Solving playback issues

[JoelB1]

When playing recorded content on hulu live using roku express, I am often unable to fast forward thru commercials. This does not occur when I play the same hulu show on my Android TV without the roku. Reddit users have reported the same behavior as a known roku hulu app issue. Any chance this can be fixed? 

[RokuERey]

Hi @JoelB1,

Thanks for your first post in the Roku Community!

We appreciate you reaching out and sharing with us this behavior on Hulu.

Could you tell us when you started seeing it occur? What troubleshooting actions have you carried out so far in order to fix this issue?

Share with us more information about this so that we can further zoom in on it.

Thanks,

Rey

[JoelB1]

Thanks for your response. We signed up for hulu live July 1st when YTTV dropped SNY. We record every Mets game and usually start watching about a half hour after the game starts. From the beginning we noticed that we would be unable to FF thru some ad breaks between innings or in the middle of the inning. We would get “playback will resume at this point after the ads” or “seeking not allowed during this ad”. It happens often enough that we would never be able to catch up to live during a 2.5+ hour game. This happens with other shows we record.

I read on the hulu live sub-reddit that this is device-specific behavior, so I decided to do a test. One of our TVs is a Sony Android set on which we have a roku for consistency of UI with our other TVs that have roku expresses. Last week, we started watching a game on the Sony via the roku. At the break in the middle of the 1st inning, we were unable to FF thru the ads. I pressed home to exit the hulu app and switched to hulu via the Android TV UI. I FFed to just before the end of the top half of the 1st inning and hit play. When the ads started, I hit FF and I was not prevented from skipping over the ads. I was able to FF over every ad until I caught up to live in the 7th inning. The first time I’d caught up in almost a month!

We repeated the test every day for the next week with identical results. Pretty conclusive. BTW Before we switched to hulu live, we recorded and watched games using YTTV on our roku expresses. We never had this issue.

Thanks for your assistance.

[RokuERey]

Hi @JoelB1,

Thanks for your reply!

We'd like to take a closer look at this case. Have you tried using an alternative network to see if there are any differences after doing that?

We also suggest performing the troubleshooting steps below and seeing if that helps.

• Remove the channel: Highlight the channel tile on your home screen and press the Star button to open the options menu. Select Remove channel and confirm.
• Restart your Roku device: Restart the device from the settings menu. Go to Settings > System > System Restart > Restart.
• Re-install the channel: After your Roku device restarts, visit the Roku Channel Store and add the channel again.

Keep us posted if this works for you!

Thanks,

Rey

[JoelB1]

I don't know how I can try a different network. The network I have is Verizon fios. How would I change that for debugging purposes?

I followed the steps you suggested: removing hulu, restarting the roku then reinstalling hulu. I started watching the Mets game by FFing to the start of the 1st inning without being forced to watch an ad. At the next ad break, I hit FF and got the "program will restart at this point at the end of the break" message. Had to watch 3 30 second ads. Watched the bottom of the 1st and it happened again, only this time when the ad ended, it restarted at the beginning of the recording. I FFed to the start of the 2nd inning, but had to watch more ads before I could watch the game. At that point I gave up and watched hulu via the Android TV app. No issues there. Extremely frustrating. 

[RokuERey]

Hi @JoelB1,

Thanks for the update!

We'd like to see more of what's going on here. In addition, we'll need your help.

Could you please provide us with the details below?

• Roku device model, serial number, device ID, and software OS/version (these can all be found in Settings > System > About).
• tracker ID when this issue occurs (when you see this issue occur, press the Home button 5 times, followed by the Back button 5 times, and provide us with this ID).

Once we have these details available, we'll be able to forward them to the appropriate Roku team for further investigation.

In the meantime, we also suggest reporting this case to the channel support team for further insight.

Please keep us posted. Thanks!

Regards,

Rey

[JoelB1]

Model : 3941X2 Express 4K+

Serial number: X02200RX51U3

Device ID: S0HAK2CX51U3

Software: 12.0.0 build 4184-E4

Tracker ID when this issue occurs: U3-329-892

How do I report this to Channel Support? 

[hhege]

I am having the same issue with Hulu Live on my Roku devices (2023 Roku Ultra, 2023 TCL/Roku TV), and the problem does not occur on my Android device (GoogleTV/Chromecast). It appears that the Hulu app/channel on Roku has this glitch.

[RokuJechealR]

Hi @JoelB1,

Thanks for keeping us updated!

Please be advised that we have passed along this case and the information you provided to the appropriate Roku team for further investigation.

Once we have available updates, we'll make sure to update this Community thread.

Your patience and understanding are much appreciated in the meantime.

All the best,

Chel

[JoelB1]

It seems like this problem may have been at least lessened, if not completely resolved. It seems better on both the Android TV and roku platforms. We're at the same version of the hulu app on roku. Might there have been a back-end change?