Proxmox-for-Channels: Step-by-Step for Creating a Chrome-Capture-for-Channels (cc4c) LXC Container

[sunflower-st]

Just in case this helps with anyone else, I updated the resolution in both main.js and the x session to 720p on my humble proxmox server and it really smoothed out playback (at the expense of picture quality obviously). Not quite perfect but definitely watchable.

[doug8796]

Does this work on 139+ builds?

[Ryboflavins]

I've futzed about with this, but cannot get past this crash every time I try to tune something with Channels:

Error: net::ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT at chrome-extension://jjndjgheafjngoipoacpjgeicjeomjli/options.html#55200
at
navigate (/opt/chrome-capture-for-channels/node_modules/puppeteer-core/lib/cjs/puppeteer/cdp/Frame.js:183:27)
at
process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task queues:95:5)
at
async Deferred.race (/opt/chrome-capture-for-channels/node_modules/puppeteer-core/lib/cjs/puppeteer/util/Deferred.js:36:20)
at
async CdpFrame.goto
at async CapPage. goto
(/opt/chrome-capture-for-channels/node_modules/puppeteer-core/lib/cjs/puppeteer/cdp/Frame.js:149:25)
(/opt/chrome-capture-for-channels/node_modules/puppeteer-core/1ib/cjs/puppeteer/api/Page.js:574:20)

My research seems to indicate this is from a Chrome security setting that is supposed to be disable-able. But I tried adding the disable flag (HttpsFirstBalancedModeAutoEnable) to main.js and still I'm met with this error.

Interestingly through the Docker method it works just fine. Curious if you had any ideas of other workarounds? I'd prefer to run it the LXC way!

Thanks!

[bnhf]

@Ryboflavins

Curious if you had any ideas of other workarounds? I'd prefer to run it the LXC way!

The problem atm is the same as what's being reported in the cc4c thread -- which is that Chrome 139 doesn't work with cc4c. Mine works, as I'm on an older version of Chrome and have avoided updating.

I would imagine you can specify a previous version of Chrome (the last 138 should be fine), but I'm not sure how that's done since we're getting Chrome from the Google repo. You might need to download it as a deb file and install it that way.

[Ryboflavins]

Awesome, thanks! I shall dabble with a downgrade.

[Ryboflavins]

Update:
Downgrading to 138 worked like a charm. Thanks again!

[doug8796]

@bnhf

ave reported acceptable results, most have not. Being able to containerize it, has appeal thou

There is a new workaround.

Chrome Capture for Channels

UPDATE: I figured out how to use 142.x+ Chrome (or whatever build you want from the chrome testing builds) Step 1)Install Chrome 142.x using this script npx @puppeteer/browsers install chrome@142 or npx @puppeteer/browsers install chrome@stable This will give you the latest testing build, you can also get a stable build by installing 140, <139 are not supported any longer. Step 2)Uninstall Chrome & Delete folders & Copy the folder with chrome to C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Appli…

[bnhf]

@Ryboflavins I just updated the instructions in Post #1 to incorporate the latest stable version of Chrome and have switched the chrome-capture-for-channels repo to clone back to @fancybits -- as @tmm1 has made numerous changes and updates to it:

Proxmox-for-Channels: Step-by-Step for Creating a Chrome-Capture-for-Channels (cc4c) LXC Container

EDIT (05 September 25): This post has been reworked again to support the latest stable versions of Chrome (140.0.7339.80 as of this writing), along with Node v22.19.0. The git repo being cloned is back to @fancybits chrome-capture-for-channels, as that's been update to include work from @dravenst and @bnhf (me). bun in now used in place of npm. If you already have cc4c running on Proxmox, you could probably update your LXC, but it seems faster to me to delete and recreate -- following the update…

[bnhf]

Also, for those using this Proxmox implementation of cc4c, here's my recommended approach for starting cc4c at login -- along with an auto restart similar to Docker's restart: unless-stopped:

Add the following to the bottom of /root/.bashrc

nano /root/.bashrc

./cc4c.sh

Then create the following shell script and make it executable:

nano /root/cc4c.sh

#!/bin/bash
# cc4c.sh
# 2025.09.11

cd /opt/chrome-capture-for-channels
pkill -TERM -x Xvfb   2>/dev/null || true
pkill -TERM -x x11vnc 2>/dev/null || true
[[ -f /tmp/.X99-lock ]] && rm /tmp/.X99-lock

while true; do
  google-chrome --version
  echo "Starting xvfb, x11vnc, and npm..."

  # Start Xvfb
  Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1920x1080x16 &
  XVFB_PID=$!

  # Start x11vnc
  x11vnc -quiet -nopw -display :99 -forever >x11vnc.log 2>&1 &
  X11VNC_PID=$!

  sleep 1
  grep "The VNC desktop is:" x11vnc.log
  echo "The VNC port is:         $HOST_VNC_PORT"
  sleep 1

  # Start your npm app
  DISPLAY=:99 bun main.js -v $VIDEO_BITRATE -a $AUDIO_BITRATE -f $FRAMERATE -p $CC4C_PORT -w $VIDEO_WIDTH -h $VIDEO_HEIGHT
  NODE_EXIT_CODE=$?

  echo "node exited with code $NODE_EXIT_CODE"

  # Clean up processes
  echo "Killing xvfb ($XVFB_PID) and x11vnc ($X11VNC_PID)..."
  kill $XVFB_PID $X11VNC_PID 2>/dev/null

  wait $XVFB_PID $X11VNC_PID 2>/dev/null

  [[ -f /tmp/.X99-lock ]] && rm /tmp/.X99-lock

  echo "Restarting everything in 2 seconds..."
  sleep 2
done

chmod +x /root/cc4c.sh

Also, you need to add some additional env var values to /etc/environment. Which when done, should be along these lines:

nano /etc/environment

DISPLAY=:99
CHROME_BIN=/usr/bin/google-chrome
DOCKER=true
LIBGL_ALWAYS_INDIRECT=1
LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD
PUPPETEER_SKIP_CHROMIUM_DOWNLOAD=true
HOST_PORT=5589
CC4C_PORT=5589
HOST_VNC_PORT=5900
VIDEO_BITRATE=9500000
AUDIO_BITRATE=256000
FRAMERATE=60
VIDEO_WIDTH=1920
VIDEO_HEIGHT=1080
VIDEO_CODEC=h264_vaapi
AUDIO_CODEC=aac
TZ=US/Mountain

Finally, logout and log back in for this all to take effect:

exit

When you log back in cc4c will start automatically, with error recovery.

[Ryboflavins]

Thanks so much! I setup a fresh container this way and it worked immediately!

Now if only I could get device passthrough to work for hardware encoding.

[bnhf]

@Ryboflavins

Now if only I could get device passthrough to work for hardware encoding.

Intel GPU?

[Ryboflavins]

Yup! i7-11700. It works on my Channels LXC, but for some reason Device Passthrough is greyed out now on my containers.

[bnhf]

@Ryboflavins

I setup a fresh container this way and it worked immediately!

I improved the cc4c.sh script above to be more robust in terms of cleaning up after trapped or untrapped errors. Plus, there are additions to the /etc/environment file that need to be made. Check this post:

Proxmox-for-Channels: Step-by-Step for Creating a Chrome-Capture-for-Channels (cc4c) LXC Container

Also, for those using this Proxmox implementation of cc4c, here's my recommended approach for starting cc4c at login -- along with an auto restart similar to Docker's restart: unless-stopped: Add the following to the bottom of /root/.bashrc nano /root/.bashrc ./cc4c.sh Then create the following shell script and make it executable: nano /root/cc4c.sh #!/bin/bash # cc4c.sh # 2025.09.11 cd /opt/chrome-capture-for-channels pkill -TERM -x Xvfb 2>/dev/null || true pkill -TERM -x x11vnc 2>/dev…

[bnhf]

Also, for anybody that's made the jump to v2.01, and you want to pull the few minor changes that have been made since:

cd /opt/chrome-capture-for-channels
git pull --ff-only

[Ryboflavins]

Updated! Thanks for this.

[kevnel1]

Thanks for the terrifc guide - I have this deployed in a ProxMox Container and it does work but I can't seem to get hardware encoding working, decode does work according to Chrome's GPU page.

For reference I am using a system with an i7-13700H. Encoding works for other containters (channels, scrypted & plex). Am I missing something or is it not possible? There is a lot of dated discussions saying it's not possible yet I see other people saying it works.

[tmm1]

AFAIK it is not possible for chrome to use h/w encoding. Many people have tried but it does not work.

[kevnel1]

Thanks for clearing that up!

[joagomez]

since i'm fairly new to LXC containers - since this is headless how can i run a display or chrome on the container to add user credentials

[bnhf]

@joagomez

since i'm fairly new to LXC containers - since this is headless how can i run a display or chrome on the container to add user credentials

Both this LXC version, and the Docker version of cc4c support VNC, so once you have an active stream -- connect using a VNC client and enter your credentials.