Using my android, I’m streaming to my tv via my home server and Chromecast. Until recently, most of the time, I’ve been able to raise and lower the volume via my android. As of recent, this simply doesn’t work. When I raise or lower the volume, the volume level bar goes up and down, but it has no effect on the actual volume (until you hit zero, then it just goes to silence).
Considering movies and tv shows love to move from whispers to atomic explosions, controlling the volume from the android is kinda handy — but I can’t get it to work now.
I was having this problem too, then I found out that simply put Plex + Chromecast + AAC 5.1 do not mix. I followed some advice I found somewhere and started encoding my audio with 2 tracks, a stereo AAC track and an AC3 surround track, works like a charm, everything direct plays to the Chromecast without fail including allowing full volume control. Turns out the advice holds up for most devices as the combination of h264 video and the 2 audio tracks as described above is the most friendly format for all my devices.