cancel
Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Help
Replies are disabled for this topic. Start a new one or visit our Help Center.

Connect Chromecast directly to soundbar

sumka1
Community Member

‎03-13-2024 10:57 AM

Greetings, Google Nest Community!  I have an old Chromecast Ultra which I'm trying to connect to my soundbar, strictly for the purpose of being able to cast music files from my phone with the VLC app to the soundbar.  There is no TV involved in my setup whatsoever.  I just want to be able to cast my music from my phone to the soundbar using the Chromecast Ultra.  I have successfully added my Chromecast Ultra to my Google Home, and have plugged my Chromecast Ultra into my soundbar's HDMI port.  When I go to cast my music from my Google Pixel 7 using the VLC app, everything looks as it should (cast connection verified in both VLC and Google Home app), but no music plays out of my soundbar.  I'm wondering if there is some detail that I'm missing here.  I greatly appreciate any help you can give me, and thanks in advance!  (Also, fyi--I know that the soundbar is fully functional, and is able to receive a Bluetooth signal from my phone, but I much prefer to use the more consistent casting through wifi connection with my Chromecast Ultra.)  Thanks again!

0 Kudos
Reply
1 REPLY 1

mejiacruz
Bronze
Bronze

‎03-30-2024 02:25 PM

Hi @sumka1 

Thanks for posting in our community. The issue you're facing with casting music from your phone to the soundbar using Chromecast Ultra without a TV might lie in how Chromecasts typically operate. 

Chromecasts are designed to work with a display (usually a TV) to mirror content or cast media from your phone or other devices. While they can process audio, they often rely on the TV's audio output system to deliver sound.

However here is something that may work for you since your soundbar lacks a dedicated audio return channel (ARC) port, consider using an HDMI audio extractor. This device connects between your Chromecast and soundbar through HDMI. It extracts the audio signal from the Chromecast's HDMI output and converts it to an optical or coaxial digital format that most soundbars can accept. 

Unfortunately this is something that doesn't work 100% of the time due to variants like soundbar make and model so if you decide to try this option please let us know if the issue was resolved.

All the best,

Josh

0 Kudos
Reply