Solving playback issues

[luckyluca]

When watching 1080 films or episodes, the Plex app suddenly closes after a moment of black screen to the Roku home screen.

This happens roughly twice a day, randomly. What I mean is that I can rewind the bit and play it again without issues; it just happens randomly.

Opening Plex and resuming watching the episodes solves the issue. I watch episodes with text .sub subtitles, often external or retrieved inside Plex from the Web.

I have the Roku Express 3900EU, connected to the Plex Media Server running on a Pi 5.

I have the Roku Express four inches from the Router, and it is connected to it via Wifi 2.4Ghz with an excellent signal -according to Roku-.

I'm running the same content on Plex on my PS4 without issues, so we can iron out server-side issues. This appears to be a Roku-Plex issue.

Plex Server Version 1.40.2.8395 on Raspberry Pi 5.

Roku Express Player Version 7.20.8.9236-d3d5a07fa-Plex

Any ideas if there's anything I can do to fix this minor yet annoying Plex-Roku issue?

Thanks

Roku Express (3900 series)   

[RokuJharra-Q · Accepted solution]

Greetings here in the Roku Community, @luckyluca!

We see that you are experiencing issues with the Plex app randomly closing to the home screen. We are here to help. Please attempt the following troubleshooting steps: Here are the instructions.

Update the channel:

• Highlight the channel tile. 
• Press the star button on your Roku remote. 
• Select "Check for updates."

Remove the channel:

• Highlight the channel tile.
• Press the star button on your Roku remote.
• Select "Remove channel."

Restart your Roku device:

• Go to settings.
• Go to the system.
• Go to power and select "System restart."
• If you are unable to see the power option, skip it and proceed to the system restart.

Add the channel again:

• Scroll down to search.
• Enter the name of the channel.
• Select "Add channel."

If you're still having trouble after trying the troubleshooting steps and finding that videos from other channels work well, please contact the customer support team of the channel provider.

The channels on Roku are managed by their developers. The issue is likely specific to a certain channel and requires an update from the developers to resolve it. We hope you find this information helpful. Let us know if you have any further questions.

Best regards,
Jharra

[luckyluca]

Hi, thanks for your message.

I already followed the steps suggested and also run a factory reset on the Roku.

The issue appears to be caused by the combination of using the Roku with Plex.

[RokuJharra-Q · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the update, @luckyluca!

We appreciate your efforts. In this case, we highly recommend contacting the channel provider's customer support team.

Please be advised that the channels on Roku are managed by their developers. The issue is likely specific to a certain channel and requires an update from the developers to resolve it. We hope you find this information helpful.

Please let us know if you have any further questions.

Thanks,
Jharra

[luckyluca]

This issue has not been addressed or resolved as of yet. Unfortunately, the suggestion is not valid as Plex does not offer technical support.

I posted on the Plex forum, but haven't received replies as of yet, as the replies are voluntary from other members and not from Technical Support. If you could kindly point me to the direct contact of technical support, I wouldn't mind sending an email.

As this issue is caused by the combination of using Roku with Plex, we cannot exclude that this might be an issue caused by the device rather than the Plex app. 

Are Roku Express 3900EU devices known to crash? Are they known to have power or heating issues?

[TaliesinToo]

I'm having what appears to be the same issue on my Roku Ultra 4661, so I suspect it's a Plex App issue, as Roku suspects. Can you point me to the issue you put on the Plex forums so I can comment and upvote it?