Discussions

[DougMB]

Not talking about streaming channels or Roku channels...just my cable.  No cable box...just directly to the TV. 

[cappuccino]

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@DougMB wrote:

Not talking about streaming channels or Roku channels...just my cable.  No cable box...just directly to the TV. 

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You stated that you "hooked the coaxial cable" to your Roku TV and attempted to scan for "live TV" channels.  Your cable company usually provides you with a standard coaxial cable for digital TV viewing. If that is what you have, you will not reach any live TV channels that way.

Do you have internet connected to your TV? For instance, do you have a wireless router that you use for internet within your home? Is that wireless signal connected wirelessly through your TV? If you have internet connected to your TV, you should be able to see it under Settings/Network/About: You should see your network name, Status Connected, Connection type: Wireless (although it could be wired). What do you see under Settings/Network/About?

Also, what happens when you go to Settings/Network/Check Connection? Are you able to successfully get green checkmarks for 1. Available connection, 2. Wireless connection, and 3. Internet connection?

[DougMB]

Yes 

Fully connected wirelessly.  

Are you really telling me that cable channels won't populate in the guide?  That seems like basic stuff. 

[cappuccino]

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@DougMB wrote:

Yes 

Fully connected wirelessly.  

Are you really telling me that cable channels won't populate in the guide?  That seems like basic stuff. 

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Glad to hear that you are connected wirelessly. 

Yes, I am telling you that cable channels will not populate in the Roku live TV guide. 

The Roku live TV guide is designed to show you two types of TV channels:

OTA TV channels, which you can find after hooking up an OTA antenna to your TV, then Settings/TV Inputs/Live TV/Scan for antenna channels/Start finding channels/I have an antenna, search for channels/No, channels 3 & 4 are not needed (if you have a VCR, you would choose Yes instead of No)

Streaming TV channels, which you can find after verifying your TV's internet connection (which you have just done), then Settings/TV Inputs/Live TV/Scan for antenna channels/Start finding channels/I don't have an antenna, take me to streaming TV/No, channels 3 & 4 are not needed (if you have a VCR, you would choose Yes instead of No). NOTE: To watch your streaming TV channels, make sure that you go to Settings/TV Inputs/Live TV/Manage channels/ and make sure that "Hide streaming channels" is unchecked.

Your cable TV provider may have a Roku app in the Roku Channel Store, which may allow you to access your provider's live TV lineup and/or guide through their app. For example, Spectrum TV has a Roku app. For your favorite cable TV channels that you watch a lot, check out the Roku channel store, because your favorite channel probably has an app. You can use your cable TV credentials to log in via the app.

If you really want a separate TV guide for your cable TV, check with your cable provider about a digital cable TV box. Then access that box via an HDMI input or AV input.

So you have three ways to watch TV: cable channels, streaming channels, and OTA channels (depending on your location, often all that is needed is a cheap indoor TV antenna).

To access your Live TV channels, I recommend Home/selecting the Live TV icon, but not the menu text "Live TV." The icon, which is located in your icons along with the icons for HDMI and AV, will display both OTA (if you have scanned for them) and streaming channels.  But if you choose the menu text "Live TV," then select "Live TV channel guide," Roku will take you to only your streaming TV channels, even if you have "all channels" selected. 

[Bunny78]

No idea what caused this but it decided to fix itself so now the guide matches the channels again. 

[DougMB]

I am told the guide only populates over the air channels but it doesn't work with cable channels.   Does that track?

[Bunny78]

Works on over the air channels for me and my digital channels. I have the TV hooked up directly to the coaxial cable from the wall. 

[samcrut]

"Cable" isn't so simple. If it was old cable that lets you watch TV without a cable box, then you'll be fine, but if your cable service requires a cable box, and most of them do because they get to rent that to you and raise your monthly bill $11 per TV in your house, then odds are, you're outta luck. Just scanning for channels on the cable TV bands might get you some channels in the clear, but they'll be all over the place looking at the numbers. Like Channel 8 might be up around 112.59 or whatever randomness. Because they decode the channels in the cable box, they can route those feeds to anything they want in the box to make sense of it, but without the box it's pretty unusable.

That said, if you don't live in a Unibomber shack in some overgrown ravine, just hook up some bunny ears and check what you get. Here in DFW, you get 107 channels for free with an antenna.