Casting VLC to chromecast result in black screen with only the title of the file displayed on tv

[unidan]

Hi tomycrosound, you mean this issue ? https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?p=497898#p497898
Please don't hijack issues and multipost, it adds work to handle this and we have limited free time for support

[nansane]

Hey all,

Currently having this same very problem. I created an exception for VLC in Windows Firewall, my network is set to private, and I am using VLC 3.0.8 Vetinari.

Do you have an alternate solution? If so, please do share. This is such a tedious issue to be dealing with when all you wanna do is watch Love Actually and other great holiday movies from your couch.

[tangentz0072]

I have the same issue just. I now cast VLC or Cyberlink 16 from google chromecast using cast desktop. I am in windows 8.1. Works perfect but please note I am using dual monitors so not sure how this will work for you on laptops. I gave up trying to fix this problem as everything casts perfectly thru my droid telephones to 2 different smart tvs. PLEX and youtube and all other programs open with chrome browser cast perfectly. The problem is chromecast software and google updates. Not Cyberlink or VLC. They use to work perfectly. Not anymore. Use the work around.

[Happycow]

Had VLC issue with black screen and audio only when rendering to Chromecast TV running
Chromecast II dongle on my WiFi network.

Like others here, all my other forms of Chromecasting (regular and mirrored) work fine from my
Android Tablet and also Android Phone(s).....
VLC Local display play at my PC also worked fine. PC is running Win 10 Enterprise (Build 18362 on purpose).

Read some articles here on this forum topic and Switched back to older Version of
VLC 3.0.7.1 Vetinari (64-bit Windows 10) - and it worked again fine without issues.

VLC Versions 3.0.8 and 3.0.9 do not work for me....with issue described in this thread,
but VLC 3.0.7.1 works fine for me.

YMMV of course....

[Savant]

I had this issue with Chromecast and then did 'reset settings'--only to see that it didn't fix the problem. On a hunch, I checked task manager and saw no instances of VLC in the foreground. But I also checked background processes, and a VLC process was lodged there. After a right-click and 'end task', I restarted VLC and was able to stream without a problem.

So for anyone troubleshooting, if you make an attempt to stream and it *fails*, make sure to launch task manager and kill any VLC process you see there before trying something else. I created an account to post this info, since it may help others.

[gimmy77]

I have the same problem here on VLC v3.0.11 Vetinari on Windows 10 (ALL UPDATES INSTALLED) - NVIDIA (LATEST DRIVER)

If i play MKV X265 and i try to Chromecast i hear audio but no video.
I try to disable the Transcoding, try to verify firewall but all is enabled.

Only X264 works PERFECTLY passing to Chromecast and X265 NOT WORK AT ALL.

I try many, many different files, only to test the situation but i find the real problem is X265.

Please, if possible... fix this.

Unfortunately I don't have the skills to do it alone ... I don't know what I would give to be able to actively participate in the project ... but I recognize my limits and therefore I can only hope that someone who knows how to do it will find a way ... I thank you guys, you are doing a great job on VLC is EXCELLENT.

[gimmy77]

Windows 10 (Latest updates) - NVIDIA (Latest Drivers) - VLC 3.0.11 Vetinari

Pastebin file:
https://pastebin.com/embed_js/SLxTTNPB

PS: I cast various times and then return to normal view to VLC only to view any differences in the LOG file.

i hope to help.

Thanks guys.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

What is your Crhomecast version?

[portalzii]

The Solution for me was easy

- Go to start menu
- Search Firewall & Network Protection, click it
- In the link list below select Allow an app through firewall
- In the popup find VLC media player and make sure "Private" & "Public" are checked.

Didnt work for 3 days. Now works.

[jaymant]

None of the solutions worked for me. On VLC 3.0.11. Tried disabling video encoder, changing it to openGL, disabled firewall, set wifi to private yada yada. Sadly none of these worked

[flaviat]

SOLVED (kind of) -
I am using windows 10 and VLC 3.0.1 and really struggled to make chromecast work: on my tv, I could only see a black background and the title of my video. I tried to do everything suggested in all the previous posts but nothing worked for me.

I solved the problem by casting not using the VLC commands BUT by opening google chrome and selecting the option "cast desktop".
In this way the whole screen is casted on the tv, and if I watch a video on VLC full screen, then I'll also see it on my tv. Although some quality might be lost.

In this way, you can also split video and audio if you need.

Made an account just to share this. Hope it can help somebody

[robblaze]

I think the problem is caused by your firewall. Try turning off your firewall and see if it works. If it does configure your firewall to allow vlc to render.

Thank You! I was having the issue where the title would display but just a black screen. Didn't think it would be the firewall, but opened McAfee LiveSafe, went to Firewall, "Internet Connections for Programs," found "VLC Media Player," clicked "Edit," changed "Access: Incoming and Outgoing" to "Open to all devices."

Opened up the video, set the playback renderer to my Chromecast device, and voilà! The video plays great!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[tobyloby]

I have this problem as well but I run a macbook with macOS Mojave 10.14.6, but the firewall has VLC on an exception and even if I turn of the firewall altogether it still pauses after 30 secs of playing. Do anyone know what to do?

[RogerGustavsson]

After updating VLC to the latest version, nothing plays over my Chromecast and Chromecast Audio. VLC find the two Chromecast devices but as soon as one of them is chosen, playback stops. Playback on local device works. I am running Windows 10, the Firewall has an exception for VLC. Cast from Tidal's PC-App works as well as Chrome. What shall I do to fix this?

[daver18qc]

I was having this problem up to some minutes ago.
My problem occurred after a computer reboot, it was running for over 4 months (i never shut it down).
Tried playing a movie on my Chromecast from VLC, was met with a title and progress bar not moving on the TV, timeslip on VLC not moving either.
Rebooted again, checked drivers, rebooted Chromecast, downgraded VLC, deleted cache and preferences.

In the end i went to VLC's folder, set it to run as administrator and allowed it in the firewall and it started working again.
This is dumb because it was already running as admin before (my user account is admin) and had a firewall rule allowing everything.

So now it works, up to next computer reboot i guess!
(Win7 x64)

[EvilToilet]

So I've just started getting this problem today. I'm on Ubuntu 18.04, just bought a gen3 chromecast. My gen1 used to work fine, but now casting a x265 video from my local hard drive to tv (wired laptop to booster, wifi from main router for chromecast) I get audio and a black screen. x264 vids work.
I've tried opening the 2 ports, disabling transcoding (but I don't get the message pop up to try it again). I've tried with my previously happy VLC 3.0.8 and downloaded 3.0.16, neither work with x265.
Please is there any good solution for this??

[notthenorm]

For me Windows Defender was the problem. I had to allow app access by:
A)-In Firewall & Network Protection go down to Allow an app through firewall.
B)-Find VLC in the window list. Select it.
C)-Above the window click "change settings."
D)-With VLC selected, click the Details button.
E)-Then click the Network type button.
F)-Select private to make the change.-
G)-When casting a movie for the first time Windows Defender will warn you that it had restricted access to VLC. Click the Allow button and your video should cast without a problem

[gschoelen]

Seeing something interesting. I have an older chromecast device that is running 1.36.159268 firmware. I can render video and sound just fine. On my new chromecast device it is running 1.56.275994 firmware I only get sound but no video (the timing bar at the bottom is visible). This behavior is the same on both android (10 on galaxy tab s4 - running 3.4.3 VLC) or windows (10 on newer HP - running 3.0.16 VLC ). I can stream youtube and cast from Chrome with no issues as well as screen mirror from my android tablet. So I would assume there is something in VLC that in not compatible with the new firmware. I have tried loading older versions of VLC and the behavior is the same. VLC team any thoughts?

[majibow]

For me VLC 3.0.16 on Windows 10.

Everything works usually with most videos except for this one video, x265 and I think 5.1 surround audio. Disabling windows firewall did nothing, vlc chromecast pass through audio option did nothing, VLC Sout Transcode option and changing the audio decoder to different decoders made the video begin working but with now no audio, so I got stuck either I had black screen with audio or video with no audio until I found this post. https://askubuntu.com/a/1377061

Basically reset preferences and cache. Then start casting, disable and re-enable the audio track and it works!

1. Start the video,
2. Playback -> Renderer -> Family room TV (result: Black screen with audio playing on TV)
3. Audio -> Audio Track -> Disable (result: Video now playing on TV with no audio)
4. Audio -> Audio Track -> Surround (result: Video and Audio working together on TV)
5. Hold left arrow key until timer back to '0:00'. (if you stop the video it stops working so just skip back to beginning)

[thierrybo]

Thanks,

The same trick works on vlc for Android too.

[cperlmutter]

Fairly certain I figured this out tonight. The video file I was trying to play is x265. VLC can play that file natively on the computer but basic chromecast cannot handle that. Apparently chromecast ULTRA can. I didn't know the file compression type had anything to do with chromecast.

Three solutions:

• upgrade your basic chromecast to chromecast ultra

• download x264 version of the video and cast that to your basic chromecast

• use VLC to convert x265 to x264 and then that file will properly cast the video[ (this is maybe the easiest fastest option)

[lesviz]

I found this github thread looking into this issue.

https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-ch ... /issues/98 (tbc, this isn't the Chromecast repo but a client for the Chromecast with an analogous issue)

They're not taking it in as a "chromecast issue" due to particular interactions between audio/mkv and particular overall configuration such as what your setup can support audio wise. A stand out to me is that if you have an unsupported audio type you apparently can't choose differently. As in, even though you can select a different audio option in VLC and it may "work," the chromecast device will see the incompatible option and enter an error state. I don't know if this would affect video output rather than audio. The one file giving me issues here does have 7.1 true surround. I'm re-ripping to see if that's the issue. I have another MKV that plays flawlessly so it's not a general setup issue. Rather, it seems to be file specific.

In another thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/com ... &context=3) subtitles seemed to be the issue. I may need to try again toggling with forced subtitles and perhaps yet again with 7.1 surround but without forced subtitles.

Aaaand that rip completed as I was typing this. Ripping without 7.1 surround but with forced subtitles works flawlessly even with audio passthrough.

The number of iterations on this issue are bewildering.

[fredm]

Captain here!
I HAVE A FIX!
Okay the issue is due to windows defender.
*Sorry for it beeing in danish xD*
But yea, you have to check VLC Mediaplayer in the windows defender settings.


*Flyes away*

Thank you !!!!!!! it works for me.

[guava88]

Hi everybody,
I am having a very similar problem with Chromecast being detected, title flashing on the TV but now suddenly all files are refusing to play. Most file types (not all) cast fine 2 weeks ago?! I'm brand new to the forum and posted it my issue here https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=163179 It's sounded very similar to the post by jpager » 05 Jul 2019 11:39 in this thread, which I've only just found.

------
** Running: macOS Ventura 13.4.1 (22F82) & VLC 3.0.18 Vetinari
* All file types play normally in VLC application on macOS/Macbook Air M2, 2022.
* A lot of file types (and actual files) that used to play rendered on Chromecast, but now none of them are.
* Chromecast renderer is detected in VLC
* They are on the same wifi network
* I did a hard reset on Chromecast dongle
* Uninstalled & reinstalled VLC; same results/symptoms
* Hard & soft restarts on Macbook Air
* Tried on/off "Hardware decoding" (settings> input/codex> )
* Chromecast works fine with other iOS/Android devices, so don't think it's the dongle..?

Scenario:
Regardless of whether "chromecast" renderer is selected before/during playback, TV clearly detects VLC connection (flashes file name, starts to load). Before any audio/video can get through VLC application glitches and gives-up playing the file and proceeds down the list; trying to play each subsequent file. It gets stuck in a loop-action of trying to play then giving-up playback, when it reaches the bottom of the list it sometimes just locks there or goes back up to the top of the file list and keeps doing the same thing. Meanwhile, the TV shows the blue Chromecast input logo on black screen (no signs of active feed/input). All playback-control buttons in VLC player are normal EXCEPT for the 'stop/square' button which is grayed out/non-responsive. (I didn't use the Macbook Air with any other devices while traveling.)
---------

Thank you in advance for your advice/thoughts. Love VLC.

[suseuser]

Hi,

I have similar issue on Opensuse running VLC 3.0.18

Here's the log

https://pastebin.com/7eesxHeg

So many other mp4s work flawlessly but these don't even from a local filesystem. Mp4 has some occasionally high bitrates but it shouldn't be an issue.

Chromecast shows just black screen and is just buffering without receiving any data and is sending pings back to VLC. File plays fine locally on the computer but will not cast.