The new Chromecast with Google TV may be the future of Android in your living room, but it’s also proving to be yet another Google product plagued by software problems (I’m looking at you, Pixels). Shortly after a bug was detected and fixed that asked users to restart their devices due to data corruption, a new bug affecting Nest speaker groups is gaining momentum.
The problem arises when users try to cast audio to groups of speakers that include Chromecast with Google TV – this is not the case when casting only to this device. As described by several users on the Google support forums, everything works fine at the beginning of a session, but at some point soon after that, the audio stops playing on all speakers and continues to be buffered. This happens regardless of whether YouTube Music, Spotify or any other cast source is being used. The problem is not particularly new – the first complaint dates back to October 2020 – but it remains unresolved even after the February 2021 update.
The closest we have to an alternative solution now is to use the multi-room audio control that was introduced by Google last year. According to the user who shared the tip, adding Chromecast with Google TV to an existing casting session pauses playback on the device itself and not on all speakers. This is not an ideal solution, however, as there is no certainty as to when – or even if – the device will start playing audio.
If you use Nest speaker groups heavily, think twice before including Chromecast with Google TV in your group. We have contacted Google for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
- Source:
- Google forums (1),
- (two)
