Hallelujah!!! The channel numbers are back. Roku, can we please keep it that way?!!!
I noticed the same thing this morning on my Ultra 4660 (OS 12.0). On my RokuTV (OS 12.5), I still have channel numbers for the LiveTV streaming channels on the Roku Channel.
Looks like Roku is updating the Roku Channel LiveTV Guide to provide for the removal of channel numbers. (https://www.roku.com/blog/os-12-5), so will just start pushing it to devices. (thanks to renojim for pointing this out in another thread).
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Don't really care for this unnumbered list as it is actually more unorganized. (supposedly 12.5 will allow user to personalize/order your streaming channels, but of course has not yet been implemented. Roku is infamous for pushing only half of a feature on release). If you want to switch channels using Voice Remote, you now need to know the "Channel Name". When saying the Channel Name, a submenu pops up asking whether to switch to the Chanel Name on LiveTV or install the Channel Name standalone chanel/app. Prior to this, you only needed to say the "Channel Number" into the Voice Remote and the channel automatically switched to said "Channel Number".
Can no longer simply share with someone where a channel is located by number. Now need to tell them "between channel A and channel B". Does not help that the Categories section on left is also incomplete and missing channels that should be included in the selected Category.
Not an improvement in my opinion.
Looks like this is a known feature that is being enabled. It's mentioned in one of the changes in OS 12.5. Now that it has rolled out to most users, Roku is now enabling various features.
So removing functionality is considered to be a feature... Ugh. Who makes these decisions?
>>So removing functionality is considered to be a feature...
Hahaha. Yes, the behaviour certainly seems that way. I can't help but wonder if Roku is using the same developers and decision makers as Pluto, or they're both in a race to the bottom. Pluto advertises new channels but can't tell you where they are because they've eliminated channel numbers and are too apathetic to even tell us what category they are placed. Pluto added a category for one channel: "Last Watched" , which is the same channel you go to when you start the app. Roku has the category "Recents" which is equally useless. I bet for most folks, channels in Recents are the same ones as in Favorites.
Roku has also received many complaints about losing the default of Favorites. They fixed it, but that was short lived and it's again broken due to a 'software update', which as far as I can tell fixed absolutely nothing or solved problems that did not exist.
The issues with Roku won't get fixed until the decision makers and those making the updates start using their products themselves to see what their customers have to put up with.
The problem with categories is they need to be sure to place every channel in a category. Roku has not done that in the past. You could have searched every category for True History (before it was removed) and not found it. There were other channels like that too. I would use Favorites if it were reliable.
I'll adapt. There are other apps available on Roku.
