This guide will assist you in resolving issues related to video playback issues with the ScreenCloud player, more specifically on older model Android and Amazon devices where your video is showing up as black on screen. We understand the frustration that arises when certain video formats fail to display correctly, disrupting your digital signage or content streaming experience. In this guide, we'll provide you with expert tips and solutions to overcome these challenges, ensuring that your content is seamlessly delivered to your audience every time. Let's troubleshoot those video format issues and get your ScreenCloud displays back on track!
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Clearing your device cache can free up more room for RAM and help limit how websites use data on your phone to track you. Clearing cache on Android and Fire OS (Amazon) can also help fix issues and improve performance. That's because cached files can become corrupted or overloaded. Clearing the cache can force a browser or app to update and work as it should.

Please see How to Clear the Cache for the ScreenCloud Player App on My Device to earn where you can find the Clear Cache button and how to open the player apps side menu.
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Once you have cleared the cache, go ahead and reboot or restart the device by powering it off and then on again. If your video is still black, please continue to the next step.
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Updating the operating system (OS) of a device can help resolve issues with video because it often includes new or updated drivers for video hardware, which can fix bugs and improve compatibility, thereby enhancing performance and resolving issues like screen flickering or poor resolution. Additionally, new OS versions come with patches and bug fixes that address known problems, including those affecting video playback or streaming. Updates also improve compatibility with newer video codecs and formats, ensuring smoother playback and fewer errors, and optimize overall system performance, creating a more stable environment for video tasks.

1. Open your device's Settings app.
2. Tap System > Software update or About > System Update
3. Update your device if there is a new update

1. Go to Settings on your Fire TV
2. Select My Fire TV or Device & Software
3. Select About
4. Select Check for System Update
5. Update your device if there is a new update
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If the video is still not able to play on. your device after these updates, please continue to the next step.

Different Android TVs and TV boxes, and sometimes even Amazon devices as well, might have issues playing various video formats due to compatibility with specific codecs and firmware versions. Some devices may lack the necessary codecs to decode certain video formats, resulting in unsupported format errors and black screens on your ScreenCloud player.

You might be affected by this if you or your team created your videos from Adobe Premier Pro, Canva, PosterMyWall, or another video creation tool, where the output might not be a compatible format or size. For example, a 20-second 1080p (Full HD) video typically has a bitrate of around 5 Mbps, which translates to about 12.5 MB for 20 seconds. For a 720p (HD) video with a bitrate of 1 Mbps, the size would be approximately 2.5 MB for the same duration. [1]

For standard Android and Amazon Fire OS devices, the best video format is generally H.264 (also known as AVC) encoded in an MP4 container. H.264 offers excellent compression while maintaining high video quality, making it ideal for both streaming and local playback. Additionally, using AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) for audio encoding within the MP4 container ensures compatibility with these devices. Lastly, the ScreenCloud player currently only supports 30fps.

To help convert your video to a more standard format, we have provided a suggestion with the tool Handbrake, a popular open-source video transcoder tool that is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Once you realize the format and video size that works on your screens, you can adjust the video output format accordingly from your video creation tool.

1. Download and Install the Handbrake tool onto your computer from this link

2. Open your video with the Handbrake tool
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​3. Select the Fast 1080p 30 Preset and make sure the settings are selected as in the images below

4. Name your video file and click Start to convert your video file
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​5. Upload the video file to ScreenCloud Studio and replace the video file that was not able to play
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If the video is still not able to play, please contact our support team or continue to the next step.
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We have discovered over time that certain Android devices had issues playing video content that had a 5 or 10-second length. However, once the video was adjusted and set to be 20 or 30 seconds long, this issue did not occur and the video was able to play as usual. This especially was experienced on older models of Android displays and devices, or models unfamiliar and not part of our recommended third-party hardware list. Because the hardware that experiences these issues is not built by ScreenCloud, such limitations can not be resolved by our team and we instead recommend the workaround of adjusting the display duration of the content.

Adjusting your 5-second or 10-second videos to run for 20 seconds - or better yet, 30 seconds - should resolve your issue if you notice that it shows up as black on your old Android or Amazon devices ScreenCloud player app.
However, if you notice this happening on the newer models of supported Amazon and Android devices, please notify our support team.
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We hope that one of these steps has helped resolve your issue! However, if you continue to experience black screen issues with your videos, contact our support team and please identify the video in your ScreenCloud Studio account in your message to us.
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​References:
​https://www.circlehd.com/blog/how-to-calculate-video-file-size
​https://handbrake.fr