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Troubleshooting

A video stutters or doesn't play

A video stutters, stays black, ends too early, or has no sound.

3 min readUpdated Oct 30, 2026As Markdown
For
anyone whose video doesn't play smoothly on a display
Prerequisite
none
Where in the portal
Media and Displays › display › Overview
On this page

Szenera converts videos that players can't play, such as iPhone recordings, by itself. If a video still stays black or stutters, the cause is usually the player's power supply, a file that is too large for the device, or the browser of a TV.

The video stays black or is skipped

Check its status in the library. A video plays only once it shows Ready. Videos in a format the players can't decode, such as HEVC from an iPhone or 10-bit video, get a playable version first, and that can take a few minutes. The library accepts only MP4 and WebM files.

The video stutters on a player

  • If the portal shows Power supply throttling, the player gets too little power. Use the power supply that came with it and a short cable.
  • The Player Lite plays video up to Full HD, the Player Pro up to 4K. Szenera makes a Full HD version of larger videos, but until it is ready, the original plays. Upload Full HD videos for the Player Lite.
  • If the portal shows Storage low, the player may not be able to load the next video. Remove content you no longer use.

The video stutters on a TV app or in a browser

TV browsers decode less than a player. On older TVs, a transition between two videos becomes a hard cut, because the TV can only decode one video at a time. That is intended and not a fault. Use the format below and short transitions, or a player in front of the TV.

The video has no sound

Videos from your library always play without sound. For sound, use the YouTube or Live stream app.

The video ends too early or freezes at the end

In a playlist, a duration you enter for a video wins. A longer video is cut off, and a shorter one holds its last frame. Leave the duration field empty, and the video runs its natural length. See Create a playlist.

Videos on a video wall don't line up

All displays of a video wall switch at the same moment, but videos across the seam aren't frame-accurate. For video walls, use scenes, images, and calm transitions, see Set up a video wall.

The format that works everywhere

What Recommendation
File MP4
Video codec H.264
Resolution 1920 × 1080, and 3840 × 2160 only for the Player Pro
Frame rate 25 or 30 frames per second
3 min readUpdated Oct 30, 2026As Markdown

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