Features, settings & updates

[StevenCee]

Even after a couple years of dealing with this & similar issues, I still naively thought an update, especially a "major" one, would correct some of these annoying issues. Well, just after reading that a great new Roku update (12.5) was coming in the next few weeks, I was surprised to find mine had been updated to 12.5 a couple days ago!  Well, great, right?  Nope, as I not only don't see any newly added features, but this and other issues have not been fixed!  So what kind of an "update" is this, when lingering issues have not been addressed? 

[Moat]

Hello, @fs54 - Thanks for the reply and recommendation! I gave it a shot - adding a handful of live TV stations to "Favorites" - but alas, to no avail. 😕 The "Live TV" guide still opens on the far-left categories column. I re-booted the TV, checked for software updates (none available, and seems stuck on version 12.0.0 build 4182), unplugged for 10 minutes... still not fixed. But thanks for the info - as time goes by, I'll try it again!

[Moat]

Hi @StevenCee - That's pretty disheartening to hear, that the 12.5 update appears to not have addressed these multiple, major (IMO) flaws that have been introduced via previous "updates" - where they had not existed before. 🧐 @fs54 's previous post, though, does bring some hope... 🤔 

As much as I really, really don't want to, I'm afraid my only option at this point is a total factory re-set, just to see if fs54's results might be applied. What a freakin' pain, though (!!!), as I've spent sooo much time hiding/favoriting sooo many of the hundreds of channels!! This Roku OS has simply been a major headache, a major fail. 😡👎 Hard to believe, really...

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[StevenCee]

@Moat I feel bad you're forced to wipe everything, and start all over... I've been tempted to, but I haven't seen many people here find it ended their problems, since a total reset will still mean using the Roku OS, and if that's the cause of these various bugs, it'll just mean more work for you, for nothing.

It is pretty mindblowing that this new update fixed nothing. I didn't even see a notice that it had been updated and a "what's new" list, I only discovered it when I did a manual software update, in the settings section. Even that is a bit weird, as it will sometimes show it was just checked a couple minutes before, yet when I do the search, three programs my show as updating right then. And as I mentioned earlier, many of them are nonsense names, which I assume are just "under the hood" tweaks, which sadly haven't fixed much.

I would think it'd be a no-brainer to simply revert back to the program for the guide, when it worked OK, and at least offer a "classic version" for those who find this new mess unacceptable.
And there's no reason why it should be so impossible to show the correct time, especially since it used to, so why not now? That's not really rocket science...

I'd really, really, really, like them to not only sometimes send an email announcing some new, added channels, but have a master list, updated monthly, we can download, so we know what channels are available, and where they are located, especially because some channels simply get moved! So how are we to know to look for them, or assume that means they're no longer available? Why would they change the channel number of one that's been around for years, and just not inform us where they moved it to?  So many silly, irrational stuff going on. You have to believe their programmers spend too much time thinking up more bells & whistles, and not enough actually using the app, so they'd know what changes might be beneficial for the millions of users.... what a concept.

[robot-boy]

How can we contact ROKU directly and vent? It seems that you are directed toward this community. This community is only a place to vent our issues. They can do nothing to the actual Roku OS. I feel that ROKU is totally unaware of, and unconcerned about, the problem and are doing nothing to return the main menu back to what we had before. Are they unwilling to return the menu to the simple user friendly that it had before?

[Moat]

Finally - after nearly 2 months, it appears the channel guide is (partially) back to its original, proper behavior and is now opening on the channel currently being watched. 

(Still on v12.0.0 build 4182-93)

Unfortunately, the guide is still NOT respecting the choice of category last selected.

So; only half-fixed. 🙄 Seven freakin' weeks...

Seeing the many other threads on the forum re; mindlessly imbecilic, ergonomically inefficient and majorly annoying changes to the Roku OS that are not being addressed (i.e.; removal of channel numbers, nested input selections, new "On Now" banner on the home screen, etc) - I'm not at all hopeful. Sigh... 😕

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[StevenCee]

@MoatYep, it's really driving me crazy! It's quite erratic and cumbersome, for when I click the back arrow, it goes all the way to the left, on the category, instead of staying on the show, so I can jump back to it easily, and even worse, SOMETIMES it will keep the same category that I was on, when I selected the channel I'm watching. But then SOMETIMES it will default to ALL, so when I click back in order to cruise what's playing on my Favorites list, I discover I'm going through every channel! Then I have to scroll through the categories (why isn't Favorites right above or below "All"?) to get to Favorites, and of course, it will always default to the top of the list, since I had to select it, instead of it just being there as it should!  This means having continuously, and unnecessarily keep going back to square one, every time I want to see what else is on!

And on top of everything else, some channels have the wrong shows listed, or are one or two hours off in their schedule, so after a while of watching something, I realize it's not the show I thought was on, so just more aggravation and time wasted! Do Roku's engineers/programmers not test these features out, to see if A. They actually work as they should, and B. If they make the user experience better, or actually make it worse?  Do they not try them out first, have users give them feedback, etc, like most companies will do, before releasing changes in their systems?

[Moat]

@StevenCee Ha, yeah - that's exactly the inconsistent behavior I've observed over the past ~2 months; the channel guide sometimes opening on the last category I used, sometimes not. And always opening (wrongly!) on the far-left "categories" column.

At least that 2nd part - the guide always opening on the "categories" column instead of the show currently being watched - is finally working properly on my TV, just within the past few days. But the 1st part - not remembering/honoring the selected "category" - is still broken.

I mean, c'mon, Roku dev/design team - this isn't exactly rocket science!! 🧐 These are the absolute simplest of GUI behaviors - the most obvious, direct, quick and efficient means of navigating the channel guide.

I can only think that the reason behind the OS design team leader/manager directing these amazingly inane changes (and then slooowly reversing them when users universally complain) must be in order to appear busy, productive - the team "earning their keep" - to his/her superiors. 

Unfortunately, this happens all too often in software development; a team works diligently for "X" amount of time to create the "perfect" product - they eventually succeed - so now there's nothing left for them to do but minor, un-fun stuff like squashing bugs, code cleanup/optimization, minor tweaks, etc. A room full of coders with (mostly) nothing left to do, so facing losing their job(s). What to do, then?? How about... unnecessarily BREAK THINGS - and then stay busy fixing it!! 😃 🥳

I tend to believe this ^^^ is a primary driving force that way, waaay too often ruins what were formerly excellent software products, and is likely what's more-or-less going on here. Such a shame...

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[StevenCee]

@MoatHa! That's exactly how I've seen this kind of stuff, that's happening far too often, and far too many places, including Apple! I've been thinking Jobs must be rolling over in his grave, by the direction Apple has been traveling for years now. Feeling like they have to put out a new OS (& iPhone) every year, scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and come up with "major upgrades & advancements", some of which either break what they were to improve, or move further & further away from being "intuitive", and user-friendly!
Oh, and the planned obsolescence, caked into refusing to update the OS in older hardware, or deleting built-in accessories (like disc drives, stereo input/outputs, etc.), forcing us to buy external ones, that only clutter our desks, all to what, shave 1/16" off the width of an iMac, who cares??

Anyway, if you and I can see this, why don't company execs stop all the mindless, user-infuriating "updating", and changing (breaking) or adding "new" features, their programmers do, just to try and justify their pay? If they're all that genius, cool, and creative, lay them off, and let them follow their Muse on their own, and take a shot at making the really big bucks....  😉

[fs54]

It seems like they are fixing issues one tv at a time!