SOLVED: Roku Apps Needs an update

[jellykev]

The Roku app will not work properly on anything past 10.8.7 for me. My Roku 4k is connected to a 1080p TV that only does stereo. When I play a video that is 4k and/or with surround audio the player tries to play it natively. I get buffering on the 4k videos which eventually fails to play, and for any format video that is more than stereo I don't get any audio at all. I've looked at the logs and all they say is it is direct playing. The Roku settings are statically set to 1080p and stereo.

@1hitsong I saw you are on the Roku team so I hope you see this and can provide some insight.

Edit:
Server specs:
Ubuntu 22.04.3 VM on TrueNAS SCALE with i3-9100G, GTX 1660 GPU for transcoding, and 2 CPU cores with 8GB RAM assigned to the VM.
Player:
Roku Streaming Stick 4k

[toasted-jelly]

I pretty much only use Jellyfin with Roku for my setup.  What are the CoDecs of the Videos, Roku sadly only supports certain encodings.  Let me know and I'll see if I can help, I've had this issue and I just had to replace the media with a more Roku friendly format, one example being the resolution set to 1080p so now the Roku won't render 4K. Set the Roku to 4k and the TV to 4k it will work. If your TV is only 1080p then you need 1080p media not 4k. But I'm only guessing based off the information in your post.

[bitmap]

This really belongs in troubleshooting, as nobody has identified a bug or issue involved. I'm on 10.8.10, run a Roku Ultra, and plenty of 4K 5.1+ high-bitrate media. No issues, whether direct play or transcoded. I think you should provide the info @Toasted-jelly suggested (mediainfo or ffprobe to show codec info and more) as well as logs of when this is happening. Or you'll need to recreate the issue and provide logs of when it's happening so we can take a look.

More info on your server hardware would be appropriate at this point, too.

Additionally, I would state that network connection makes a huge difference. Connecting to a 2.4 vs. 5 GHz network makes a difference; hard-wiring your Roku is the best bet, but isn't always feasible. Even the channels you choose for your Wi-Fi can be a huge deal if you live in a congested area (e.g., living in an apartment complex). Network health plays more of a role in this kind of a thing than folks want to believe.

[TheDreadPirate]

This really belongs in troubleshooting

Ask and thou shalt receive.

[jellykev]

I pretty much only use Jellyfin with Roku for my setup.  What are the CoDecs of the Videos, Roku sadly only supports certain encodings.  Let me know and I'll see if I can help, I've had this issue and I just had to replace the media with a more Roku friendly format, one example being the resolution set to 1080p so now the Roku won't render 4K. Set the Roku to 4k and the TV to 4k it will work.  If your TV is only 1080p then you need 1080p media not 4k.  But I'm only guessing based off the information in your post.

The TV is 1080p and stereo audio. I understand video needs to be 1080p for a 1080p TV, but the video and audio is being transcoded form 4k 7.1 to 1080p stereo via GPU on Jellyfin server 10.8.7 successfully. When I upgrade the server transcoding no longer occurs and the Roku reports it can direct play 7.1 audio even though it is statically set to 1080p stereo. The audio is ACC, AC3, 7.1, 5.1. I haven't tried any other codecs.

Edit:
Ubuntu 22.04.3 VM on TrueNAS SCALE with i3-9100G, GTX 1660 GPU, and 2 CPU cores with 8GB RAM assigned to the VM.

I'm a network engineer so my home network is very overbuilt for home use (Aruba APs and switch). The Roku is a 4k stick so it can only use wifi, but the signal strength is strong.

[jellykev]

I pretty much only use Jellyfin with Roku for my setup.  What are the CoDecs of the Videos, Roku sadly only supports certain encodings.  Let me know and I'll see if I can help, I've had this issue and I just had to replace the media with a more Roku friendly format, one example being the resolution set to 1080p so now the Roku won't render 4K. Set the Roku to 4k and the TV to 4k it will work.  If your TV is only 1080p then you need 1080p media not 4k.  But I'm only guessing based off the information in your post.

I'm setup to transcode, but the logs say the Roku can direct play. You would think if the issue was the file format then the Roku would just not try to play it.

[TheDreadPirate]

Can you share your jellyfin and ffmpeg logs with us?

[jellykev]

Can you share your jellyfin and ffmpeg logs with us?

I finally got a chance to test on 10.8.10 to get the logs for you, then I saw 10.8.11 was out so I just went to that version. Well when I went to play videos on 10.8.11 that the audio didn't work on 10.8.10 they actually transcoded and played the audio properly. So I guess my issue is fixed in 10.8.11. I blamed the player when I should have blamed the server lol.

But anyway, thanks for you responses!

[toasted-jelly]

Lol well glad it's working, when in doubt with FOSS always look for an update first 😁