Channels & viewing

[Portalogem]

Well, hopefully, this has been fixed by now after two weeks. I had a similar problem with Hulu around a year ago, which is owned by Disney, in which the back button would crash the app and take the user back to the home screen, and it took a while for them to finally fix it. Unfortunately, these things happen usually after the channel updates, and you just have to be patient because they do get resolved eventually, and it usually has nothing to do with your Roku. You'll know if it's your Roku when the problem occurs with all your channels equally, like that OS 11 in-channel screensaver crash issue which Roku finally resolved; I'm not sure if everyone experienced that or not, and if you still are having that issue I know a fix. 

If I had experienced Disney plus crashing while watching a movie/show, and I was paying full price, I personally would have canceled until the issue was resolved because why pay for a channel that's crashing? The problem is I'm getting a good deal through Hulu, and I'm worried that if I cancel, I won't get the deal back.

Actually, let me know if you had canceled Disney plus with the Hulu deal and if you can get that back because then I know that I could cancel if I experienced this. But if you're paying full price and this happens again, or it's still happening (I don't watch Disney plus all that much), then teach them a lesson if they mess things up by just canceling. You can easily reactivate your account the next month, and by then, the issue should be resolved; and if you're at the beginning of the month, you'll keep the service for the entire month (you won't get your money back during that month), and if they fix it before the cancelation goes through then just re-add the service, and it won't get interrupted. I remember having tons of issues with Starz that they just wouldn't resolve and I canceled them, and I haven't re-signed up for them for around six years because I didn't want to pay for a service that had all those channel glitches, which are probably resolved by now, but I've been paying for a different premium service.

It's just silly to pay for a premium channel that's not working; then call Disney and let them know you won't re-sign up until it's fixed. That should speed things along because they don't want to lose customers. Especially if everyone on this thread does it if this happens again. Unfortunately, if you're signed up for the year, there's nothing you can do, but with month to month then, just cancel.

Usually, I've found that HBOmax fixes their issues right away because you're paying a lot for that channel.

Hopefully, everything is working again after two weeks, but the next time this happens -- cancel until the issue is resolved, for then they have less than the time you have left with them to fix it. It's your money and those premium channels are nothing without you -- so feel empowered! You just have to find a substitute channel if the cancelation does go through. Such as Paramount Plus which has Nickelodeon movies/shows the kids can watch; I'm thinking of trying that service out at the beginning of next month since I can get a good deal with Showtime. 

And I'm the 60th person to reply to this thread -- woohoo! 🙂

[ksgemini]

Issue here resolved several weeks ago

just went away. No update that I’m aware of

[kysmartman]

It makes no sense to cancel a subscription when it was clearly a problem with Roku as the Smart TV in the other room never had a single issue. If anything was to be canceled it would be Roku and go with a Fire stick. But yes, it got fixed in time for the Ms Marvel episode on that Wed. which isn't much of a surprise, and it hasn't done anything bad since, though I haven't been watching it much recently. Never had a problem with Hulu in the 2 months I've had Roku.

[Portalogem]

It is Disney's (or any premium streaming channel's) responsibility to maintain the channel on the Roku device and not Roku's responsibility, for this could equally happen on a Fire TV stick (or any streaming TV device) as every streaming TV device has its own set of issues at various times. Probably the best solution is to have a redundant backup TV streaming device (that is not a Roku), so you can easily switch to the other device when a glitch or outage occurs, allowing you to continue watching the premium service until the issue is resolved on your primary (Roku) device. It's unlikely that Disney Plus (or any premium channel) would glitch on both devices at the same time.

It's just if you only have a Roku device and you can't watch the streaming content due to constant crashes, then canceling the channel might be ideal until the issue is resolved, but regardless, you still continue to have the subscription until your billing cycle is up and, therefore, if it's quickly fixed you can just stop the cancelation. Most issues are resolved quickly, though, and you just have to be patient, but if it takes a long while for an issue to resolve, then it's not worth paying for the service until it's working again. And it's very easy to cancel and re-add a subscription. A lot of people subscription jump when a show comes on one channel and then another show comes on another. I'm just concerned that I would lose my Disney plus Hulu discount if I did cancel it.

But since you are watching Ms Marvel, kysmartman, and therefore don't want to lose access to Disney Plus, in order to avoid potential future interruptions, and your Smart TV isn't the current primary device choice (because it's in the other room, but I have learned that the companies behind many smart devices stop updating them after a while as what had happened to my Smart TV and Blu-ray player device), you may want to go ahead and purchase that Amazon Fire TV device as your redundant backup device if you're familiar with that and have an Amazon account. And if you like that better, then use the Fire TV stick as your primary device and keep the Roku as a backup device. That way, you don't have to rely on your Smart TV every time your Roku or your Fire TV stick has an issue since instead of getting rid of one device to favor the other, you can keep both and use either one of those devices instead.

I'm not partial to any company; it's just Roku was the first streaming device to come out so I could stream Netflix on it, so I've continued to use them over the years. I was thinking of perhaps purchasing a Chromecast with Google TV as my redundant backup device now that I've managed to fix the glitch on my Roku Ultra (2018) and no longer need to upgrade to a new Ultra, but I just don't have the time to figure out how to set up a new device right now. I think if Roku has those network blackouts again as they had with HBOmax, I'll probably purchase one since I'll have an incentive.

And yes, Hulu has been working well since they fixed that glitch a little over a year ago.

---------------------------------------

Update (I've also updated the above a little after having a good night's rest):

I think you're right kysmartman about the Fire TV stick being the go-to choice for a redundant backup device (or as a primary device). I researched devices last night, and my redundant backup device choice (even though it's as expensive as the Ultra) will probably be the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, an HDMI extender, the Amazon Ethernet Adapter for Amazon Fire TV Devices, and a 1st gen backup remote (because I don't want to ruin my main remote when eating). I decided against the Chromecast with Google TV because I don't subscribe to YouTube television, which is what they use as their live TV, and since I subscribe to the Amazon Prime Video channel, this would make more sense for me as a backup redundant device (or perhaps as my primary device) if Roku glitches in any way. I've also learned that you can get The Roku Channel on a Fire TV Stick, so if you subscribe to a premium channel through Roku, this shouldn't be an issue when you have to temporarily change devices when a glitch or a network blackout occurs on your Roku device.

I, too, used to rely on my smart TV for when problems would occur with Netflix and Hulu on the Roku, but then mine got too old since I don't want to give up my 3D TV. The problem with using a Smart TV is that it's not secure unless you can use a username and a password to get into it as you do with a computer. The Roku streaming device (and other similar devices) is (are) safe because you need to enter your Roku account username and password the first time (or after you hard reset) to be able to use it. However, if you use a router with a user name and a strong password, you should be fine using your Smart TV as a redundant backup device.

I've seen this before ksgemini as there seems to be a confusion about what I mean by "update." There are two different types of updates on the Roku. One is the OS update, which shows its most recent version in the "About" screen (settings/system/about), and the other is a more hidden automatic daily update. Hidden because it's not shown in the about screen after the update occurs since the software version remains the same. The channel update, however, may show on the channel menu screen, and you can see when your Roku had previously updated in the System update screen under "Last checked." During this daily update, which happens when your Roku's screensaver comes on, various channels are updated, which sometimes breaks them, patches are then applied, your wallpaper may be changed for events, ads are updated, and other various types of maintenance occur. If your Roku has ever spontaneously rebooted itself while on screensaver, it's usually due to an update that has occurred. 

You can force a system update in five ways:

1) Manually update the system (which also allows you to see when your Roku last updated -- called "Last checked"): go to Settings/System/Software Update/Check now

2) Manually update the channels (which also allows you to see the current channel version): select a channel without entering it and then press the star "*" button on the remote, select "Check for updates" in the menu

3) A system restart may cause an auto-system update to occur: Settings/System/System Restart/Restart

4) Clearing the cache also restarts the Roku and may cause an auto-system update to occur:
(this won't hard reset the Roku and won't clear your passwords)
On the remote: Press the Home button 5 times, Up button 1 time, Rewind button "<<" 2 times, and Fast-forward button ">>" 2 times.

The Roku will flip the menu up three times, freeze and then restart.

5) After making certain that your Roku isn't on screensaver by pressing the home button (because if it is, an auto-update may be occurring and, therefore, you don't want to disrupt that, and you want the Roku to be on the home screen and not in any channel), unplug your Roku, wait a minute, and then plug it back in. While your Roku is booting up, it may cause an auto-update, much like when restarting it. 

I know this isn't the perfect solution to this (and other) thread(s) that have had this similar issue, and Roku won't like it, but when this glitch happens again with this channel or with a different premium channel, or there are possible network blackouts in the future, people should be able to continue to watch the Disney Plus channel or any premium channel that they are paying for. So, using a different device until the issue on Roku is resolved appears to be the only solution to this re-occurring problem. 

I hope that I've been helpful even though the current Disney Plus glitch had already been resolved by the time I posted this solution, for in all likelihood, this will happen again sometime in the future, and you should be prepared by having a redundant backup TV streaming device on hand so you can continue watching the premium channel you're paying for.

When we were hopelessly plugged into using Cable TV or Satellite TV before Streaming TV came out, we just had to deal with these issues, but now that we're unplugged, we can have redundant backup equipment and be able to continue watching what we want when we want no matter what happens on one device or the other.

New Update: I just talked to someone who owns a Firestick, and that person had the same problem with Disney Plus a while back, so switching to a different device wouldn't have helped in this situation kysmartman. 😞