Solving playback issues

[ReignRichie]

The Roku Media Player seems to be crashing when used to play NAS video files that are more than approximately 120MB.

I have 3 Roku boxes, a Roku 2, Roku 3, Roku 4 Ultra, all connected via ethernet. The NAS is an SSD attached to a Netgear R6400. The files are a mixture of mp4 and mkv with 720 and 1080 resolutions.

The files play on multiple other devices at the same time including playing on 2 iPads simultaneously and on a smart tv. The files also play on the Roku's when the SSD is connected to them through usb.

When I try to play the files on the NAS using Roku Media Player on any of the boxes they all exhibit the same behavior. Video files of either type or resolution will load and play fine if the size is below about 120MB. However, files of either type or resolution above that size will load to 13% then the Roku Media Player will crash and reload back to the home menu. I've tried a factory reset of the Roku and they are all fully updated.

I've tried this on all the Roku's testing many files and believe I have isolated the problem to be related to the size of the file, played over NAS, in Roku Media Player.

I don't want to use Plex or any service that requires a server. If there is another application that can connect directly to my NAS via the router I would try that.

Is there any way to look at the Roku Media Player code to see if I can find the problem there?

[atc98092]

RMP is merely a user interface for media playback. The player functionality is part of the Roku OS. And unfortunately, RMP hasn't had any updates for video playback in several years. Roku seems to be ignoring it for the time being, possibly because there's no way to monetize its use. However, since you can play the videos directly from the SSD on the Roku, that indicates the problem doesn't lie with your Roku or RMP.

When RMP is connecting to your NAS, it's really connecting to a DLNA server running on your NAS. Most of those DLNA servers are quite lightweight and don't offer a lot of functionality, especially router based servers. I'm not saying the server your router is using is the problem, but it probably is. Depending on the NAS, one might be able to install a different brand of DLNA server on it, or even Plex server. Emby is also available for some NAS devices, as is Serviio DLNA server. But your router based NAS isn't going to have any of those options available, so your only reliable solution is to install a media server on a PC on your network, let it access the files on the NAS (or preferably connect the SSD directly to the media PC).

A router based NAS (such as yours) generally works well for simple file sharing. For media playback, they simply don't have the horsepower to stream video reliably. If the files don't require transcoding (and it doesn't sound like yours do), the PC running the media server doesn't require much processing power at all. An old PC that isn't used anymore (even an old laptop) would likely work fine, and draw very little power to run.

[ReignRichie]

Thanks for the quick response.

I know it is not the NAS/router because I am able to stream videos from the NAS to 3 other devices simultaneously without issues, but on every Roku when streaming to just the one Roku device, the media player consistently locks up at 13% before exiting to the Home menu. This only happens with files that are bigger than about 120MB. Smaller files load and play fine on the RMP. I have folders with files of identical types in them varying by only about 10-20 MB and have seen that the inability to play them occurs around the 120MB threshold.

If this is related to the router/NAS it must be the interplay between the router and the Roku Media Player software. Perhaps related to the size of the file parts sent to the RMP to be buffered which might grow relative to the file size but for which RMP is programmed to have a set amount it can handle.

The RMP is the only reason I have bought so many Roku's already so it is unfortunate that is has been neglected. Over the years I have switched back and forth between using the USB connection and NAS. I know that in the past I was able to use RMP with this exact same NAS/router setup without any issues so this seems like the result of a software update which has previously caused me other issues with the RMP.

Is there any way to revert to older firmware on a Roku?

[atc98092]

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@ReignRichie wrote:

I know it is not the NAS/router because I am able to stream videos from the NAS to 3 other devices simultaneously without issues, but on every Roku when streaming to just the one Roku device, the media player consistently locks up at 13% before exiting to the Home menu. 

If this is related to the router/NAS it must be the interplay between the router and the Roku Media Player software. Perhaps related to the size of the file parts sent to the RMP to be buffered which might grow relative to the file size but for which RMP is programmed to have a set amount it can handle.

Is there any way to revert to older firmware on a Roku?

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There's no issue with RMP playing larger files. When I saw your message I started playing a ripped DVD in the MKV container (MPEG-2 video, AC3 audio) and it's been playing for over 20 minutes without a problem. Since the Roku supports this container and both codecs, it's playing the same as if it were directly connected to the Roku. The file is almost 4GB, so far larger than yours. I made this test with a Premiere 3920, which is a lower performance Roku player compared to my Ultras, my Stick or my Express 4K+. This was using a 2.4 GHz WiFi connection, so not even the best network possible for video playback.

The fact it works with other devices is meaningless, since they all use a different operating system. Yes, it does appear to be something related specifically to the Roku OS, but since the files will play over the USB connection, that really points the finger at the router/DLNA server. 

No, it is not possible to revert to older firmware on any Roku device. 

[ReignRichie]

Thanks for doing that test, I really appreciate it. The reason why I mentioned that the files play on multiple devices at once was too say that the problem isn't related to the speed of transfer capability of the NAS Readyshare router set up.

After trying many different things, I found that the problem is related to the creation of thumbnails for the files. You see, I have hundreds of videos, most of them also have a .jpeg image file with the same name which is the way Roku Media Player displays an image for the video.

I found that there is a file called .readydlna that is created which includes a path to a folder that contains thumbnail versions of the pictures which I have that match up with video files. Roku Media Player seems to cause the generation of these files when it first connects to the server which takes some time. Sometimes it won't create a file for some reason that I didn't completely figure out but does in some cases seem to be due to the image file's size, although there seems to be other variables because shrinking the images and matching the resolution and 16x9 dimensions didn't always correct the problem.

However, when I delete all the image files from the video folders, it resolved the video playback issue. So, it seems like there is some kind of time out or other issue closely related to the creation of these thumbnails but which also seems to involve the video file size. I'm noting it here for future users who might encounter a similar problem.

The thumbnail issue is unfortunate because these videos are for my young children to watch but it is not crucial. I have decided that I will try a Jellyfin server set up because it is free and open source and seems like it won't have the issues that made me not want to use Plex or other server options.

[atc98092]

Nice troubleshooting. My DLNA server uses the metadata stream to provide image thumbnails, so I have no separate images on my server.