Casting from PC to TV not working? Fix it step by step

Most casting problems come down to three things: the PC and the TV cannot see each other on the network, the network cannot carry the stream, or the TV was sent a track it cannot play. Here are the usual causes in the order worth checking them, and what to do about each.

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Windows 11 & 10 · Guide reviewed 28 October 2026

Check these in order

1. Put the PC and the TV on the same network. Guest Wi-Fi keeps devices apart, so does a router that splits 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz into two network names, and some routers block devices from seeing each other. If the TV is missing, start here.
2. Wake the TV and rescan. Press a button on the TV’s remote, then select Rescan network in AIX Player’s cast panel.
3. Accept the one-time prompt on the TV. Fire TV and Apple TV show a PIN, LG and Samsung TVs ask you to Allow, and a Roku needs the free AIX Casting Receiver channel added once.
4. Lower the streaming quality if it stutters. Settings → Casting → Streaming quality, or use a wired connection for the PC. More on stutter.
5. Check the TV’s volume and the audio track if there is no sound. Some files start on a commentary or second-language track. More on sound.
6. Keep the PC awake. If Windows goes to sleep, the cast stops. Plug a laptop in for anything feature-length.

The TV is not in the cast list

AIX Player finds televisions by listening on your local network, so a missing TV is nearly always a network matter, not a fault in the TV. Work down this list:

• Same network, same name. Join the PC and the TV to the same Wi-Fi network. A guest network keeps its devices away from everything else. If your router shows a 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz network under different names, put both devices on the same one.
• Device isolation. Some routers have a setting, often called client or AP isolation, that stops devices on the same Wi-Fi seeing each other. If it is on, AIX Player cannot reach the TV until it is switched off for your home network.
• Awake, not off. A TV on standby usually answers a scan; one switched off at the wall does not, and a streaming stick in deep sleep may miss the first scan. Press a button on its remote, then select Rescan network in the cast panel.
• Roku. AIX Player casts to a Roku through the free AIX Casting Receiver channel, added once with the code PG26GTJ. The Roku guide has the steps.
• Is the TV one of the seven families? AIX Player casts to Google Cast devices (Chromecast, Google TV, Android TV), Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, LG webOS, Samsung Tizen and DLNA televisions. Check which one you have.

Casting stutters, buffers or drops out

The stream travels over your home network, so a weak or crowded Wi-Fi link is the usual bottleneck, especially with large 4K files.

1. Lower the streaming quality. Open Settings → Casting → Streaming quality and choose a lower setting. It asks less of the network.
2. Shorten the wireless path. Connect the PC to the router with an Ethernet cable if you can, which leaves the Wi-Fi to the TV, or move closer to the router.
3. Give the PC room to convert. When a TV cannot play part of a file, the PC converts it while it streams. Close heavy apps and plug a laptop in. On NVIDIA, AMD and Intel graphics the graphics card does the video conversion; on Snapdragon PCs only H.264 encoding is hardware-assisted and other stages use the processor.
4. Keep the PC awake. If Windows sleeps, the cast stops with it. Check the power settings before a long film.

Picture on the TV but no sound

1. Check the volume and mute. Look at the TV’s own volume and mute, and the mute in AIX Player. On a Roku, the volume level belongs to the Roku remote.
2. Switch the audio track. Open the audio menu in AIX Player and choose another track: some files start on a commentary or a second language.
3. Try the film’s stereo track. When the TV cannot play a soundtrack, AIX Player converts it while it streams, and every stream it converts carries AAC sound. If the film also has a stereo track, switching to it is another fix.

The cast stops partway

If Windows goes to sleep or the laptop’s battery saver steps in, the stream stops. Plug the laptop in and keep the PC awake. On the free app, check the casting allowance too: casting is part of AIX Pro: the free app includes 60 casting minutes in total, once, not per session, and Pro makes casting unlimited. Playing videos on your PC is free with no time limit.

Subtitles are missing on the TV

Choose the subtitle in AIX Player before you cast, or switch it while the film plays: the subtitle you choose shows on the TV. A separate subtitle file with the same name as the video loads by itself. The subtitles when casting guide covers the rest.

A video that cannot be cast

Jellyfin, Emby and Plex videos play on your PC; casting media-server videos is not supported. These casting steps are for video files on your PC’s own drives or on a USB or SD drive. Read about media servers.