Stuttering after pause

[user84 54]

I think I previously posted on this but can't find it. And it has been a very long time. 

 

When I pause media on Roku, then replay, the media stutters, sometimes multiple times. Sometimes I need to stop and restart the get the stuttering to stop.

This has been an issue since I started using Roku. I shifted back to Firestick, partially because of this issue, and I'm a bit disappointed it hasn't been resolved yet. 

What can I do to make it stop?

[Luke 43542]

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

[user84 54]

24 minutes ago, Luke said:

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

I'm happy to do that, but I did it previously. Any chance you have my old post so I don't have to do it again, only to find out it isn't fixable?

[user84 54]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

 

Hi there, let's look at an example. Please attach the information requested in how to report a media playback issue. Thanks!

 

Decided to go ahead and share the logs. I sent the Roku log, and the server log is attached.

Mainuser

5:44pm

Played, then paused "Say Anything."

After pressing play again, the movies stutters.

embyserver.txt

[ebr 17031]

@user84please also provide the ffmpeg log(s) from that playback.

[user84 54]

8 hours ago, ebr said:

@user84please also provide the ffmpeg log(s) from that playback.

@ebrSee attached. There were multiple files, so if this isn't it, let me know.

ffmpeg-remux-2a469332-f179-4691-bba1-077c34cbcbc8_1.txt

Edited October 5 by user84

[user84 54]

On 10/6/2026 at 12:55 PM, Luke said:

Hi, we are looking into this. Thanks.

Is it possible to move this to another thread? I feel like things have gotten a bit off the rails here. I'm using a Roku, not an Amazon fire stick. And my issue is pretty straightforward. No second devices involved, no other complications.

[ebr 17031]

I split that discussion out but I think the issues are probably related.  The Roku player is pretty simple and we don't have a lot of control over it.  Any issues with playback on it are most likely network or server-related.

[user84 54]

11 minutes ago, ebr said:

I split that discussion out but I think the issues are probably related.  The Roku player is pretty simple and we don't have a lot of control over it.  Any issues with playback on it are most likely network or server-related.

This is an issue that is specific to Roku. I had this issues years ago, then switched to Firestick to avoid it because it doesn't happen there. Now I have switched back to Roku because I can't handle the advertising on Firestick, and the issue still happens years later. You are smarter than me, but this doesn't seem to be an issue with my network or server specifically, since I had zero issues with it prior to switching back to Roku.

[ebr 17031]

Hi.  It is quite possible the two devices are playing the items differently.  It is also possible the devices' network connections are different.

Can you play the same item with both devices and provide details on that?  Assuming the issue occurs...

[user84 54]

1 minute ago, ebr said:

Hi.  It is quite possible the two devices are playing the items differently.  It is also possible the devices' network connections are different.

Can you play the same item with both devices and provide details on that?  Assuming the issue occurs...

By "devices" do you mean the Roku and the Firestick? If so, it never, and I mean never happened with the Firestick. Both were connected to the same network and wifi router on a 5Ghz network. Same files. Same computer hosting the server. Nothing different except the shift from Firestick to Roku.

[ebr 17031]

7 minutes ago, user84 said:

Nothing different except the shift from Firestick to Roku

Those are two very different devices and may, therefore, have been playing differently.  For instance, one remuxing and one direct-playing.  This would be a major factor.  But, without seeing the two specific examples I cannot say for sure that is true.

It also could very well be related to the Roku player and some particular content.  The Roku player is notoriously very intolerant of anything out of spec in the media.  The player we use on Android (Fire) is much more lenient and can handle anomalies better.

Or, it could be something at the server level that is only apparent on the Roku due to the method of playback.

[user84 54]

1 minute ago, ebr said:

Those are two very different devices and may, therefore, have been playing differently.  For instance, one remuxing and one direct-playing.  This would be a major factor.  But, without seeing the two specific examples I cannot say for sure that is true.

It also could very well be related to the Roku player and some particular content.  The Roku player is notoriously very intolerant of anything out of spec in the media.  The player we use on Android (Fire) is much more lenient and can handle anomolies better.

I understand. This is similar to what I was told when this happened previously. Essentially the messaging was "Roku doesn't let us make the app better, so it isn't very good." Is that still the messaging?

I am happy to keep troubleshooting, but if that's where this ends, it will just be a frustrating experience for me which I'd like to avoid.

[ebr 17031]

5 minutes ago, user84 said:

"Roku doesn't let us make the app better, so it isn't very good."

No, I wouldn't say that at all.  I'm just laying out possibilities.  Without a specific comparison with the other device I'm just guessing though.

I can't find anything in the logs you've provided that indicates an issue (doesn't mean there wasn't one - just that there isn't evidence of it).

[user84 54]

2 minutes ago, ebr said:

No, I wouldn't say that at all.  I'm just laying out possibilities.  Without a specific comparison with the other device I'm just guessing though.

I can't find anything in the logs you've provided that indicates an issue (doesn't mean there wasn't one - just that there isn't evidence of it).

These are the files just before and after the one I provided. The issue happened right at 5:44. 

ffmpeg-remux-ce3ba4ae-b088-4d0a-8998-81ca84448d89_1.txt ffmpeg-remux-8537acf0-5ccf-438d-8633-bf4350d4a3da_1.txt

[ebr 17031]

3 minutes ago, user84 said:

The issue happened right at 5:44. 

Not sure how scientific that time is but your original log ended at 5:43:50 and the others are outside of that timeframe.

Assuming the issue was near the end of the first log, I don't see anything that sticks out but the item is remuxing.  Seeing if the exact same item direct plays on the Fire would be interesting.

[user84 54]

1 minute ago, ebr said:

Not sure how scientific that time is but your original log ended at 5:43:50 and the others are outside of that timeframe.

Assuming the issue was near the end of the first log, I don't see anything that sticks out but the item is remuxing.  Seeing if the exact same item direct plays on the Fire would be interesting.

The time should be spot on. At least, that's what my echo show showed when it happened. But it was paused for a few minutes before. So the sequence is: Pause, play, plays for a bit, stutters. So I don't know how long it was paused, but the shuttering happened at 5:44 on my clock.
 

Assuming the remuxing is the issue, any way I can get this to direct play on Roku?

[ebr 17031]

1 minute ago, user84 said:

Assuming the remuxing is the issue, any way I can get this to direct play on Roku?

No but that is also a big assumption at this point.

You said it was paused for a while.  Does this only happen after a long period of pausing?  How long?

[user84 54]

Just now, ebr said:

No but that is also a big assumption at this point.

You said it was paused for a while.  Does this only happen after a long period of pausing?  How long?

I can't be sure. I will say that when I try to make it happen, it never does! That means, when I pause for a short time, it doesn't happen. So I would suspect at least 60 seconds?

[ebr 17031]

1 minute ago, user84 said:

I can't be sure. I will say that when I try to make it happen, it never does! That means, when I pause for a short time, it doesn't happen. So I would suspect at least 60 seconds?

Okay, that is probably a very important clue because this could be the way the Roku player deals with that situation.  Looking back at your app log it looks like you were paused for about 5 minutes.  I still don't see any playback errors in the app log it looks like it just continues on after that.  It could be related to the remux actually finishing while you were paused...

[ebr 17031]

14 minutes ago, user84 said:

Assuming the remuxing is the issue, any way I can get this to direct play on Roku?

Actually, in this particular case, if you had a stereo audio track in this item, it would probably direct play.  

[user84 54]

33 minutes ago, ebr said:

Actually, in this particular case, if you had a stereo audio track in this item, it would probably direct play.  

Here's the server log, playing the same file on Firestick at around 12:05.

Naturally, many of my files are surround sound. Are you saying that Roku is unable to Direct Play any files that are surround?

embyserver.txt

[ebr 17031]

Yep, the Fire is direct playing the item so not involving the server or ffmpeg.

2 hours ago, user84 said:

Are you saying that Roku is unable to Direct Play any files that are surround?

It is unable to play AAC in anything over two channels which is true of most devices but many of them will automatically mix them down.  If this were DD instead it would play fine on the Roku.  This item has a 5.1 AAC track and that is what is causing the remux.

[user84 54]

20 hours ago, ebr said:

Yep, the Fire is direct playing the item so not involving the server or ffmpeg.

It is unable to play AAC in anything over two channels which is true of most devices but many of them will automatically mix them down.  If this were DD instead it would play fine on the Roku.  This item has a 5.1 AAC track and that is what is causing the remux.

Just so I understand... Firestick can directplay this, Roku can't, and Emby settings have nothing to do with this. Is this correct? I just want to make sure I understand properly.

So do I need to rip my files differently? Or is this considered a limitation of Roku? What can I do to fix this?

And more importantly, is this the reason why the video is stuttering?

[speechles 2130]

Quote

Say.Anything.1989.1080p.BluRay.x265-RARBG

That is the problem. I knew it when you said you had that stuttering issue. I went man, I wonder if this is those RARBG encodes that do not follow standards? Low and behold it is. This release group does not follow standards required for streaming playback. They encode as if you have the entire file on your hard drive and are playing with something that can load the entire file at once. They put chapters at the end, use lots of embedded tags, and other nonsense. My advice is run anything from RARBG through MKVToolNix GUI and correct these at that point. Then these will play correctly. Are all the others you have issues with also from RARBG?

 

 

 

Edited October 9 by speechles