Fire TV Stick 4K (Gen2) crashing upon playback of opus 7.1 audio?

[Intensiflying 1]

Hi there,

Recently I've been encountering issues with playback of Opus 7.1 audio on my Fire TV Stick 4K (2nd Gen).
I'm wondering if this is a known issue or if anyone else has experienced similar crashes. I haven't found any reports of this specific problem here.

Upon playback of videos with Opus 7.1 audio, my Fire TV Stick crashes entirely and subsequently restarts. This isn't limited to the Emby app, the entire Fire TV Stick crashes and restarts.
After pressing play, the buffer wheel may show for a second, followed by a freeze. Finally, the screen turns black and the Fire TV Stick restarts.
Unfortunately, the crash within the Emby for Android TV app happens too quickly to be able to use the send logs option. However, I've included logs from a sideloaded Emby for Android app, which also crashes during playback of opus 7.1 audio.

Further context:

• I've only observed this issue with AV1 videos containing Opus 7.1 audio. 5.1 audio seems to play without problems (all tested files had AV1 video in an mkv container).
• This issue recently emerged; I was previously able to direct play AV1 with Opus 7.1 audio successfully.
• Playback works flawlessly using an external player like MPV.
• The crashing files play without issues on my PC (both in browser and using media players like VLC).
• I've tested various Emby app versions, both for Android TV (from the Fire TV store and sideloaded, including Beta) and Emby for Android (Sideloaded), and the crashes occurred with every app tested.
• My Fire TV Stick is up-to-date with the latest software updates.
• Interestingly, there have been a few instances where the same 7.1 audio that caused a crash just minutes before then played successfully. Yet trying again a few minutes later would trigger another crash.
• The crash seems to occur regardless of which of my two servers I stream from (one running version 4.8.1.0 and the other on Beta 4.9.0.5).
• The emby for android log that includes the crash states that everying is supported (supported=YES) which is backed up by the fact that these same files had no problem direct playing previously and can be also still be played via an external player.

Emby server versions tested:
4.8.1.0 Stable
4.9.0.5 Beta

Emby for Android TV app versions tested:
2.0.98a
2.0.93a
2.1.07a Beta

Emby for Android app versions tested:
3.3.07
3.3.70
3.3.72

The crashing has occured on all versions I've tested.

Fire TV Stick 4K OS: Fire OS 8.1.03 (RS8103/2083)
Fire TV Home Version: 6500118.1

Media I've experienced having this issue: AV1 10bit video with Opus 7.1 audio in MKV format (1080p SDR)

If any more info is needed, please let me know
Thanks ~ Inten

embyserver log - fire tv crash at 15.06.14.txt emby_android_1709130874679 - Log With Crash.txt

[Intensiflying 1]

Sorry, I meant to say Emby for Fire TV not Android TV as i used the fire tv versions. I think i did also get a google version working but it had the same problem.

Edited March 4 by Intensiflying

[ebr 14913]

Hi.  If the entire device is rebooting, this is a very low-level crash - something outside the app and maybe even the player.  Have you tried re-muxing or re-encoding one of the offending videos?

[Intensiflying 1]

26 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  If the entire device is rebooting, this is a very low-level crash - something outside the app and maybe even the player.  Have you tried re-muxing or re-encoding one of the offending videos?

Yes, I have tried using differently muxed versions of the files, but have found no difference. I have tried re-muxing, adding a secondary 5.1 track for compatibility and even tried using MKClean to optimize the cues on the off-chance that was somehow a problem. I have files with 7.1 audio that i was able to playback without issue just a week or so ago, that no longer play and now just crash the app / Fire TV Stick. Suggesting if it is a muxing issue, it would have been an issue before?

I've also tried older emby apps with older exoplayer versions but the promblem still persisted. I've been checking for Fire TV updates daily on the chance it's an OS problem, but so far any updates have lead to no fixes.

I will do some more testing later today, and let you know of any useful results.

Thanks for hearing me out and any help is appreciated

Edited March 4 by Intensiflying

[Intensiflying 1]

!!! SOLVED !!!

After nearly driving myself crazy I seem to have found the very stupid problem.

I tried playing opus 7.1 with x264 video and it played fine, so then i tried AV1 with opus ranging from stereo to 6.1 and found that it just seemed to crash randomly even sometimes with 5.1 or below.

Then i noticed something, My flatmate had plugged the Fire TV Stick back into the wrong HDMI port after cleaning the other day... It was in the HDMI DVI rather than STB and wouldnt you know it, switching it back to STB solved the crashing problem... I can only really blame myself though as i should have noticed sooner haha

Im still not 100% sure why only some files would cause crashes when plugged into the HDMI DVI or why using MPV would also not trigger crashes. But hey, at least I know the fault now   Case Closed

[ebr 14913]

Interesting.  Thanks for reporting back.