Solving playback issues

[Charlie4495]

My Roku app worked perfectly on my Firestick and just in the past two weeks it has stopped working. Like you said it allows me to log in. Shows what is available and on every selection the following "Playback unavailable at this time, try back in a few minutes" pops up.
I have uninstalled the app. Reinstalled it. Restarted my router and restarted my Firestick and disconnect everything from the mains supply. All my other apps are working, such as Tubi. The Roku channel start up each time as normal but "Playback unavailable at this time, try back in a few minutes" is all I get every time I make a selection.

[RokuTakashi]

Hi @Charlie4495,

Greetings and welcome to the Roku Community!

Thanks for reaching out and sharing this information with us. Rest assured that we'll provide support to address your concern. Would you mind us asking for an image with the playback message? This would help us better grasp the issue, and we can address it.

We look forward to hearing back from you.

All the best,
Kash

[Ohgee]

Roku won’t play anything on my firestick.  Clearly this is an ongoing problem no one cares to fix.  I’ve installed/uninstalled, signed in/out/in again, turned everything  off and on again.  App works on my iPad but not on my firestick tv.  Frustrating.

[RokuERey]

Hi @Ohgee,

Greetings from the Roku Community and thanks for reaching out to us about this issue.

We'd like to learn more and see what we can do about this. Have you tried connecting your devices to an alternative network to see if you're still seeing the same issue occur?

Let us know if that works for you.

Thanks,

Rey

[kallor563]

Same issue. App loads up fine but any time I try and play anything the circle spins before saying the following

Playback Error: unfortunately, we are unable to play this content. Please try again later. 

Couldn’t take a picture but it says that on any title or any channel I try and load. Works fine on computer just not fire stick. 

[btsuper38]

• I have deleted it three different times and reinstalled it and it does not work

[RokuEuniceL]

Hi @btsuper38,

Greetings from the Roku Community!

We're glad to assist you with your problem on a channel in Roku. We'd like to know more about it so we can assist you further. Please provide us some details:

• What Roku device are you using right now? (e.g., Roku Express, Roku Streambar, Roku TV—specify TV)
• Is the issue happening on all contents or channels, or is this isolated to one content or channel? (Specify)
• Are you getting any error messages or error codes while trying to play content?
• Have you tried updating the channel?

We'll be waiting for your response.

Kind regards,

Eunice

[Shirey]

I have seen a lot of responses but nothing useful so far. I have the roku app on my firestick. I normally use it to watch several shows. The past few weeks it will not allow me to watch anything. It does not matter the title, movie, series, on demand, live tv, etc. It gives the error message "Playback Error Unfortunately, we were unable to play this content. Please try again later." I've tried later, I have uninstalled and reinstalled the app, I have reset my router, I have checked for updates, I have patiently waited. If it can't be fixed I would just like to know so I can delete it and tell friends to do the same. This is obviously an issue on Roku's end considering how widespread the problem is.

[Charlie4495]

SOLVED- The problem is the VPN being used if you are trying to access US sites from the UK. This was my problem. The US VPN I have with Surfshark used to work with no problem. Then as my post states it just stopped working. I can log in to Roku US, get the welcome back message, all the channels load up and tell me what is on. When I click on ANY that is when the error message pops up. What I found out having contacted Surfshark is they do not have a VPN that works (I tried New York, Miami etc all of them). So they did use to work but a block must have been put in place. So the work around is to use another VPN company. I did this using a free VPN (I am not naming it as it might get blocked) and it worked every time.

Hope this helps 

[Charlie4495]

One thing to note is if you are using say an actual Roku device, it uses wireless connection. THAT uses your UK IP address and you cannot use a VPN to hide it. If you are using a Firestick with the Roku app then you can use a US VPN if that makes sense?