Pass subtitle selection on to Chromecast

Currently, it is intended behavior that when you start casting the player to a Chromecast device the subtitle selection setting isn't carried over. A new player is generated with the SourceConfiguration of the sender, but not any adjustments.

SDKs

Web SDK	Android SDK	iOS SDK	tvOS SDK	Android TV SDK	Chromecast SDK
Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A

Solution

You can work around the default behavior by adding the following eventListeners to the player.

The code adds an event on textTracks change. Whenever the subtitles change, this event is called and stores the current active textTrack in currentTextTrack by iterating over the textTracks array and checking whether .mode is showing. Once a Chromecast session is created, the code will check if the ID of the textTracks in the new player corresponds with the ID of the stored currentTextTrack. If so, it will activate that textTrack.

Code Examples

Here is how you pass the current active subtitle track to the Chromecast session:

Web SDK

var currentTextTrack;

player.textTracks.addEventListener('change', function () {
  for (var t in player.textTracks) {
    if (player.textTracks[t].mode === 'showing') {
      currentTextTrack = player.textTracks[t];
    }
  }
});

player.cast.chromecast.addEventListener('statechange', (event) => {
  if (event.state === 'connected') {
    player.addEventListener('playing', function () {
      for (var tt in player.textTracks) {
        if (player.textTracks[tt].id === currentTextTrack.id) {
          player.textTracks[tt].mode = 'showing';
        }
      }
    });
  }
});

Legacy Android SDK (4.12.x)

final TextTrack currentTextTrack;

tpv.getPlayer().getTextTracks().addEventListener(TextTrackListEventTypes.TRACKLISTCHANGE, new EventListener<TrackListChangeEvent>() {
    @Override
    public void handleEvent(TrackListChangeEvent trackListChangeEvent) {
        for (TextTrack t : tpv.getPlayer().getTextTracks()) {
            if (t.getMode() == TextTrackMode.SHOWING) {
                currentTextTrack = t;
            }
        }
    }
});

tpv.getCast().getChromecast().addEventListener(ChromecastEventTypes.STATECHANGE, new EventListener<CastStateChangeEvent>() {
    @Override
    public void handleEvent(CastStateChangeEvent castStateChangeEvent) {
        if (tpv.getCast().getChromecast().getState() == PlayerCastState.CONNECTED) {
            tpv.getPlayer().addEventListener(PlayerEventTypes.PLAYING, new EventListener<PlayingEvent>() {
                @Override
                public void handleEvent(PlayingEvent playingEvent) {
                    for (TextTrack t : tpv.getPlayer().getTextTracks()) {
                        if (t.getId() == currentTextTrack.getId()) {
                            t.setMode(TextTrackMode.SHOWING);
                        }
                    }
                }
            });
        }
    }
});

iOS/tvOS SDK and Legacy iOS/tvOS SDK (4.12.x)

var currentTextTrack: TextTrack?

    self.theoplayer.textTracks.addEventListener(type: TextTrackListEventTypes.CHANGE) { (result) in
        for i in 0..<self.theoplayer.textTracks.count {
        if self.theoplayer.textTracks[i].mode == .showing {
            currentTextTrack = self.theoplayer.textTracks[i]
        }
        }
    }

    self.theoplayer.cast?.chromecast?.addEventListener(type: ChromecastEventTypes.STATE_CHANGE, listener: { (result) in
    if result.state == .connected {
            self.theoplayer.addEventListener(type: PlayerEventTypes.PLAYING) { (result) in
                for i in 0..<self.theoplayer.textTracks.count {
                    var tt = self.theoplayer.textTracks[i]
                        if tt.id == currentTextTrack?.id {
                        tt.mode = .showing
                        }
                    }
                }
            }

        })
}