Channels & viewing

[Blackarrow]

I have the Roku Ultra, Roku Stick and the Roku 3. The Roku 3 is the only device that does NOT preview the videos. Just a heads up. 

[Mark34]

This absolutely is an issue with Roku and not google. When I watch YouTube through Roku on my TV I get the auto playing of thumbnails nonsense. But if I watch  YouTube using the YouTube app on my smart TV then the thumbnails don't autoplay. And yes I've played around with all the settings, it doesn't help.

[wbrennecke]

"... that's where you're confused..."

How condescending can you be?

You have an actual business relationship with YouTube in providing this channel to your users. It IS your job to advocate on your users' behalf when they don't seem to be getting anywhere with their complaints to YouTube.

[atc98092]

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@Mark34 wrote:

This absolutely is an issue with Roku and not google. When I watch YouTube through Roku on my TV I get the auto playing of thumbnails nonsense. But if I watch  YouTube using the YouTube app on my smart TV then the thumbnails don't autoplay.

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While it's an issue on Roku devices, it's not under the control of Roku. Google creates and supports the app on whatever platform it's on, not the platform developer. It doesn't matter that is works differently on another platform. That's Google's intention, for whatever reason we'll likely never know. If I had to guess, Google would like you to buy and use a Chromecast instead of a Roku, since they offer that platform. 

Roku can stamp their feet and hold their breath until they're blue. Google has a specific plan for their apps on different devices, and the only group that might, maybe make them alter the plan is the end user. That's where Google makes their money, not from any relationship with Roku or any other electronic streaming platform that has the YouTube app on it.

[wbrennecke]

atc98092: "... it's not under the control of Roku."

No, it's not under their control, but their opinion does have more influence with Google than individual user posts in the YouTube Community forum. That forum seems to be the primary, if not only, place users can go to ask YouTube for relief.

Roku has over 60 million active user accounts. A fair portion of those accounts represent frequent users of YouTube. Some of those users, including me, experience nausea while browsing lists of YouTube videos.

That nausea is caused by high-rate, constantly repeating thumbnail previews. Some have indicated this experience is limited to Roku users and no other platforms. This is an issue for both companies to solve.

Going by the "official" responses from Roku in this forum, it appears Roku has not even passed this information on to YouTube on users' behalf.

Many users of online services are daunted by the effort and ultimate frustration involved in asking for help, let alone new or improved features. For every person who has complained to Roku and YouTube about this over the past few years, there are many more who have just given up.

It's time for Roku to step up and stop passing the buck.

[atc98092]

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@wbrennecke wrote:

atc98092: "... it's not under the control of Roku."

No, it's not under their control, but their opinion does have more influence with Google than individual user posts in the YouTube Community forum. That forum seems to be the primary, if not only, place users can go to ask YouTube for relief.

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I completely disagree. Roku has zero power over Google. Look at what happened when YouTube TV was removed from Roku during a contract dispute. It wasn't Roku that was able to convince Google to come to terms. We don't know for certain what broke the ice, but I am comfortable it was the influence of their millions of paying subscribers that made the difference, not anything Roku said. Money talks, and Roku doesn't pay them to have YouTube available on Roku devices. Since Google sells a competing streaming device, they'd gladly welcome their end users to come to a Chromecast.