@Eoin1 wrote: the remote does not have numerals so you can go direct to a channel and I am constantly having problems with things not working as they are supposed to work.
FWIW: I saw a video showing a TCL Android tv responding to a universal remote with numeric keys. I.e., the TCL Android tv doesn't come with a numeric remote. But, the tv/software will operate on such a remote if you buy one. (I've got a URC-7880 programmable/universal. I'm going to replace one of my regrettable TCL Roku tvs with an Android, and see if it works.
Plus, I want to start getting familiar with Android OS on a TCL. It's been unclear if all the problems we're having are TCL's fault (as Roku often infers), or if it's less problematic with a different OS. Android has years of structuring the hardware/software lines of responsbility. (Roku seems to like it nebulous. To this day, nobody knows who's responsible for testing updates before they're released, or if they're even being tested.). Android lets you turn off updates, and install a prior version. (Roku ignores customers asking for that.).
So, your mention of the numeric keypad caught my eye. If you're to the point you can't use your tv anymore, the TCL Android looks much (much) friendlier. I plan to do one next month.
If you're really tired of Roku's treatment of (disregard for) its customers, you can factory reset but tell it you'll setup internet later (but don't!). This will give you an antenna tv interface which looks a lot more like what the tv came with (before Roku broke it). You get favorites again. Continuous channel changing works again. And, (bonus points) you're protected from any further untested updates from a company doesn't feel ANY responsibility to its customers. I'm calling it #CutTheCord2.0. (It seems appropriate. People were leaving Comcast for treating customers like this.).
I posted more info about what I did to cut the cord from Roku. It's just an option. It has its upsides and downsides. I felt the upsides outweighed the down. Frankly, I don't want to be in a toxic relationship like Roku expects customers to be in. When I saw my antenna tv interface was much improved: it was a no-brainer to cut the cord. Go back to a more modular investment in equipment. The "jack of all trades" tv looks nice until you realize it's a master of none, and could break with the next update.
"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.
