Channel Issues & Questions

[angieg418]

I have a Roku express 3900RW. I love it. But thought I would try to play some of my media files on it for the first time. There is not enough information on how to use the media player or troubleshoot advice if you have problems. I am not eligible for technical support for some reason, although I would gladly pay for help because I have exhausted what little knowledge I have.  I am able to mirror and cast from my phone. I have a wireless connection.  I was trying to use the ROKU media Player app.  It  displays the beginning screen where you select the media type, Then the screen comes up that show the settings icon and Help icon that says how to use Roku Media Player. In the right hand corner of the TV is shows "waiting for media devices" and nothing else happens. I let it stay there for over an hour and nothing else happened.  Can anyone please tell what is going on and if there is a solution to this issue? I thank anyone for your help.

[RokuDanny-R · Accepted solution]

@angieg418 

Thanks for the inquiry.

For more information about how to use the Roku Media Player app to play media files on your device, visit our Support page here: How do I use Roku Media Player to play my videos, music and photos?

Thanks,
Danny

[BartZLederman]

Unfortunately, the answer  you were given is incorrect.

The web page in question says, in part, that it supports the following formats:

• Video – H.264/AVC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV)
• Audio – AAC (.MKV, .MP4, .MOV); MP3(.MP3, .MKV); WMA (.ASF, .WMA, .MKV), FLAC (.FLAC, .MKV), PCM (.WAV, .MKV, .MP4,

This is not true.  Roku Media Player does not support Matroska (.MKV) containers.

My experience so far is that Roku doesn't care that they are publishing incorrect information about Roku Media Player, and I haven't found a way to get in touch with them to let them know about this problem.  My guess is that this problem will never be fixed.

If you want to play Videos via Roku Media Player and a DLNA server, you must use X.264/AVC as the video codec and AAC as the audio codec in an MP4 (MPEG-4
Base Media) container.   YouTube videos that are in a "Dash" MP4 container also will not play, but that's YouTube / Google's fault for using a non-standard container and pretending it's MPEG-4.

[Robwill78]

I have tried many different things to cure the recent streaming problem (stalls repeatedly when streaming on some older formats. The only workaround I could easily find was to switch to the free Plex streaming server and abandon using my Tversity & Tversity Pro 3.8 streaming server. Although I preferred the simple search on the Tversity products, trying various codec packs did not help. I suspect a recent upgrade to the Roku Media Server or to Windows 10 could be a source of the problem as, in the past, streaming with Tversity using the RMP worked like a charm.

[BartZLederman]

It's been several months since I posted my note.

I've been using Roku Media Player with Windows Media Player as the server every day, and it's working about as well as anything Roku does.

But the main issue has >>> NOT <<< been addressed.  The information provided on Roku's web page

https://support.roku.com/article/208754908

is still WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Roku will NOT play a video in an MKV container.

Nobody within Roku seems to care that they're giving out incorrect information on how their own product works.

Once again: I've tested this on two completely different models of Roku player, and a friend has tested it on three other different models of Roku player with a different media server.  The MKV files play perfectly on the computer and other devices, but not in Roku Media Player.

[renojim]

MKV is just a container.  It's what's inside that matters.  If you have a MKV file that won't play it's most likely because the audio or video codec used is not supported.

[StrangeBrewPoe]

I am having the same issue with MKV files (and containers). But it's weird because some of the movies will play but others won't. The file sizes range from 20GB to 48GB. Could file size be an issue? My SSD is a Samsung 860 QVO 4TB. I should also add that some files play with no audio, even though all my files play fine on my Mac VLC player. 

[BartZLederman]

Size, as such, should not be an issue.  However, if you have a movie that is 20 GB or more in size, there may be something else "wrong" with it.  It should not be necessary to have a file that large even for a 1080p video that is several hours long.

Your MKV file could be using a video or audio codec that Roku Media Player doesn't support.  As I mentioned previously, the information on the Roku page is WRONG.  The only video codec that plays reliably is AVC, and it will probably have to be Level 4.1 or lower.  The only audio codec that works reliably is AAC.  If some of your files don't have audio on Roku Media Player but do work elsewhere, then check to see what codecs it has.   Play it in VLC and pull down "Tools" and "Codec Information" and see what it says.

VLC will play just about anything: it is far more versatile than Roku Media Player.