Solving playback issues

[tmhanser]

I purchased a Roku Streaming Stick 4K from Amazon in 2022, for my Panasonic Viera TV.

My internet provider is AT&T Fiber, and I have no problem streaming anywhere in the house using WIFI.

I'm experiencing intermittent 3-second audio dropouts, and after searching this forum I tried turning off audio leveling. I'm still getting dropouts.

What's next?

I checked for software updates and I'm running the latest version.

I checked my signal strength under SETTINGS, NETWORK and it indicates EXCELLENT.

Is there something else I can configure with the Roku?

My other TVs in the house are smart, so no Roku is necessary. I don't have audio dropout issues with other TVs.

Thanks.

[RokuJohnB]

Hi @tmhanser,

A warm welcome here in the Roku Community!

We would like to gather more information and will be glad to investigate further about this issue with the audio drops on your Roku streaming stick. Can you please provide the following information below?

• Do you have any other device/s connected to your TV? (e.g. speakers and other sound systems)
• How far is your Roku device from your network provider?
• Have you tried to restart your Roku device by going to settings, system, and system restart?

We'll wait for your response.

Thanks,
John

[tmhanser]

Thanks, John.

>Do you have any other device/s connected to your TV? (e.g. speakers and other sound systems)

No, nothing else is connected to this particular TV.

>How far is your Roku device from your network provider?

Approximately 25-30 feet. The gateway is located in a different room, around the corner.

>Have you tried to restart your Roku device by going to settings, system, and system restart?

I did that, and after watching Netflix for about an hour I noticed another 3-second audio dropout.

This is a shot of the Network information for this Roku device:

The Internet download speed indicates GOOD.

Thanks again, John.

[RokuJohnB · Accepted solution]

Thanks for keeping us posted, @tmhanser!

We are grateful for the information you have provided, and we will be more than happy to assist you further with this issue you had with the Roku streaming stick since its audio dropped. Please try to move your Roku device closer to your network router. Moving your Roku device and router closer to each other will strengthen the wireless signal. If this is not an ideal long-term solution, at least try moving the devices closer temporarily to verify the signal strength is the problem.

We hope this helps. Please keep us posted if there's anything else we can do to assist you.

Kind regards,
John

[madmando · Accepted solution]

Is this really the end of this thread? It's marked as "solved" but I don't see that the OP acknowledged that it is. We bought a Roku Streaming Stick about 3 weeks ago to replace an older Chromecast that we've been using for years. The Chromecast would sometimes struggle to connect to WiFi or get a weak signal and downgrade the video quality but never had this problem of dropping audio at random in different apps. Our Roku is connected directly to the TV, so there's no HDMI cable between the two. The only other device besides an antenna for local broadcasts was the Chromecast so I disconnected that. I put one of our WiFi Mesh devices in the adjacent room where it's about 20' from the Roku and line of sight. I've also followed people's advice with the audio settings... I'm not in front of the TV so I can't relay what they are offhand. Nothing I've done has changed the problem for better or worse. I'm trying to decide whether to return the device and shop for something else before the return window closes. I hope we can find a solution because that's the only complaint I've got about the Roku so far.

[tmhanser]

I was not able to solve this audio issue, no.

I bought a FireStick and donated the Roku.

Case closed.

[madmando]

So far of all the Reddit and other posts I've seen the only solution anyone has found is to replace the Roku with some other brand of device. I wonder why Roku support doesn't add this to their suggested fixes, which all seem to be pretty scripted going back several years. 😄 It's kind of a shame. So far I'm liking everything about the Roku except this audio problem and it seems to go back several years so it doesn't look like they're too serious about resolving it. I understand that intermittent problems can be a pain to nail down, but this seems like it affects enough users that they should be able to reproduce it and gather some information. Thanks for letting us know what your "solution" was.