I upgraded to Chromecast with Google TV (from Chromecast Ultra HD) and originally I thought the ambient mode just worked differently. The previous would stay on all the time and we would use it as a digital picture frame (and clock, thermometer, etc.) but the new one goes black after a while. The TV, sensing that nothing is connected to it, would then turn off.
It was annoying but not a big deal but recently we added an HDMI sound bar to our TV. Now that there is a second HDMI input, the TV tries to run Samsung TV Plus (I guess because it knows the second HDMI is audio-only). This is way more annoying.
I have tried a bunch of things. The Chromecast is powered by the power brick that it came with, and is plugged into the wall. I have the power-save feature set to Never turn off the TV. The chromecast itself is warm but it has plenty of ventilation and doesn’t get hot. I have made sure all the power-saving features of the TV are off. I even went into Developer Mode and set the Chromecast to Never Sleep. Interestingly, the Chromecast never goes black if I leave it this way. But if ambient mode turns on (either automatically with “Never Sleep” off, or manually), after a few minutes, the chromecast turns off (and the TV switches to TV Plus). Pressing a button on the remote brings it back alive pretty quickly.
The timing isn’t consistent. Sometimes it shuts off after just a couple of minutes, sometimes it’s after 15-20 minutes.
The TV is a Samsung but I suspect that doesn’t matter since this didn’t happen with the previous Chromecast and it doesn’t happen if ambient mode doesn’t turn on. This is something specific to the new Chromecast and specific to ambient mode.
I want my ambient mode back and don't know what else to try. :’(
