Solving playback issues

[AntKnee]

Same issue with me.

Roku 4 ultra and Real Time with Bill Maher via HBO Max.

Playing any episode will crash the application. There's a very brief (less than a second) message that appears before getting punted back to the home screen.

Other titles on HBO Max play just fine, but Real Time content is definitely not available via the Roku platform (show plays just fine on PC, phone, etc.).

I've uninstalled the channel, restarted the roku, etc., etc. No difference.

My cable Co. Is constantly begging me to use their 4K streaming device (comes with the internet package), and to date, I've not even considered it before. That is no longer the case.

[SarahM13]

Same here.  I've tried a restart, remove and reinstall, nothing has helped. 

[FOXHOP]

I've got the same problem with a Roku Ultra. It plays a moment of the latest Real Time with Bill Maher. He says something about Martha's Vineyard, and then I get bumped out of HBOMax. I've tried re-booting the Roku, removing the SD card, changing my viewer name -- every attribute I can think of. I can see the episode on my phone, but not on my Roku Ultra.

[jhburgess]

This week, the HBOMAX app on Roku crashed back to the home screen as soon as Last Week Tonight started.  The "content not available" dialog flashed and then the app crashed.  White Lotus seems to play fine.  Switched to the Fire TV Stick and Last Week Tonight played with no problem this time.

[WQL]

I was able to watch Last Week Tonight on my Chromebook. Trying to watch it on the Roku just caused the HBO Max app to crash and return me to the Roku homepage. This was last night, November 13, 2022.

[WQL]

Yes, when I was on chat with HBO over a week ago, I finally just told the guy to please report the problem because if it's just one show on one app, I find it extremely difficult to believe that it's my non-smart TV or anything on my end. I know they're just following a script, but one I've signed out and rebooted the app and Roku, the solution is not with me. 

[FaciaBrut]

Same here. I have 3 different ROKU devices and models and they all fail with the same symptoms. Just before crashing, it puts out an error message on the screen, "Content Not Available. The item you are trying to view cannot be found." 

[BenBTizMe]

Please excuse the Captain Obvious reply here but as far as I can see this issue isn't happening on other platforms like a Smart TV or PC....just on Roku devices.  I hope this isn't going to devolve into Roku blaming HBO Max and HBO Max blaming Roku.

Its possible this issue is being caused by HBO Max and only affects Roku but I think that since it only looks to be affecting Roku that's the place to start.

Roku support - please let us know what's being done to solve this.  Thanks!

[vinedg]

Tried watching Real Time with Bill Maher on 11/11/2022 through my Roku. Never had any issues to date. Program comes on for a brief second and then closes the HBOMax app entirely. The app works well on other devices (smartphone, laptop, kindle) and plays the episode. Only through Roku it did that. Another episode played fine on 11/4/2022, but now does the same thing. The screen briefly flashes "Content Not Available" before force closing/exiting the entire HBOMax app on its own. All other content on HBOMax run fine including older episodes of Real Time. Also all other apps are working fine. What is going on? I did a reset of my Roku Streaming Stick, which did not resolve issue.

[FaciaBrut]

I didn’t intend to put specific blame on ROKU. I was on with customer support with both entities, HBOMAX and ROKU. Neither had a solution after going through their scripted checklist. I want someone to take this issue up a level or two to get their respective engineering staff involved. Thanks.