Mnale and RokuDanny-R,
UPDATE
Roku engineering got in touch with me and they have a good handle now on what's causing the issue. It appears it does it when connected to some older 1080 TV's. They are actively seeking a solution, I'll report back when I have more info.
Roger
It's odd that they think it has something to do with "older TV's" when we know in fact that the Roku Ultra can display 720p properly no matter what the TV - but only temporarily as outlined in this thread.
Model - 4662RW - Roku Ultra LT
Serial - YJ0093669279
Software - 11.5.0 Build 4312-46
Device ID - 046179669279
TV - LG UH6030 / Software Version 5.70.35
The other details have been well documented in this thread by myself and others.
Can confirm same issue (noticing watching playoffs on ESPN and ABC in 720P). Two different Streaming Stick + units on older Samsung 1080Ps. Completely powering off both Roku and TV and ensuring first channel selected out of gate on YouTube TV is 720 rather than 1080 fixes it (until you go to a 1080 channel and make the problem crop up again). Hope there is a firmware fix.
The two TVs are:
Samsung LS26TDNSUV/ZA and
Samsung UN55D6000SFXZA
Of note, when it works, it looks a LOT better. The LS26TDNSUV/ZA live display of ESPN on ABC looks better than my brand new desktop w/ a GTX 3060 Ti powering a 4K screen.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
As a follow up, I have decided to move on to different streaming device. The poor quality Roku Ultra 720 picture is a too much of a deal breaker for me. I'll continue to check in to see if they will ever fix this, but until then, I have purchased a great streamer at less than half the price with much faster performance... and of course no 720p issues. Good luck everyone.
Happens with Spectrum Channel as well. If you turn on Fox News (720 p channel) it’s pixelated, change to a 1080p channel and the picture is fine. Power cycle the Roku Ultra open the Spectrum Channel and turn it to Fox and the picture is good, change to a 1080p channel then back to Fox News and it’s pixelated.
I think Roku finally fixed this.
They did extensive testing on numerous TV's in their lab. It's the format of the final output (as dictated by a TV) that triggers the glitch.
issue has been at least since November of 2022, it worked fine before and youtube is fine on everything else.
in the youtube app the following happens:
if i set roku display type to 1080 and watch 720 content on a freshly power cycled roku it's fine till you watch 1080 content then watch something below 720 is now pixelated instead of run through a quality resizer/upscaler. you can still watch 1080 fine but anything below is pixlated.
problem is someone missed a line of code in and update around 11/22 that only seems to happen when the display type is set to 1080, watching 720 content after watching 1080 content.
workaround 1 : buy a 4k tv as it works fine at that display type.
workaround 2: set 720 display type but then everything is 720 or below so gotta decide what you hate more, pixelated 720 or everything 1080 now 720 and below.
workaround 3: don't use a roku
my model roku ultra 4670x bought new in 2019 for $100 with 11.5.0 build 4312-46 youtube 2.22 build 110005090 connected via the integrated 100mbit ethernet on 300mbit internet
i can confirm the delete, unplug, plug in, reinstall and restore to factory defaults don't fix it.
Funny thing is could be happening with all other content but how would you know, most pay services you’re not doing under 1080.
all I watch on my Roku is stuff I pay for and YouTube.
this is a pic of what it looks like, it shows the video itself is 720 but the tv is displaying it at 1080 and that the video is very pixelated.
not the best picture but look at how smooth the text is vs how pixelated the corn is.
the roku is upscaling which makes sense you wouldnt want the tv changing resolution for every short video cause its slow. but the roku is currently using a poor quality upscaler, it is a bug.
I too noticed pixelated corn after my morning cup of coffee.
Sorry, that's my inner Peter Griffin coming out 😉
Roku engineers are working on it, haven't heard back in a while. It's a bug triggered when Roku is connected to some older 1080 TV's.
Hi Community users,
Thanks for the posts regarding the pixelation that you are experiencing during channel playback.
We would be more than happy to look further into this issue, but we will need more details. Can you please provide us the following information:
Once we have this information, we will be able to pass it along to the appropriate Roku team to investigate further. We look forward to hearing back your responses.
Thanks,
Danny
Hi Mnale
Thanks for responding and providing us with your device information.
Please be aware that I have passed along your concerns and details to the appropriate Roku team to investigate further. Once more information is available, I'll be sure to update this Community thread.
Your patience and understanding in the meantime is much apprecaited.
Thanks,
Danny
Hi Community users,
Thanks for your patience while we continue to investigate the issue being reported.
If possible, can you please provide us with a video illustrating the issue you are experiencing so we can better understand what you are seeing?
Once we have this information, we will be able to pass it along to be looked into further.
We look forward to hearing back from you to assist us with this issue.
Thanks,
Danny
yeah i noticed it with spectrum channels as well, very frustrating.
FYI - an easier fix within YoutubeTV is to (1) make sure it does not automatically start playing last channel (and risk starting w/ a 1080 channel) - this is under settings. Then, (2), rahter than a full shut-down can restart Roku within the settings options. Do not need to reset TV.
Still no fix from Roku 🤷♂️
