I agree with you that this is a relatively recent issue. I don't necessarily think Roku is being obtuse. I think it's more like denial. I have fairly extensive yet ancient experience in computers (meaning I did a lot in the 80-90s and have been retired for almost 20 years).
I've found that programmers are the last to admit they missed something which makes fixes almost impossible. I've writing to HGTV on its online contest glitches - eventually they listen to me. It took months for the NYT to accept their games weren't fully compatible with Firefox and only fixed the issue after 6 months of their denials and suggestions I switch to Chrome 🤮 They quietly fixed it after days long threads between one programmer and me.
Roku is taking the easy (and possibly usually correct) stance. It's not them. It's the other guy.
I remember all the early bugs I thought were solved decades ago but apparently not when new people find "new" shortcuts and don't run trials and debugging tests.
When the Roku responder said batteries for their remotes typically last two months, instant red flare. Something is definitely wrong and it might be mostly software but possibly hardware too. I'd rather not replace it, but that is an available option.
