# Videos don't play anymore on the Roku box

**URL:** <https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/videos-dont-play-anymore-on-the-roku-box/1694>\
**Category:** Archived\
**Tags:** roku-developer-program\
**Created:** [April 6, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/videos-dont-play-anymore-on-the-roku-box/1694 "2011-04-06T14:20:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![florin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/91b2a8/32.png) [@florin](https://forum.developer.roku.com/u/florin)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.developer.roku.com/t/videos-dont-play-anymore-on-the-roku-box/1694/1 "2011-04-06T14:20:23Z")

</div>

Hello,

After the Roku box firmware updated to Firmware 2.9 build 1553 I am no longer able to play on Roku videos that were previously playing. Can anyone tell me please what properties should have a video in order to play on Roku? What exactly has changed with the new update that prevent previously playing video to play anymore on the Roku box?

Example of video that used to play on Roku before and doesn’t play anymore:

General  
Complete name : C:\Documents and Settings\Florin\My Documents\Downloads\video-25505.mp4  
Format : MPEG-4  
Format profile : Base Media  
Codec ID : isom  
File size : 47.6 MiB  
Duration : 5mn 10s  
Overall bit rate : 1 285 Kbps  
Encoded date : UTC 2011-03-17 15:06:24  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-03-17 15:06:24

Video  
ID : 1  
Format : AVC  
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec  
Format profile : High@L4.0  
Format settings, CABAC : Yes  
Format settings, ReFrames : 6 frames  
Codec ID : avc1  
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding  
Duration : 5mn 10s  
Bit rate mode : Variable  
Bit rate : 1 200 Kbps  
Width : 1 056 pixels  
Height : 720 pixels  
Display aspect ratio : 16:9  
Frame rate mode : Constant  
Frame rate : 24.000 fps  
Color space : YUV  
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0  
Bit depth : 8 bits  
Scan type : Progressive  
Bits/(Pixel\*Frame) : 0.066  
Stream size : 44.1 MiB (93%)  
Writing library : x264 core 107  
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=6 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy\_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed\_ref=1 / me\_range=21 / chroma\_me=0 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast\_pskip=1 / chroma\_qp\_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced\_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained\_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=0 / keyint=300 / keyint\_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra\_refresh=0 / rc\_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1200 / ratetol=3.3 / qcomp=0.70 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip\_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00  
Language : English  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-03-17 15:06:25

Audio  
ID : 2  
Format : AAC  
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec  
Format profile : LC  
Codec ID : 40  
Duration : 5mn 10s  
Bit rate mode : Variable  
Bit rate : 93.2 Kbps  
Channel(s) : 2 channels  
Channel positions : Front: L R  
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz  
Compression mode : Lossy  
Stream size : 3.45 MiB (7%)  
Language : English  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-03-17 15:06:25

Curiously a video ability of playing on Roku can be influenced only by changing the audio bit rate:

Video that plays on Roku:

General  
Complete name : C:\Documents and Settings\Florin\My Documents\Downloads\video-1181.mp4  
Format : MPEG-4  
Format profile : Base Media  
Codec ID : isom  
File size : 3.31 MiB  
Duration : 2mn 26s  
Overall bit rate : 190 Kbps  
Encoded date : UTC 2011-04-05 13:55:06  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-04-05 13:55:06

Video  
ID : 1  
Format : AVC  
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec  
Format profile : High@L4.0  
Format settings, CABAC : Yes  
Format settings, ReFrames : 6 frames  
Codec ID : avc1  
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding  
Duration : 2mn 25s  
Bit rate mode : Variable  
Bit rate : 128 Kbps  
Nominal bit rate : 49.0 Kbps  
Width : 640 pixels  
Height : 480 pixels  
Display aspect ratio : 5:4  
Frame rate mode : Constant  
Frame rate : 24.000 fps  
Color space : YUV  
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0  
Bit depth : 8 bits  
Scan type : Progressive  
Bits/(Pixel\*Frame) : 0.017  
Stream size : 2.22 MiB (67%)  
Writing library : x264 core 107  
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=6 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy\_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed\_ref=1 / me\_range=21 / chroma\_me=0 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast\_pskip=1 / chroma\_qp\_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced\_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained\_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=0 / keyint=300 / keyint\_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra\_refresh=0 / rc\_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=49 / ratetol=81.6 / qcomp=0.70 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip\_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-04-05 13:55:06

Audio  
ID : 2  
Format : AAC  
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec  
Format profile : LC  
Codec ID : 40  
Duration : 2mn 26s  
Bit rate mode : Variable  
Bit rate : 60.0 Kbps  
Channel(s) : 2 channels  
Channel positions : Front: L R  
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz  
Compression mode : Lossy  
Stream size : 1.05 MiB (32%)  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-04-05 13:55:06

The same video as above (encoded at a different audio bit rate) does not play on Roku:

General  
Complete name : C:\Documents and Settings\Florin\My Documents\Downloads\video-1182.mp4  
Format : MPEG-4  
Format profile : Base Media  
Codec ID : isom  
File size : 4.35 MiB  
Duration : 2mn 26s  
Overall bit rate : 249 Kbps  
Encoded date : UTC 2011-04-05 14:02:45  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-04-05 14:02:45

Video  
ID : 1  
Format : AVC  
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec  
Format profile : High@L4.0  
Format settings, CABAC : Yes  
Format settings, ReFrames : 6 frames  
Codec ID : avc1  
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding  
Duration : 2mn 25s  
Bit rate mode : Variable  
Bit rate : 128 Kbps  
Nominal bit rate : 49.0 Kbps  
Width : 640 pixels  
Height : 480 pixels  
Display aspect ratio : 5:4  
Frame rate mode : Constant  
Frame rate : 24.000 fps  
Color space : YUV  
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0  
Bit depth : 8 bits  
Scan type : Progressive  
Bits/(Pixel\*Frame) : 0.017  
Stream size : 2.22 MiB (51%)  
Writing library : x264 core 107  
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=6 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy\_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed\_ref=1 / me\_range=21 / chroma\_me=0 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast\_pskip=1 / chroma\_qp\_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced\_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained\_intra=0 / bframes=0 / weightp=0 / keyint=300 / keyint\_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra\_refresh=0 / rc\_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=49 / ratetol=81.6 / qcomp=0.70 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip\_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-04-05 14:02:45

Audio  
ID : 2  
Format : AAC  
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec  
Format profile : LC  
Codec ID : 40  
Duration : 2mn 26s  
Bit rate mode : Variable  
Bit rate : 119 Kbps  
Channel(s) : 2 channels  
Channel positions : Front: L R  
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz  
Compression mode : Lossy  
Stream size : 2.08 MiB (48%)  
Tagged date : UTC 2011-04-05 14:02:45

I have also tried to change the numbers of Reference Frames (even with 1 reframe doesn’t play) and the keyframe interval from 300 to 200 but the videos still don’t play on the Roku box.

Please advise me what encoding settings should I use to allow all video to play on Roku (at this moment from 14 videos re-encoded using their default bit rates and frame rates only 4 played on Roku - frame rate doesn’t seem to be an issue because I have videos at 24 FPS that play on Roku and others at the same frame rate that don’t for example).

Thank you,  
Florin