Forum Discussion

MomBomb's avatar
MomBomb
Newbie
6 years ago
Solved

Are You Still Watching? - How can I stream longer than 4 hours on Roku TV?

I bought a Roku TV.  However, we sleep with the tv on.  The Roku and all apps beg the question “Are you still watching?” after 4 hours.  When it shuts off.. I wake up.  How do I disable this feature?...
9.2
Features
KMiler's avatar
KMiler
Binge Watcher
4 years ago

Likely because if no one is there to hit the button and keep the channel streaming, then presumably no one is watching, and it saves the channel bandwidth to shut it off.

LSeeber's avatar
LSeeber
Channel Surfer
4 years ago

Is the channel itself using amounts of bandwidth sending the signal to individual tvs?  or would that be your internet provider? I wouldn't think that ABC or CBS is saving bandwidth by cutting you off... but the IP would? (Please be patient... I'm someone's granny!)

  • KMiler's avatar
    KMiler
    Binge Watcher
    4 years ago

    No worries! From what I understand, for web-based channels, like Netflix, they need to provide Internet bandwidth on their servers to give customers access and keep everything up and running. They estimate how many customers may be watching at a given time and base their bandwidth level on that figure. So kicking off those who are not really watching is a way for them to prevent bottlenecks from an overloaded bandwidth and save them money by not using as much bandwidth. You also need bandwidth from your internet server to get channels to broadcast on your TV. That bandwidth can also get overloaded during busy times and results in a lot of rebuffering. I hope that helps!

  • CelticsFan's avatar
    CelticsFan
    Roku Guru
    4 years ago

    LSeeber  Most ISPs still have data caps. I have Cox internet with a 1.2TB data cap. Channels and devices stop streaming after a certain amount of inactivity to prevent users from going over there data caps.