Roku TV not playing next episode (500 episode limit?)

[doonze 30]

TCL Roku TV. Emby version 4.7.11.0. Roku app 4.0.75

This does not seem to be the other issue addressed in Beta 4.8

This seems to be series specific. And this is only on the Roku. Things are fine in Edge on my MAC, and on my Android Phone using the app. Kinda just sharing this as a weird 'scratching my head' issue. Watching One Piece. After S14E18 (episode 499) it no longer let's you advance to the next episode (forward and back buttons are grayed out). When it get's to the end of the episode, it drops back to the season screen. It's acting exactly like I had "play next episode" turned off. I do not. Other series are fine. Seasons 1-14 (till episode 18) were fine. They work normally if I go back and replay them.

It DOES know what the correct next episode is, as "next up" is correct. Looking at the info in Emby of the episodes that worked, and the ones that don't, they are exactly identical in every way according to media info. Also, if I go back 4 episodes, the "next episode" button is available and not grayed out (I stopped watching on S14E21 (502) to write this). It just acts like I've selected "play single episode" somehow. Does it if I click play in the app, or use the play button on the remote. 

It get's weirder. I've spot checked episodes all the way to season 21. 400+ episodes later. It's the same. So from episode 1-499, even going back and playing them again, all is fine. Starting episode 500+ it will only allow me to play one episode at a time. And stops between episodes. Tested from 500-903. Randomly chose about 10 episodes in that range to check. These episode are not all from the same source or format.

Is there some limit at 500? It stopped working at exactly episode 500 on Roku only. Like I said, the browser and android app will let you advance like normal. The forward button is available. And I've tested, on those platforms it also auto advances at the end of the episode like normal. Even above 500. This is a Roku only issue. Smells like some kind of background episode limit, but as Emby tracks by season and not anime episode # (S14E18 instead of episode 499 for example) I'm not sure why that would be. But that seems to be the case. I don't have anything else with over 499 episodes. Bleach is the closest with 366. So I can't test my theory. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by doonze

[doonze 30]

Also related but slightly off topic, didn't there used to be an option to show the series in "anime season format"? AKA 1-? without seasons? A lots changed since Media Browser, and maybe I'm remember something Couch Potato or Sonarr did. But I swear it used to be an option. Or am I smoking crack?

[GrimReaper 3308]

12 hours ago, doonze said:

Also related but slightly off topic, didn't there used to be an option to show the series in "anime season format"? AKA 1-? without seasons? A lots changed since Media Browser, and maybe I'm remember something Couch Potato or Sonarr did. But I swear it used to be an option. Or am I smoking crack?

Not without season but all in a single season, Season 1 - Edit Metadata>Display order: Absolute. But your folder structure needs to reflect that and TV show needs to be rescraped. 

Edit: As for Roku client app, not using so wouldn't know does it have a feature to display all seasons episodes flattened in a single season as AndroidTV client app does, even without Absolute ordering on series. @ebr

Edit2: No, it doesn't have All Seasons view. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by GrimReaper
Append

[doonze 30]

11 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Not without season but all in a single season, Season 1 - Edit Metadata>Display order: Absolute. But your folder structure needs to reflect that and TV show needs to be rescraped. 

Edit: As for Roku client app, not using so wouldn't know does it have a feature to display all seasons episodes flattened in a single season as AndroidTV client app does, even without Absolute ordering on series. @ebr

 

Thanks Grim, that's exactly what I was looking for. I think that's changed or moved over the years. Or not. Hard to keep track. However, when I imported I used Sonarr. I chose series type 'Anime' which I THOUGHT did absolute ordering. But either that's no longer an option in Sonarr, or you have to unclick "sort into seasons". I thought it used to do Anime as a single season, absolute ordering, when you selected Anime. But, whatever, I don't want to have to reimport 900+ episodes, creating thumbnails and skip intro again. So I'll leave it as is. (unless it's what has borked my "play next episode")

[GrimReaper 3308]

11 minutes ago, doonze said:

 

Thanks Grim, that's exactly what I was looking for. I think that's changed or moved over the years. Or not. Hard to keep track. However, when I imported I used Sonarr. I chose series type 'Anime' which I THOUGHT did absolute ordering. But either that's no longer an option in Sonarr, or you have to unclick "sort into seasons". I thought it used to do Anime as a single season, absolute ordering, when you selected Anime. But, whatever, I don't want to have to reimport 900+ episodes, creating thumbnails and skip intro again. So I'll leave it as is. (unless it's what has borked my "play next episode")

IIRC that's depending on how were your original files named, if you had them named SxxExx (or equivalent) then it wouldn't matter as they'd be imported into season folders regardless; if however you had them named by numbers only, i.e. One Piece 202, in Standard type that'd be S02E02 whereas in Anime type it'd be Episode 202 (or S01E202).

[ebr 14925]

10 hours ago, doonze said:

After S14E18 (episode 499) it no longer let's you advance to the next episode

Indeed that is strange.  We'll have to take a look.  Thanks for reporting.

[doonze 30]

Is there anything I can do to help? I don't think logs would be helpful, why I didn't include any. I think if there was anything interesting, it would be in the logs on the TV. I know this is REALLY niche, as there are very few shows with 500+ episodes (if that is in fact my issue) and only impacting one platform. I do run PLEX as I used to have a user who wanted PLEX, but I don't even know if I remember how to log into it. But I'll check if PLEX is hit by this too if I can figure out how to access it again.

 

EDIT: Plex works fine. (aside from being Plex). 

Edited February 15, 2023 by doonze

[speechles 1920]

21 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

Edit2: No, it doesn't have All Seasons view. 

Interesting. What an interesting idea. That is something that the Roku app should have if the other app on TV has it.

 

22 hours ago, doonze said:

Is there some limit at 500? It stopped working at exactly episode 500 on Roku only. Like I said, the browser and android app will let you advance like normal.

You are correct. The backdrop underlay (the image that appears before playback starts while the spinner shows) was causing a memory leak. We had to limit the app to prevent it from crashing due to memory constraints. We fixed that bug awhile ago and forgot to release these limits. Apologies. We will do something to correct this.

  

1 hour ago, doonze said:

Is there anything I can do to help?

I love the enthusiasm. On this issue we have found the cause.

But are there any other areas where you find problems with the app? Please open as many threads as you need for any new issues. That is really how you can help us the most. We want to know the "sore spots" so that we can focus our time better. Thanks again.

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by speechles

[doonze 30]

Thanks. Can you let me know here once the limit had been removed so I can test? 

I'll admit, I've been pretty impressed with the progress of both the Roku app once the Emby team took on serious development, and Emby itself. Since, well, always. I've been a lifetime supporter, what... 8 years now? 10? And a user from before it was Emby. And I used the other Roku app (Blue Neon?) from before there was an "official" app.  I loved Blue Neon, and let go grudgingly, but the unified experience across Roku, Android, and Theater is the way to go.

 

Now that I think of it, were you not the original developer (or one of them) of Blue Neon? I know it was community driven. I have some bells ringing about that. But I'm getting old, and I was not nice to my brain in the 80's and 90's. 

Sorry, I get long winded. There is very little I have to complain about with either the Roku app, or Emby itself. 99% of everything I've ever brought up over the years got fixed or added. The only thing Luke ever told me no on was exposing more info to the public API (for my Linux update script). And because of you, Erb, Luke, and the rest of the team, is exactly why I became a lifetime supporter and a die hard Emby fan. And why Plex has never got a cent from me.  

Just want to say thanks, and keep up the good work!!! I'm not shy about bugs and feature request, the fact I'm not on here more is a testament of just how good a job you all are doing!

[GrimReaper 3308]

12 hours ago, speechles said:

Interesting. What an interesting idea. That is something that the Roku app should have if the other app on TV has it.

AFAIK (unfortunately destined to be replaced) AndroidTV app is the only one that has it, and it does come useful on some shows. 

[doonze 30]

So, I noticed the Roku app updated to 4.0.78 for me tonight. Just dropping a pin in the fact I still have the 499 episode limit. I don't know if fixing the limit from the memory leak was in this update. The last release notes seem to be from 4.0.75 in January... (**cough cough** @ebr). But if it was, I still brok-ie. 

Edited February 25, 2023 by doonze
cause I'm dyslexic

[ebr 14925]

7 hours ago, doonze said:

So, I noticed the Roku app updated to 4.0.78 for me tonight. Just dropping a pin in the fact I still have the 499 episode limit. I don't know if fixing the limit from the memory leak was in this update. The last release notes seem to be from 4.0.75 in January... (**cough cough** @Erb). But if it was, I still brok-ie. 

Hi.  No that wasn't included as this is a little trickier than it appears.  We're still looking into it.

[ebr 14925]

@doonze please check your PMs.

[doonze 30]

Sorry @ebr, I haven't gotten a chance to install it yet. I will do it tonight and test.

 

[doonze 30]

Working in the beta link you sent me @ebr!!!  Woohoo!