Video problems (including Roku/Chromecast/etc)? Get in here!

Hey all,

We have a few scattered topics about various video player issues which I wanted to try to consolidate into one. Apologies if you’ve been having troubles with video lately! We are working with a fair amount of variables which make tracking down issues a bit problematic: your troubles might be related to a new video player, the device you're using, or our attempts at streaming in 1080p/60fps at the high end of the quality spectrum, or your route to Akamai, or etc.

One of the major issues seems to be involving set-top solutions like the Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV, and so on. It looks like a lot of these devices are having issues with the higher-quality HD streams that we've been running lately. We've been working on a way to change the bitrate that some of these devices get from the site and will hopefully make some progress on that this week. We'll be starting with the Roku and will be trying to look at the rest of the devices you all use after that. In the meantime, you may want to try to reduce the quality settings on these videos in these players if you have the option to do so or watch them directly on the site. Sorry for the trouble.

If you’re having issues, giving us the following information and answering a few questions will help us track this stuff down:

• What kind of issue are you running into?:
• Any specific videos where it’s occurring?:
• Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?):
• Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?:
• If not, what extensions are you running?:
• Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Did this help your issue?:
• Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Did this help?:
• What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?:

https://whatismyipaddress.com/

Sorry for the questionnaire, but getting a lot of specific information will help us to track down the issues that we're looking at.

As of a couple days ago videos on my Roku run at half speed, while the audio plays regularly. On my phone and PC, everything is fine, this is just for the Roku app. I wanted to test streaming at lower quality, however there are no options for this. I reduced my Roku output to 720 but I believe the app still streams the HD version and knocks it down to 720. Older videos work just fine, however everything from "GBE Playdate: [The Real] Super Mario Bros. 2" is the first that causes this issue and every video since has the same problem when I try to play them. The app is fully up to date. I've tried deleting and reinstalling, as well as fully restarting my Roku with no success. My IP address is:

Hi Rory

The three videos I tried were double dragon quick look, this weeks unprofessional friday, and the latest game tapes. In all, the video reset after 9 seconds, and it was like I never started it. Could not get past the nine second mark. I tried in incognito and turned of the Hola extension and it did not work. I set the video quality to low, and now have no issues. I am using the Chrome browser in an Acer Chromebook from 2013. IP 142.165.161.79

Edit: New videoplayer made the problems dissapear. All streams are watchable now on my devices.

What kind of issue are you running into?: On my android tablet (samsung galaxy tab 3 lite) livestreams from GB east will play for 2 seconds, and then the video freezes while the audio plays on. Every refresh, the video will play for 2 seconds and then freeze again. Streams from GB west played fine and any youtube streams as well. Haven't checked if GB west's new setup works. This might just be a case of the tablet being too crappy to handle GB's 1080p streams, but i'm not certain. Youtube 1080p streams tend to work.

Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: Livestreams from GB east

Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Chrome, have tried other ones (Firefox, Dolphin)

Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?: yes

If not, what extensions are you running?:

Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Did this help your issue?: The media player on my tablet doesn't give any quality options (no HD / SD buttons) .

Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Did this help?:

What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?:

This might just be a case of my tablet being too old to handle 1080p streams, but it does handle 1080P youtube streams.

Occasionally when resuming a video after browser close using HTML 5 player the playback will resume but then start skipping by 1 second or microskipping every couple of seconds. Only solved it by switching to a different player for that session. Doesn't happen every time either. Sorry this is vague but I can't be more specific than that.

Windows 10 64bit. Latest version of chrome, present in the last 3 or so versions. Adblock and Ghostery were enabled but giantbomb was whitelisted for both.

On Firefox, running adblock plus. Using the html5 video.

When I resume playing a video after pausing (as opposed to leaving the page and resuming it via cookies), the feed becomes stuttered to where it is practically a slideshow. I assume this is all videos at the moment, but the specific ones I've noticed it on are this weeks Blue Bombing, UPF, Game Tapes, and the Double Dragon 4 ql.

I still have this issue with my extensions turned off. It does seem to fix itself if I switch the video quality, while the video is playing.

What kind of issue are you running into?: Stuttery video when casting video to my Chromecast Gen 2

Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: All of the recent 1080p60 content

Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Giant Bomb Video Buddy app and Chrome. Chrome Browser only.

Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?: yes.

If not, what extensions are you running?: N/A

Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Did this help your issue?: N/A

Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Did this help?: It helps when I switch to High

What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?: 2605:e000:1316:ae:b1a4:35fb:c1ef:84fe

What kind of issue are you running into?: Videos skip

Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: UPF 2/3/17 timestamp 1:34:30 among many other places.

Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Chrome, Firefox. Does NOT happen in Microsoft Edge

Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?: Yes

If not, what extensions are you running?: n/a

Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Yes Did this help your issue?: Yes, no skip occurs in Progressive. Only HTML5 skips.

Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Yes Did this help?: Yes, issue only occurs on HD or situations where Auto is using the HD stream

What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?: 24.144.29.224 This is personally identifying info, you know, @rorie

Perhaps coincidentally, these spots in last week's UPF are some of the same places where the audio was cutting out during the live stream. Perhaps the issues are related?

You can watch GB videos in VLC if you are a premium member. Just copy the download URL and use that as a network stream. Good way to see if it's a browser problem or not.

I'm pretty sure my problems are because my internet is slow. :(

Having the same exact issue on my Acer Chromebook. My desktop running Windows 10 on Chrome browser works fine, but not my Chromebook.

What kind of issue are you running into?:

Mostly the issue that there’s no reliable way to watch videos on an Apple TV without it being hard. It should be easier. The unofficial Video Buddy app just stops the video randomly and continues after a while. Watching it through my browser works flawlessly. However, there used to be a chromecast button in Safari. I have a Chromecast as well, so being forced to use it wasn’t that big of a problem, since I just have to switch the channel to my Chromecast. This button has now disappeared, forcing me to use Chrome. However, in Chrome, the button is still there, but the video suddenly starts playing in slow motion, with the audio going faster than the video. It’s unwatchable now.

What I’m now doing is using my iPad to airplay the videos to my Apple TV. It’s also kind of annoying, since I have to go through these steps to cast to my Apple TV:

• Open Safari.
• Click Airplay to clone my whole iPad screen to the TV (not what I want).
• Press play on the video.
• Fullscreen the video, so it actually fullscreens the video instead of showing my iPad screen
• Press picture-in-picture on my iPad so that I can still use my iPad, otherwise it’s unusable.
• Press the sleep button - causing the video to stop on my tv
• Press play on the Apple TV remote so that the video continues

This seems to be the most reliable way to watch video content on my television.

I don’t know if it’s that easy, but just putting an Airplay icon on the videos, like the Chromecast button, would be fantastic.

Issue I am experiencing is that all videos using html 5 will play for a few seconds and then shut off. This is on Chrome on my Chromebook. I've tried it in incognito mode, as well as switched to progressive, neither works. The unofficial android app on the same device works fine (although HD video doesn't function) so I'll just use that for now while I'm on the go.

What kind of issue are you running into?:

Audio way out of sync on videos via Roku 3, model 4200X.

Any specific videos where it’s occurring?:

The most recent ones - haven't tried them all, but UPF and Beast in the East for sure.

Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?):

They work fine in the browser - problem seems restricted to Roku.

One other note: I believe we have the app installed directly from your site rather than from the Roku channel store due to a previous app issue we had.

one tip for regular viewing stutter is to turn off hardware acceleration in chrome settings

What kind of issue are you running into?: Audio desync when streaming to Chromecast from my phone

Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: Game Tapes #5, UPF 2/3/17 are the only 2 I've tried so far.

Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Chrome

Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?: Yes

If not, what extensions are you running?:N/A

Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Did this help your issue?: not able to on mobile site unless I'm missing something

Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Yes, tried HD and High. Also tried the "Download" link. Did this help? No

I have some skipping problems with my Chromecast but it might be because I am far away from my router. I'll test it out later today. I have a 1st and 2nd Gen so I will report back any problems.

Videos no longer play on IOS 10.2.1 using Safari, just get constant "loading video" message on everything.

Videos are unwatchable in chrome now 100000s of dropped frames. Firefox drops no frames

Chromecast 1st Gen worked on High but not on HD. Chromecast 2nd Gen did not work on High or HD. The video would stutter. I can't tell if this is my internet or with the files, my Chromecast was right next to my router. Tested with the last UPF and Game Tapes.

Also tested Airplay to 3rd Gen Apple TV and it works flawlessly. It looks so sweet in 1080p60.

I was having stuttering issues on my gen 2 Chromecast using the Giantbomb Video Buddy App in HD quality setting. I checked wireless strength, and even bought an HDMI extension so I could move the Chromecast device away from the wall and TV. This increased the signal strength from 45% to 73%, but it was still stuttering on the newest GB East and West Videos. Tonight I went and picked up a Chromecast Ultra, plugged into TV without moving away from the back of TV or Wall and all videos play fine with no stuttering. Makes sense now the Chromecast 1 & 2 simply don't have enough processing power to handle 1080/60.

Videos on my PC still stop and load for a few seconds after playing for 5-15 minutes with no issues. This happens on HTML 5 and Progressive HD. At times I will be well into a video(45 min - 60min) and the video will pause to load then play a few seconds, then pause again to load. This will happen continuously until I refresh the page and it plays fine then. I know it's not hardware based as I am only using 20% of RAM and running a 6th gen i7. Sometimes if the video keeps pausing, I will run a speedtest to make sure it's not me and I'm pulling 25 Mbps down. Given every other video service runs without issue, my suspicions point to Akamai.

Ever since you guys moved to the new video player, the videos will randomly just stop playing for me and act like the video was complete. So even when I reload the page and hit play, it won't resume from where it left off and I have to manually move the slider. Sometimes it won't happen at all in a 2 hr video, and sometimes it will happen every 15 minutes. It doesn't feel consistent. It happens in both Firefox 51.0.1 and Chrome Canary 58.0.2999.0 (and the last several versions since they update it pretty frequently). My OS is Windows 10. My IP address is 72.187.201.26.

I'm having this exact issue except I can only make it 10-15 seconds in a video at a time usually. The video player also seems to skip a second every 5 seconds or so. I'm having to download all the videos to watch them currently. This happens in both HTML 5 and Progressive at all qualities. Youtube works fine.

Since the upgrade I've been having the following problem with 100% consistency.

Windows 10, Chrome. No incognito mode, no extensions. Work internet so the speed is very good.

Any video I watch (I am a premium member so it's a mix of free and premium). It plays for a short amount of time (seconds to a few minutes) and then gets stuck trying to buffer. I get the spinning wheel of death until the page ultimately crashes. Setting it to lower quality seems to have no effect. I've just been switching over to the Youtube version where available and that fixes the issue.

EDIT: Ooh I am also having the "skipping" issue other people are. You get the spinning wheel for a split second and it appears to jump 2-3 seconds ahead. If the video is somehow playing without buffering, it does this instead.

Thank you for making this topic!

• What kind of issue are you running into?: Audio not synced. Off by 3-10 seconds and seems to get worse the longer the video is played. Audio is typically running ahead of the video.
• Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: Yes. Started with GBE livestream archives about 2 weeks ago (Blue Bombin', Playdate, This is the Run, ect...) Then GB West stream archives starting with the 1080/60 stream and UPF that week. Now the problem persists on almost all videos this week except for the 2 Giant Bombcast videos (premium and non-premium.)
• Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Roku 3 and GB App (latest build intalled from Roku channel store)
• Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?: N/A
• If not, what extensions are you running?: N/A
• Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Did this help your issue?: N/A
• Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Did this help?: Yes. All qualities have the same issue.
• What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?: 2600:8801:db00:67:513a:746c:7b5e:af86
• Speedtest: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/6037194960

I guess i'll give better details

• What kind of issue are you running into?: Constant dropped frames and pausing of new videos
• Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: The 1080p ones
• Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Windows 10 Chrome has the issue, firefox drops no frames both browsers on 64 bit
• Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?:Yes
• If not, what extensions are you running?:Google mail, google calendar, google translate, adblock plus(premium member), chromecast and speedtest
• Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Did this help your issue?: No
• Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Did this help?:No
• What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?:Not sharing. Spectrum 100mpbs plan

Chrome (57.0.2987.37 beta (64-bit))

When I skip back in a video, it skips by half a second about once every five seconds for a while. Thinking it's a buffering problem because it ends up going away after a few seconds.

well i got some wierd issue with audio. its pretty low. and if i watch quicklook on youtube audia volume is fine.

• What kind of issue are you running into?: Audio on my Roku Stick is out of sync and videos seem to stop occasionally and have to reload by itself or I will have to manually restart it. Seems like the video is playing slower than the audio.
• Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: Most videos I've tried since This is the Run - Part 9 I've tried about 5 of them and they've all had this issue.
• Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Giant bomb roku app. Not having the issue on my mac with Safari.
• Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?: No problems on Safari.
• Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Did this help?: Tried just using the regular stereo audio in the tv, but that didn't do anything. Tried changing the roku to just do 720p, but that didn't seem to help anything
• What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?:2601:84:301:b23b:51d:9ae1:803c:1774

I have been having the same issues as other people with the recent videos on my Chromecast 2 when using the Video Buddy or Luchadeer apps.

HD quality - Constant video and audio stuttering

High quality - Some video stuttering / moderate audio stuttering

Low quality - no issues

I tried 2G and 5G Wifi and got the same exact results. I then bought the Chromecast 2 ethernet adapter from Google and still got the exact same issues.

The issue seems to be with the Chromecast 2 and older devices not being able to keep up with 1080p/60. Someone in an earlier post mentioned that they bought a Chromecast Ultra and that the issues were gone. This pretty much confirms that the issue is the hardware not being able to keep up, although it doesn't quite make sense considering that I can watch Youtube videos at 1080p/60 with no issues.

Could the problem be that the codec used by GB doesn't work as effienctly on Chromecast? I previously used my Roku 3 and had the video audio desync also related to the bump up to 1080p/60. Is GB using a bitrate that is too high compared to other services? Either way, this has to affect 90% of people who use Roku or Chromecast devices to watch their GB content. Very few people have the latest and greatest Roku Ultra or Chromecast Ultra. My point being that GB has to find a solution because most people will most likely not buy a new device just to stream GB content.

Roku 3 owner here. Having same issue as everyone else — video plays slow, but audio is normal thus desynced. I noticed it around the time of the 1080/60 change a few weeks back.

I'm no programmer, but I think a temporary fix might be forcing streaming players to fetch videos only at 720p, a format that always worked on these machines.

I have the second generation Roku stick and am running into the same Slow Video/Regular Speed Sound issue.

Edit: Videos pre-60fps upgrade work as normal.

I'm seeing the same issues on the Roku streaming stick, both through the GB app and through the Plex channel.

However, if I'm using Plex and force the video to be transcoded (and disable direct play), I can watch the same video on the Roku streaming stick fine.

Anyone else having issues watching on Safari on IOS? Videos haven't played in weeks now.

Just in case it helps anyone,

I download the videos locally onto a plex server and them stream them. Works fine on laptop (linux: firefox) and xbox one but was recently getting massive audio sync options on my raspberry pi (Raspberry Pi 3 - Model B), tried just mounting my nas and running one of the files and had the same issue.

Started downloading the "high" quality videos and everything works fine so I assume its just that my little pi can't handle it, seems like a good excuse to upgrade to me :).

Not sure if this problem has only just appeared recently -- it could be that it's just been awhile since I tried watching Giantbomb content via my Chromecast.

I start a video (archived in this example) in my browser (Chrome) on a laptop, then click on the gear icon in the new video player and click the "Cast" button. My Chromecast loads for a second like it would from any video source, then just goes to a default blueish screen with the "cast" logo centered. The video never loads, and my browser behaves as if it is casting to the device with no issue. Seems to only be affecting Giantbomb videos, as general browser tabs/Netflix/etc. are all streaming just fine to my Chromecast.

I don't have a Chromecast but I do watch GB content through the PLEX app on my 2014 Samsung Smart TV, and that has the exact same Roku problems everyone has here with me not being able to change video quality and just "pulling what's there." So every video is now 1080p 60fps causing every video to get stuck in buffering after 30 or so seconds. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! HELP! SOS! Thanks.

So a rundown

2014 Samsung Smart TV (UE55HU7500)
PLEX App
Buffering problems, video stuck in buffering after every 30-40 or so seconds.

Cheers.

Audio gets real choppy and video seems to slow down on Chromecast 2. Have been experiencing this for about 2 weeks now. Streams will play fine sometimes for about the first 30 seconds and then it becomes almost slow motion

html 5 version crashes router(net gear c3700) on Comcast network. progressive seems fine and mobile works on my network too. Cromecast also crashes router.

I'm using an AppleTV 4th gen [A2625 (32 GB)] with the current OS, tvOS 10.1.1 (14U712A) with the Giant Bomb app downloaded off the app store. Since the player change, videos have been unwatchable through my AppleTV. They constantly pause to buffer every minute or so. I do not have this problem on my PC using Chrome. I've been watching videos through the AppleTV's YouTube app for the meantime, but I don't have access to the premium content there as I do through the Giant Bomb app. Now, I also have access to an Amazon Fire TV box and it had the same problem when I allowed it to stream "HD" quality. If I bumped it down to "High" quality, it went away. To the best of my knowledge, the AppleTV 4th gen version of the app doesn't let me chose the quality of the stream.

• What kind of issue are you running into?: Low, background hum or buzz throughout the entire video
• Any specific videos where it’s occurring?: The latest UPF (2/10/17). This is the only video Ive found it on.
• Browser where issues are occurring (have you tried another one?): Chome. Same thing in Firefox and Edge.
• Are the issues the same in incognito mode or when you disable extensions?: Yes
• If not, what extensions are you running?:
• Have you tried switching from HTML5 to Progressive streaming? Did this help your issue?: Yes, it did not help
• Have you tried switching from Auto quality to one of the other options? Did this help?: Yes, it did not help
• What’s your IP address (in case it’s an Akamai issue)?: 205.178.27.86

Hey Rorie, just wanted to post an update. I am currently watching this week's UPF on my Roku Stick and it looks great. Thanks for all the work you've been doing, I'm sure all this updating has been equal parts exciting and stressful. I'm glad to be able to dive into new content from the past couple weeks!

Just dropping by to let you know about my issue on Roku 3: audio plays normally, but the video appears to "lag" behind significantly, seemingly running at half rate. Older videos work fine, but as others have mentioned around the time of the 60fps conversion, videos thereafter appear to be problematic for streaming. Player/app are updated, and forcing lower resolution streams does not solve this issue.

Best of luck finding a solution! The Roku is my main consumption route for your content, so fingers crossed for fix!

I'm having a strange issue where the I can't play any videos in the giantbomb channel for the plex app for the xbox one. I was able to play them fine from the plex channel in a chrome browser as well as in the plex app for the firetv. It seems to just be the xbox one plex app that's having authentication issues. (I know it's an authentication issue, because Jeff's deep baritone told me so in an error message)

EDIT: Also getting the error message in the androidTV plex channel. Can confirm that the fire tv plex channel is working fine

HTTPS Everywhere add-on on Firefox (51.0.1) seems to cause video player not load video player controls' icons. Controls are still there and can be used (if you know the location or read the hover text) but there are no icons other than running time. This does not happen on Chrome (56.0.2924.87). Workaround for the issue is to disable HTTPS Everywhere's rule on giantbomb.com. Not sure if this is something you can do anything about or if this is something add-on creator should work with.

Tested it with my standard installation and with clean portable installation of Firefox, both give same result.

E: This seems to have been fixed :)

For the last few weeks HD video has been stuttery and busted on every (new) video, both when using HTML5 and Progressive options. Whatever happened during the big recent switch really botched my video watching.

Viewing in current Chrome browser. I switched to firefox to see if it worked there and the video played marginally better, but the swirling "loading" wheel would never go away (which is a different issue, but still keeping me from that HD video).

Problem persists when extensions are off/in incognito.

HTML5 and Progressive HD streams have the same issues. I can view on "High" fine, but then it's not HD (obvs)

IP address: 2604:6000:64c0:4500:c44a:4498:9683:561f

Works fine on my iPad, for what it's worth.

This is probably an issue for the add on developer but on UPF you guys were asking for issues no matter how weird the set up, so i thought i'd mention it...

I watch a lot of GB content using the kodi plug in on my android smart tv.

Recently videos stopped working, this was able to be fixed by changing the default quality from "Auto" to "high" though, so all seemed fine. However it seems like 720p is still the highest resolution that the add on will play. I tried changing the quality settings again but the only options are "Auto", "high" and "low". Weird watching UPF where you guys go on and on about 1080p60 in 720p30 :(

FWIW: I used to be able to listen to the live bombcasts through my work's hefty firewall using the archaic as all hell browser they've locked us on (IE11), and that no longer seems to be the case. I press play and the circle goes around, while the premium button just sits there in the middle. I don't think it's necessarily an issue with HTML5 either, as YouTube (which I believe also is HTML5 based) works fine. Oh well!