Roku and Max Bitrate UHD

[ryder42]

Hi--

I just got a Roku Ultra LT (2023) and have it hooked up to ethernet on my home network.

I have the 3.0.5 Jellyfin app for it.  My current issue is trying to direct play 4K HEVC movies.  My current guess is that it's a bandwith issue, because when the videos do transcode the reason is that the "current video bitrate is not supported." 

I think this is a client-Roku issue, so if anyone knows, off the bat, if this model of Roku can handle the bitrate of 4K UHD movies streamed with direct play, I would be very grateful!  Because of what I think is the bitrate issue client side, the server attempts to transcode and gives this error "ffmpeg exits with code 0" (see below).  I have set all the settings on the app to play the codec and I have a 4K HDR tv.

-JR

[2025-06-22 13:21:51.234 -05:00] [INF] [39] Jellyfin.Api.Helpers.MediaInfoHelper: User policy for "jryder". EnablePlaybackRemuxing: True EnableVideoPlaybackTranscoding: True EnableAudioPlaybackTranscoding: True
[2025-06-22 13:21:51.591 -05:00] [INF] [38] MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Transcoding.TranscodeManager: "ffmpeg" "-analyzeduration 200M -probesize 1G -fflags +genpts  -i file:\"C:\Users\nealr\Desktop\New MKV Rips\4K\Casablanca\Casablanca_t00.mkv\" -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -threads 0 -map 0:0 -map 0:1 -map -0:s -codec:v:0 copy -tag:v:0 hvc1 -bsf:v hevc_mp4toannexb -start_at_zero -codec:a:0 libmp3lame -ac 2 -ab 256000 -copyts -avoid_negative_ts disabled -max_muxing_queue_size 2048 -f hls -max_delay 5000000 -hls_time 6 -hls_segment_type mpegts -start_number 0 -hls_segment_filename \"C:\ProgramData\Jellyfin\Server\cache\transcodes\0067ee91dd93f0fa1116a0d22375d761%d.ts\" -hls_playlist_type vod -hls_list_size 0 -y \"C:\ProgramData\Jellyfin\Server\cache\transcodes\0067ee91dd93f0fa1116a0d22375d761.m3u8\""
[2025-06-22 13:21:52.230 -05:00] [INF] [41] MediaBrowser.Controller.MediaEncoding.TranscodingJob: Stopping ffmpeg process with q command for "C:\ProgramData\Jellyfin\Server\cache\transcodes\0067ee91dd93f0fa1116a0d22375d761.m3u8"
[2025-06-22 13:21:52.286 -05:00] [INF] [41] MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Transcoding.TranscodeManager: FFmpeg exited with code 0
[2025-06-22 13:21:52.287 -05:00] [INF] [41] MediaBrowser.MediaEncoding.Transcoding.TranscodeManager: Deleting partial stream file(s) "C:\ProgramData\Jellyfin\Server\cache\transcodes\0067ee91dd93f0fa1116a0d22375d761.m3u8"
[2025-06-22 13:21:53.804 -05:00] [INF] [41] Emby.Server.Implementations.Session.SessionManager: Playback stopped reported by app "Jellyfin Roku" "3.0.5" playing "Casablanca". Stopped at "0" ms

[ryder42]

So I found on Reddit that if you go to users you can uncheck boxes that allow the client to play media requires transcoding (so another way to force the direct play).

I actually got the movies to direct play but then I realized that I couldn't fast forward. Ok, not a big deal. Then I started getting some bright light visual artefacts and after more digging I think my MKV containers are the problem. And this could be why I was having such issues direct playing or transcoding.

-JR