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ivarhill's avatar
ivarhill
Brass Contributor
Jul 30, 2019

Certain videos are black when streaming from a Steam Link

Using a Steam Link device to cast to a second monitor and using certain services such as Netflix or Hulu, videos show as black, empty screen. Sound still plays but no video. Other services such as Yo...
V-FRROME's avatar
V-FRROME
Former Employee
Jul 30, 2019

ivarhill 

 

This looks like it could be a DRM issue. 

 

I should be able to do some testing with a Chromecast and a Steam Link later on today.

 

You can play around some flags in the meantime that could be a helpful edge://flags 

Not sure if they will help but worth a try to look through some of them.

 

Thanks,

Frank

 

 

  • ivarhill's avatar
    ivarhill
    Brass Contributor
    Jul 31, 2019

    V-FRROME For reference, none of the suggested flags seem to have made a difference. I did do some more extensive testing however.

     

     The following cases work:

    • Firefox displays Netflix and Hulu video without issues.
    • Chrome (somewhat surprisingly) works.
    • Chrome Canary works.
    • Opera works.
    • Vivaldi works.

     

    The following cases do not work:

    • The stable, non-Chromium version of Edge does not work (surprisingly).
    • The insider, Chromium version of Edge does not work.
    • The Windows 10 Netflix and Hulu apps do not work.

     

    So interestingly it seems like all versions of Edge, including the non-Chromium version, have this issue, alongside the UWP apps.

     

    • cellsword's avatar
      cellsword
      Copper Contributor
      Aug 21, 2020

      ivarhill V-FRROME 

       

      Using Edge and edge://flags I've found that disabling the Widevine DRM has no effect on the black screen when streaming over steam link, but disabling the PlayReady DRM for Windows 10 results in an error message from HBOMax.

       

       

      Interestingly, the previews of other shows that will play before a show on HBOMax stream over the Steam Link just fine.

       

      In my experience, Chrome and Firefox both stream the image over the Steam Link, but suffer unwatchable buffering or stuttering that goes away when not being streamed over the Steam Link.

       

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