diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 6b008a8..52abfb7 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-androidtvremote2==0.2.1
-ucapi==0.3.1
+androidtvremote2==0.2.3
+ucapi==0.3.2
 pyee~=13.0.0
 google_play_scraper==1.2.7
 pillow>=11.2.1
 requests>=2.32
-pychromecast~=14.0.7
+pychromecast~=14.0.9
 httpx~=0.28.1
 sanitize-filename~=1.2.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/tv.py b/src/tv.py
index ab28acf..2761744 100644
--- a/src/tv.py
+++ b/src/tv.py
@@ -667,7 +667,9 @@ async def _apply_current_app_metadata(self, current_app: str) -> dict:
             else:
                 icon_to_use = ""
         elif self._media_image_url:
-            icon_to_use = await encode_icon_to_data_uri(self._media_image_url)
+            # TODO what's the intended logic?
+            # `icon_to_use` is never used because of the inverse `if not self._media_image_url:` check below!
+            icon_to_use = self._media_image_url
 
         update[MediaAttr.STATE] = media_player.States.PLAYING.value
         # Skip applying app icon if media image from cast is present
@@ -911,7 +913,7 @@ async def _handle_new_media_status(self, status: MediaStatus):
 
         if status.images and len(status.images) > 0 and status.images[0].url != self._media_image_url:
             self._media_image_url = status.images[0].url
-            update[MediaAttr.MEDIA_IMAGE_URL] = await encode_icon_to_data_uri(self._media_image_url)
+            update[MediaAttr.MEDIA_IMAGE_URL] = self._media_image_url
             self._use_app_url = False
         else:
             self._media_image_url = None