Roku TV ECP commands & power state

Oh - i forgot to mention but during my wattage testing yesterday i discovered a bug in Roku's iPhone app:

Pressing the "power" button (upper-left corner of the nav.bar) when RokuTV is off (i.e. 0W mode) crashes the app.

Roku* guys, please relate that to your mobile app developer.
I am not surprised it wasn't discovered by QA, since it happens in particular circumstances (app connected to RokuTV, TV network shut down after at 10+ mins of screen off, only then pressing Power in the app). It's a crash bug regardless and it happened w/o me forcing it.

I've also been investigating the Power Save screensaver; that seems to do nearly everything I want as the screen does power down (no light, even at night) but the WiFi remains active.

Would adding a command to the ECP to trigger the screensaver (if there isn't one already; I don't know if the screensaver gets an app ID you can "launch") be more possible?

The power saver screensaver does in fact have an ID. You can see it by browsing here (replace the IP with the IP of your Roku TV):

http://192.168.0.159:8060/query/screensavers

The ID of the screensaver is "screensaver_backlight", as shown here:

<screensaver id="screensaver_backlight" selected="true">Power Saver</screensaver>

However, it cannot be launched by an ECP call, because it lacks a Main() function. All that the Roku devs would have to do to make this work is add the following code to the channel and update it:

Sub Main() 
    RunScreenSaver()
End Sub

Can Roku comment on the possibility of adding this?

As for the Energy Star argument, I don't see how it holds water. If Roku offered the power saver scrensaver as an alternative "off" option (which was not set by default), the TV could still qualify for Energy Star compliance. As it stands, this screensaver state is already an option (which draws more power than deep sleep mode), but it is just an inconvenient one that requires you to wait a few minutes before it turns on. Offering a way to immediately put the TV in this screensaver mode instead of waiting would in no way preclude the TV from being considered Energy Star compliant.

Adding the ability to launch any screensaver via ECP might be a nice addition. I don't know how many people would use it, but I know I've wished I could send my box to screensaver immediately on a few occasions.

-JT

Bumping this because I now have a Roku/TCL TV and I really wish I could send it right to power save mode via the screensaver or some other method. Right now, it takes about half a dozen button presses to "preview" the screensaver.

-JT

Any word on this from Roku guys? It's one line of code that would be super useful.

Would like to add my interest in this. The lack of ability to turn on my 55” HiSense Roku TV via IP is what has stopped me from buying a second one for my house. I measured my TV and it uses 67 watts on and 17 watts in light sleep mode. This is really too much as it seems light sleep mode does a lot of things other than just listen on Wi-Fi. To make up for this missing functionality I end up buying the iTach WF2IR which is an always on Wi-Fi device that sends IR. This device uses 2 watts.

It may be that just some hobbyists are asking for this feature now, but the connected home is becoming a reality and Roku TVs will fall behind if they don’t build it into their design. Also it is unbelievable that the relatively new roku 4 does not support CEC control like Chromecast does. Ignoring home automation/internet of things could be the reason Roku loses its top spot in streaming, getting passed by someone who is looking towards the future.

I could not agree more.

This is unacceptble. And the roku power button on the mobile app should say "Off only"