Cannot FF or REW with Roku Media Player

Hi Petr. I'm running v1.6, and any files, transcoded or not, will not FF or REW playing through the Roku Media Player. I can only pause video files. Is there another player I should be using with Roku that is more compatible with Serviio? Cheers.

[atc98092]

From my use of Roku, and from what I've heard from Roku support, the player doesn't seem to support trick play, which is what they call FF and rewind, unless the files are in applehttp (HLS) format. The current Roku profile transcodes into .TS, and the only containers that are not transcoded are MKV, TS and MP4. Also, if the video inside those containers are MPEG2, they are still transcoded.

So, if your video is in the proper container and uses H.264 video, you should be able to FF/rewind. Almost any other container or video codec will force transcoding to TS, and you lose the function. You could change the profile to use HLS instead of TS for transcoding, and I believe that will restore your ability. I'm currently working on a profile specific to the Roku 4, since it supports H.265 without transcoding.

So, exactly what sort of video are you playing? Container, audio and video codec? It may be transcoding even when you think it's not.

From my use of Roku, and from what I've heard from Roku support, the player doesn't seem to support trick play, which is what they call FF and rewind, unless the files are in applehttp (HLS) format. The current Roku profile transcodes into .TS, and the only containers that are not transcoded are MKV, TS and MP4. Also, if the video inside those containers are MPEG2, they are still transcoded.

So, if your video is in the proper container and uses H.264 video, you should be able to FF/rewind. Almost any other container or video codec will force transcoding to TS, and you lose the function. You could change the profile to use HLS instead of TS for transcoding, and I believe that will restore your ability. I'm currently working on a profile specific to the Roku 4, since it supports H.265 without transcoding.

So, exactly what sort of video are you playing? Container, audio and video codec? It may be transcoding even when you think it's not.

Thanks @atc98092. A file example of container, audio and video codec are listed below. When I was using the Buffalo Linkstation with Roku Media Player, trick play worked just fine. The Linkstation didn't transcode either. Running this same file through PlayOn server using Roku Media Player, for example, trick play is available.

General
Unique ID : 171055760141470836403274120282350949150 (0x80B0241C9D919F51B6DBF202AA2E131E)
Complete name : \The.Real.Housewives.of.Beverly.Hills.S06E10.Backwards.In.Heels.1080p.BRAV.WEBRip.AAC2.0.x264-BTW.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 1.27 GiB
Duration : 43mn 24s
Overall bit rate : 4 204 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2016-02-03 18:03:28
Writing application : mkvmerge v7.6.0 ('Garden of Dreams') 64bit built on Feb 8 2015 13:04:34
Writing library : libebml v1.3.1 + libmatroska v1.4.2

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 43mn 24s
Nominal bit rate : 4 096 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.082
Writing library : x264 core 120
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=6 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=0 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=8 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=150 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=abr / mbtree=0 / bitrate=4096 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : A_AAC
Duration : 43mn 24s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Frame rate : 43.066 fps (1024 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Text
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

[atc98092]

I just tried it with two videos that may (or may not) have required transcoding. They were both MP4 containers with AVC video (1 HD and 1 SD), one had AAC audio and the other AC-3. Neither would allow trick play. This is using a Roku 2 XS firmware 7.0. I'll try to remember to try the Roku 4 this evening to see if either one will trick play on it. The 2 XS is really underpowered for HD video, so perhaps the 4 will fare better. Both will be using my modified Roku 4 profile not included with Serviio. I've stripped out almost all of the transcoding. The only part left is to support MPEG2 video, which no Roku supports other than a Roku TV.

I just tried it with two videos that may (or may not) have required transcoding. They were both MP4 containers with AVC video (1 HD and 1 SD), one had AAC audio and the other AC-3. Neither would allow trick play. This is using a Roku 2 XS firmware 7.0. I'll try to remember to try the Roku 4 this evening to see if either one will trick play on it. The 2 XS is really underpowered for HD video, so perhaps the 4 will fare better. Both will be using my modified Roku 4 profile not included with Serviio. I've stripped out almost all of the transcoding. The only part left is to support MPEG2 video, which no Roku supports other than a Roku TV.

I have an HDMI Roku Streaming Stick, not the Roku 4. Were these tests done using your own profile for Roku 4 in Serviio? I found your code in another post for the Roku 4 profile you have written, and I tried to add it to the Serviio Profiles file, but it wouldn't show up in the available list of profiles in Console. Is there a trick to adding profiles the "profiles" program file? Right now I'm using the "Roku Media Player" profile, and no luck with trick play. I noticed there was a Chaneru profile, but haven't tried it, as I do not have Chaneru set up as a channel in Roku.

Following a few different posts on this forum, I figured out how to update my Profiles .xml file to include the correct lines for trick play using the Roku Media Player renderer with my HDMI Roku Streaming Stick. Thanks to @atc98092, @DenyAll, and @scrambler for helping me figure it out! This code seems to have enabled trick play on MP4 files only, however, and not MKV. Surely, there must be a way to also fix it for MKV files, as they are natively supported by Roku Media Player. Any help with the xml/profile would be appreciated. Cheers.

Following a few different posts on this forum, I figured out how to update my Profiles .xml file to include the correct lines for trick play using the Roku Media Player renderer with my HDMI Roku Streaming Stick. Thanks to @atc98092, @DenyAll, and @scrambler for helping me figure it out! This code seems to have enabled trick play on MP4 files only, however, and not MKV. Surely, there must be a way to also fix it for MKV files, as they are natively supported by Roku Media Player. Any help with the xml/profile would be appreciated. Cheers.

Issue resolved alas! I hadn't heard back from anyone, but I remembered atc98092 mentioning the Chaneru profile in an earlier reply. I thought that profile would only work with the "Chaneru" app on Roku, but figured why not give it a try. Under "Status" in Serviio Console, I edited the automatic profile assigned to the Roku Streaming Stick, which was "Roku Media Player". I changed it to Chaneru, and saved changes. Voila! I am now able to trick play (FF and REW) both .mp4 and .mkv files (tested with both file types), which are pretty much the containers for all videos I play these days. I'm clearly no expert at these Serviio profiles, but I would think from this experience that the "Chaneru" profile should replace the "Roku Media Player" profile for this reason, or at least make changes to the "Roku Media Player" profile to add the trick play that is possible with the "Chaneru" profile. Thanks to this forum, its members, and Petr for making Serviio THE BEST dlna media server, hands down! Cheers.

Following a few different posts on this forum, I figured out how to update my Profiles .xml file to include the correct lines for trick play using the Roku Media Player renderer with my HDMI Roku Streaming Stick. Thanks to @atc98092, @DenyAll, and @scrambler for helping me figure it out! This code seems to have enabled trick play on MP4 files only, however, and not MKV. Surely, there must be a way to also fix it for MKV files, as they are natively supported by Roku Media Player. Any help with the xml/profile would be appreciated. Cheers.

Issue resolved alas! I hadn't heard back from anyone, but I remembered atc98092 mentioning the Chaneru profile in an earlier reply. I thought that profile would only work with the "Chaneru" app on Roku, but figured why not give it a try. Under "Status" in Serviio Console, I edited the automatic profile assigned to the Roku Streaming Stick, which was "Roku Media Player". I changed it to Chaneru, and saved changes. Voila! I am now able to trick play (FF and REW) both .mp4 and .mkv files (tested with both file types), which are pretty much the containers for all videos I play these days. I'm clearly no expert at these Serviio profiles, but I would think from this experience that the "Chaneru" profile should replace the "Roku Media Player" profile for this reason, or at least make changes to the "Roku Media Player" profile to add the trick play that is possible with the "Chaneru" profile. Thanks to this forum, its members, and Petr for making Serviio THE BEST dlna media server, hands down! Cheers.

Sorry to revive this old topic, but I have just bought myself the Roku HDMI Streaming Stick (2016 version), and I seem to have all the problems mentioned on this forum. So if you could get in touch on exactly how you fixed all your stuff, I would be forever in your debt. My issues are as follows:

Scenario: Using the Roku Media Player channel, and using the Roku Media Player profile in Serviio.
My HDMI Streaming stick is plugged into a Samsung UA40EH5300 Smart TV, and then the TV is connected to my Samsung HT-4500K BR player via Optical cable (SPDIF). I have searched high and low, and it seems my TV is not capable of 5.1 Dolby passthrough to my BR player, which means all sound gets passed on in PCM, not Dolby Surround. (That is problem number one btw). Although both these Samsung smart devices can natively play Serviio and is connected via LAN, I would rather like to use the Roku, as the user interface is much better than that of the both the TV and BR player. And the device itself is much faster in getting to the content.

1) All .avi files play without a hitch, but none of my newer .mkv files gets any sound. (I presume that is because of above-mentioned issue of passthrough etc.) One option seems to select the downmix all audio to stereo option in Serviio itself, but that defies the purpose of the BR player, and would create a sucky experience.

2) The seek (trick play) options are also not working.

Here is info gathered via ffmpeg -i filename:

  Code:

ffmpeg version N-79160-gb73c271 Copyright (c) 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
  built with gcc 4.8 (Ubuntu 4.8.4-2ubuntu1~14.04.1)
  configuration: --prefix=/home/me/ffmpeg_build --pkg-config-flags=--static --extra-cflags=-I/home/me/ffmpeg_build/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/me/ffmpeg_build/lib --bindir=/home/me/bin --enable-gpl --enable-libass --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-nonfree
  libavutil      55. 19.100 / 55. 19.100
  libavcodec     57. 32.100 / 57. 32.100
  libavformat    57. 29.101 / 57. 29.101
  libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
  libavfilter     6. 40.102 /  6. 40.102
  libswscale      4.  0.100 /  4.  0.100
  libswresample   2.  0.101 /  2.  0.101
  libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'filename.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : libebml v1.3.1 + libmatroska v1.4.2
    creation_time   : 2016-06-07 03:18:47
  Duration: 00:42:04.65, start: 0.083000, bitrate: 2911 kb/s
    Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.95 tbc
    Metadata:
      BPS             : 2462151
      BPS-eng         : 2462151
      DURATION        : 00:42:04.648000000
      DURATION-eng    : 00:42:04.648000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES: 60531
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 60531
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 777008199
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 777008199
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP: mkvmerge v8.4.0 ('A better way to fly') 64bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v8.4.0 ('A better way to fly') 64bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC: 2016-06-07 03:18:47
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2016-06-07 03:18:47
      _STATISTICS_TAGS: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
    Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 448 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      BPS             : 448000
      BPS-eng         : 448000
      DURATION        : 00:42:04.608000000
      DURATION-eng    : 00:42:04.608000000
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES: 78894
      NUMBER_OF_FRAMES-eng: 78894
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 141378048
      NUMBER_OF_BYTES-eng: 141378048
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP: mkvmerge v8.4.0 ('A better way to fly') 64bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP-eng: mkvmerge v8.4.0 ('A better way to fly') 64bit
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC: 2016-06-07 03:18:47
      _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC-eng: 2016-06-07 03:18:47
      _STATISTICS_TAGS: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
      _STATISTICS_TAGS-eng: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES

I have never edited a profile in serviio, so a total newbie to that. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated!

[atc98092]

The main issue is trick play on a Roku players seldom works correctly if the file is transcoded. Since the Roku supports so few media codecs and containers, that can be an issue. The only sure fire video formats that don't require transcoding are the MKV or MP4 (and I think MOV) container, H.264 or MP4 video, and AC3 or AAC audio. The Roku 4 also supports H.265, and the Roku TV will play videos with MPEG2 video codec.

Try the Chaneru profile, as it transcodes to Apple HTTP, and seems to be the only transcoding format that will sometimes allow trick play functionality.

Oh, I should also add that until the Roku 4, no player would support a bit rate higher than around 14 Mbps. I haven't been able to find out of any of the newest models (like your new Stick) is any better.

Following a few different posts on this forum, I figured out how to update my Profiles .xml file to include the correct lines for trick play using the Roku Media Player renderer with my HDMI Roku Streaming Stick. Thanks to @atc98092, @DenyAll, and @scrambler for helping me figure it out! This code seems to have enabled trick play on MP4 files only, however, and not MKV. Surely, there must be a way to also fix it for MKV files, as they are natively supported by Roku Media Player. Any help with the xml/profile would be appreciated. Cheers.

Issue resolved alas! I hadn't heard back from anyone, but I remembered atc98092 mentioning the Chaneru profile in an earlier reply. I thought that profile would only work with the "Chaneru" app on Roku, but figured why not give it a try. Under "Status" in Serviio Console, I edited the automatic profile assigned to the Roku Streaming Stick, which was "Roku Media Player". I changed it to Chaneru, and saved changes. Voila! I am now able to trick play (FF and REW) both .mp4 and .mkv files (tested with both file types), which are pretty much the containers for all videos I play these days. I'm clearly no expert at these Serviio profiles, but I would think from this experience that the "Chaneru" profile should replace the "Roku Media Player" profile for this reason, or at least make changes to the "Roku Media Player" profile to add the trick play that is possible with the "Chaneru" profile. Thanks to this forum, its members, and Petr for making Serviio THE BEST dlna media server, hands down! Cheers.

This totally solved my same problem. Switch from 'Roku Media Player' renderer to 'Chaneru' under 'Status' tab of Serviio. Happy FF/REW/Resume Playback people.

[atc98092]

As an aside for people with Roku players. Something has changed recently when attempting to transcode videos with HD audio. Applehttp format isn't working, so the Chaneru profile doesn't work, and the Roku profile either plays for a while before giving an error or causes the Roku to reboot. It is unknown if the problem is with ffmpeg, Serviio or the Roku firmware. The issue is being investigated.

There's no problem at all with SD video, or HD video that does not have HD audio as the default track. I took a video with TrueHD as the default track and instead made the AC3 track as default, then played the entire movie with no issues.