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+--- Thread: Avoid Roku Streaming Stick 3840X (/t-avoid-roku-streaming-stick-3840x)
Avoid Roku Streaming Stick 3840X - tronic - 2025-09-28
I recently bought a Roku Streaming Stick Model 3840X and found out that when using the Jellyfin app, it plays .mp4 files but doesn't handle .mpk files well - it buffers every 15 seconds or so. Very annoying. I have an older Roku model 3810X which handles all file types fine. Tried different Jellyfin transcode options but none of them improve playback on the 3840X so steer clear of this model for Jellyfin use. I'm going to try a Roku Streaming Stick 4K for twice the price of the 3840X to see if it's any better. I tried Firestick and Apple TV for Jellyfin and can't get satisfactory results with either one, so going with Roku since at least one adapter seems to work fine. I'm using a RPi4 as my server with a 6TB USB drive and Tailscale for remote access. RPi4 works ok for one or two clients (one noticeable bug is that it doesn't reliably update new files in the "Newly Added" potion of home screen) but otherwise, seems to work ok. Tailscale was a bit difficult to get up and running but once it was, it works great.
RE: Avoid Roku Streaming Stick 3840X - tronic - 2025-09-30
Follow up: the issue is not just the Roku, but the platform the server is hosted on. I tried the Roku Streaming Stick 4K model 3820R2 and noticed the same buffering issue feeding a 1920x1080 monitor streaming from an RPi4 host server. The default resolution setting on the 3820R2 is "Auto 1920" but changing it to 720p seems to alleviate the buffering issue - at the expense of picture sharpness. I set up Jellyfin on a Windows PC and there are no transcoding/buffering problems in either resolution, so this confirms the RPi4 is not an ideal server host for files needing transcoding (i.e. .mpk files)