Channels & viewing

[Evilgrrrl666]

Hi, hope I'm posting this i the right place. I didn't see any place specifically for watching the Roku Channel on amazon firestick.

Anyway, most things I try to watch on my firestick result in a playback error. Even some stuff I'd watched before now suddenly no longer works. 

Live channels work just fine. I'm talking about all the on demand stuff, including Roku originals. All I'm able to watch is a few really old shows and mostly whatever is being shown on the live channels anyway. 

I'm in the US.

Thanks! 

[RokuKariza-D]

Hi @Evilgrrrl666

Thanks for the post.

Have you tried contacting Amazon Support to inquire further? I'd suggest starting there to see what options or suggestions they can provide. They might have initial troubleshooting steps that they can recommend.

All the best,
Kariza

[Hiviking]

I am having the same problem. Series like Yukon Men that played fine before now give a playback error every time. This must be a Roku problem as all other apps play fine on the Fire TV Stick.

[RokuMary-F]

Hi @Hiviking,

Thanks for reaching out to the Roku community!

We'd like to gather more information about the issue you're running into. What was the error message when attempting to stream the channel? Does this happen on all movies/shows on The Roku Channel or just specific titles? What are you seeing on screen? Can you provide a screenshot of the issue? In addition, can you please specify the exact steps you are taking to reproduce this issue so we can investigate further?

With more information, we will be able to assist you further.


Best regards,
Mary

[Hiviking]

Hi Mary,

The error message is "Playback Error", se attached photo of the TV screen. I also attach a photo of the previous screen. The error appeared when trying to play this episode of Yukon Men. This happens on most TV shows and movies, but a few will play. They are hard to find, but I found that the TV series "The Rifleman" plays, and so does the movie "Halloween".

This has been going on for weeks now, every time I try to play an episode or a movie in the Roku Channel app on my Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Have you tried it yourself on this device? I would be surprised if you can make it work.

By the way, Season 6 and 7 of Yukon Men are available for free on the Fire TV Roku Channel app, and it is also available on the Roku Channel website on my Android phone, where it plays just fine, so I can mirror the video from my phone to the TV. I have also installed the Roku app for Android, but here Yukon Men Seasons 6 and 7 won't play. When trying I get a message that I need a paid subscription. This is a different bug from the above, but I thought I would mention it.

Regards,

Carl

PS: Cannot attach photos

[RokuMary-F]

Hi @Hiviking,

Thanks for keeping in touch and providing the additional information.

We'll go ahead and send this over to the Roku team for an investigation. We'll get back to you once we have an update available and I'll be sure to update this thread.

We appreciate your patience in the meantime.


Best regards,
Mary

[Hiviking]

Just after the previous exchange a week ago the Roku Channel app on the Fire TV Stick 4K has stopped responding altogether. Every time I try I get "Service Unavailable". What is going on?

[Andrewforlife]

Was there any update to this? I’ve tried everything to get the Roku channel to work on my Firestick and it will not. I get a Playback Error for pretty much everything, including new originals. The titles work fine on my phone, so it’s definitely an issue with the app on Firestick. I’m sure it would work great if I had a Roku device. 

[RokuDanny-R]

Hi Community users,

Thanks for the post.

Can you please provide us with more detailed information about the issue you are experiencing:

-what model Firestick are you using?
-screenshot of the issue you are seeing
-have you already tried removing the channel and adding it back again?

With more detailed information, we will be able to investigate the issue further.

Thanks,
Danny

[Andrewforlife]

Hi Danny,

I’m using the latest Firestick Lite. I have tried deleting the app and reinstalling, but that did not fix the issue. I have noticed that it is more exclusive to Roku originals and newer content, such as the John Wick movies and Heathers the musical, but I have had trouble playing older content in the past. I tried attaching a photo, but there’s no way to upload one from my phone. The error message that comes up says “Playback Error- Unfortunately, we were unable to play this content. Please try again later.” I’ve been getting that ever since I installed the app a few weeks ago. 

Thank you for your time.