Bad video quality casting youtube app on andriod to chromecast on TV

[Anomaly]

The video quality is bad and constantly changing when i cast YouTube from the app on my phone to Chromecast plugged into my tv. This problem only happens with the content, not the adverts. The content quality is like looking through victorian era glass, on a foggy day. But the Ads are so crisp and clear, it hurts my eyes after trying to make out whats happening in the content im trying to watch.

What up with that? So i can be shown a clear picture but somehow im not? Really aggravating.

I have the youtube app set to highest quality on wifi and mobile data. Chrome cast doesn't allow me to do the same just weather i want 50hz or 60hz. My wifi connection is strong and around ############ down 40 up. The TV is fully capable of 1080p HD at 60hz and settings are locked to 60hz but doesnt effect quality when i swap between different resolutions. 

[djtetei]

Change YouTube application settings to use the highest quality available instead of auto.

[Anomaly]

Please read my whole post before replying. 

[Jeran]

Hey there Anomaly,

I apologize about the late response on this thread, thank you for being patient! Were you able to fix that YouTube quality issue? If not, I'd be happy to help out, as I know I'd also be annoyed if the advertisements looked great, but the video itself did not. Let me just ask you some questions about what's happening:

• When did this issue start happening?
• Does this issue occur when casting YouTube from another device, such as a computer or tablet?
• Is the Google Home and YouTube app up-to-date?
• Have you tried clearing out YouTube's cached data, or even uninstalled and reinstalled the app?
• What troubleshooting steps have you already tried?

I look forward to your response, and if you have any other questions or concerns for me, please let me know!

Best regards,
Jeran

[Anomaly]

Hi Jeran unfortunately I was not able to fix the issue and its not just YouTube, its any streaming app.

• The problem started happening around 6-8 months ago.
• Casting any streaming app on any device has no effect, still bad quality and even disconnects often. (With solid wifi connection)
• Youtube, netflix, etc and Home apps are up-to-date 
• I did clear all the cached data I could find
• Ive rebooted and factory reset phone and chromecast
• factory reset and tested Internet connection 
• Tried different TVs
• Took my chromecast to a friend and used their TVs

Nothing has worked, one thing to note is I plugged my room mates newer chromecast into my TV and it had no problems.  Mine is a few years old now so maybe its done its dash and the little pixies in my chromecast have run out of magic? Can i somehow buy more pixies to put in there?

[Wesleyhale27]

I have the same issue and have had it for about 2 years now. I currently consistently have 800mbps plus both up and down, but it seems YouTube consistently chooses the lowest quality when casting, even though I have it set to highest quality in the YouTube app. 

[Seal]

OK, so it's not an isolated issue. Could the product team please have a look at these reports? Really disappointing!☹️

[syscero]

Yes buddy, it's not isolated. I'm from Brazil, and I've my Chromecast for 3 or 4 years, same tv-router-wifi settings and recently, streaming from YouTube is a pain in the neck because of the very low quality of each and every video, except for ads. Besides, I noticed it keeps disconnecting from wifi once a day. I'm glad I found this thread, because I thought Google started lowering the quality on purpose to sell youtube premium... I really don't want to by I Fire Stick... So please, guys, fix that issue... Thanks in advance.

[Ørjan]

I'm having the exact same issue.

• When did this issue start happening?

Day one, I had gen2 and now gen2 ultra, same thing.

• Does this issue occur when casting YouTube from another device, such as a computer or tablet?

Yes

• Is the Google Home and YouTube app up-to-date?

Yes

• Have you tried clearing out YouTube's cached data, or even uninstalled and reinstalled the app?

Yes

• What troubleshooting steps have you already tried?

2 Different chromecasts, set quality to high, tried different sources, different TVs.

When I disconnect source to the chro.ecast and reconnect, it perfect quality until the next video in the Playlist starts.

It often goes down to what resembles 240p on a 50" TV 😞 

[Seal]

I wonder who asked you these questions... With so many reports here of the same issue with sufficient details, I don't think it's fair to further waste users' time by asking these non-sensical blanket questions.

[Seal]

I have exactly the same problem with my Chromecast 1st gen. Screensavers and ads are crystal clear, but 1080p videos from the YouTube Android app are of very poor quality. Therefore, it doesn't seem to be a hardware issue. It's impossible to select the video quality for casting in the YouTube Android app. I hope this is not a Google trick to push for newer Chromecasts.

[AndrewMueller]

Thank you Seal for posting. As stated, advertisements are crystal clear and twice as loud as the videos.

I think we need a class-action lawsuit against Google.  We need an independent 3rd party code review to see if they're purposely messing with customers with older units trying to force us to buy newer models 

Again, advertisements play PERFECT, content is nearly unwatchable.

[Seal]

Thanks for your reply, @AndrewMueller!

It was my conspiracy that Google was crippling the older model Chromecasts to promote the sales of the newer models. However, @Niiilss below shared that his new model Chromecast unfortunately had the same problem.

In this case, I don't understand why they don't want to fix this problem.🙄

[Niiilss]

Well I got the same problem on both my old and my new Chromecast. I hate when you can't set the quality in the app. So it is auto on default. Flipping up and down in quality all the time. I got good stable internet 250/250 fiber. A good gaming rauter from Asus about 4m from my bedroom TV. And everything in up to date. But I seem to always had this problem and it suck that they can't fix it... 🤨

[Seal]

Ah, OK - you just saved me some money on the new model. Thanks! My fibre broadband isn't as fast as yours but I believe 100 Mbps is sufficient for 1080p streaming. My router is around 4 m from the TV, too. This problem is indeed disappointing.

[Nyx85]

Same problem here: YouTube and surveillance cameras (Tapo) are displayed in awful quality.

Any suggestions or solutions on the issue? 

Thanks!

[Seal]

Not exactly a solution, but I found switching to another video and back sometimes worked (whereas fast-forward and rewind on the same video didn't). This could be hit or miss, though.

[CHIMICHANGA]

Same issues here.

For Youtube there is a manual workaround but connected with horrible user experience.

1. Disconnect the stream completely.

2. Start watching the video on your phone. 

3. Open quality settings of the video and change to 1080 manually. 

4. Start the chromecast stream of the video again. 

You should have 1080 but you need to do this with every new video since it will put down the quality again... 

Dear Google Support, the above mentioned workaround is no solution, maybe you share your knowledge with us after 6 months? 

[Andy922]

This helped, it's a stop gap solution until Google bother to fix it on their side. I disconnected and reconnected for each new video, otherwise it will just revert to a lower quality automatically. 

[Seal]

For me, the effect of this temporary fix sometimes didn't even last for a long video. Very frustrating!

[in54ne71]

This will work only for that one video and the next one will be s* again. Why? Becouse Google saves bandwith so they can save money! ADs are being played full quality becouse they get money from ADs but you are not paying anything so they treat you like s* I just wonder if people who pays for YT premium have the same problem - I guess NOT!

[MariaZingmark]

Sorry, I have Youtube premium and have the same problem 😞 

[in54ne71]

Ask for refund then 🙂

[prosper5250]

I have a premium and still poor quality on YT. Everything else casts very good.

[Eric2222]

OMG!!!! I finally have HD instead of potato quality on my telly. Thank you, thank you.

[Physics131]

Having very similar issues on a Chromecast ultra, connected via Ethernet (through the USB plug), on a 1200 down/40 up (Mbps) internet connection. About 40% of the time, it defaults to playing content at 480p, which looks like hot garbage on a 4k 65 inch TV. Please Google team, please, for the love of all that is holy, just allow us to manually set the preferred quality in the Chromecast settings. Please, I'm begging you, these issues ruin the user experience on an otherwise fantastic little device. 

[TBra]

Same issue for me with the Chromecast Gen 3. Video quality is terrible and the only way to improve it seems to be to disconnect from the TV, manually set the quality on the phone and reconnect. It's been an issue for years now and the fact that it hasn't been fixed is really disappointing.

[Physics131]

Honestly I don't think selecting the quality on my phone makes a difference; it seems to just be stopping/starting casting that makes the chromecast "realize" that it can stream in higher quality. 

[in54ne71]

It does help! I do the same trick and it helps, and sometimes for next few videos too.

[Felipa]

I have the same issue here, with meu Chromecast gen 3, using that workaround mentioned. It's sad to know that even wi-fi the ethernet adapter or a newer model didn't helped.

[Physics131]

Yep, you'd think that one of the largest corporations in the world could do something about this...

[Seal]

More disappintingly, it seems that nobody from the product team is monitoring this forum - the original post is 6 months old now but it's still only users complaining and no Googler following up.

[Shligim]

This issue has been around for years. It started when Google removed the ability to choose resolution while casting from YouTube. It's ridiculous. They just don't care enough to fix it because people haven't stopped using their product. As long as people continue to use Chromecast they're not going to fix it. So disappointing. 

[bikam0wz]

Same issue, manual work around is very frustrating 🙁

[Congele]

Same issue here. Usually, I just sigh and do the manual "fix" by stopping the casting, starting the video, selecting the right quality and starting back the casting. But this doesn't even work anymore. If I can't watch my videos at the quality they should be, why would I bother using the Chromecast, when I can watch them how I want on litterally any other device? This is really annoying, I don't get why they are not fixing this.

Also, as someone who makes a kinda frequent use of the playback speed option on YouTube, not being able to change it on my Chromecast is another reason why I start to wonder if I want to keep using it anymore.

[adamwhite2810]

Same issue, doesn't happen with every video but does occur from time to time. Sometimes watching another video and returning helps but not always. Google, please acknowledge the issue and provide an update on a resolution?

[Wesleyhale27]

Everyone following this thread— make a feedback report on the  YouTube app. Let's see if we can get enough people to report the issue in a short time to get them to finally take a look at it

[Morbius]

Same here. Come on Google, help us.

[MariaZingmark]

I have the same issue, was actually just out here searching for a newer model and found this thread, looks like a newer model would be a waste of money...

Today the manual "fix" didn't even work. Should I just buy a different casting device? 

[aakefbs]

Same here, forcing high quality before casting seems to work.