Solving playback issues

[mbratch]

I have two Roku 3 units. As of just a few weeks ago, the Youtube app is acting very peculiar and is practically unusable.

It takes a long time to load a video. Sometimes it just gets stuck on the initial adverisement. It might get unstuck after a minute or two, and then the video may start and stutter a bit. Sometimes it freezes and just makes an intermittent clicking sound.

All the other apps work fine. Youtube also works fine on a Roku Premier I have.

What is it with the Youtube app and Roku 3? I see various posts over the last few years where it breaks, gets fixed, and breaks again.

[makaiguy]

@mbratch-

No offense intended, but the Roku 3, released 11 years ago in 2013, although an excellent device when released, is no longer state of the art.  There have been numerous advances in features and capabilities since then.

Google (YouTube's owner) has its own Chromecast streaming device, and is not all that diligent in keeping their YouTube app compatible with older Roku devices.

You can try to get Google to enhance the compatibility of their YouTube app with the Roku 3 (I wish you luck) or you can upgrade to a current Roku model.

[mbratch]

@makaiguyof course, it's an old unit. I only bring it up because it was actually working fine for quite some time up until just a couple of months ago. It appears to me that a software update must have occurred and broken it. I suppose then that the same app "image" is applied to all device types? I'm not a Roku developer, so just speculation.

Whatever... I guess I'll be getting rid of the Roku 3's soon. I certainly have no pipe dreams of influencing Google's development priorities, but thanks for the suggestion.

[makaiguy]

@mbratch-

I don't know the answer re whether YouTube has one version for all, or if they tailor their app for different Roku models.  I'm pretty sure this is possible, as indicated by people reporting apps with the same version number but with different build numbers, but whether YouTube does this .... ??

I do know that YouTube seems to muck around with their code more than any other provider I know of, and when trying to solve one problem they often create new ones.  So you may find it starts working on your Roku 3s again "by magic".

I just visited a friend this weekend who has my old original Roku 3.  It is still going strong, but I don't know if he does anything with YouTube.   Now that I'm used to my current models, I was surprised how much slower and less responsive his Roku 3 is than any of my current Roku's, even my oldest unit, a Streaming Stick 3600 which is now 8 years old.

If you are going to update, I'd strongly suggest getting the Express 4K model or higher, rather than the the bottom end non-4K Express.  For a very few dollars more the Express 4K is a much more capable unit (WiFi voice remote, more memory, faster processor, dual-band WiFi instead of 2.4 GHz only).

[mbratch]

@makaiguy  I agree about the Roku 3. It doesn't perform very well in general. I have a Roku Premier (the predecessor of the Express 4k) and it actually does rather well, even with the YT app.

I did, out of annoyance with the YT app mostly, buy an Express 4k yesterday since it looked like the successor to the Premier. The specs are nearly identical except that the processor (also a quad core) is updated and a bit faster. I didn't get the "plus" since I don't need voice commands or other frills. The Express 4k performs very well and is very economical. I may pick up another one.