Channels & viewing

[GCM_prop]

I have two Roku devices: an Ultra and a Streaming Stick 4k, each used on a separate TV.

Both Rokus have a blue indicator light that lights when the Roku/TV is on.

For the Streaming Stick 4k, the light turns off when the power button on the remote is pushed to turn off the Roku/TV, and it stays off.

For the Ultra, the light turns off when the power button on the remote is pushed to turn off the Roku/TV, but always turns back on after a short time, even if the Roku/TV is not turned on with the power button on the remote; the TV stays off in this case.

The PROBLEM: when the blue light on the Ultra is on (it's steady, not blinking) and the TV is off, and the power button on the remote is pushed, the TV turns on, but the screen remains black, and sometimes shows a message that the Roku can't connect to WiFi; I've checked the TV to which the Streaming Stick 4k is attached when I've seen this message, and that Roku/TV works fine, including the connection to the WiFi - the Wifi is working well. The TV with the Ultra is attached is much closer to the WiFi (about 20 feet away, with a nearly direct line of sight - no walls obstruct) than the TV with the Streaming Stick 4k attached.

When the blue light on the Ultra is off (before the Ultra turns on by itself), and the TV is also off, and the power button on the remote is pushed, the Roku/TV turns on, the Roku home screen appears quickly, and everything works very well.

When I get the black screen, I can recover from the problem by EITHER: turning the Roku/TV off with the power button on the remote, and then turning in on quickly, before the Roku turns itself back on OR: by pushing nearly any button on the remote (I haven't tried them all) EXCEPT the power button, which causes the Roku/TV to turn off (including the blue light) and then turn back on, after which everything works fine.

When the blue light on the Ultra is on, and the TV is off, I can turn on the TV (the Ultra is already on) by pushing nearly any button on the remote INSTEAD of the power button. The TV then turns on and the Roku homepage shows almost immediately.

HOW CAN I GET THE BLUE LIGHT ON THE ROKU Ultra TO STAY OFF; is the Ultra defective? Should I return it for exchange? Or is there a fix for this?

I've disabled screen saver: no effect.
I've switched the Ultra to my other TV; the Roku behavior is the same with that TV.

I've reset the Ultra several times, by unplugging everything (Ultra, TV, modem/router), and by pushing home 5 times etc...

model: 4802X -Roku Ultra
serial: X0100077GRW7
software vers: 12.5.5 build 4174-C2

[AvsGunnar]

@GCM_prop 

The first thing to realize is that the Power and Volume buttons on the Roku Remote are "tv controls".  They have no effect on the Roku device.  The second thing is that Roku devices do not really turn "off", but do enter a sleep mode. (light off).

What you are seeing with the Roku Streaming Stick is really the TV powering off when you press the Power button in the Roku remote.  This, in turn, is powering off your HDMI and USB ports on that TV. This, in turn is causing the USB port to cut power to the Streaming Stick, and turning the Streaming Stick off.  (If you used a power adapter at the wall rather than your TV's USB port to power your Streaming Stick, you would likely notice that the Streaming Stick would still be "on").  Additionally, the USB ports on some TVs remain active/powered for a few mins (up to 15min), so in those instances, anything plugged into them will remain powered for that time.  Your USB port seems to power down immediately with your TV.

As for your Roku Ultra 4802, seperate power is provided via a wall power adapter.  This is why pressing the Power button is really having no effect on your Ultra other than powering on/off the TV. (and, in turn, your HDMI ports).  On devices using external wall power, you need to press the "Home" button on your Roku remote when you are finished with your streaming session.  Otherwise the device will continue to stream in the background after you press Power to turn off the TV. (which is why blue light continues to be on - the device is still streaming until either a bandwidth saver setting, a power savings feature, or a screensaver is activated).

The ability to simulataneously turn on your TV, wake your Roku Ultra, and switch to the correlating HDMI port that the Ultra is connected to (in turn, having the Home Screen appear when your TV screen appears), is being controlled by the CEC feature known as "1-touch Play".   Roku's HDMI CEC 1-touch play is located under Settings/System/Control other devices/1-touch play.

The above feature allows you to press any Roku remote button (other than the tv controls - Power and Volume) and have all the above mentioned actions occur. (TV on, HDMI input switched, connected Roku device awake).

----

Your devices are working correctly.  You can continue to just use your Roku Streaming Stick with the Power button if you wish since it is acting to power down the system.  If you ever switch this to wall power though, you will need to follow the procedure for externally powered devices.

For your Ultra, press the Home button when you are finished streaming session.  Then press Power to turn off TV. (Roku device should then fall asleep after a few minutes and light go off).  On your next viewing session, press any button on Roku remote if you have 1-touch play enabled. (other than Power and Volume buttons). If one touch play is disabled, press Power to turn on the TV, and then Home to wake the Roku device. (On some TVs, you may have to press Home first, and then Power for the HDMI handshake to occur properly).

[GCM_prop]

Thanks for your detailed reply.

The Roku Streaming Stick 4k is powered by a wall adapter, not the TV USB, the same as the Ultra.

For the Ultra, I tried pushing the home button on the remote after streaming, and then turned off the Ultra/TV by pressing the power button on the remote (at least the Blue Light on the Ultra turned off, if not the Ultra itself). The Ultra turned on the Blue Light several minutes later. When I pressed the power button on the remote after the Blue Light turned on, the black screen appeared, not the Roku home screen.

I tried turning off the "1-touch Play" in the Settings, and the remote responded as expected: I now have to turn on the Ultra/TV with the power button on the remote and pressing other buttons cause no response. After the "1-touch Play" setting change, the Ultra still turns on the Blue Light after a few minutes of powering off. If I turn on the Ultra/TV with the power button on the remote while the Blue Light is on and after the "1-touch Play" setting change, I still get the black screen instead of the Roku home screen.

Perhaps the blue light is a minor issue, or even not an issue, but is seems like I should NEVER see that black screen. It seems like the blue light being on is an indication that the Roku is in mode that causes a malfunction (the black screen) when using the power button on the remote to turn on the Ultra/TV.

I appreciate your help in trying to solve this problem; I was happy to try what I think are reasonable and logical suggestions.

[AvsGunnar · Accepted solution]

@GCM_prop 

Just to clarify since you used "Ultra/TV" a few times.  The Power button on the Roku remote does nothing to the Roku device.  The power button is a "tv control".  It only powers on and off the TV via IR.

You are seeing the black screen because the power button is simply turning the TV on. (not the Ultra).  On my Mitsubishi TV, I would see a blue screen if i followed the steps you were doing.  Others may see a "No Signal" message screen.

After turning on your TV using the power button (and seeing the black screen), you should be able to press the Home button on your Roku remote. (this will wake the Roku Ultra and you should now be on the Home Screen).  Basically the HDMI input is dormant until some action (pressing the Home Button) activates it.

The only time I can use the Power button to return to the Home Screen being visible is if I just turned off the TV and the device has not yet fallen asleep.

----

As for the blue light that comes back on, some users have reported that their Ultra (4800 series) light sometimes never goes off.  That could definitely be a Roku software/firmware issue, but does not affect everyone's 480x models, so may just be with some TV manufacturers.  Just for troubleshooting purposes, see if disabling the TV's HDMI CEC helps with the issue. (use the TV remote, not the Roku remote, to go into the TV's HDMI settings and disable the HDMI CEC.  Depending on your manufacturer, the HDMI CEC can be called a few different things.)

I would also try setting the Screensaver Start Time to come on a little earlier (try 10 min), and also use a Roku default screensaver for testing. (ie. don't use a purchased screensaver if currently doing so).  Would also try enabling "Auto Power Savings" under your Settings/System/Power/Auto Power Savings and see if that helps keep your light off.

[GCM_prop]

Thanks to your explanation, I hope I'm finally starting to understand. When I turn on the TV using the Samsung TV remote, the screen is black just as when using the Roku remote, which agrees with what you have been saying about the power button on the Roku remote turning on ONLY the TV.

When I press the HOME button on the Roku remote (which I refer to as "remote" from here on) after the TV is turned on, the Roku home screen appears, just as you wrote, and from then on everything works perfectly.

The thing that confused me is that the Streaming Stick 4k and the Ultra seem to function differently. The Streaming Stick 4k functions exactly as I would expect; the Roku home screen appears immediately after I press the power button on the remote. I don't have to press the HOME button after I turn on the TV. The function of the blue light on the Streaming Stick 4k also makes sense; it turns off when the TV is turned off and stays off. I'm not so sure a blue light that stays on is a positive feature, even if it might not be a big issue. In a dark bedroom, even a small light can be pretty bright and annoying if you are someone who takes time to fall asleep (which isn't me, USUALLY).

I disabled the TV's HDMI CEC.
I initially turned of the screensaver completely.
I then set the screensaver to turn on after 10 minutes. None of these steps had an effect on the blue light.

It still doesn't make sense to me that if I turn on the TV with either the Samsung remote or the Roku remote before the Ultra has turned on the blue light, the Roku home screen shows up immediately. When the TV is turned on and the blue light is on, I get the black screen. It seems that when the TV is turned on with the blue light off, the black screen should appear because the Ultra should be in "sleep" or "standby" mode, which is opposite of what occurs.

I'm beginning to think that there is an error in the software that causes a mismatch of the illumination of the blue light and mode of the Ultra.

It seems the Ultra has two modes, an "active" mode for which the Ultra is capable of streaming, and a "sleep" or "standby" mode for when the TV is off. Currently, when the TV is on and the Ultra is streaming normally the blue light is on, which makes sense.

Currently for the Ultra, when the TV is turned off, the blue light turns off initially and then turns on after a short time. It seems like this is opposite of what should happen. It seems that when the TV is turned off, the Roku stays in "active" mode for a short time as the TV can be turned on again and the Roku home screen appears immediately. It seems like the blue light SHOULD be ON for this time, but as it is now, it is off. A short time later, when the blue light turns on, the Ultra evidently switches to a "sleep" or "standby" mode, and the TV shows a black screen when it is turned on alone. This is when the blue light SHOULD be OFF.

This is what I think the software should do:
When the TV is turned off with the power button on the remote, the Ultra should remain in "active mode" (capable of streaming) for a short time (as it now does). The software should recognize that the power button has been pressed (just as it recognizes that any other button on the remote has been pressed) and start a timer that counts down after which the Ultra switches to "sleep" or "standby" mode. The blue light should remain on during the countdown.
When the countdown expires, the Ultra should switch to "sleep" or "standby" mode (as it now does), and the blue light should go off.
When the Ultra is in "sleep" or "standby" mode, pressing the power button on the remote should both turn on the TV and switch the Roku to active mode.
Perhaps the Ultra can recognize a signal on the HDMI port to determine if it should be in "sleep" or "active" mode instead of using a software timer, but right now, when the power button is pressed and the TV is turned on, the Ultra does not switch from "sleep" to active mode; another button on the Ultra must be pressed to switch modes. So, maybe there is no such signal.

Thanks for your help, which has taken more than a small amount of your time. I hope your explanations can help someone else. I have seen other posts that describe problems similar to mine (especially with the blue light), with no conclusive explanation or solution, so your explanation is much appreciated.

[BarryL57]

Had a chat with Roku on-line about this with my brand new Roku Ultra 4802X.

Their idiotic solution is this:

To turn the light off, unplug the Roku from the electricity.

When you want to use the Roku, plug it back in.

They saw no problem with this solution.

It's tough to sleep with a blue indicator light illuminating your bedroom.

[AvsGunnar]

@BarryL57 

The Roku Ultra uses a RF (wifi) remote, so the device does not even have to be visible for the remote to communicate with it.

As such, you can turn it around, throw it in a drawer, place it behind the TV, put some tape over the light, etc.

If this suspected bug ever gets fixed, I am sure it will be unintentional.

As for disconnecting the power, I actually do that for my Roku devices and have them attached to different smart plugs and timers. (More so to prevent them from connecting to the Internet when not in use).