Playback Restarts With Roku Devices When Resuming, Fast Forwarding, or Rewinding

Plex Players Streaming Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.18.6.2368
Player Version#: 6.4.10.6174

I have been noticing some issues when using a Roku device lately. I read a few similar threads and it appears these may all be related. The problem is consistently reproduced as long as you playback a file under the following conditions:

  1. Start Plex Channel as normal.
  2. Choose a video that has been partially watched.
  3. Choose to watch from the point you last exited.

This issue presents itself after about 2 minutes of playback. The video will pause and will exhibit buffering conditions. However, it’s not pausing due to buffering which is confirmed by the log file from the Roku client. It appears to be an issue in the stream which causes the client to terminate and restart the stream. Here is a snippet from the client log from within the Plex channel on the Roku:

2/16/2020 14:12:25.792 [mattdmeyer:845690cd-2436-5fc9-904d-746461c0602f] INFO (PlaybackMgr) Player state changed to error (hasAd=false) 2/16/2020 14:12:25.795 [mattdmeyer:845690cd-2436-5fc9-904d-746461c0602f] ERROR (PlaybackMgr) Failed to play media! errorCode: -3 errorMsg: An unexpected problem (but not server timeout or HTTP error) has been detected. errorInfo: {roAssociativeArray} category: mediaplayer clipid: 0 dbgmsg: buffer loop exception:Chunk estimation overage factor has grown too large - 2.00:extra:clip_id:0:source:buffer:loop: errcode: 0 ignored: false source: buffer:loop:

Additional Notes: This issue does NOT occur if a video is started from the beginning and watched without interruption. It only presents itself when a video is resumed. This has been reproduced on a Roku Ultra and a Roku Streaming Stick.

Also worth noting, if you start watching from the beginning but then fast forward to the location last viewed, the same behavior is seen.

Similar threads that may be related:

I can collect more logs if needed.

Additional notes. I’ve disabling DirectPlay/Direct Stream and forced transcoding on the server. It’s plenty fast to keep up. The logs show it’s transcoding at 10x speeds. I’ve also enabled thumbnail previews on this library. I’m not sure either have any bearing on this, but worth mentioning.

2

I just enabled remote logging to collect more client logs.

3

I have the same issue with Plex Tivo app and Samsung app

4

@mattdmeyer did this issue ever resolve itself? I’m now experiencing the same problem.

1 Like
5

I have seen a similar behavior using my Roku but only in the last 2 or 3 weeks, possibly after upgrading my Media Server. Whenever I reposition my playback using the fast forward, rewind, left or right buttons there is about a 50% chance that the playback will reset to the start. This can occur whether I use the OK button or the Play/Pause button to resume play after repositioning during playback. I’ve been using the Roku without any such issues for many months but the last 2 or 3 weeks have definitely surfaced the problem for me as of today 6/11/2020.

6

I can second this, almost exactly the same experience. Since I primarily use Roku to watch DVR recordings and skip past commercials, this has really reduced the usability of my setup. Is there some way we can raise the visibility of this?

7

This was addressed today, a few hrs ago, with an update to the official Plex channel.

8

That is excellent news! Thanks

9

That’s great to hear. I’ll download the upgrade this evening and give it a test run. Thanks!

10

This is still happening to me on Roku. I’m updated to the latest 6.6 build 2 according to the app.

1 Like
11

My TCL Roku TV had updated to 6.6.2 also and I had the problem too, no fast forward or rewind on recorded content. I uninstalled the Roku app on my TV and reinstalled it and that fixed my problem. HTH

12

I had the similar issues with the playback resetting to beginning about 50% of the time when I would fast forward or rewind a Plex recording starting a couple weeks back. I fixed this by putting a SD card into the slot of both of my Roku devices over the weekend. I am not sure if there was not enough storage on the Roku to properly buffer after this latest update or a different reason, because I took the SD card out of the one player and the problem is still gone. Maybe the Roku offloaded some data to the SD card and now has enough space (temporarily) on the Roku.

If this solution helps one other person it is worth me posting. Help it helps.

13

My Roku Streaming Stick+ is still having issues with Fast Forward/Rewind. And I am unable to resume playback from previous time mark.
Like @Paiadave said, this is only happening on recorded content. I tried similarly to remove and reinstall and no change.
Roku Streaming Stick+: 9.3.0 build 4172-50
Plex Server: Version 1.19.5.3112
Plex App: 6.6 Build 5
I tried the Plex Preview app and still have the same experience.
Plex Preview App: 6.6 Build 7

Any ideas about this issue?

14

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.