Channels & viewing

[Mspennylane23]

Your proposed solution to remove and reinstall did not work. What is Roku going to do for all of the TCL TVs excluded from the latest OS? The TV was not inexpensive and is barely three years old.

[JWS9518]

@Mspennylane23 Roku has no control over third party manufacturers of TVs, who paid Roku to license the Roku OS to use on their TVs.  I am sure Roku has minimum criteria that they recommend to the manufacturers to keep their TVs relevant to the operating system.  Unfortunately, it is TCL who has chosen to either not support the latest OS with that model TV and/or put hardware in the TV that is not capable of handling the latest OS and apps.  That is the biggest issue with these brands like TCL, ONN, Hisense, is that they tend to use cheap components or outdated components that don't have the capabilities or update support that higher end brands do.  Or they decide to stop paying for licensing for certain models that would allow them to update the firmware on those TVs.  One of the reasons, I stay away from focusing on a "smart TV's" streaming capability and instead focus on its quality of the picture is that they tend to become obsolete quicker.  Instead, use a much cheaper streaming device that you can connect to the TV so if/when the streaming device becomes obsolete or quits working, the streaming devices become easier to replace.  This would be my suggestion for your TV which would be get a current streaming device for your TV.

[venezim]

I disagree with the assertion that the TV manufacturers are the issue. If you look at which TVs are excluded from the Roku OS 14 software update, it is 3 different models from 2 different manufacturers (TCL and Hisense). The one thing they have in common? They are the only 8K capable Roku TVs ever produced. My guess is that because 8K hasn't caught on, these models are being abandoned by Roku because it's not worth their effort to continue supporting 8K hardware. Plenty of other TCL and Hisense Roku TVs that are much older than these models remain supported and continue to receive software updates. This decision is leaving consumers that spent a premium for cutting edge 8K TVs just 3 years ago with no support. Adding an external streaming device is a band-aid, not the integrated smart TV solution that owners of these TVs paid several thousand dollars for.

[JWS9518]

@venezim My guess is that due to the increase in cost to make an 8K screen, the manufacturers cut costs on the other components in those TVs, by using older, cheaper components that are not updatable.  Manufacturers use those buzz words (such as 8k) and hope you ignore the specifications that the TVs truly have.  Roku has no incentive to cut the number of supported models that cuts its viewership as well as licensing to those brands gives them revenue other than ad revenue for the company.  Likewise, Roku doesn't make any money from those TVs made by third-party manufacturers, other than the licensing for those brands to use the operating system.  It is the TV manufacturer that has the incentive to push consumers to newer TVs with new features. Roku can't control what a third-party manufacturer does with their product (namely the operating system).  That would be like blaming android auto or Apple car play for no longer working in your Mercedes.  

[venezim]

Well neither of us have any proof, so we can agree to disagree. If there were even a single model affected that was not 8K, or if all the affected models were from the same manufacturer, I might agree with you, but it seems to me like a blatant case of abandoning 8K hardware. I actually researched all the specs of these TVs for several months and was happy with the across the board mix of brightness zones, video game performance, Dolby Vision, eARC, AV1 deciding capability, etc. on these TVs. And after purchasing and being satisfied with the quality of the 65R648 for several months, I went out and bought the 75R648 as well. Now I have $5000 worth of TVs that are "legacy" after 3 years. In this case, Roku 's incentive for cutting out support for these models is probably a trade study of extra software development and maintenance effort spent supporting 8K hardware that only represents a small percentage of their overall market share, given that there were only 3 8K Roku models ever made.

[JWS9518]

I see your point and understand your frustration.  I would say that it is up to the manufacturer to provide support and follow the recommendations for the operating system and standards for providing hardware that is capable of handling the software as well as being capable of handling the updates.  8k is minimal in the market for now and there are few, if any, broadcasters or shows/movies being filmed with 8k in mind at the moment and it is unclear that it will ever be anything more than a marketing term.  Just because a video resolution is not primary in the market would not be a reason for a TV to not be capable of being updated as upscaling in a TV has been around forever.  I fall back to my analogy with the car and the operating system in the entertainment system.  Years ago, I bought a brand-new car that advertised its sparkly new "Sync" system (created by Microsoft, I think).  The system was buggy and didn't work well and car manufacturer ended up providing only 1 update to the system, which didn't really fix the issues.  Less than 2 years later, the car brand abandoned the operating system and went to a new version of the same system, which of course, could not be updated on my car that was 2-years old.  Was I unhappy, absolutely.  Did I blame Microsoft? No.  I blamed the car manufacturer for not supporting the software that it put in its cars or providing the means to update/upgrade the system over time.  The car brand licensed the software just like the TV brands do here.   It is up to the TV manufacturer to do the same and clearly, they have not.  Realistically, the only way to change those things is regulation that requires brands to support the software in their devices for a specific number of years, however, that is not likely to happen.

[Flapinux]

That doesn't make any sense - the control boards for a ROKU OS are all pretty much the same cost. 

[JWS9518]

I think Roku's biggest mistake is licensing their operating system to any and every manufacturer that is willing to pay for the license without regard to the quality of the brands it is licensing to and the lack of consideration by Roku of that TV brands willingness to maintain their products and make products capable of being updated over a longer period of time.  Those manufacturers are looking to get name recognition by using the Roku name on their product, but it seems those brands don't really care about the quality of the product or maintaining them. Not all brands use the same control panels, and most budget brands use the cheapest copies of those boards they can find from any manufacturer they can get a deal on, which means not all the products meet the same standards.  It ends up reflecting poorly on Roku, because people mistake their name on the box as the one being responsible for the TV, even if another brand name is on it, when in reality it is the manufacturer that should be maintaining the TVs capability.  We have unfortunately ended up in a throw away world with manufacturers not really caring much about that.  

[Flapinux]

I'm guessing their mistake was not giving the control board enough memory for 8K since those are the only TVs affected.
I could be wrong, but... I bet I'm not. They should offer a fix ($100 control board swap out)

[JWS9518]

And the lack of memory on the TVs' control board for those particular brands is likely, but that is up to the manufacturer on what types of boards they use and the memory capacity they have.  Roku probably provides minimum guidelines for its OS, but it is up to the manufacturer to follow that and not cut corners, which is likely what they did.  I am not saying I wouldn't be upset either, but good luck with that ever happening.   Again, that is the manufacturer for that brand of TV (TCL, Hisense, Onn, etc.) responsibility and not Roku's responsibility.  If it was Roku's brand of TV, then yes, it would Roku, but in this case, it is not.  Roku is not going to pay for or replace boards on a TV brand that it didn't sell and doesn't own.  If that's the case, then Microsoft owes me a new entertainment system in my SUV.