Channels & viewing

[dragonboots2005]

Start emailing the ad buyers for Paramount+ and let them know we don't see the ads because it stops.  That may do something.  

[BobbyP]

HI All,

I emailed Paramount+ earlier this week and gave them tech info as to the isue we have all been having.

I also emailed Roku tech support and received back a reply.

I was collecting tech info for Roku and was surprised of what I found collecting this data.

It appears that the issue seems to be resolved. I tried Paramount+ on my Roku Ultra as well as my Roku Streambar. Both worked and I did not receive any error code(s) at the beginning of the 1883 episode. I tried also 3-4 eposodes from other series such as Seal Team, ect. All worked.

I then tried Paramount+ on my iPad which was also bombing out. That appears to now be working as well. So It looks to me that the issue has been solved. I am not sure who fixed it but I am guessing it was Paramount+ engineers since Roku contacted me yesterday for additional tech info.

In any case y'all might want to try it out agin on your platform(s) and see if it now works for you.

Good New Years Eve gift!!!

Happy Streaming anf Happy New Year

[txjeff]

No, it still doesn't work.  

[mcope]

Still NFW on the roku still getting  "The content you are trying to play is currently unavailable. Please try again later" during commercials SOSDD, already canceled. Screw P+ if they are not going to fix this. I am tried of jacking with it.

[pscarbor]

Same trailer, same park. No change, same issue.

[CG90]

Does anybody know of Amazon Firestick is having issues with Paramount Plus the same way? If not, we all should abandon Roku. Maybe when they see loss of $$ they'll have their tech people get with the Paramount Plus tech people and get it fixed finally. 

[splastrik]

I am having the same problem. It freezes during the first commercial with 16 or 17 seconds remaining. It doesn't matter how long the commercial is, it will freeze with 16 or 17 seconds on the countdown clock. Then after 30 seconds it times out with the "Content Unavailable..." message. This is highly repeatable. I have tried the obviously useless suggestion to remove channel, restart, add channel with no result. I should mention that in order to remove the channel from the Roku, I had to first cancel my Paramount+ subscription. That's OK I guess because I don't need a subscription to service that doesn't work.  From my laptop It worked fine. Both the Roku and the laptop are using the same WiFi and same Internet provider. It seems pretty clear that the problem it with the Roku App. I went a step further in debugging...I upgraded my account to premium to see if eliminating the commercials solved the problem. Wouln't you know, the problem went away.  I no longer get commercials, but I do get paramount promos.  The promos, however, do not freeze up.  Obviously, I'm not suggesting this as a solution, it was just as a step in debugging.

I don't know this for a fact, but I would bet that the problem has to do with the app beginning to buffer the next commercial.  That would explain why it always freezes with the same time remaining no matter how long the commercial is.

Roku/Paramount, if you are listening, I have some expertise in debugging and would be willing to spend some time with an engineer to help resolve this (I am retired so I have the time).

This issue has become more pressing since, as of Jan 1st, all Star Trek properties (with a few exceptions) are now exclusive to a service that doesn't work.

Everyone who has the Essential plan should be getting refunds or at least upgrades to Premium.

[txjeff]

That's an interesting find with upgrading service, but that would be ridiculous to force that on everyone to make it work.  

I have confidence the issue is with Paramounts service with Roku mostly.  But I've heard of people with other provider's, like just a phone, that had issues with playback.  So that directs the problem back to Paramount.  

In my case, I can connect to my Roku with NextLink internet service and it will fail to my Roku.  BUT, if I connect with my Verizon phone Hot Spot, it works.  Splain that to me Lucy.  🙂

[philrz]

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In my case, I can connect to my Roku with NextLink internet service and it will fail to my Roku.  BUT, if I connect with my Verizon phone Hot Spot, it works.  Splain that to me Lucy.  🙂

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This is just speculation (as is so much in this thread, since representation from the product/service providers is so woefully lacking), but one possible explanation for this might lie in the role that Content Delivery Networks play in streaming services. In brief, the commercials/shows might be coming off a different CDN server depending on which Internet service you connect through (NextLink vs. Verizon), and the problem might be triggered differently depending on which CDN server your Roku ends up communicating with. This could also explain why some of us will see the problem appear/disappear when we attempt to stream at different times of the day, since certain servers could go in/out of rotation due to maintenance or load balancing.

I share a lot of the same sentiments expressed by @splastrik, in that I've worked all my adult life in tech/networking roles, have debugged many problems like this one, and can't help but feel the debug would be feasible if only there was data and willingness. In this era, all responsibly-built products/software include transaction/debug logging. It's usually not visible to the consumer, but it should be accessible to Support personnel, even if it requires some action on the part of the consumer (e.g., us having to go to some menu and agree to upload debug logs). Every time one of us experiences this problem, there absolutely should be a log on the Roku of what network connection was attempted to stream a commercial/show (IP addresses, URLs, response codes, and all that good stuff) and why it failed (e.g., one side closed a connection prematurely or didn't respond at all), and this in turn would determine what's next in the chain to be investigated. It takes some skill, but it's also not rocket science. Sadly, also in this era of mass-produced, inexpensive consumer technology, only the highest priority problems often get attention (read: they measurably affect the bottom line). The fact that many of us have workarounds for the issue (frustrating though they may be) means we may continue to be ignored.

[txjeff]

That is a well said discussion, Philrz.  I messed around for an hour or more with my brother.  We both have long IT backgrounds.  We messed around with DSN settings on the router and ultimately decided it's not at our end that the issue lies.  Also the CBS channel causes the same kind of Ad lockup failure.  And 99 percent of the other channels work fine, so it would be hard to point at Roku.  And it wasn't doing this a while back.  This is a fairly recent mess up.  Pandora had a problem with lockups for a while and they came out with a Beta channel that somewhat solve their problem and now it's working ok.  But it took quite a while for it to get resolved.

TBS channel also had issues on occasion where it couldn't play a show.  

And yes Verizon is using different servers than my Nextlink utility.  

And the fact that movies work but it's shows with Ads that fail only is telling.  And the fact that I can watch the shows with the same web service on my laptop with no issue is entertaining.  Along with the many varieties of workarounds.   The biggest problem is where are the providers who have failed to communicate without the lame ideas that don't work?  If they are working on it, let us know.  And they can probably get on the phone with any of us where we could help them "Sniff" what's going on.