Features, settings & updates

[tomkat72]

It is on the 3800RW, I have 2 of them. I shut both bandwidth savers off.  No.1  "stopped" shutting off the stream,  No.2  still stops the stream every 4 hrs.

[Daddylane24]

Go into settings then Theme then arrow down to Screensaver Wait Time and click Disable screensaver

[barr88]

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@Smitovsky wrote:

Nice try, Cheetah, but my grandmother is long gone.   Besides, it wouldn't work anyway.  Somehow the Roku knows when the TV gets shut off, so when you turn it back on you're in the Roku home screen, not the app you were running.  See if YOUR grandma can figure that one out.

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I believe you may be experiencing a new behavior that started with 9.4.    It's likely not that the Roku "knows when the TV gets shut off," it's that 9.4 is deliberately returning to the Roku home screen on its own now any time it decides there's been no activity in whatever channel you're on for a period of time (looks to be about 2 hours).  To verify, just leave the TV on after you're done with whatever channel you're watching.  In around 2 hours, the Roku will leave the channel without warning and go back to its home screen all by itself.  The Roku "Bandwidth Saver" in Network settings has no effect.  Nor do Roku screensaver settings or screensaver settings within the channels.

It's rather frustrating when you only use Roku for one channel 99% of the time (Plex, in my case).  Now, I have to re-launch the same channel EVERY time I turn the TV on.  I didn't even think of elderly or otherwise challenged users that may only want one channel active 24/7 for a simplified user experience.

[TellyaLater]

Time to DUMP Roku and go back to Firestick!

[CelticsFan]

@TellyaLater  This post is over 2 years old. 

[barr88]

It's about a year-and-a-half old, actually.

But age doesn't make it inapplicable. The behavior that started with 9.4 back then is still in place (and exists regardless of 'bandwidth saver' setting). If Roku decides there's been no activity in whatever app/channel you're on for around 2 hours, it will return to the home screen on its own (and without any warning). It was almost certainly a deliberate decision by Roku and, as no setting has been added to customize the behavior, one they wish to enforce regardless of individual user needs or preferences.

One likely reason that comes to mind is that it allows Roku to expose you to more advertising, since launching anything from the home screen displays an ad of some sort every time.

[CelticsFan]

@barr88  The very first post was back on 3-2-2020. So that was over 2 years ago. I have been using Roku devices and TVs for the past 10 years and have zero issues. The no activity is set by certain streaming channels also. When cord cutting first came out people were going over their data caps. So Roku, Firestick and others added time limits. Today people still have data caps from their ISPs. Just like you cannot buy a smartphone without a data package. 

[barr88]

All valid points... But data caps and streaming limits were already becoming much less of a thing by the time 9.4 came along. And the 'bandwidth saver' setting in Roku had/has existed well before then to aid in addressing those limits.

And we're talking about an "inactivity" timeout here (as far as I know, Roku will not auto-return to its home screen as long as something is still actively streaming). Inactivity is, by definition, a low data use scenario, so a Roku home screen auto-return (that's based on inactivity) is of questionable benefit as far as data or streaming limits are concerned.

In my case, 99% of the time I use Roku to access a local Plex media server, so there are no data or streaming limits of any kind to consider. And while Plex employs its own screensaver for inactivity, it does not have a channel inactivity timeout of its own, so this change is/was solely of Roku's doing, not Plex's (verified by Plex).

Much like you, I've been well served by Roku devices for years, too (my 1st Roku was 7 years ago, I believe). And I understand the (unfortunate) reality of advertising. What I have a problem with is purchasing an item at price X based on described functionality Y... and then having that functionality changed to something that doesn't work as well (for some users, at least) without warning, notice, or any option to restore the previous functionality. And I especially have a problem when that change appears to be predominantly (if not solely) for the purpose of simply serving more advertising to the user.

You want to serve me ads every time I use your device? Fine. Put that on the box so I know what I'm buying and can make an informed decision (and/or maybe offer an ad-free version at a higher price). You want to change the game AFTER I buy it? Fine. The bait-and-switch is another unfortunate reality of technology in today's world. But let me know proactively (or at least in the release notes) instead of trying to sneak it into a release. And give use-cases such as mine an option to turn it off (or buy my way out of it or something).

Is any of this a big deal in the grand scheme of things? No, of course not. It's a minor inconvenience for me to have to re-select and re-launch Plex (and ignore the obligatory advertisement that's served up on the Roku home screen) every single time I turn on the TV now. But it's also unnecessary... and a simple menu option to restore the previous functionality would have gone a long way towards customer satisfaction for use cases such as mine. As is, they've taken at least one customer from being a big fan/supporter of Roku (and highly recommending it)... To one that hasn't purchased another Roku device since this change and is now actively exploring other options (Firestick, Chromecast, Nvidia Shield, Apple TV, etc.).

[DBDukes]

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@barr88 wrote:

... It's rather frustrating when you only use Roku for one channel 99% of the time (Plex, in my case). ...

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Plex has a limit of two hours before it stops playing. That is, if you go more than two hours without any user action via remote, then when the item currently playing ends, Plex stops. That's Plex. And there is no setting within the app to change that or disable it. That's how Plex works. And it works that way on every platform, not just Roku.

[barr88]

Plex will stop auto-playing (if you have the setting enabled that will continue to auto-play episodes in a TV series, for example).  

So Plex stops (in that auto-playback scenario), yes.  But that's all it does; Stop.  After a period of user inactivity, Plex will launch it's own screensaver.  That screensaver will continue indefinitely unless or until interrupted.  This was verified by Plex staff via their support forum back when 9.4 was released.