Discussions

[spudchick]

Since TCL does not have a recommended device list for the live antenna TV pause feature on their Roku TVs, I'm hoping those of you who use this feature a lot *without chronic issues* can share the specific brand/model you use (and which TCL model you have). We have two TCL RokuTVs (one 55", one 47") and use this feature on both, but the USB port seems to be very picky and erratic, and even once I find a USB drive it doesn't immediately perform badly with, we still lose our buffer (ability to pause/rw) annoyingly often on both of the TVs.  

Maybe it's the TV models we have, I don't know. But it's really annoying. Thanks in advance for any recommendations. 

[AvsGunnar]

@spudchick 

I don't think it matters on the brand of the USB drive you use.  I am currently using a 32gb PNY USB 3.0 in my Insignia RokuTV for the Live TV Pause feature.

This same USB has been in the TV since day 1.  When OS 10.0 was released, it began to get very flaky saying USB wasn't installed along with other error messages.  It was getting to be a daily occurence.  Basically, just removed USB drive and reinserted it and would usually work. (other times required a restart).  I swapped out USB drives and didn't make a difference. (even different USB 2.0 and 3.0 didn't help).

It then happened again with 10.5 release but subsequent OS build updates finally fixed the issue eventually.  

I doubt your issue is with your USB brand.  It is probably just some wonkiness with the TV and the OS.  It may just be that TCL is handling it worse than the Insignia did.  Wish I had a better response for you as I know how irritating it is.

[Harvini · Accepted solution]

I'm afraid I must disagree with you a bit on the selection of USB drives for the PAUSE feature.  There are two issues that come into play.  First is the performance of the internal controller of the USB stick.  Some USB sticks seem to work poorly, or not at all with the particular programming of the Roku OS for the pause feature.  It has been my own experience that PNY works OK and some of the cheaper brands, like Lexar as well.  As with most things related to the Roku TV set, Your Own Mileage May Vary.

The other issue has to do with wear-out of the memory cells within the USB stick.  The modern USB memory stick is not designed for unlimited erase/record cycles.  If one does the math, it is anticipatable that one will start seeing wear-out related failures within about a year of usage, given 6 - 12 hours of TV operation per  day.  I just replaced a stick a couple of weeks ago that had started exhibiting some unreliable behaviors a few weeks prior, and then just failed to operate in the Roku TV set.  A deep test cycle revealed numerous worn out memory cells at that time.  It was trashed.  

I would personally not expect a USB stick which is being used in the PAUSE application of a Roku TV set to last more than about a year.

[spudchick]

I tried removing the drive, formatting it and running a check from my win10 laptop just to reset it, and then put it back. It performed slightly better for longer but still lost the buffer. After checking my purchase history I realized the drive was nearly 3 years old, not used several hours a day but used for live TV buffering about 15-20 hours a week. Bought a couple of new thumb drives (same series, SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0) and the new drive seems to be doing the trick. I do think occasionally removing/formatting the thumb drive, putting it back and then rescanning the channels/restarting drive buffering on the RokuTV might help. Good thinking on the drive life, Harvini.  Going to write the date on the back of the current drive so I'll be able to quickly see whether age is an issue.

Thanks for your input, all.

[Jmontano]

I had the same problem with my TCL tv trying to get a 16gb usb memory stick to work. I formated it, but it would not work. I put a 64gb stick in and it works. My recommendation is use a bigger usb stick bigger than the 16 gb they recommend, and it should work. 
Good luck…