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DonTCL-TV
Newbie

Re: Roku TV - OTA live tv USB features broken after latest software update

Went through a couple of 16gb cheap usb thumbdrives on my TCL Roku.

Finally switched to a microsd from my old Canon camera with the usb adapter.  I figured this card was designed for multiple re-writes without failing.  Got exactly 20 days out of it before TCL/Roku TV came up with message that the USB was not found and Live Pause will be terminated.

I don't have an issue buying a new sd card / drive / adapter but would prefer it if TCL/Roku would come up with a suggested brand that it know to work.

Lastly, would love to hear back from some long term external HD users to see if that worked?

Quick update.  I was able to re-format both the "dead" cheap thumbdrives and the microsd on my computer (using linux).  Both were then identified and worked again.  Leads me to believe it's a software issue on TCL/ROKU's part.  Had just updated automatically overnight to latest version as well.

Second update.  Reformatted USB failed after a couple hours.  Replaced with the reformatted SD card.  Worked until next morning then got the same black screen as everyone else.  I'm going to consider this feature as "Broken" until such time as ROKU addresses.

asdfjkaaa
Newbie

Re: Live tv pause not working

I don't think it is bad USB sticks.  Ours worked pretty well for a year & started flaking out after the new streaming stations were added (via a software update?).  Really wish Roku would get their stuff together.

Visitor45763
Roku Guru

Re: Live tv pause not working


@asdfjkaaa wrote: started flaking out after the new streaming stations were added (via a software update?). 

[EDIT: Live TV Pause is not available in my suggested no-network reset]

That 9.4 software update caused a lot of people problems. Something you could try is factory reset (system>advanced menu). During the setup tell it you'll connect to the internet later (but don't). This loads some kind of minimal or older software. The antenna tv interface is like pre-9.4 (favorites exist again; continuous channel changing works again; captions on mute work again; audio settings has the "leveling" option again). 

You could watch antenna tv that way for awhile (no streaming access) and see if the USB pause works again.

"People are often amazed at how much we’ve done with the number of engineers we’ve got." (Roku CEO Anthony Wood, Austin Statesman, Oct 4, 2019). "Amazed" is one way of putting it.
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Harvini
Roku Guru

USB Drives wear out in this application - That's normal and expected

In reading through the discussion in this thread, it is apparent that some folks do not understand that USB drives wear out with use, and the Pause/Replay function, as implemented in the ROKU TV is essentially a torture test for such devices.

First off, the USB thumb drive we all know and love was never intended, nor designed to operate as a continuous streaming device.  Every time it is re-written, it is physically degraded.  A cheap USB drive, which is what most of us buy, can be expected to support maybe 10,000 write/erase cycles.  Some fall far short of that number.  Some fall very, very, very short of that number.  But, in the usage mode that most people employ them, this is not really a factor.  If you are using one on a daily basis to carry documents around to and from the office, you might see a few 10's of cycles per week, if you are a real go-getter in the office.

However, in the ROKU Pause/Replay application, the USB drive is in the path of the antenna stream at all times you are watching OTA programming.  Given that a 16GB drive is filled and dumped every 90 minutes, it is reasonable to estimate that the drive will see perhaps 6 - 10 cycles per day.  So, given this set of conditions, it would be unreasonable to expect even a GOOD USB drive to last more than a couple of years in service.

BUT

The wear that occurs inside the USB drive is not necessarily uniform.  The actual number of write/erase cycles in different places with the USB drive depends on several factors, including something called Wear Leveling, which is a process used within the USB drive to try to equalize the wear within the device, to prevent premature wear-out at a specific memory location, and bad-block replacement, in which memory locations which fail prematurely are swapped with a small stock of spares which are built in for such a purpose.  Also, the internal book keeping of the USB drive itself has dedicated memory locations which are also written and erased at a rate which exceeds that of the general data storage.

THE BOTTOM LINE

From the above discussion, it is anticipatible that a USB drive will wear out in less than a year, given more than a couple of hours per day in service.  In my own experience, I have seen wear-out related failures in the 9 month to 1 year span during the time this feature has been available and activated.  It is also reasonable to understand that not all brands of USB drive are equal, either due to component quality or internal operating processes.  Price is not necessarily a determining factor.  I have found a specific low-cost USB drive which seems to do fairly well in this application, and that's the one I use (store brand at Office Depot).  As with anything, Your mileage may vary.

Visitor45763
Roku Guru

Re: USB Drives wear out in this application - That's normal and expected

Has anyone tried a real spinning disk in an external enclosure, powered by a external power supply?

When I was looking at external DTV tuners (which come with DVR & timeshifting features too), I was reading the avforums site. I thought I saw people saying they were using external drives. But, it required some care choosing a USB 3.0 enclosure, and SATA 3 drive with fast specs (fast seek, write, large cache?). 

Roku might detect it's not a flash drive and refuse to work with it. Or, Roku (or the tv maker) might use USB 2.0 which would be a bottleneck if the drive is 3.0. AntennaMan's video review of the MediaSonic HW-150 said the Avolusion HD250U3 (320gb) worked well with it. That doesn't look like it would have the kind of high-end (fast) drive you'd look for if buying a drive and enclosure separately.

You don't need a large drive. I've read Roku won't save more than 90 minutes.

"People are often amazed at how much we’ve done with the number of engineers we’ve got." (Roku CEO Anthony Wood, Austin Statesman, Oct 4, 2019). "Amazed" is one way of putting it.
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Harvini
Roku Guru

Re: USB Drives wear out in this application - That's normal and expected

I've actually considered trying a worn-but-still-working SSD in a 3.0 enclosure in that position.  Since the SSD in enclosure will work when plugged into a 2.0 USB laptop, with no external power supply, it appears that it should stay within the power limitations of the TV set 2.0 connector.

Of course, the real issue is that an SSD is every bit as susceptible to the wear-out issue as a flash drive, so there's nothing to be gained in that direction.  I also own a spare 2.5" spinner or two (40GB), plus an externally powered USB drop-in drive adapter.  Maybe I'll try that and see what happens.  (Eventually).

Re: Live tv pause not working

 
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CABurchfield
Channel Surfer

Re: USB Drives wear out in this application - That's normal and expected

@Harvini Nicely written explanation of what is happening.  I have switched out my USB thumb drives for Micro SD card/adapter configuration. I am hopeful that this will extend my up time.

Harvini
Roku Guru

Re: USB Drives wear out in this application - That's normal and expected


@CABurchfield wrote:

@Harvini Nicely written explanation of what is happening.  I have switched out my USB thumb drives for Micro SD card/adapter configuration. I am hopeful that this will extend my up time.


I think that will depend on what micro SD you are using.  Since SD and Micro SD use the same storage technology as USB drives, they are also subject to the same wear-out issues.  There are some micro SD cards that are specifically designed for use in such applications as Dash Cams, where resistance to wear-out during continuous operation is a requirement.  These claim to have longer service lives than the standard product.

MRC10
Newbie

Re: Live tv pause not working

Really smart 4ss then why does it happen with new sticks that have only been paused once to test it and sure enough a couple of hours later pop's up go to roku.com there is an issue with the usb drive?

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