No way to set HDMI framerate to 50Hz causes judder

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What steps will reproduce the problem?
1.Playing any 25/50FPS footage which is normal in Europe.
2.
3.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
Dropping frames causing video stuttering, audio is OK.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
Latest Chromecast image.

Please provide any additional information below.
The same stuttering can be observed when the HDMI input MythTV is connected to 
is set to 60Hz. But MythTV is a Linux app and the framerate can be set to 50Hz 
which eliminates the problem. 

Original issue reported on code.google.com by per...@gmail.com on 9 Sep 2014 at 12:35

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We are continuing to investigate this issue and are looking into ways to 
resolve this based on user feedback.

Original comment by jonathan...@google.com on 2 May 2015 at 12:38

• Changed state: Acknowledged

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That was unexpected but good news none the less.

Original comment by ianjorda...@gmail.com on 2 May 2015 at 12:42

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Finally found an explanation for what I was seeing. Was blaming Blinkbox for 
their streaming then realised its only a judder problem when casting. I bought 
2 of these chrome casts in the UK. If no fix comes soon I'll get Amazonf Fire 
stick or Roku instead, and no longer recommend Chromecast to friends and family.

Original comment by jjkbosw...@yahoo.com on 2 May 2015 at 10:23

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One thought on this, if my TV auto detects the 60Hz from the chromecast, why 
are there frame rate issues? Is the problem actually with the source stream? 

Original comment by jjkbosw...@yahoo.com on 3 May 2015 at 12:00

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The problem with streams comes from the way the video is produced today. Some 
of it with 24 fps (most movies and modern shows), some with 25p/50 (European 
PAL region) and some in 30 fps (US live TV for example). Modern TVs can handle 
all three modes, usually. The bottleneck is here the Cromecast, which attempts 
to change 25p/50 and 24p signals to 30 fps and output the at fixed 60hz. There 
is no way to decode the original 25 or 24 fps signal from this. It is a nice 
fail-safe to display everything at 60hz, as this is the most compatible mode 
(at least for US TVs), but it should be allowed for users to override this if 
they chose so. It is important to note that anyone used to watch with motion 
interpolation ON would be most probably fine with 60hz, as any judder is washed 
away by this, at the expense of "film look". These motion interpolation 
algorithms are important marketing feature for TV vendors, which might be the 
reason behind them saying that Chromecast outputting fixed 60hz is just fine 
(as reported by Google in the first closure of this topic as "wont fix").

Original comment by ondrejpe...@gmail.com on 3 May 2015 at 1:18

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Dear Google,
You should contact Jeff from SageTV (the company) that you bought a couple 
years ago. SageTV's setop box could do auto switch 24/60/50!
You might all ready own code to fix the problem!

Original comment by tork...@gmail.com on 3 May 2015 at 2:57

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I bought a Amazon Fire TV Stick - GREAT! You can switch frame rates. No judder.
Just forget the chromcast - they will never fix it.

Original comment by jochen.f...@gmail.com on 4 May 2015 at 7:04

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Hard to believe that Google is this ignorant with the entire european market. 
Chromecast = alpha product :)

Original comment by pilehave@gmail.com on 26 May 2015 at 1:20

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Not only the european market, they are ignoring all content that isn't 30fps.
24fps content looks like crap at 60Hz on my TV which is what you get when 
played using chromecast.
(some people might be used to that, and some TVs might be able to smooth it out 
a bit but I am not used to it and my TV shows the raw HDMI feed as-is, which 
looks great with other real video players (everything but chromecast))

For a device that is marketed as a video playing device this is absolutely 
horrible and shockingly incompetent.

How hard can it be to provide an API call to set the refresh rate?
There is no guessing needed, the video playing application knows the frame rate 
of the video.

Original comment by gand...@mjufs.se on 27 May 2015 at 9:56

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I am also having the same issue on my Chromecast. Some 24p and 25p videos are 
almost unwatchable. I really think Google should fix this bug without users 
having to complain for so many months! I mean for a company that is trying to 
be a leader in innovation and development a simple problem like this should be 
a no-brainer. Come on Google, I think your loyal European customers deserve 
that you take them serious and fix this problem as soon as possible.

Original comment by miran.me...@gmail.com on 4 Jun 2015 at 9:32

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Watching Band of Brothers, or anything that involves a certain amount of 
panning and movement is a real pain with all this studder! I have two 
Chromecasts myself, and have told several others to get one, but I'll demand 
money back for mine, and suggest my friends do the same, should this silly 
problem persist.
Fix. It. Google. 
Love, Europe.

Original comment by vetlem...@gmail.com on 5 Jun 2015 at 9:53

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Android dongles, you can change the settings manually, such as the 24Hz same as 
on bluray movies

Original comment by anders.l...@gmail.com on 5 Jun 2015 at 11:22

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Issue 608 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by jonathan...@google.com on 6 Jul 2015 at 9:19

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So Fix the issue. How hard can it be? 

Original comment by sgad...@gmail.com on 7 Jul 2015 at 4:08

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This really should be fixed. Even an option to set the hdmi mode manually would 
be much better than the current situation, if Google can't develop some 
automatic detection. But this is absolutely useless. 

Original comment by dickt...@gmail.com on 10 Jul 2015 at 5:52

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Waiting for fix before buying Chromecast..

Original comment by harri.ra...@gmail.com on 14 Aug 2015 at 11:54

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Waiting for fix to get more chromecasts :) Was ready to throw the one I had in 
the bin before this got Acknowledged.

Original comment by stian.i....@gmail.com on 19 Aug 2015 at 9:16

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Definitely waiting for a fix... how I never read about this in reviews is 
beyond me! 

Original comment by vosje...@gmail.com on 2 Sep 2015 at 5:41

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Same problem in Denmark. Sent feedback to google as adviced, but Google - this 
realy needs attention og you want to sell hardware in europe!

Original comment by Jakobhau...@gmail.com on 11 Sep 2015 at 10:29

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Google, can you please give us an update on the progress regarding this issue?

Original comment by serverpa...@gmail.com on 15 Sep 2015 at 3:47

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I tell everybody that I know, that Chromecast is not worth buying. Really is a 
shitty piece of hardware.

Original comment by pilehave@gmail.com on 16 Sep 2015 at 6:27

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Crossing my fingers that they've fixed this in the new Chromecast.

Original comment by andy.j.t...@gmail.com on 29 Sep 2015 at 6:00

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Oh yes, I will buy the new Chromecast, if it has 50hz, as I need it for 
European streaming services which dont have apps for tv or wdtv or such.

Original comment by philipp....@gmail.com on 1 Oct 2015 at 12:56

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Anyone tested 50 hz issue on the new Chromecast yet?

Original comment by fredbor...@gmail.com on 6 Oct 2015 at 8:18

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Just purchased a Chromecast 2 and looks like the same problem still exists, 
first noticed it while streaming a 24fps 1080p movie from my Plex server.  Also 
tested with 25fps 576p content and worse still, hence searching and finding 
this post.  Back to my WDTV to stream my movies for now then, rubbish interface 
but at least the movie plays properly!

Original comment by rjsamson...@gmail.com on 6 Oct 2015 at 11:17

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Well, so it seems I don't need to upgrade my Chromecast :(
I just wonder why nobody seems noticing this issue, except the few people 
writing here. I read a lot of review (also from european sources) and nobody is 
writing about 25 fps support. It's like the old 4:3 content inflated to fill a 
16:9 screen on a lot of misconfigured tv, almost nobody is noticing the ugly 
effect and the flattened heads.

Original comment by ciarp...@gmail.com on 7 Oct 2015 at 10:07

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We haven't heard from Google since July 6, and now the new Chromecast has the 
same issue. I would like a comment from Google on that. I don't understand why 
Google can't let people switch to 50 Hz manually. I am able to do that on my 
six year old WDTV. Can't this be fixed in a firmware upgrade? Come on, Google!

Original comment by toreto...@gmail.com on 7 Oct 2015 at 5:16

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Come on google. Even an open beta for us suffering this issue would be ok. And 
btw. this issue is also with 24hz & 23.976 Hz. This is a must when dealing with 
video, and a bit embarrassing that google haven't thought of this when 
releasing the original Chromecast..

Original comment by b...@lfq.dk on 7 Oct 2015 at 5:54

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This is not even fixed in Chromecast 2, I just received mine. 
I had forgotten that THIS was the problem problem which rendered my Cromecast 
unusable. My AV AMP + Projector loses whole image every few minutes. 

Come on Google, fix this already ! 

Original comment by michael....@gmail.com on 7 Oct 2015 at 7:15

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Received my Chromecast 2 today and I confirm it's just bad to watch movies with 
it.
I'm a Netflix beta user and it's a pain to watch any movie.
The same movies on my iPad or MBP or Mac Mini connected to my TV are just fine.

I'm returning my Chromecast as Google seems addamment to not fix the issue for 
so long.

Original comment by joao.bar...@gmail.com on 12 Oct 2015 at 1:19

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Seriously! Just bought the new Chromecast 2 and can't believe this is an issue. 
 Been using HTPC's for years and this was a major problem many many years ago 
when you would have to manually set the graphics card refresh rate for various 
source material.  Can't believe we are going backwards or is it just Europe 
doesn't matter, and it's all about the US.  

Original comment by bakerp...@googlemail.com on 12 Oct 2015 at 6:21

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Just a thought, how do tablets display the 50fps content?  Would they also 
display generally at 60fps but because of screen size the issue is not as 
noticeable.  If this is the case, would it be feasible for the app providers to 
change the stream they host to match the general 60Hz requirement?

Original comment by bakerp...@googlemail.com on 12 Oct 2015 at 6:46

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This is getting ridiculous. First Google closes the issue as a "won't fix", 
then reopen the issue 6 months later. Now, another 6 months on, they release a 
completely new hardware version, and the issue is still present? The Chromecast 
is awesome, except for this major issue! I would recommend everyone to get one, 
except this issue keeps me from that. The comments from Google are just sad. 
It's not hard to read the metadata for a video stream to figure out the best 
refresh rate to set (XBMC is open source, have a look at how they do it? They 
solved it years ago). Even if it was, there is no reason not to let the 
receiver app choose the refresh rate. "But the TV will flash for a second when 
it switches modes!". Know what? That's OK! It has never been a problem for any 
other device, like bluray players etc. Come on Google, fix this! It is a device 
made for playing video, make sure it plays them correctly!

Original comment by lul...@gmail.com on 16 Oct 2015 at 11:15

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RaspberryPI omxplayer allow for HDMI auto switch. The parsing of the fps is 
available on every content. To speed-up the lass of picture the EDID send 
frequency has to be higher as demonstrated by products like  Dr HDMI 
http://www.drhdmi.eu/

Also people think that US only uses 60hz but actually even ATSC supports 50hz 
since 1997 and in 2008 made mandatory together with 1080p@60hz with H.264 
update.

So the only explanation for 50/60 issues and not overall compatibility is 
people stuck with analog broadcast. 

Original comment by bruno...@gmail.com on 16 Oct 2015 at 9:20

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I have the same issue and it is horrible to watch. 
I own both the old and new Chromecast and both have this issue.
(My TV is a brand new Panasonic CX7 model)

Google really needs to fix this. Where do I send this feedback to? 

Original comment by moomserv...@gmail.com on 19 Oct 2015 at 9:28

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Please fix this issue. It is the only thing ruining this product in europe.The 
problem is especially relevant when trying to stream sports produced at 50Hz. 

Original comment by b...@lfq.dk on 31 Oct 2015 at 9:04

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A company as big as Google can do what they want

Original comment by chickenw...@gmail.com on 31 Oct 2015 at 10:30

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I too have this issue, is the only solution to buy a firestick? 

Original comment by dodgera...@googlemail.com on 31 Oct 2015 at 1:48

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Well, it's changed to defect - medium.

So will be fixed at some point!  Be happy!

Original comment by Tonio.Ro...@gmail.com on 6 Nov 2015 at 12:54

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Hopefully they will fix it now! 

Original comment by m...@julian-w.de on 6 Nov 2015 at 4:57

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I bought the new Chromecast and with Netflix is very bad experience. The lack 
of change frame rate output support is very annoying. 

Original comment by stefano....@gmail.com on 7 Nov 2015 at 12:31

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Hasn't the status been "defect - medium" the whole time?

Google, can't you tell us what is happening? What are you planning on doing 
with this issue? Please respond in this thread.

Original comment by toreto...@gmail.com on 18 Nov 2015 at 10:31

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Just adding my voice to this - really need 24p output on the Chromecast. The 
main reason I got one was to watch films. Very disappointed.

No reasonable explanation has yet been offered as to why this can't be done.

Original comment by chrisdow...@gmail.com on 29 Nov 2015 at 1:29

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You guys need to implement a solution to this problem. Playing 25/50 Hz content 
on a 60Hz device is not pretty :-/

I realize that the screen will flash shortly if the refresh rate is changed on 
the fly and that that might be a concern in relation to less educated users 
that doesn't understand why.

I propose that -both- a manual override be implemented so that Europeans can 
choose 50Hz fixed refresh rate, -and- an option for Auto refresh rate that can 
be activated by more techsavvy users. That feature can be OFF by default if 
need be.

Original comment by dan.pede...@gmail.com on 30 Nov 2015 at 12:59

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Please add support for 50hz and 24hz because its really annoying when frames 
get repeated an un-even number of times making especially panorating really 
frustrating.

Original comment by phisk...@gmail.com on 30 Nov 2015 at 1:27

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It would be enough placing a manual option in the settings if it was so 
difficult to find the correct frame rate.

Original comment by stefano....@gmail.com on 30 Nov 2015 at 6:43

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Please just fix this! No use of the CC as for now.

Original comment by roger%st...@gtempaccount.com on 3 Dec 2015 at 7:41