Sound issues streaming MP4 files to NowTV box

[Anonymous User]

We have two NOWTV Roku devices in our house. The first is the smaller Roku3 4200SK and the second is a more recent NOWTV Smart Box (Roku 4500SK).

We have a NAS box with a large collection of MP4 files, which we stream to the two NOWTV boxes using the PlayTo Roku app on various phones, tablets, etc. However, some of these MP4 files play silently when streamed to the 4200SK device. They stream fine - with audio - to the 4500SK. Both devices are using the same Wi-Fi connection and are accessing the same file. In the past we had the 4200SK device in the same location that the 4500SK is now, so the physical location is not the issue, and neither is the Wi-Fi.

On closer inspection of the files being streamed, I've noticed that the ones that fail on the 4200SK *are* different from those files that work fine with audio on that device. This is the format that fails to play the audio:

Audio Bit Rate: 447Kbps

Audio Channels: 6

Audio Sample Rate: 48kHz

The files that play - with sound - on the 4200SK are as follows:

Audio Bit Rate: 128Kbps

Audio Channels: 2

Audio Sample Rate: 48kHz

Apart from having to re-encode hundreds of files to the latter format, is there anything that can be done to resolve this? Is there a reason why the 4500SK is far more tolerable of audio formats in MP4 files than the 4200SK?

[schnapps]

@Anonymous User

Never used the Roku PlayTo App, but have you tried deleting the app then reinstalling the app back on again on the box which is effected ?

Also perhaps try a forced software update on the box as well following this linked guide below.

http://help.nowtv.com/article/Other-app-not-working-NOW-TV-Box

Hopefully somebody from the community who are more familiar with the PlayTo App will provide you some further assistance.

Also might be a good idea to jump over to the Roku Forum to see if anybody has encountered this issue where somebody may have posted how to fix it.

[Anonymous User]

I've forced the device update (it was up-to-date already) but it made no difference. At least I can cross that off the list of things to try. I'll see if I can find a Roku forum to ask the question as well. Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂

[Andy]

@Anonymous User

You don't specify the exact details of the file formats that don't play but they are files with surround sound. If they are encoded AAC5.1 then the Roku 3 doesn't support them.

Another possibility is that some file formats are not decoded internally by the Roku but are passed through to the TV and/or amp to decode, so the TV your Roku 3 is connected to may not support playback of those formats. You'll know if this is the case by swapping boxes and trying the Smart Box on the TV instead.

[Anonymous User]

The same TV has been used with both boxes. MP4's that play fine on the NOWTV Smart Box (4500SK), play silently on the same TV via the NOWTV box (4200SK). Disappointingly, this means that there is a difference between the two that means the 4200SK device won't play MP4's encoded with 6 channel audio whilst the 4500SK will.

I have quite a few MP4s and the prospect of re-encoding them with different audio settings isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to doing! 😞

[Andy · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous User

Worth just checking your Roku 3 audio settings are set to surround, if it does support the format it should then pass-through the file to the TV correctly. If however you've been encoding in AAC5.1 I think you will be out of luck though as Roku 3's don't support that.

You've got a couple of alternatives to re-encoding I can think of. First off, obviously you could get another NOW TV Smart Box - Argos are selling them at half price and if you already subscribe to Ent or Cinema then the voucher they comes with makes it effectively free. However your Roku 3 is obviously more flexible than a NOW TV box in terms of apps available so you might not want to do that.

You could also look at installing the Plex app on your Roku and then streaming the files to your Roku using a Plex server on a computer instead. This should work by transcoding the files on the fly assuming you have a suitably fast computer you can use to run the server and do the transcoding. Whilst in theory this should work I don't run such a setup myself, so you might want to ask a few questions over at the Plex discussions board to check how well it works in practice.

[Anonymous User]

I did try a wide variety of different sound options on both TVs I've tested this out on, without any success. It looks like the 4200SK just doesn't like 6 channel (5.1) within an MP4 file, whilst the 4500SK has no such problems. Such a shame there's no way to fix that on the device itself.

I am most likely going to get another NOWTV Smartbox (4500SK) and replace the older, smaller 4200SK. Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂

[SeeMoreDigital]

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@Anonymous User wrote:

The same TV has been used with both boxes. MP4's that play fine on the NOWTV Smart Box (4500SK), play silently on the same TV via the NOWTV box (4200SK). Disappointingly, this means that there is a difference between the two that means the 4200SK device won't play MP4's encoded with 6 channel audio whilst the 4500SK will.

I have quite a few MP4s and the prospect of re-encoding them with different audio settings isn't something I'm particularly looking forward to doing! 😞

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The last time I checked... The NOW TV 'black' box was able to play the following: Audio, video and container formats

Cheers

[Anonymous User]

When you say 'black box', which are you referring to? My small 4200SK NOWTV is a black box, and so is my much newer (and physically bigger) 4500SK NOWTV Smartbox. The 4200SK does not like 5.1 (6 channel) contained in an MP4 file, but the 4500SK has no problems at all.

As someone else has mentioned, it would be less painful for me to just buy another 4500SK (especially as they are now half-price), although I did copy across, transcode the audio, copy back and test one MP4 file  and with the newly transcoded 2 channel stereo, the amended MP4 file played fine on the 4200SK device so that *could* be a solution if I had (a) the time, and (b) the patience to do it on a few hundred files! 😉