Player Version#: Version 1.27.2.1599-7689068b
Server Version#: Version 1.21.3.4021
With the latest update commercial skip has broken. This issue started within the last week to all recorded episodes. Hitting “Skip” starts over.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Yes. I’ve noted it in another thread. Roku (both release and preview channels).
Skip Ads button, manual skip forward–either way, it goes back to the beginning.
The Android app, I just discovered, seems to work–except Skip Ads results in nothing more than a spinning circle. I have to X out of the show and resume it, and it resumes right at the end of the ads. So the skipping works, anyway.
But on the Roku–it’s a hot mess.
I may be able to throw some light into this, or maybe not: I’ve seen this ONLY on The Blacklist, which I’m recording simultaneously with MacGyver. (And last time this happened a couple of week ago, skipping on MacGyver worked just fine.) Is it that my Synology NAS is running Comskip on two shows that ended at the same time?
Good to hear I’m not alone. 
I should have mentioned this is for the Roku front end. I experience this issue on any recording processed for commercial skip over several weeks.
My take is that it’s not the Plex Server that is at fault, but a recent Plex Player update or was it Roku?
Surprised there are not more users concerned about this.
I’m experience the same issue. Plex server for Windows and Roku client. Any one from Plex know if this is a known issue?
To clarify: I just watched MacGyver, which again was recorded at the same time as my problematic Blacklist show. It skipped and let me move around with no problems. Is comskip on Synology having problems with two shows at once, and therefore corrupting something with regard to one show? Or is Plex having the problem and causing some sort of corruption that shows up in playback?
We can rule out Synology as I am on WD and the shows I’ve recorded are weeks or months old. I watched a recently recorded OTA movie and thought things were back to normal, but about a quarter the way through, comm skip reset back to the beginning.
I have not been able to successfully watch any show for more than a week.
I’m in the same boat. However, here’s what I’ve noticed today:
Wife was watching two different shows on our TCL Roku TV (version 6.7 build 9). The skip ads button kept restarting both shows. She managed to get through the viewings by just fast forwarding where necessary or letting the commercials play. I tested the same recordings on another TV with a Roku Ultra (app version 6.7 build 9) and commercial skip worked flawlessly. All units are connected to my network via 1Gbps copper and the Plex Media Server is running the latest Plex server version on Linux with Hauppauge quadHD and the latest mediatree kernel - this problem has existed on previous kernel versions too.
The common issue seems to be the Roku TV in my case - I restarted the TV and tested the recordings again - the problem persisted.
Well, whaddya know. I’m also on version 6.7, build 9–and it would seem that my problems that I described happened on my older Roku 3.
But I just watched The Equalizer on my 2020 Roku Ultra, and it works fine.
Is Plex now demanding more aggressive player hardware???
Also on version 6.7 build 9, using a Roku Ultra, but not from 2020. I don’t believe hardware is the issue. Either a Plex change or a Roku change. Does not seem to be a wide spread issue as there is not much chatter about this.
Same issue. Only noticing it on Roku (also use a fire stick). Every now and again it works correctly, but I have yet to make it through an entire show without it restarting from one of the commercial skip presses.
Running latest Plex server on Windows 10. Viewing on Roku Ultra.
I’ve been having this issue on Rokus (Ultra and Sticks), too. I’ve been able to “fix” it by changing direct play to auto instead of force (as I had it set). I also have “Allow MPEG2” checked and this seems to happen with MPEG2 files the most (at least that’s what I’ve noticed - that could just be what I’ve been playing lately). The first time I skip a commercial and it goes back, I now immediately turn off force direct play, go back and fast forward and it’s fine for the rest of the show. Now that I think about it, I’ve mostly been watching DVRed shows from an HDHomeRun 4K. Not sure if any of that helps, but hopefully it does.
I’m using a Raspberry Pi 4 as a server, so I REALLY don’t want to transcode if I don’t have to, although I’m surprised it WILL with only one person doing it, most of the time. 
I checked for Roku updates and see the last one was in Dec of 2020. So it appears this is a Plex update issue and not Roku.
As my settings are already set to what DennisDPlex stated, that is not a workaround for me.
Well, my Roku 3 was already set for direct play at AUTO and “Allow MPEG2” was checked. So I just tried the only thing I could: I unchecked “Allow Direct Stream”.
And on the surface, with one quick playing of The Equalizer from last night–a show that Plex failed me miserably on with regard not only to skip ads but also to basic FF and REW–it seems that unchecking that option solved the problem.
Well, it solved the skip ads/ff/rew problem of the show going back to the beginning. But it brought back the horribly slow business of watching the wheel spin and the percentage count up as it figured out where it was and how to start up playing there. With “Allow Direct Stream” that process was significantly faster. But now out of the blue it breaks skip ads/ff/rew.
Hey Plex–you broke something, and it’s being reflected on Roku players that are set to Allow Direct Stream. And in my case, it’s on both the release and the preview channels.
I don’t have the problem on my 2020 Ultra, so I’m off to check how that one is set up.
OK, I just checked. My 2020 Roku Ultra had the “Allow Direct Stream” checked–and it works fine with skip ads/rew/ff. Plus, it very quickly puts me back into the program with little of the spinning circle and the percentage countup.
So there’s a distinct difference in behavior with “Allow Direct Stream” between the Roku 3 and the 2020 Roku Ultra. It would seem that Allow Direct Stream is not compatible with Roku 3.
This leads me back to my previous question: does Plex now require, as a practical matter, more aggressive Roku hardware?
I’m still having this issue. The only way to prevent it is disable MPEG2 on the 3 Rokus that I use so that my server has to transcode. Is Plex looking at a fix for this yet?
Does any one know if Plex monitors these forums anymore? I’m starting to wonder if paying the lifetime membership was a mistake. This issue is going on 2 months now with not a word and there is another one that a few people posted about regarding thumbnails not generating automatically. That one is 9 months old and no comments. Kind of disappointing.
My sentiments exactly! I am dumbfounded that five - 5 - people have posted on this issue, that’s it.
I have a Amazon Fire Cube Gen 1. Skip ads will work sometimes. While others it appears to lock up. Going back to the menu and re-selecting the show almost always sets us back to the beginning. Oddly enough it appears that it will happen to some shows while not others. I’ve checked the server logs looking for transcoding errors and never found anything that stands out. I will check out some of the resolutions you guys have mentioned here to see if I can get it working. Before my other half gives up and buys Hulu Live. Really sucks to have invested so heavily into Plex and the ecosystem here for there to be so many deal breaking issues with Live TV! After the last update my system is bugged into believing that every channel is currently recording, but I can’t seem to find anyone that shares my issue.
Anyone else experience the Plex Preview resolving the restart issue? While I’ve only tested on two episodes AND the fixes don’t list commercial skip, this release so far looks to have fixed the restarts, fingers crossed.
Having the same “Starting Over” issue when I hit the skip ads button.
Using TLC Roku TV, and running PMS off an old laptop.
I have found that the problem happens less often when I click down, so I can see the progress bar. Then click up and put the focus back on the skip ads button on the screen.
When I just hit the center button on the remote control, as the skip ads button first appears. It seems to go back to the beginning.
It’s almost like it’s an interface/cursor focus problem with the Roku interface.
