Roku Crashing (full reboot)

[Erik 120]

Hi,

 

I have a Roku Ultra with OS 8.0 updated the other day and using the Emby Stable channel. When i have been watching live TV recordings, (.TS and Emby Server Dashboard shows Direct Streaming). Multiple times today, the video and audio freezes after some time (guessing about 20-30 minutes) and the entire Roku automatically reboots as if its a fresh power on. I have not seen this when using Netflix so I'm assuming its an Emby problem.

 

Thanks,

Erik

[Happy2Play 8242]

Can you post a server log.

[Erik 120]

I will as soon as it happens again. I did a server reboot to get clean logs (last logs where very big.

 

I know Emby roku app has a log, just couldn't find instructions on the proper procedure on the forum...

[ebr 14903]

I know Emby roku app has a log, just couldn't find instructions on the proper procedure on the forum...

 

Hi.  Under "Emby for Android TV/Fire TV and Roku Logs" here: How to Report a Problem

[Erik 120]

Thanks @@ebr

 

I havent managed to capture the events again. They only occurred during the same time i had the Roku thumbnails plugin running for the first time (took about 3 days) and i think that the files I was watching happened to also have been getting the bif file created and maybe the Roku didn't like that.

Hasn't happened since the task completed so I will consider that the cause for now.

[ebr 14903]

Okay, thanks.

[Erik 120]

Hi @@ebr

 

Just had the roku crash in emby again (not doing and bif task this time...)

 

I sent the roku log @10:58 EST. The user was "kids" and was playing "shrek". Got about 3-5 seconds in and the audio stopped, video froze and then the roku rebooted itself.

 

I sent the log right after the reboot (not sure if that helps as I can't send a log as the roku reboots without being able to get to send log...)

Edited November 25, 2017 by Erik

[ebr 14903]

Unfortunately, the log will show us nothing about the previous run of the app.

 

However, these cases are almost always firmware issues.  Has your device updated to 8.0 yet?

[Erik 120]

Ok, I thought that was how it worked. Yes it's on 8.0.

 

I am trying to log when it happens, its very rare (1x a week) so I am just trying to see what might be causing it.

 

I'm assuming roku doesn't have logs I can get at?

[speechles 1917]

If it crashes while the video is playing (and by crashing I mean, not back to homescreen but a full device reboot) it is caused by the firmware. The layer it is crashing on, is below what the app has access to. The kernel is crashing at that point, and the entire roku reboots. When this happens "in" the video player, there is little an app can do, as all you really get are events processed by the video player forwarded. You don't have access to these events before they occur and any way of overcoming them except to "force transcoding" which in the official app is done by lowering maximum bitrate until transcoding occurs. These problems are like ebr said "something in the water" and caused by the roku firmware. Not something the app can control, since all it can do is drink the water, not make water. Hope you understand...

 

Edit: Also, if these signals are broken in any way, like corrupted, they may not work through like they do on normal cable boxes. Any interruption in signal may result in interruption or reboot of the roku at those times and in that case its "something in the air" causing it. 

 

Is the roku using wifi or LAN? Not that it makes a difference, but using wifi might also introduce "something in the air" scenarios where packets can get lost and cause the reboots.

Edited November 25, 2017 by speechles

[Erik 120]

Thanks @speechless

 

Thanks for the great explanation. I was thinking more like maybe file/codec types I have causing the roku firmware to crash, I didn't think it was the app. But it's working great otherwise, so it's all good.

 

 

Thanks guys

[speechles 1917]

Thanks @speechless

 

Thanks for the great explanation. I was thinking more like maybe file/codec types I have causing the roku firmware to crash, I didn't think it was the app. But it's working great otherwise, so it's all good.

 

 

Thanks guys

 

It could be the file/codec, but the app is very, very, very, (insert 50 more very), very mature as far as knowing what the roku likes or doesnt about codecs and all the various inner bits of file headers. At the same time, the roku ultra is a new device and change does introduce unexpected things. One of those could be the device profile the app builds for the roku ultra needs adjusting. But at the same time, I myself have a roku ultra and had a personal interest in better the roku profile detection and spent hours/months time getting this squared away. On my roku ultrta, I only see device reboots when my network is having problems. The packets get lost as the router reboots and the roku sees the new network as different. This happens if your ISP has an issue, they might reboot your internet and the roku with its buffer, you may never have noticed it occured. Moments later when the buffer plays up to that point device reboots.. If the file was transcoding then the reboot will occur once the buffer plays up to that point (directstream is in effect transcoding in this case).. If it were directly playing it will get the retreiving bar and wait for router to come back and moment router does it resumes seamlessly.

 

Have you tried doing a system update? There is another update for the roku ultra to bring it up to 8.1 must be done manually. Perhaps after updating all this discussion is moot and it just works.. lol

Edited November 25, 2017 by speechles

[Erik 120]

Thanks again!

 

I just did the manual update, nice if there was a notification..... My network should be solid. All Unifi parts so there should be no issues there, but who knows. I'll see what the update does for the next bit.