r/Control4 • u/chowmainsoft • 16d ago

Google Cast Audio Integration for Control4

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Control4 already integrates with Google Home to let customers control lighting, shades and other smart-home devices using Google Assistant. The new Chowmain Google Cast driver complements that existing integration by bringing the audio side of Google Home and Google Cast into the Control4 ecosystem as well.

Customers can continue using the experience they already know, casting from their phone or saying “Hey Google, play music”, while Control4 gains visibility and control of the resulting audio session. The driver provides Now Playing information and artwork, playback control, volume and mute, automatic room on/off, keypad bindings, programming events, announcements and more.

This is particularly useful in homes where Google Home, Nest speakers or Nest Hubs coexist with a traditional Control4 audio system. Instead of having two completely independent audio experiences, the Google Cast device can now become part of the Control4 room while still retaining the convenience of Google voice control and mobile casting.

Driver features include:

  • Local IP control + instant feedback
  • Feedback - Now Playing Artwork, Now Playing Title + Artist Metadata
  • Audio Endpoint / Volume for smart speakers
  • Auto Room On/Off for endpoint bounded devices automatically shows device in control4.
  • Bindings for devices with analog outputs.
  • Controls - Discrete Volume - Mute On/Off/Toggle, Play, Pause, Next, Previous, Off
  • Programming Announcement (playback any audio file hosted on the local Control4 controller)
  • Programming Play URL (play any arbitary URL - MP3 Files, M3U Internet Radio Station, etc)
  • Bindings - Play, Pause, Play / Pause, Stop, Next, Previous
  • Events - Play, Pause, Stop

For more information see link below.

https://chowmain.software/drivers/control4-google-cast

13 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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2

u/psysfaction 16d ago

Does that mean we can get Google Cast also directly to a control4 system
Without the need for any extra hardware like the Shairbridge driver for AirPlay?

We sometimes use Episode Lnyk casting box to add Google Cast to C4 so having a software option would be preferable

3

u/chowmainsoft 16d ago

This integration is hardware based. You can see a list of tested hardware via link below.

https://chowmain.software/drivers/control4-google-cast#faq

2

u/chowmainsoft 15d ago

This is not a google cast receiver. The driver is designed to control Google cast devices such as Google Home speakers and hubs. It requires hardware.

1

u/cajunflavoredbob 12d ago

Google Cast protocol is not open. Well, it kind of is and isn't. You can make a Cast Receiver and Sender work together without issue. But if you want system level Cast or Casting from Chrome, then the Receiver must be certified by Google, license paid, and there's a hardware cert for the Receiver. The Sender has the option to check that cert or not. First party things like Android, Chrome, etc all check it. You can Cast from VLC to any Receiver without issue, since VLC doesn't bother checking.

Beyond that, Lua doesn't allow for the continuous listening you'd need to make this work. You'd need native C++ for the mDNS side, and that's simply not possible in a driver. It would have to be baked into the controller's firmware. Dealers have been requesting this since before the EA series was released.

So if you want real Cast support on Control4, you either need standalone hardware, such as the Lynk, or you need Snap to bake it into the controller firmware for us and pay the licensing fee to Google.

2

u/funnyfarm299 15d ago

Is this using an official API from Google?

2

u/chowmainsoft 15d ago

Yes. The Google cast driver uses official APIs which is well documented on https://developers.google.com/cast

1

u/IxomeVince 5d ago

The feature in that list I'd actually pay for is the auto room on/off. The thing that has annoyed me for years about Nest speakers living alongside a Control4 system is that the client casts to the kitchen Nest Mini, the room is playing audio, and Control4 has no idea the room is on. So the Off event never fires, the "all off" at the front door doesn't stop the music, and the room lighting scenes tied to room-on don't behave. Getting the Cast session to register as a source in the room fixes a real, daily irritation rather than adding a feature nobody asked for.

Where I'd set expectations: don't sell this to anyone as a way to get a Nest Audio playing in sync with their Triad zones. Cast devices sync to each other within a Cast group on Google's clock, and a matrix amp zone runs on Control4's. My understanding is those two will never be sample-aligned, so the kitchen Nest and the adjacent great room ceiling speakers will slap if they're audible to each other. Treat the Cast device as its own zone, not as an extension of the distributed system. The binding for analog outputs is mostly useful for the old Chromecast Audio pucks with the 3.5mm out and for Cast-built-in receivers, which is a smaller install base than it sounds.

Network side, and this is where I'd expect the support tickets to come from: if the Nest speakers are on an IoT VLAN and the controller is on the main LAN, casting from a phone and any mDNS-based discovery will not cross the boundary unless mDNS repeating is turned on for both VLANs. On the Ubiquiti gear that's the multicast DNS toggle, on Araknis it's under the same idea with a different name. Also give every Cast device a DHCP reservation. Anything doing direct IP control will lose the device the first time the lease rolls over or the router gets swapped, and the symptom is the same one I see constantly with Lutron processors after a router change: the driver is still pointed at the old address and everything looks dead when nothing is actually broken.

Two things I don't know and would ask Chowmain directly. First, what an announcement does to an in-progress cast session, whether it ducks and resumes, or kills the session and leaves the room silent afterwards. That matters a lot if you're using it for doorbell announcements. Second, what happens when Control4 sends off to one member of a Cast group. If it tears down the whole group, that's a support call every time. I'd want both answered before I put it in a client's house.

One practical note for homeowners reading this. Adding any third party driver takes Composer Pro and a DriverCentral setup, so it isn't something you can do yourself from the app, and you'll need whoever holds your project. It's a fifteen minute job for anyone with Pro access, so don't let it turn into a truck roll and a system review.

I'm a Control4 and Lutron dealer, and I do this remotely for a living. If you want to know whether it'll do what you're picturing in your house, tell me your controller model and OS version and which Nest or Cast devices you have and where they sit on the network, and I'll tell you either way.

1

u/chowmainsoft 5d ago

We haven't sold our drivers on DriverCentral for over two years now. If you are not one of our dealers you can sign up via link below. Once we have verified your Control4 dealership you will be approved to purchase our drivers. https://chowmain.software/signup

-12

u/remeolb 16d ago

Dude, could you at least try to make your spam interesting and engaging?