Solving playback issues

[Dorianjaime]

Everything I click on to watch you can’t see clearly it’s really red I can see an outline of stuff but can not see what I am watching… very frustrating 

[chroma601]

Is it also very bright and contrasty? If so, this might be the Roku HEVC bug. Go to your television's menu and select Video Signal. Make sure HDR is set to Off and set color space to bt709. That should be the workaround until Roku fixes it, if ever. But put those back to Auto if you watch a 4K HDR program.

[jerrydabean]

I’m having the same issue across several apps on my TCL Roku Tv. Whenever I click on a video or show the picture quality is really dark with a lot of red over people’s faces. This is an issue that just started happening today and I can’t seem to find a cause for it or how to even fix it

[casinoslotguy]

I have had this same issues for the past couple of years and finally found the problem / solution, that has worked for me. After months of searching around i found out that Non-4K Roku's cannot read H.265 or X265 MKV files correctly. So if you are playing a H.265 or x265 MKV file on a Roku that is not 4K you will get the red issue. Non-4K units will only read h264 or x264 MKV correctly. Once I changed the files that were too red from x265 to x264 it worked perfectly.

[2ka]

Hello @casinoslotguy ,

Actually, I don't believe that is quite right, although you are correct in saying that switching to H.264 will fix the problem.  It isn't correct, however, that the problem doesn't exist on 4K-capable Rokus.  it does.

The problem appears to be a flat-out bug in Roku's playback of BT.709 colorspace video in MKV containers encoded with the  X.265 (HEVC) codec.  It affects all models that include the video upscaler feature. This means essentially all newer model Rokus, 4K or not.

It can be worked around by deleting the color info in the header of the MKV file, as described elsewhere in this thread, but in order for the workaround to be effective the file must be direct streamed.  Guaranteeing that isn't easy, as also described elsewhere in this thread.

[chroma601 · Accepted solution]

Just got Roku 12.0 and based on a quick test our long national nightmare may be over.  H265 issues appear to be fixed!

[celicajerrie]

I have v12.0.0 build 4184-46 on a Model 4660X Roku Ultra and still experience the same issues, so 12.0 does not fix it.

The only temporary fix I found was resetting (power off/on) the Roku Ultra, which works for a while, maybe a day or 3 and then does it again.  FIX THIS Roku!

[celicajerrie]

updating to 12.0.0 does NOT fix it, still an issue.  This is a PITA, the only temporary solution is to reboot (power off then on), but it only lasts a day or two.

[RokuERey]

Hi @celicajerrie,

Thanks for your first post in the Roku Community!

We appreciate you reaching out about this issue. We'd like to take a closer look at this.

To better understand the issue you're running into. We'll need additional information about it.

Could you please tell us what the steps were that led you to this behavior? Is this happening when playing specific content or channels? Aside from power cycling your device, have you also attempted to use a different HDMI cable to see if this makes any difference?

Once we have a clearer grasp of the situation, we will be able to recommend the appropriate next steps.

Warm regards,

Rey

[atc98092]

Make sure the HDR Always On is turned off in the advanced display options menu. This is only applicable to the Ultra, to my knowledge, but other 4K devices might have it as well.