Forum Discussion

westner's avatar
westner
Roku Guru
3 years ago
Solved

Let's Have a User-Friendly Live TV Channel Guide Again

A few days ago the moderator closed a discussion thread on this topic where users were able to vent and to post some modifications they could do to cope with the inane changes Roku has been making to the Guide since August 2022.

Among the most vocal among us were @Zonexero @Moat @jacknorth @jackalope @cwcheese @StevenCee @IHiJump and many others. I hope they will return to this thread to continue the discussion.

Here is a post by @Zonexero that chronicles these changes:

Danny, this is not an issue related to a specific model as another person noted.  It affects all users who have the televisions with built-in Roku that have the "Live TV" or "Antenna Channels" app/input.  This would include ALL televisions embedded with Roku which are brands such as TCL, HiSense, Toshiba, and so forth.

October 12, 2021: The guide/app worked fine, although the antenna channels lacked any type of station icon, it was ok, as shown in my video here: https://youtu.be/skGQPMQoawo

*November 10, 2021: The guide/app had been updated, and antenna channels now had icons that reflected their network, this version, is what I believe most of us considered the 'perfect' version, there was no reason to go any further, as shown here on November 15, 2021: https://youtu.be/I3gMy7pN7uc

(In between these dates, there was also another bug where the station guide had issues with identify correct station, this bug seems to come and go every since)

August 25, 2022: An update was issue that added that faulty 'quick guide' "update", no one likes this, no one wanted this, and it's never worked properly, again on all models of these televisions, as shown here on a video I did on August 25, 2022: https://youtu.be/yv8w-gevgIE

August 29, 2022: A further update was pushed through, that removed the 'quick guide' and restored the version from November 10, 2021, once again back to the perfect guide as shown here, I think someone knew that the quick guide was faulty and rolled back the update: https://youtu.be/N8w2x5akAa0

November 2022: Another update push through that had that brought back the faulty 'quick guide', again a terrible idea, this is funny because it was rolled back, then pushed back again with no a single fix.

January 25, 2023: Updated again, this time, the antenna stations logos are altered to appear with gray boxes around them, some channels not affected, on ones that are, you can barely make out the station logo anymore since the logo has been shrunk to fit into a useless grey box that serves no purpose, this is probably the second update that really has destroyed the functionality, I plan to do a video on this soon, but was hoping it was something that would be fixed by now.

....And now....  January 30, 2023: A 'Promoted' Channel randomly appears in the antenna channels lineup that is another truly annoying and useless 'feature'

....As you can see, that is why we are all upset with the 'updates' that really have degraded our televisions and experience with Roku, I was a firm believer in Roku having recommended my family and friends to the platform, but with all these issues lately, not anymore with all noted above.

*I have six TCL Roku televisions, all from different years from 2014-2022, same issue on all of them, other friends and people on these forum using products like the HiSense Roku television all have the same problem.

  • Zonexero's avatar
    Zonexero
    3 years ago

    Here you go Roku, it really is an easy fix to make everyone happy....

     

    What many of us DO NOT want, left side 'quick guide'.....

    So now we hit the * button and this it what appears....

    How about just adding this...

    And.....issue solved....

    Enough said, this is just too simple a fix!

  • RokuTakashi's avatar
    RokuTakashi
    2 years ago

    Hi Community users!

    Thanks for posting and bringing this to our attention.

    We're aware of the situation, and we're looking closely at the issue. The resolution to this is to perform a system restart and a re-scan to your OTA channels. To do this, navigate to Settings > System > Power (skip if this sub-menu isn't available) > System Restart. Then, do the re-scan of your channels.

    Kindly check to see if you notice any difference, and if the issue persists, kindly let us know so we can further assist you regarding this.

    All the best,
    Kash

81 Replies

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  • Anonymous's avatar
    Anonymous
    3 years ago

    Until I see Roku gives a rip about this, I'm done talking, and I'm done with Roku. The "moderator" (the guy who repeatedly asks for more information) appears to be a Roku employee, so it is sure they know about this and have chosen to do nothing to assuage any of our concerns or to make any changes. So... enjoy.

    • jackalope's avatar
      jackalope
      Binge Watcher
      3 years ago

      When they closed the old thread I posted a new one pointing out that were silencing us.

      That post has apparently been removed. Go figure.

      I'm with Jump. Unless they do something, I am anti-Roku at this point.

      Anyone I speak to, or anywhere I post, it will be nothing but bad things about Roku.

      • westner's avatar
        westner
        Roku Guru
        3 years ago

        Anonymousand jackalope , we all know that Roku doesn't intend to make the proper functional changes to the Guide and that sucks. Don't expect any help from Danny-R or Mary-R or from any of the other moderators - they will only gaslight you. Those changes will eventually be made when those in charge of making these changes will be forced to roll them back by their higher-ups. It only makes sound business sense. It may be a week, a month, or maybe even six months. Just have patience.

        In the meantime, this thread gives us a chance to vent and to share ways to circumvent this fiasco. My 'All Channels' is populated by a select group of OTA channels and less that 30 streaming Roku channels - in a sense I've created my own permanent 'Favorites' list. Sure, it's not perfect, because Roku puts the list into those dumb "categories" once I click up past the first channel in the list. So I choose the 'Favorites' category and I'm right back at the top of my uninterrupted list.

        I used to be jumping mad when these changes started happening, and I believed that if we screamed loud enough, Roku would listen. Eventually I realized that we weren't being heard, but the voices on the thread were not a waste of time. I know that I felt better each time I replied to a post. I was in awe of the users who went above and beyond by contacting Roku or by documenting the inane changes.

        So keep coming back - if only to say "Hi" or that you're keeping your sanity or to share your frustrations or anger. Ripping on Roku is not discouraged until they shut down this thread too.

  • Brion's avatar
    Brion
    Channel Surfer
    2 years ago

    Has anyone found out if they plan on putting channel numbers back??

    • rodger3876's avatar
      rodger3876
      Channel Surfer
      2 years ago

      I have all my Icons and channel numbers back. Dont know how they disappeared and don't know how they came back. No firmware update. Waited 3 days before posting this just to make sure they stayed put.

      • westner's avatar
        westner
        Roku Guru
        2 years ago

        Yes, mine came back on Sunday and now they're all in proper order. While the Channel numbers were missing, Roku also scrambled the order in which they previously appeared. I guess they wanted us to get used to using their 'Categories' tabs.