No picture
Black Screen or No Video on TREX TV
A black screen with the interface still working means the app is fine and the video is not arriving or not decoding. These are different faults with different fixes.
Steps last verified 22 August 2026.
Narrow it down first
- Does audio play?
If you can hear the programme but see nothing, this is a decoder or HDMI problem, not a connection problem. Skip to the decoder section below.
- Is it every channel or one channel?
One channel black while others play is a source fault. Note the channel name and time and report it. Every channel black is local.
- Does it play on a second device?
Try the same channel on your phone over mobile data. If it plays there, the fault is the TV device or your network, not the line.
Audio but no picture
| Cause | How to confirm | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Software decoding cannot keep up | SD channels play, HD and 4K are black | Switch to hardware decoding — guide |
| HDMI handshake failed | Other apps are also black | Unplug the HDMI cable at both ends, power-cycle the TV, plug back in |
| HDCP / wrong input | TV shows a "no signal" banner intermittently | Try a different HDMI port; on a Fire TV Cube confirm the input is the Cube — see Fire TV setup |
| TV cannot display the resolution | Only 4K channels are black | Set the player output to 1080p and retest |
Nothing at all — no picture, no sound
If the channel list loads but nothing plays anywhere, the most common cause is that your connection limit is already in use. A 1-connection plan playing on a second device gives exactly this symptom: the list loads because that is a separate request, and playback fails silently. Close the stream on the other device, or check your plan on pricing.
If nothing else is streaming, the next check is your credentials — an expired line behaves the same way in some players. See app login failure.
Before reporting: note the channel name, the time, the device, and whether a second device shows the same thing. A report without those four facts cannot be investigated.
Related questions
The screen is black for a few seconds then plays.
That is normal channel-change latency, not a fault. Transport streams need a key frame before they can render.
It went black halfway through a programme.
Usually a dropped connection. If it recovers on its own, treat it as buffering — see the buffering fix.