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Szymonik
Binge Watcher

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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This is happening on the latest and new Roku devices.

Peter

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Szymonik
Binge Watcher

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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Claiming this is HBO Max's issue and Roku is not responsible or accountable is absurd. It is very clear that this is the result of a Roku OS upgrade that broke apps on old Roku devices and caused them not to work on new ones.

If you believe HBO Max is responsible, then Roku should be all over them and PULL THEIR APP from Roku until HBO Max fixes the problem. But it's not just HBO Max right? What's the common denominator?

What this represents is a complete lack of QA testing and horrible "customer service" in response to what is now obviously a widespread problem.  Again, all of these apps work on Amazon Fire and other platforms just fine, and out of the box.

Why is Roku (and only Roku) having so many issues? Why has this issue been not responded to for WEEKS (Months?) Why do they keep pointing fingers and doing nothing but wasting time offering the same canned "solutions" that all of us have already tried (repeatedly) and do NOT work?

Maybe with the tech news media now shining a bright light onto this issue and during the holiday buying season, we'll see some kind of meaningful response from Roku. 

scottandreggina
Roku Guru

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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@Szymonik wrote:

Claiming this is HBO Max's issue and Roku is not responsible or accountable is absurd. It is very clear that this is the result of a Roku OS upgrade that broke apps on old Roku devices and caused them not to work on new ones.

If you believe HBO Max is responsible, then Roku should be all over them and PULL THEIR APP from Roku until HBO Max fixes the problem. But it's not just HBO Max right? What's the common denominator?

What this represents is a complete lack of QA testing and horrible "customer service" in response to what is now obviously a widespread problem.  Again, all of these apps work on Amazon Fire and other platforms just fine, and out of the box.

Why is Roku (and only Roku) having so many issues? Why has this issue been not responded to for WEEKS (Months?) Why do they keep pointing fingers and doing nothing but wasting time offering the same canned "solutions" that all of us have already tried (repeatedly) and do NOT work?

Maybe with the tech news media now shining a bright light onto this issue and during the holiday buying season, we'll see some kind of meaningful response from Roku. 


Amen. Well said. 

atc98092
Community Streaming Expert

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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You are putting words in my mouth. I did not state "unequivocally" that it's an HBO problem. It is incumbent on HBO to ensure their app works correctly. Roku obviously cannot make a significant alteration to the OS without providing the app developers advance knowledge of the changes coming. And I'm not saying Roku can't screw something up with an update, as there was obviously something in 10.5 that caused a problem with more than one channel/app. But I'm also stating that I have the same devices that many problem users have, and the apps work fine for me. I can't explain why, as I have no special connection with Roku. I do have some of my devices registered in their beta test program, but my 4800 and Express 4K+ are not part of that, so they are running the same OS version as everyone else. I've been watching Max every day for the past 10 days without an issue. I watch YouTube almost every day. When I try some of my other installed channels, again I have no issues. My data point is to show that it's not a system-wide problem, and that makes it much more difficult to troubleshoot.

When Roku asks a user for their serial number, it allows them to look at the device logs and see if something can be found. If they ask to generate a trouble ID, that provides a snapshot of all operating parameters at the time of occurrence. It is all in the name of troubleshooting, which is not easy or quick. But your assistance might be the breakthrough they need to fix the issue. 

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Kudo.

I am not a Roku employee, just another user.
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rimuggle
Channel Surfer

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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Your words, “It’s not Roku programming issues. HBO is solely responsible for their channel working on Roku devices” 

so just stop. We can all see what you said. Stop trying to gaslight thousands of users because it hasn’t hit your devices yet, if you are reading the comments and dates you can clearly see that it didn’t happen to all of us the same day and each day there are more and more that are getting hit with it. Just stop. 

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Shiv1234
Newbie

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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Same here, first it started with YouTube not working, then hbomax, paramount plus, Disney plus, and sometimes Hulu. The only one that seems to not have a problem is Netflix. I was so frustrated with uninstalling and Re downloading them and restarting my Roku TV that I finally just completely factory reset it. Once I set my TV up again it worked for maybe a day and now it’s back to the same thing. I go on HBOMAX and it loads for a long time and then will either say the app isn’t working or it’ll let me play a movie and then immediately goes back to the hbomax Home Screen. I also have a brand new Hisense Roku TV and I’m pissed

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RokuMary-F
Community Moderator
Community Moderator

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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Hi @Shiv1234,

Thanks for the post. I'm sorry to hear about the experience that's not what we aim for.

After reading your note, you are currently having a playback issue with HBO Max only, is that correct? Are all other streaming channels are now playing normally?

We suggest that you try to get the latest HBO Max channel version by checking for a channel update using your * button on the channel tile, or going to Settings for a System Update there. Then, restart your player. 

Please try doing this and see if it helps with what you're experiencing.

Regards,
Mary

 

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rimuggle
Channel Surfer

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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Mary- you are joking right?!?! You couldn't possibly be intentionally insulting our intelligence, when the person you are responding to (just like other 100's of us) said:

1- it's not just HBO Max, but HBO Max is the worst

2- that they had already reinstalled the app

How are you not ashamed that your answer is to ask if it is just HBO Max and suggest that it be reinstalled/updated when the person you are responding to has already said they did that and it didn't fix it.

Your suggestion to do what was already done without success, and avoidance of the fact that there is something clearly wrong that ROKU needs to fix is beyond insulting.

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scottandreggina
Roku Guru

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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I can't believe that I'm sticking up for Roku, but, in Mary's defense, Shiv1234 only talked about the HBO Max app not working after doing a full reset of the TV. No other apps were mentioned by name. That may have led Mary to believe that HBO Max is now the only app that is messing up, even though I don't believe that was Shiv1234's intention to relay.

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TLR15
Reel Rookie

Re: HBO Max programs suddenly won’t play

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Hello,

I am having the same issue. I tried all the options you recommend and even did a factory restart but it still won’t let me on HBO max. I use my school’s wireless WiFi (when this occurs), but when I used the hot-spot from my phone to power the roku then I can gain access. I cannot always do that, so is there any way to fix this?

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