Features, settings & updates

[ForkWNY]

Some time overnight, 4/20 into the early hours of 4/21, my Roku ultra 4800X updated to 10.0.0 build 4177-C2. One changed behavior I've noticed is that the asterisk ' * ' key (when double-pressed on a Netflix movie title) no longer enables or disables the text-based INFO stats in the upper-left of the screen. The asterisk button brings up the options menu within Netflix no matter what. Press it too many times and the annoying voice accessibility menu ends up getting enabled. 

Double-pressing the asterisk button worked like a charm (up until today) to enable/disable stats in Netflix, now it definitely does not work. I just used the feature last night (on 4/20) to enable/disable stats (text in upper-left of screen) in Netflix, and this afternoon when watching a movie, the feature is broken and/or entirely removed. Seems that the Roku update changed something, and I can't find documentation on how to enable the stats/info feature within Netflix. Is there another key combo I should be using from the remote? Thanks.

[andyross]

I thought the "*" thing with Netflix disappeared years ago. You had to hit "*" BEFORE starting a video, then do that again to turn it off.

[ForkWNY]

Right...exactly what I've been doing in Netflix. Since the 10.0.0 build 4177-C2 update, that feature is gone.

[StreamerUser]

---

@ForkWNY wrote:

Right...exactly what I've been doing in Netflix. Since the 10.0.0 build 4177-C2 update, that feature is gone.

---

I can confirm the new/changed Options (*) behavior with NetFlix under 10.0.0.4177 - it always activates the Roku global settings, even in the menu/main UI, preventing enabling the info/stats.

We'll just have to report/complain to Roku/NetFlix, though I doubt there will be much response.

[ForkWNY]

Thanks for confirming! The issue seems to coincide with the latest Roku software update so there's probably not much Netflix can do. I can't tell when Netflix was last updated, but I know the ** asterisk was working the night of April 20th, right before the 4177 build was rolled out to my particular device. It's not a major issue by any means but I've always activated the info text in the upper-left screen for Netflix shows/movies in order to verify Atmos/2160p and bit rate streaming throughput. It would be preferable to be able to enable/disable the info text in the global menu rather than double-pressing ** as I found it didn't always work reliably. Sometimes it took a couple of tries to activate and/or disable it.

[atc98092]

Netflix themselves altered that functionality a long time ago. Then some users discovered it could still be activated by hitting * before starting a video playback. If it's now completely gone, it might have been tied to OS 10.0, but it's still Netflix that did away with it. 

[ForkWNY]

I can confirm that the ** double asterisk remote trick "info text" still works on the latest Netflix app running on a Roku TCL TV running OS 9.4.0.

OS 10.0.0 has not yet been rolled out onto my TCL Roku 4KTV.

[ForkWNY · Accepted solution]

Update:

This issue is fixed in the latest 10.0.0 build (4195-C2), pushed out to my Roku device on May 8th, 2021. The ** double asterisk works as it did previously for text output info/stats display within Netflix. I hope this feature remains active for the foreseeable future as the stats are useful for troubleshooting as well as knowing that you're getting the service you're paying for every month.