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[Issue]: google tv crashing with 12.2 #1601
Description
Describe the bug
After the update, when I exit the session to the moonlight main screen, the tv crashes or goes black for a while with an error "video decoder crashed" also happens if I enable mouse mode sometimes"
Steps to reproduce
Stream anything, then press back in the remote to exit the session.
Affected games
Any stream
Other Moonlight clients
PC
Moonlight adjusted settings
Yes
Moonlight adjusted settings (please complete the following information)
Resolution to 2k, tried differenr bit rates from 40 to 60
Moonlight default settings
Yes
Gamepad-related connection issue
Yes
Gamepad-related input issue
Yes
Gamepad-related streaming issue
Yes
Android version
14
Device model
Tcl smart tv pro
Server PC OS version
Windows 11 26200.9456
Server PC GeForce Experience version
11.0.9.251
Server PC Nvidia GPU driver version
616.92
Server PC antivirus and firewall software
Defender
Screenshots
Relevant log output
Additional context
No response
Activity
devschuster commentedon Sep 17, 2026
I'm experiencing the exact same "Video decoder crashed" error on a TCL 55C6K (Mini-LED, Google TV), and wanted to share some additional findings that might help narrow this down.
Decoder confirmed via on-screen stats: c2.mtk.hevc.decoder — so this is a MediaTek chipset, consistent with other MediaTek-related entries in decoder-errata.txt, but this specific TCL model doesn't seem to have an entry yet.
Trigger: In my case, the crash isn't limited to exiting the session — it happens reliably whenever any system-level overlay tries to render on top of the video surface: pressing the guide/home button on a game controller, changing TV volume (which shows the system volume OSD), or switching apps without ending the stream. This suggests it might be a hardware-overlay-plane conflict between Moonlight's video surface and Android's system UI compositor, rather than something specific to session teardown.
Workaround found (100% reproducible): Enabling the on-screen performance stats overlay (Settings → Enable on-screen overlay) completely prevents the crash. Tested over a 2+ hour continuous gaming session with zero crashes while enabled, including repeatedly triggering volume changes and controller guide-button presses. Disabling the stats overlay again, the crash returns reliably. My guess is that rendering the stats forces Moonlight into a different video rendering path (likely GPU-composited rather than a dedicated hardware overlay plane), which happens to be more tolerant of concurrent system overlays.
Happy to provide full logs or test specific builds if that would help track this down — this seems to affect TCL Google TV units broadly (see also the original reporter's TCL Smart TV Pro).
nesmsm commentedon Sep 17, 2026
In my case the tv freezes when bringing any tv overlay as well, such as the bottom menu or volume, the freeze lasts a few seconds but crashes sometimes.
cgutman commentedon Sep 18, 2026
so this issue is new in v12.2 and you didn't have these crashes with v12.1?
girlypop2000 commentedon Sep 18, 2026
"Force GPU composition" might be the fix. Some other forks use it to avoid the faulty paths as devschuster deduced