Forum Discussion

thongkhin's avatar
thongkhin
Binge Watcher
5 years ago

Previous channel

This is just a suggestion. Couldn't find any other place to post.

It would be nice if ROKU would include a "previous channel" button on their remotes, like on other remotes (DirecTV for example) when you are viewing TV via a streaming source such as You Tube TV, FUBO, Hulu, etc.

Kind of a drag to be watching one channel and want to watch another one, scroll to it and when watching that channel want to go back to the original one you were watching but have to scroll through all the channels to get to it. If there was a "previous channel" button, you could eliminate a lot of scrolling.

Just a thought.

15 Replies

Replies have been turned off for this discussion
  • Jenwit21's avatar
    Jenwit21
    Reel Rookie
    4 years ago

    yes, we are watching football on the Spectrum app and it is annoying to have to go to the guide to return to a previous channel between games. A back or previous channel button like they have on the spectrum remote would be so great!

  • swany65's avatar
    swany65
    Reel Rookie
    3 years ago

    The fact that I spend time researching how to go back to a previous channel tells me how badly designed this remote is. It should be intuitive...it is not. I mean previous channel button has been a thing with remotes since inception of remotes. YouTube TV / Fubo / Spectrum apps all behave differently with the Roku remote. There should be guidelines Roku sets with these app to make things universal. Since they don't, it's a horrible user experience. Thanks Roku with your lack of structure. 

  • renojim's avatar
    renojim
    Community Streaming Expert
    5 years ago

    Each channel/app could implement that functionality itself.  It could use something like the * button on the remote.  I'm not sure having a "previous channel" button on the Roku remote would make sense.  In the Roku vernacular, a "channel" is an app.  Some people might like a button on the remote that switched back and forth from Netflix to Youtube or whatever, but that would just be one more button I'd have to rip out of the remote like those stupid partner buttons.

    • DHook's avatar
      DHook
      Reel Rookie
      4 years ago

      I would find it extremely helpful as I like to watch two games or two news stations at the same time and switching between now is a lot of button presses to do so.  Just having one button press to do it sure would be nice.  You know.....like modern TV's.

      • MilesT's avatar
        MilesT
        Roku Guru
        4 years ago

        Two roku connected to one TV on different HDMI ports might do it. 

        One using wireless remote (e.g. streaming stick), one with or remote e.g. express (cheap secondhand).

         

  • Dylio's avatar
    Dylio
    Newbie
    3 years ago

    Here is a hack that sort of works.  Go into manage channels and unselect the channels between the two you want to swap between.  Then channel up and down bottoms will switch between the two.  I do this when watching nfl on Sunday and want to easily switch between 2 and 11.

  • Froghos's avatar
    Froghos
    Reel Rookie
    3 years ago

    I have found that this function depends on the App to work.  With Spectrum TV you need to use the << button.  With DirecTV you need to use the up arrow to view "Recently watched" then press OK to select the last thing you were watching.  When you do this again it goes back.  I like this as I sometimes switch between 3 stations and this gives me the option to quickly do that.

    I will agree a "Previous" button to switch between "Channels" in Roku terms (Apps to everyone else) would be nice to have so I could switch between Prime and Hulu.  But that's not a huge issue with me.  Within TV Streaming though it is very important.

    • ScubaD1ver's avatar
      ScubaD1ver
      Newbie
      3 years ago

      The easiest way I have found to jump channels is to hit the down button twice and it will show your most recent channels. Use the directional arrow to select the channel you want to view than hit ok

      • DHook's avatar
        DHook
        Reel Rookie
        3 years ago

        That works fine.  Thanks for the tip.  Not quite as good as a "Previous" button but easier than scrolling through a lot of channels.  Thanks again.

    • beachinky's avatar
      beachinky
      Newbie
      3 years ago

      Thank you so much for sharing this information. I was going crazy trying to figure out way to get to last watched channel on Spectrum. << exactly what I needed to know.  It works!