It seems that for the last week or so, I have very bad luck with fast forwarding recorded TV on my Roku, and less often within Chrome. Often fast forwarding will result in the playback of the show restarting from the beginning on the Roku, or continual “spinning wheel of death” unless I stop the video and restart it. This only began recently, but it’s made watching recorded shows nearly useless, as any attempt to fast forward or rewind can result in a complete restart of the show, and attempts to fast forward back to where I was in the show often result in just restarting at the beginning, over and over.
Has anyone else experienced this behavior lately, and is anyone aware of any fixes or updates that will address this? It had seemed that some progress had happened on the DVR playback functionality only to be hit with this.
Server Version#: 1.19.4.2902
Player Version#: Roku latest & Chrome browser
Tuner Make/Model: HDHomeRun Dual HDHR3-US (no conversion during recording)
Channel number/Name: All recorded over the air broadcast stations
2 Likes
Do you have force Direct Play enabled on your Roku?
Roku App settings are:
Local Quality: Original
Direct Play: Auto
Allow Direct Stream: Checked
Maximum H.264 Level: 4.1
Allow MPEG2: Checked
Roku player version shows: 6.6.0
I encountered the same problem again tonight watching a show that had been recorded last night. During playback, if I attempted to fast forward the video would restart buffering from the beginning of the video.
I’ve noticed, a bit anecdotally as I don’t have a repeatable process yet, that if I fast forward with the Roku/Plex interface vs using the left/right arrows on the Roku remote, it sometimes works better. But even when doing that, I’ve had it completely restart from the beginning.
Same problem here. This was a problem a while ago - went away - and now its back. Very disappointed.
Server Version#: 1.19.4.2902
Player Version#: Roku latest & Samsung TV latest
Tuner Make/Model: HDHomeRun Dual HDHR3-US (no conversion during recording)
Channel number/Name: All recorded over the air broadcast stations
Roku Plex version: 6.6.0.6414-653e9c44c-Plex
Direct Play : Auto
Local Quality : Original
Allow Direct Stream ticked
Allow Mgeg2 : Ticked
Max H2.264 Level: 4.1 (recommended)
Samsung Plex Version:4.25.2
Tizen : 4.0
Allow Direct Play : ticked
Allow Direct Stream : Ticked
Max H.264 : 5.1 (Recommended)
Thanks for confirming that it’s happening more broadly than just me. I was concerned that it might have been very isolated, but at least having company in the problem helps a bit to know it’s not environmental specific.
I am experiencing the exact same behavior. Roku Ultra, Synology DS418play. The scenario is:
I record NBC Nightly News every day (this also happens to other shows, not just the news). Most days we watch it after it has finished recording. I do not run auto commercial skip on this show because it gets it horribly wrong.
At the commercial, I always use the remote to skip it. I click six times (or whatever) and the 33% shows on the screen like normal, however it then immediately reverts to 13%, grinds for a bit, and starts the video at the beginning.
As soon as the video starts at the beginning, playing around with it I have discovered that if I immediately fast forward to the position I want (say, 22:30) and press play it will usually, but not always, start there.
The next commercial break the same thing happens: I fast forward, 33% to 13%, video to the beginning, fast forward again to the new position (say 24:40), usually works.
This behavior started relatively recently, but I don’t know exactly when. Past two to three weeks. I’m willing to revert to a few previous versions when I have time to test, but it won’t be soon.
I’m happy to provide logs if needed.
Server Version#: 1.19.4.2935
Player Version#: Roku Ultra latest
Tuner Make/Model: HDHomeRun EXTEND Firmware Version: 20200225 (no conversion during recording)
Wow, that’s spooky, because the first time I really saw it was trying to watch either the NBC or ABC news, and I, too, don’t skip commercials on the news broadcasts because it doesn’t get them right. Exact same behavior as you’re describing, and like you, sometimes I can re-fast-forward (if that’s a thing) and it’ll work. Other times, perpetual restart from beginning.
I’ve started just watching the commercials, because that takes less time and futzing around trying to get around them. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they can track this one down, because it’s super annoying!
I did some reading and some experimenting and found a workaround. I have ‘Enable MPEG2’ enabled in Plex on the Roku. This prevents it from transcoding MPEG2 files, which results in a sharper image and fast forwarding taking less time. (DVR files are saved as MPEG2 in a .ts wrapper).
Another thread suggested that this configuration could cause scrubbing problems, so I reluctantly disabled ‘Enable MPEG2’ and it’s working correctly now. I’ll continue to monitor its behavior. YMMV.
Interesting. I’ll have to see if the same behavior works on my setup. I do recall enabling MPEG2 specifically to accelerate the fast forwarding, etc. and have been pleased with that improved performance, as the transcoding process did delay things by a few seconds when it was turned off. I’ll hate to give it up, but as a temporary workaround it’d definitely be an improvement over “infinite restart”
As an aside, have you seen any odd behaviors lately with videos played in a browser (Chrome or Firefox in my case) when a video will never resume playing after fastforward or rewind operations? I’m not saying they’re related, but they seemed to appear at about the same time.
I haven’t but I rarely, if ever, play anything in the browser.
If you can reliably reproduce, we’d love a sample file, and some logs, please 
Plex Media Server Logs_2020-06-14_19-42-29.zip (6.0 MB)
Dave, I am also having the issue with a program restarting when trying to fast forward using a Roku Ultra. This issue just recently started. I included my log. Look specifically for NBC news, should be near end of log.
Client logs as well, please. I should have been more specific. 
Can you also provide a sample video?
Where do client logs reside? Also, I deleted the news after I watched. However, I will record again on Monday, and I can provide then. Just let me know where to find the client log and I will put together all the file tomorrow. Dan
I found the instructions for the remote log. I’ll pull together the files requested. Dan
Dave,
I cannot enable on a Roku Ultra. I cannot find the menu referenced in the doc below:
Enable Remote Logging : Enable remote logging on your Roku, which is found under Settings > Advanced > Logging > Remote .
Any guidance to enable on a Roku Ultra, hidden menu perhaps?
Dan
This is from within the Plex app while you have it open. user button -> settings -> advanced -> logging: Remote
I gave this a try and unselected MPEG2. I thought it was going to work, as I was able to fast forward several shows without issue. However, when it came to the NBC News again tonight, I was able to fast forward a couple times, but when I did a third, it re-started the whole video again. I was able to fast forward back to where I was, so it wasn’t a complete loss, but this setting does not seem to completely eliminate the restart problem.
@cabersc sorry to hear. I’ve had no more incidents since turning off “Enable MPEG2” but now I’ll pay close attention; if I see it happen again I’ll report back.
I am not finding this location in the web app:
.
Just to confirm, the issue is when using a remote to skip on a Roku Ultra, the program restarts to the beginning. I did find that there are hidden menus on the Roku, there are 6 interesting logging options, 1. Log theme info, 2. Log File System Info, 3. Log Config info, 4. Log JWT info, 5. Start verbose logging and 6. Start verbose service logging.
