Forum Discussion

Express4KBoy's avatar
Express4KBoy
Reel Rookie
2 months ago

After the update, all apps have short pauses/freezes/delays during streaming

Device: 3940CA2 Roku Express 4K, 1x purchased 2years ago after update issue appeared, 1x new purchased and used 1st time had issue immediately (of course had to update on power-up to same version). Both devices now same version, exact same issue.  I bought new device thinking maybe my old was dying.

Since update to 14.6.4 build 9915 all apps have pauses/freezes, stutters or slow-downs with a speed-up to normal plays speeds (sometimes voice and video go out of sync during this).  Before updates this was NOT an issue.  Tried factory reset, tried cache clear. First the older device was affected then the newer device after a re-boot and then update due to power failure, so now both devices do the same things.  Curiously the Roku Media player APP does not appear suffer from this when playing media from my local server via wireless or via usb LAN adapter. Apps affected: Netflix, Crunchyroll, Prime, Hi-dive, Disney+. Also tried disabling subtitles, personalized ads, etc in settings. Disabled accessibility as well. Apps do not crash. But every 1-3 minutes a large pause occurs in the video, audio seems unaffected and then the video 'rushes' to catch up on then continues smoothly until another 1-3 minutes later. Sometimes more often, some times less often. Happens in both fast paced changing scenes and slow scenes.

Internet is not an issue (100Mbps download, 50Mbps upload), as other brands and computers using same apps do not have this issue playing the exact same content. Tried using the Wifi and a USB LAN adapter, no change (tried them separately one at a time by unplugging USB LAN, and rebooting before testing wifi - same procedure with USB LAN).  BOTH methods worked fine before the update. There is NO 'buffering' circle or appearance of buffering, seems more like a decoding/cpu loading lagging problem. I even placed a fan on the units to cool them off. Room is air conditioned. Different rooms for both devices with different TV's. 1080p steaming @ 60Hz.  Have not tested 4K

If I could 'downgrade' the firmware I could tell you right away..

 

app playback

1 Reply

  • Express4KBoy's avatar
    Express4KBoy
    Reel Rookie
    3 hours ago

    Update to post for Software Version 14.6.4 -> After updated to 14.6.8 it worked again without issue until the update on Oct 28, 2025 update to version 15.0.  Now version 15.0.4 has EXACTLY the same issue and pausing in and accelerating in roughly the same fashion as version 14.6.4.  All apps. Now have the added issue that it sometimes does not come out of sleep or plays sound without video.  Turned it off and then back on for cold reboot resolved this issue but not the above stuttering. This is getting tiring... your letting regressions of video transcoding bugs creep back in... do you guys not test this stuff?

    I had recommended these to friends and now they are complaining about it too.  I told them to update to fix it like mine... but apparently the most recent update now has the same bug again? Yes we did the factory reset, the clear cache... apps on PC, phones (android and iphone) and web browsers work without issue.. It is ONLY the Roku devices and they are using the same wireless

     Where Can I report bugs to actual developers?