, 14:33
Post: #1
BBC Radio streaming to Google cast devices
@simoncn,

I was wondering whether you'd had any joy streaming the BBC radio channels to Google cast devices natively?

I've tried both MPEG-DASH and HLS with varying declarations and mixed success.

I haven't got HLS working at all, but I've got MPEG-DASH streaming for about 20 seconds before it stops with the following declarations:
#EXTINF:-1, BBC Radio 1
#EXTINF:-1, [;aac;48000]

One post suggests the mime-types required are:
{
"type": "hls",
"mime": "application/x-mpegurl",
},
{
"type": "dash",
"mime": "application/dash+xml",
}

Another post indicates that the segment format needs to be specified as TS (which is defined in the underlying m3u8) for the BBC HLS stream.

I have no idea whether any of that is applicable from a UPnP perspective - especially when there's a control point doing some protocol translation in between - but I thought I'd ask as it seems so close.

MinimStreamer has it covered in any event, just thought it would be more efficient on the LAN if it was possible.
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19-10-2021, 14:43
Post: #2
RE: BBC Radio streaming to Google cast devices
By "natively" do you mean without MinimStreamer? This would require the renderer to handle HLS or MPEG-DASH decoding.

How did you run your test that worked for 20 seconds? What renderer and control point were you using and what was in your .m3u playlist?

I am not sure whether I have any devices that support Google cast. Can you give examples of such devices?
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19-10-2021, 16:02
Post: #3
RE: BBC Radio streaming to Google cast devices
(19-10-2021 14:43)simoncn Wrote:  By "natively" do you mean without MinimStreamer? This would require the renderer to handle HLS or MPEG-DASH decoding.

Yes, handled directly by the device rather than transcoded.
They do support HLS/MPEG-DASH, but I've just found this which I think means that the control point would need to do the work - although BubbleUPnP can't stream MPEG-DASH itself at the moment!


(19-10-2021 14:43)simoncn Wrote:  How did you run your test that worked for 20 seconds? What renderer and control point were you using and what was in your .m3u playlist?

With the MPEG-DASH streams I used:
Code:
#EXTINF:-1, BBC Radio 1
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_one.mpd
#EXTINF:-1, [;aac;48000]
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_one.mpd

I played to a Google Nest Audio speaker, using BubbleUPnP.


(19-10-2021 14:43)simoncn Wrote:  I am not sure whether I have any devices that support Google cast. Can you give examples of such devices?

All the google assistant speakers use it, but it's getting integrated into more higher end network streamers/speakers as well e.g. KEF LS50's, Naim ND 555 e.t.c
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19-10-2021, 17:41
Post: #4
RE: BBC Radio streaming to Google cast devices
(19-10-2021 16:02)simbun Wrote:  Yes, handled directly by the device rather than transcoded.

These streams have a protocol that needs to be followed to access the audio data. I presume a Google cast renderer could handle this protocol but there is a lot more involved than downloading and playing the audio data from an HTTP stream. MinimStreamer implements this protocol and packages the audio data into an HTTP AAC/ADTS stream. It is likely that BubbleUPnP is doing the same thing.

Quote:#EXTINF:-1, BBC Radio 1
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_one.mpd
#EXTINF:-1, [;aac;48000]

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_one.mpd

I don't understand why you are duplicating the URL. It should appear once, preceded by this:

#EXTINF:-1, [;aac,48000] BBC Radio 1

Note that 48000 is preceded by a comma, not a semicolon.

Quote:All the google assistant speakers use it, but it's getting integrated into more higher end network streamers/speakers as well e.g. KEF LS50's, Naim ND 555 e.t.c

I don't have any of these, so I am not able to try any experiments.
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19-10-2021, 21:11
Post: #5
RE: BBC Radio streaming to Google cast devices
(19-10-2021 17:41)simoncn Wrote:  
(19-10-2021 16:02)simbun Wrote:  #EXTINF:-1, BBC Radio 1
http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_one.mpd
#EXTINF:-1, [;aac;48000]

http://a.files.bbci.co.uk/media/live/manifesto/audio/simulcast/dash/uk/dash_full/ak/bbc_radio_one.mpd

I don't understand why you are duplicating the URL.

In my first post I gave you the two declarations that played the stream for 20 seconds (although admittedly I didn't realise they were incomplete), I just pasted the BBC url after each as you asked what they looked like in .m3u format.

(19-10-2021 17:41)simoncn Wrote:  I don't have any of these, so I am not able to try any experiments.

That's not a problem, it sounds like something the control point needs to handle so when/if BubbleUPnP fixes it I'm sure it'll just work, and until that point there's always MinimStreamer.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.
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