Channels & viewing

[TK0]

I tried this but then the sound didn't work on some of my videos, but it worked for others.

[2ka]

Danny:

Here is a slightly different description of the problem that this whole thread is about, with some additional detail.  It should be everything you need to reproduce and characterize the issue.  I can happily provide sample video if that would help in any way.

Problem:  Severe color distortion including red shift and extreme over-saturation occurs in some circumstances when playing HEVC-encoded 8-bit (SDR) content, as if the content is being interpreted as if is 12-bit or in a different color space.

Here are the circumstances:

1.  The Roku player is (any of) the newer models or TVs that support Dolby Vision and upscaling.
2  The content is in an MKV container.
3.  The MKV header contains color space and/or color mastering information.  Most frequently this is seen when the MKV header has BT.709 color space information.  The problem disappears if the color space and color mastering information are removed from the MKV header.
4.  As mentioned above, The content is HEVC-encoded 8-bit UHD SDR.

The problem really has nothing directly to do with sound, but it is frequently seen with Plex if the playing equipment doesn't directly support the sound codec used by the content.  In this case, the Plex server will transcode the sound and place it together with the video in a new MKV container that includes color space information -- thus triggering the video problem.

[VanillaDrizzle]

I wish I had known about this before I just spent the last 3 days encoding 235GB of Batman The Animated Series that I ripped from my BluRays into x265 10-bit MKV, only to wonder why the colors look so bad ONLY on my new Roku Ultra. So glad I found this thread narrowing down the issue.

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Roku to fix this.

[CJLDAD]

Can you just use mkvtool and remove the header info?  Shouldn't be a huge issue...

And yes, they will not fix this.. 

[VanillaDrizzle]

I actually tried first removing vertical chroma siting, horizontal chroma siting, and colour range, with no success. I then removed all elements from the colour information header with still no success. My encoded files have 2-channel AAC stereo audio, which direct stream. If I turn off AAC Stutter Workaround, then the files direct play without the color distortion. 

[2ka]

In order for the fix involving removing of all the color info to be effective, the file has to be Direct Played, not Direct Streamed.  If the Plex server remuxes the file, it will add the color space info back in, and the fix won't work.

The essence of the AAC stutter workaround is to force remuxing into a new container.  The new container will have color space info added back in, so that workaround defeats the fix.

I have had good luck by always adding AC3 audio, so the file can be Direct Played on nearly all equipment.

[DA123]

While I can appreciate feedback from others on workarounds, I'd really like to see Roku fix this issue.  Making all my files deviate from the MKV standard does not seem like the right approach to resolution for me.

I have many Rokus in my home, and have always liked their convenience, however I stopped upgrading to the newest model ultra after only buying one due to this issue.  Similarly, I stopped recommending them to friends and family.  I will not buy or recommend another updated Roku Ultra until I am confident it will play files like these correctly.  

For me, this issue (and lack of resolution) is a real shame.

[pleasantcrew]

Hi,

I'm having an issue playing back HEVC H.265 4k 10bit 5.1 content on my 4K Roku streaming devices, Ultra (4670X) and 4K Stick 3820RW. I'm running the following on each device: Ultra=Software Version 11.0.0, build 419346 and 4k Stick=Software Version 11.0.0, build 4193-CU. In addition, I'm streaming the content via Emby. Each time I play the aforementioned file type, it plays for a sporadic amount of time and then the video times out, returning to the Emby home screen. This is not an issue for my Android streaming devices. I bought these 4K devices because the documentation stated that they will play back most of the common formats today, including HEVC. Is there a solution to this issue? Do I need to roll back to an earlier build? If so, what's the process? Any help would be deeply appreciated.

Thank you

[ftballpack]

While I can appreciate feedback from others on workarounds, I'd really like to see Roku fix this issue.  Making all my files deviate from the MKV standard does not seem like the right approach to resolution for me.

1. You are not creating some sort of deviant mkv file by removing the color header info from mkv files. Handbreak does not put any of the color info in the mkv container itself, at all. Thus, all mkv files created using Handbreak would be deviants from the MKV standard, if you think removing the color header info results in deviant mkv files.

Your concern is a non-issue.

2. Many of us have been waiting 1.5+ years, for Roku to fix the issue described in this thread. I started a thread about this issue on the Plex forum in December of 2020 and one of the Plex devs made a ticket with Roku about this issue, in February of 2021.

Since this issue is going on over 1.5 years without a resolution, the ongoing speculation is the problem is a non-fixable hardware defect in the current Roku Ultra hardware. If that indeed is the case, mkv workarounds are about the only thing that will ever help with the color distortion on the current Roku Ultra. At this point, it's likely a safe assumption this issue will not be fixed by Roku and instead will only be resolved at the next hardware update to the Roku Ultra.

[VanillaDrizzle]

Here is a headscratcher for the more technically savvy people in this thread. I'll copy the MediaInfo for 2 different x265 encoded files below. The first one with AAC-LC 5.1 channel audio in mp4 format copies the video and transcodes the audio to AC3 into MKV, but does NOT exhibit the color distortion. The second one also with AAC-LC 5.1 channel audio in mp4 format also copies the video and transcodes the audio to AC3 into MKV, but DOES exhibit the color distortion. Why one but not the other?

The first difference I see is file 1 Codec ID is listed as "hev1", while file 2 Codec ID is "hvc1".  Second difference is file 1 does not have the Color range, Color primaries, Transfer characteristics, and Matrix coefficients flags. Also, the Format profile and Codec ID info is slightly different between the two. The first I believe is encoded with FFMPEG, and the second with Handbrake. As far as I know, the header info has not been altered/removed from the first file.

File 1 No color distortion

General
Complete name : ***
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/mp41)
File size : 352 MiB
Duration : 22 min 6 s
Overall bit rate : 2 229 kb/s
Movie name : ***
Encoded date : UTC 2021-11-23 06:29:05
Tagged date : UTC 2021-11-23 06:29:05
Writing application : Lavf58.20.100
Comment : ***

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L4@Main
Codec ID : hev1
Codec ID/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration : 22 min 6 s
Bit rate : 1 998 kb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.040
Stream size : 316 MiB (90%)
Writing library : x265 3.3+4-rarbg-30eb4de83092:[Linux][GCC 8.3.1][64 bit] 10bit
Encoding settings : cpuid=1111039 / frame-threads=4 / wpp / no-pmode / no-pme / no-psnr / no-ssim / log-level=2 / input-csp=1 / input-res=1920x1080 / interlace=0 / total-frames=0 / level-idc=0 / high-tier=1 / uhd-bd=0 / ref=4 / no-allow-non-conformance / no-repeat-headers / annexb / no-aud / no-hrd / info / hash=0 / no-temporal-layers / open-gop / min-keyint=23 / keyint=250 / gop-lookahead=0 / bframes=4 / b-adapt=2 / b-pyramid / bframe-bias=0 / rc-lookahead=25 / lookahead-slices=4 / scenecut=40 / hist-scenecut=0 / radl=0 / no-splice / no-intra-refresh / ctu=64 / min-cu-size=8 / rect / no-amp / max-tu-size=32 / tu-inter-depth=1 / tu-intra-depth=1 / limit-tu=0 / rdoq-level=2 / dynamic-rd=0.00 / no-ssim-rd / signhide / no-tskip / nr-intra=0 / nr-inter=0 / no-constrained-intra / strong-intra-smoothing / max-merge=3 / limit-refs=3 / limit-modes / me=3 / subme=3 / merange=57 / temporal-mvp / no-frame-dup / no-hme / weightp / no-weightb / no-analyze-src-pics / deblock=0:0 / no-sao / no-sao-non-deblock / rd=4 / selective-sao=0 / no-early-skip / rskip / no-fast-intra / no-tskip-fast / no-cu-lossless / no-b-intra / no-splitrd-skip / rdpenalty=0 / psy-rd=2.00 / psy-rdoq=1.00 / no-rd-refine / no-lossless / cbqpoffs=0 / crqpoffs=0 / rc=abr / bitrate=2000 / qcomp=0.60 / qpstep=4 / stats-write=0 / stats-read=2 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ipratio=1.40 / pbratio=1.30 / aq-mode=3 / aq-strength=1.00 / cutree / zone-count=0 / no-strict-cbr / qg-size=32 / no-rc-grain / qpmax=69 / qpmin=0 / no-const-vbv / sar=1 / overscan=0 / videoformat=5 / range=0 / colorprim=2 / transfer=2 / colormatrix=2 / chromaloc=0 / display-window=0 / cll=0,0 / min-luma=0 / max-luma=1023 / log2-max-poc-lsb=8 / vui-timing-info / vui-hrd-info / slices=1 / no-opt-qp-pps / no-opt-ref-list-length-pps / no-multi-pass-opt-rps / scenecut-bias=0.05 / hist-threshold=0.01 / no-opt-cu-delta-qp / no-aq-motion / no-hdr10 / no-hdr10-opt / no-dhdr10-opt / no-idr-recovery-sei / analysis-reuse-level=0 / analysis-save-reuse-level=0 / analysis-load-reuse-level=0 / scale-factor=0 / refine-intra=0 / refine-inter=0 / refine-mv=1 / refine-ctu-distortion=0 / no-limit-sao / ctu-info=0 / no-lowpass-dct / refine-analysis-type=0 / copy-pic=1 / max-ausize-factor=1.0 / no-dynamic-refine / no-single-sei / no-hevc-aq / no-svt / no-field / qp-adaptation-range=1.00 / no-scenecut-aware-qpconformance-window-offsets / right=0 / bottom=0
Encoded date : UTC 2021-11-23 06:29:05
Tagged date : UTC 2021-11-23 06:29:05
Codec configuration box : hvcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 22 min 6 s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 35.4 MiB (10%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1
Encoded date : UTC 2021-11-23 06:29:05
Tagged date : UTC 2021-11-23 06:29:05

File 2 Has color distortion

General
Complete name : ***
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (mp42/iso2/mp41)
File size : 1.01 GiB
Duration : 1 h 4 min
Overall bit rate : 2 230 kb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2022-06-11 01:12:20
Tagged date : UTC 2022-06-11 01:12:20
Writing application : HandBrake 1.5.1 2022011000

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main 10@L4@Main
Codec ID : hvc1
Codec ID/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Duration : 1 h 4 min
Bit rate : 2 000 kb/s
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Minimum frame rate : 23.974 FPS
Maximum frame rate : 23.981 FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 (Type 0)
Bit depth : 10 bits
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.040
Stream size : 924 MiB (90%)
Writing library : x265 3.5+1-f0c1022b6:[Windows][GCC 10.2.0][64 bit] 10bit
Encoding settings : cpuid=1111039 / frame-threads=4 / numa-pools=16 / wpp / no-pmode / no-pme / no-psnr / no-ssim / log-level=2 / input-csp=1 / input-res=1920x1080 / interlace=0 / total-frames=0 / level-idc=0 / high-tier=1 / uhd-bd=0 / ref=4 / no-allow-non-conformance / no-repeat-headers / annexb / no-aud / no-hrd / info / hash=0 / no-temporal-layers / open-gop / min-keyint=24 / keyint=240 / gop-lookahead=0 / bframes=4 / b-adapt=2 / b-pyramid / bframe-bias=0 / rc-lookahead=25 / lookahead-slices=4 / scenecut=40 / hist-scenecut=0 / radl=0 / no-splice / no-intra-refresh / ctu=64 / min-cu-size=8 / rect / no-amp / max-tu-size=32 / tu-inter-depth=1 / tu-intra-depth=1 / limit-tu=0 / rdoq-level=2 / dynamic-rd=0.00 / no-ssim-rd / signhide / no-tskip / nr-intra=0 / nr-inter=0 / no-constrained-intra / strong-intra-smoothing / max-merge=3 / limit-refs=3 / limit-modes / me=3 / subme=3 / merange=57 / temporal-mvp / no-frame-dup / no-hme / weightp / no-weightb / no-analyze-src-pics / deblock=0:0 / sao / no-sao-non-deblock / rd=4 / selective-sao=4 / no-early-skip / rskip / no-fast-intra / no-tskip-fast / no-cu-lossless / no-b-intra / no-splitrd-skip / rdpenalty=0 / psy-rd=2.00 / psy-rdoq=1.00 / no-rd-refine / no-lossless / cbqpoffs=0 / crqpoffs=0 / rc=abr / bitrate=2000 / qcomp=0.60 / qpstep=4 / stats-write=0 / stats-read=2 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ipratio=1.40 / pbratio=1.30 / aq-mode=2 / aq-strength=1.00 / cutree / zone-count=0 / no-strict-cbr / qg-size=32 / no-rc-grain / qpmax=69 / qpmin=0 / no-const-vbv / sar=1 / overscan=0 / videoformat=5 / range=0 / colorprim=1 / transfer=1 / colormatrix=1 / chromaloc=1 / chromaloc-top=0 / chromaloc-bottom=0 / display-window=0 / cll=0,0 / min-luma=0 / max-luma=1023 / log2-max-poc-lsb=8 / vui-timing-info / vui-hrd-info / slices=1 / no-opt-qp-pps / no-opt-ref-list-length-pps / no-multi-pass-opt-rps / scenecut-bias=0.05 / hist-threshold=0.03 / no-opt-cu-delta-qp / no-aq-motion / no-hdr10 / no-hdr10-opt / no-dhdr10-opt / no-idr-recovery-sei / analysis-reuse-level=0 / analysis-save-reuse-level=0 / analysis-load-reuse-level=0 / scale-factor=0 / refine-intra=0 / refine-inter=0 / refine-mv=1 / refine-ctu-distortion=0 / no-limit-sao / ctu-info=0 / no-lowpass-dct / refine-analysis-type=0 / copy-pic=1 / max-ausize-factor=1.0 / no-dynamic-refine / no-single-sei / no-hevc-aq / no-svt / no-field / qp-adaptation-range=1.00 / scenecut-aware-qp=0conformance-window-offsets / right=0 / bottom=0 / decoder-max-rate=0 / no-vbv-live-multi-pass
Encoded date : UTC 2022-06-11 01:12:20
Tagged date : UTC 2022-06-11 01:12:20
Color range : Limited
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Menus : 3
mdhd_Duration : 3873870
Codec configuration box : hvcC

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC LC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
Codec ID : mp4a-40-2
Duration : 1 h 4 min
Source duration : 1 h 4 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 224 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 103 MiB (10%)
Source stream size : 103 MiB (10%)
Title : Surround
Language : English
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1
Encoded date : UTC 2022-06-11 01:12:20
Tagged date : UTC 2022-06-11 01:12:20