Solving playback issues

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RJalder
Binge Watcher

Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

I’m experiencing live audio sync issues on Hulu live tv. The sync issue occurs right after a commercial. If I change the channel and go back the audio is synced again. This is only happening on my 3 Roku devices and not on my Amazon Firestick. Is this a Hulu software compatibility issue or a Roku problem? As I said this is not happening on the Amazon Firestick.

137 REPLIES 137
RokuKarla
Retired Moderator

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

Hello @RJalder

Thanks for posting in the Roku Community!

Does the issue only occur on a specific channel or across other channels installed on your Roku device?

If you haven't tried yet, you can remove the affected channel then re-install it. To ensure the process is successful, restart your device before adding the channel back in. We would recommend doing this from the Settings menu by navigating to Settings > System > Power (If you do not see a Power submenu, skip to the next step.) > System restart.
For detailed instructions, refer to this Support link: How do I resolve channel playback issues?



Regards,
Karla

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mitchstein
Roku Guru

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

This is happen on all 3 of my roku ultimtes, my roku streaming bar and my roku 3.. It is not happening on my firestick which is 8 years old about the same age as my roku 3, or through the browser on my laptop or my android phone (pixle 6), it is only happening on all of my roku device. It is happening on the live tv stream, I spent eversl dys troubleshooting the issue with the hulu community and even spoke to a hulu tech supervisor about the issue, we ll cme to the conclusion tht it is a roku issue and not a hulu issue. This has been hppening since the 2nd to lst roku update, matter of fct the first time I logged the issue with hulu was the dy after the 2nd to last roku update. Since I use my roku devices all the time and the fire stick is only for development and my laptop (acer helios 300 with nvidi 3060 ti) when I'm out of the house, I never noticed it o there, but since tlking to hulu tech we purposefully set up the roku soundbr (purchased3 weeks ago) the roku ultimte about a year old and the firestick on my channel in channel 65" tv and put the screens up at the same time, the tokus are always lagging after about 3 minutes of viewing a live channel, the firestick never lags... the coputer never lags on the same channels.. I also monitor my internet connection it never exceeds 10%, I have 1000MBS ethernet with QOS agreement from verizon business in my home.

A decomposition of the network packets going into and out of the rokus shows that they should have no reason to lag, the problem exists and starts within the roku..

Also, I mispoke, it is a firebox not stick, 8 years old firebox ultimate, it also never hppens on my sons xbox..

http://www.TVByDemand.com
mitchstein
Roku Guru

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

only happens on roku/hulu, did the uninstall and reinstall even purchase a new roku soundbar and it does it on there as well.. It is on all the live channels on huu through the roku...

http://www.TVByDemand.com
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JohnnyWater
Reel Rookie

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

I have same issue.  I do not have on any other services and my internet speed is blazing and reliable.  

Shmmro0224
Newbie

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

I have the same issue on all three Roku TVs… will there be any resolve from Roku?

mitchstein
Roku Guru

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

So, after much poking around the internet and complaining about this issue, Hulu finally contacted me (Guess it pays to have 10000s of followers on twitter and 4500+ friends on FB). They went through the problem with me, we watched the same live channel on my pc, we installed network packet sniffers and monitored all the network traffic on my network, and we put the same live channel on all 5 of my rokus at the sametime. I marked the exact moment they ech started lagging which was within 30 seconds of starting the wath the channel. we also had it tune in on my "antique" 6+ year old amazon firebox.

the problem is this, we also had it on 3 of our cell phones (google pixle 6 and 7 and a iphone), the computers, the cell phones never experienced the lag at all. The firebox never lagged,

BUT

all the rokus lagged within 30 seconds, the local network never experienced more then 40% bandwidth usage, the inet connection which is a ethernet connection with QOS contract never exceeded 55% usage.

However, it appeared the Rokus dropped a bunch of packets while connected to the wifi. Moving them to other places around my house did not fix this issue, putting it right next to a dedicated wifi router with no other device on it did not fix the problem.

However running a network cat6 cable from the router directly to the rokus fixed the problem...

The other devices did not experience it wifi or cat6 in the same exact spots the rokus were placed in.

The summary is, that it is a combination issue between the custom app tht hulu wrote and the way roku handles dropped packets on it's wifi connections.

On the surface it appears to be a Roku issue, but it may not be, ROku has to set tandards for developers to follow, when a developer strays from the standard and there is an issue it is usually the developers fult and not Rokus.

Hopefully Hulu will find how to fix this issue and rewrite thier app to fix and push a update to endusers..

Just wanted to update ppl in this thread on how I handled it..

For now the fix is to run a cat5 or 6 cable form your router to your roku and wait for a hulu update.

http://www.TVByDemand.com
JohnnyWater
Reel Rookie

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

Thanks for digging into this. 

I ran a Cat 5 from router to Hisense Roku TV and still experience lag. 

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mitchstein
Roku Guru

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

hm, it went away completely for me...

Hopefully when they fix their app on roku for the wifi they also address it on cat5/6.. I imagine it will. I'll send them a message though letting them know that others it didnt work for, if i get a response I'll let you know.

You can go to this page https://help.hulu.com/s/article/audio-issues

at the bottom select NO the article was not helpfull, then Select the last option "I don’t like this answer. Share my feedback with Hulu." and send them a msg about it. The more ppl complain the faster they will address the issue especially if ppl start to threaten to discontinue thier service..

http://www.TVByDemand.com
mitchstein
Roku Guru

Re: Audio Lag on Hulu on Streaming Stick + and on Roku Ultra

it's getting ridiculous that subscription services do not just have a contct us form to submit a problem. It should be illegle...

http://www.TVByDemand.com
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