Arch Linux

rakeshdas

Member

Registered: 2016-01-20

Posts: 11

[SOLVED] Unable to cast a tab from Google Chrome to Chromecast

I am trying to cast a tab from Chrome onto my Chromecast Gen 2 and when I hit cast, all I get on my Chromecast is a green screen with my cursor visible. I can see my cursor for a couple seconds until it disappears and I see it again when I move it, but again on a green screen. If there is a video playing on the page that I am casting, I can hear the audio, but only see a green screen on my Chromecast.

I am running Google Chrome version 64.0.3282.186 installed from the AUR. I have attempted to cast a tab from Chromium as well, but for some reason, it can't even find my chromecast. In addition, I have also tried to cast from Vivaldi and I can cast from Vivaldi, but again, it shows a green screen and the cursor. I am using the built in cast functionality of Chrome (right-click>cast). When I cast something that is "castable" (like an YouTube video), it casts it perfectly. But, when I attempt to cast a web page, that's when I get the green screen and I am unable to see anything. I cast a lot of MLB streams from and since the videos on the streaming sites generally don't have casting functionality, I have to cast the entire webpage. I have attempted to cast both web pages that have video and text only web pages and both have the same result: a green screen and the audio streaming in the background if I am casting a webpage with a video.

I am running Arch with KDE Plasma with an Nvidia GTX 950 running official Nvidia drivers, does anyone know what the issue could be here?

Solved: Turns out that the issue was with hardware decoding. I had to go into Chrome's settings and turn off the toggle for "Use hardware acceleration when available".

Last edited by rakeshdas (2018-03-11 21:46:50)

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to cast a tab from Google Chrome to Chromecast

Have you tried casting the whole desktop? Does that work?

PS: Please use paragraphs while posting, it would make your posts much easier to read.

rakeshdas

Member

Registered: 2016-01-20

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to cast a tab from Google Chrome to Chromecast

Have you tried casting the whole desktop? Does that work?

PS: Please use paragraphs while posting, it would make your posts much easier to read.

Hmm, funnily enough, casting my entire desktop works perfectly fine. A minor issue is that since I have dual monitors, it casts both of my screens, but that is my issue than anything else. Another interesting fact that I have found is that when I cast my entire desktop, Google Chrome shows me a dialog that lets me choose what window I'd like to cast and if I choose an application other than Chrome like my terminal or mail client, they get casted perfectly. But, when I choose a Chrome window to be casted, I get the green screen once again, so the issue seems to be Chrome specific.

It may be also helpful to point out that when I do cast a specfic app or my entire desktop, a little dialog shows up stating that Casting system audio is not possible, so I can't really cast video using this method because the audio is still routed through my computer's audio output. Any other ideas?

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to cast a tab from Google Chrome to Chromecast

Try disabling hardware acceleration and see if it helps. Also, I notice this option in chrome://flags, disabling which may or may not help: chrome://flags/#disable-cast-streaming-hw-encoding

rakeshdas

Member

Registered: 2016-01-20

Posts: 11

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to cast a tab from Google Chrome to Chromecast

Try disabling hardware acceleration and see if it helps. Also, I notice this option in chrome://flags, disabling which may or may not help: chrome://flags/#disable-cast-streaming-hw-encoding

That did it! I disabled hardware acceleration in Chrome's settings and I can cast tabs perfectly now! Toggling the flag didn't have any effect. Thanks!

x33a

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2009-08-15

Posts: 4,587

Re: [SOLVED] Unable to cast a tab from Google Chrome to Chromecast

Please mark the thread as solved by editing the first post and prepending [solved] to the title.