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Roku failing to play audio on some files while other clients will


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I'm starting here with the Roku section because it only happens on Roku devices for me. Confirmed to happen on multiple models of Roku as well.

 

Essentially, what I've narrowed it down to is with Emby mobile for Android and web browser, the file will play fine. VLC will also play the file, for reference. But Roku will give a video playback with no audio. When I turn on the Stats for Nerds, I see that the Transcoding Buffer is at -7213% and the playtime shows a negative value as well, which leads the playback progress bar to be full, even though it's playing the beginning of the file. If I rewind to the beginning and then just fast forward a split second, the audio will start playing.

 

Here's a pastebin showing the file info from ffmpeg. The first file (with more output) is a functioning file on Roku and all other devices. The second file is a non-functioning file on Roku, but functioning on all other devices. - https://pastebin.com/eEzP3KSY

 

Here's a pastebin of the brief transcode for the broken playback - https://pastebin.com/UKrRN70G

 

Happy to provide anything else if needed.

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1.    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 1280x720 [sAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.95 tbc (default)

       Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: eac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, fltp (default)

       Stream #0:2(eng): Subtitle: subrip

 

2.    Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (copy)

       Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (eac3 (native) -> aac (native))

 

It looks like the Roku believed it could play EAC3 (Dolby Digital+) on the TV at first. Then the 2nd one transcodes the audio to AAC.

 


Convert Multi-channel AAC: NO

 

Converts multi-channel AAC audio to Dolby for full surround

 

You need to change the Convert Multi-Channel AAC option to YES. It looks like the HDMI cable may have been changed to a new device while the Roku was turned on. This can confuse it.

 

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That fixed it. The input never changes, but the tv does turn off and the roku stays on, so maybe that is enough to confuse it. Either way, it's working now. Thanks!

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That fixed it. The input never changes, but the tv does turn off and the roku stays on, so maybe that is enough to confuse it. Either way, it's working now. Thanks!

 

Firmware updates while you are AFK (away from keyboard [iRC terminology]) (think of AFK as the Roku remote not used and input not on the Roku) will let the Roku auto-update itself without waiting for an answer. What this means is if the Roku is on another input that is not active it knows it cannot ask if you want to update the firmware. It will wait 24 hours for you to come back and answer YES or NO to that question before it will assume YES.

 

The only time this differs is if you used the Roku secret menu to revert firmware or rollback firmware to previous versions it will break auto-update. Anyone who uses revert/rollback will need to update to a present firmware to receive auto updates again. This is all by design. Anyone who revert/rollback cannot get future app or firmware updates until they update firmware to a present version. Again, by design.

 

So what likely happened is your device got the newest 9.2.x firmwares while it was on an input not active. It remained not active for 24 hours(you were AFK from your Roku) after it got this new firmware signal. It auto-updated itself and rebooted. It saw no activity over HDMI during handshakes so assumed all audio codecs were capable. This means DTS would've also produced silence for you.

 

You are probably using AUTO for your "HDMI audio" settings on your Roku. If you change this from AUTO to what your exact audio capabilities are this will help. Choose Stereo or Dolby. If this is a RokuTV model they of course do not have an "HDMI audio" setting as there is no HDMI from the Roku to the TV. The RokuTV will not suffer this problem as a result.

Edited by speechles
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