Forum Discussion

dmilner's avatar
dmilner
Reel Rookie
4 months ago

TCL Roku TV Live TV QAM Channels Issue

We have about 10 TCL Roku TVs in our building that we pipe security camera feeds to as QAM channels. Sometime over the last few months, most of the TVs have received an automatic update that has caused these channels to just display a black screen.

I tested a TV yesterday that had not been updated since maybe September or October of 2024 and the TV channels displayed correctly. I then had the TV check for updates and installed the latest update. When the TV came back up after rebooting, the QAM channels that had been working a few minutes earlier were now just displaying a black, empty screen. I've tried rescanning for channels and these channels are found, but don't display anything.

I have a dumb TV (not a smart tv) plugged in to the same source and the channels are still working. So this appears to be an issue with a recent update to the Roku TV software.

2 Replies

  • RokuJohnB's avatar
    RokuJohnB
    Community Moderator
    4 months ago

    Hi dmilner,

    Greetings from the Roku Community!

    We want to investigate further this problem that you had further. Can you please provide the following information below?

    • Could you share a video clip or photo with us?
    • Do you have an external device, like an antenna, that is currently plugged in at the back of your television?
    • What is the current software version of your Roku TV? (Settings, System, About)

    With detailed information, we will be able to assist you further.

    Thanks,
    The Roku Community Team

    • dmilner's avatar
      dmilner
      Reel Rookie
      4 months ago

      Here is a photo of the output from one of our channels that will not display. The channels do not transmit any audio, so I'm unsure if it is just the video not working or both.

      Below is a list of the TVs that are having this issue:

      • TCL 55S423 - Version: 14.1.4, Build: 7709
      • TCL 43S423 - Version: 14.1.4, Build: 7709
      • TCL 50S423 - Version: 14.1.4, Build: 7709

      This TV worked until I updated it to 14.1.4 - 7709:

      • TCL 50S423 - Version: 13.1.4, Build: 1510

      Just to give you an overview of our setup. We have several THOR HDMI-RF-PETIT devices that take an HDMI input and convert it to a Antenna or CATV output. I have tried both Antenna and CATV with the same results. The THOR devices go in to a CATV Combiner along with our Antenna signal. The output from the combiner goes to a Blonder Tongue DFCS Series Splitter and an individual coax cable goes to each TV in our building.

      As a workaround for right now, I have purchased some cheap $20 HDMI stick TV tuners that work great at displaying the channels.