Solving playback issues

[Kerher]

It isn't a constant issue, but when watching things like, "The Voice" or "America's got Talent", which likely have upgraded sound quality we will intermittently get a "Chirp" sound followed by degraded sound quality. It's hard to describe the degradation, but it sounds like a tinny hollow sound. If we exit the episode of the show and re-start it, the problem goes away but may happen again a little while later. It's not something I can make happen on demand, but it is frequent enough that I wanted to post this to see if there is a solution or if maybe my device needs to just be replaced.

I am a long time user of ROKU and recommend them to everyone. I had the original ROKU, and may still have it in a box someplace, that thing was cool, so many connections and things on that one! Since then I've bought 15+ for myself and as gifts over the years. Not even thinking of switching to another device manufacturer, yours is and has been the best one I've experienced.

Thank you for looking into this!

[RokuArjiemar]

Hello! @Kerher,

A friendly greetings from the Roku Community!

We are sorry to hear about the issue you reported and want to let you know that this is not the typical experience we expect from our products. 

• Is this the first time you have experienced this issue?
• Is this happening on all contents/channels or is this isolated to 1 content/channel?
• Is the Roku connected directly to the TV or an audio/video receiver?
• How is the Audio connected? 
• If possible, send a video and/or picture of the issue.

Please keep us posted on what you find out; we will happily continue assisting you further. We look forward to hearing back from you.

Thanks,

Arjiemar

[Kerher]

• Is this the first time you have experienced this issue?
  • No, its periodic and unpredictable. 
• Is this happening on all contents/channels or is this isolated to 1 content/channel?
  • Right now my wife is watching a lot of Hallmark on Hulu for holiday shows and is happening there along with a periodic on screen flash.
• Is the Roku connected directly to the TV or an audio/video receiver?
  • Yes directly connected to the TV
• How is the Audio connected? 
  • Via optical digital connection from the TV to the Bose soundbar the bluetooth to its sub woofer
• If possible, send a video and/or picture of the issue.
  • Hard to catch, and not sure you would be able to notice unless you experienced it happening.

I am considering just buying a new unit. I think maybe this one is just having issues, it's an older and maybe one of the original versions of the ULTRA.

[RokuCarly]

Thanks for the added information, @Kerher.

As we checked, you have multiple Roku players linked to your account; may we know if this also happens to your other devices or just the Roku Ultra? Also, are your other Roku players connected to a soundbar as well? If so, does the issue also persist? 

Furthermore, we suggest connecting your other players to your Boss soundbar to see if you can still hear the audio playback and your Roku Ultra to a different TV and observe. 

Let us know what you find out! We'll be anticipating your response.

Best regards,
Carly

[Kerher]

We have been using another of our Roku devices, and there has been no chirp or degraded sound. I think it's the ULTRA device having issues. 

Is there something you can do, or should I just buy another one?

[Crystal6887]

I'm having the same problem with my Ultra! I have 2 of them. It's only happening with 1 so far. Interested in their final suggestion. 

[Kerher]

I wonder if it's version related. Check your system settings, in System Info to see what model yours is. Mine is a 4660X. 

I suspect it's a hardware difference and there is a memory leak or buffering issues occuring on the older model. I would like to hear from support, if they can get it to development, if the problem could be addressed in an update.

[Crystal6887]

Yes! Mine is 4660X also.

[RokuJohnB]

Hi @Kerher @Crystal6887,

Thanks for keeping us posted, and welcome to the Roku Community!

We'd like to know more about the issue you're experiencing with the Roku Ultra. Is the problem happening on all content or channels, or is this isolated to one content or channel? (Specify) Does a simple system restart resolve the issue by going to settings, system, power, and system restart? (If you do not see a Power submenu, skip to the next step.)

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thanks,

John

[Kerher]

Hi, 

I am a software testing engineer (25 years). I've seen and used a lot of software in that time. This is black box to me. It did not always happen. Also, since this has been reported by another person on this thread, it's not isolated to just me, I suspect many people experience the issue. Are there logs that I can send to you to review from the device or is there a mode I can put it into to do so? Since it has a USB interface I assume that it can be connected to a computer to get things off of it or some other method via Wifi. Let me know if I can help in any capacity with that. 

1. This problem has been happening for many months (maybe a year or more), its hard to say because I just restart things and try to ignore it. The system has rebooted many times.
2. No it doesn't happen only on one content channel. Here are some examples of the channels my wife watches a lot and it happens on all of them and others.
   1. Hulu - Hallmark
   2. Dancing with the stars
   3. Masked singer
   4. The voice