Playback Issues - Audio/Video & Power

[JoanR]

My elderly aunt's Roku is behaving oddly. The tv screen goes black for about 5 seconds between every button press on the remote. This makes doing anything on the Roku a trial in patience. When playing anything via the Roku, it appears to play okay except that sometimes the audio drops out for approximately one second every minute - like the roku is polling something and failing, perhaps? She has it setup to use netflix and tablo and PBS and other stuff as well.  I figure there's some sort of contention going on with the Roku but I know very little about Roku in general. On rare occasion playback works okay but mostly she's just accessing live tv, sidestepping the Roku because of the problems with using it.

When I went into settings and checked the network connection, it said it was excellent. When I checked the system remote, it said that nothing is paired with the roku, although the roku remote works just fine (except as noted above). I've also tried restarting the Roku as well as physically disconnecting the device from its cables and reconnecting them.

Any idea what might be the problem or how I might go about debugging this?

Thanks!

[JoanR]

Gotta love this. I was just asked to respond to a survey about my "experience with Roku's (lack of) support" and predictably, I slammed them. At the end of the survey I get this message:

Your survey answers were not submitted because you have already responded.

Verdict: Roku sucks.

I'm not wasting any more time on this pos product, even if it is for my aunt whom I adore.

[atc98092]

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@JoanR wrote:

My elderly aunt's Roku is behaving oddly. The tv screen goes black for about 5 seconds between every button press on the remote. This makes doing anything on the Roku a trial in patience. When playing anything via the Roku, it appears to play okay except that sometimes the audio drops out for approximately one second every minute - like the roku is polling something and failing, perhaps? She has it setup to use netflix and tablo and PBS and other stuff as well.  I figure there's some sort of contention going on with the Roku but I know very little about Roku in general. On rare occasion playback works okay but mostly she's just accessing live tv, sidestepping the Roku because of the problems with using it.

When I went into settings and checked the network connection, it said it was excellent. When I checked the system remote, it said that nothing is paired with the roku, although the roku remote works just fine (except as noted above). I've also tried restarting the Roku as well as physically disconnecting the device from its cables and reconnecting them.

Any idea what might be the problem or how I might go about debugging this?

Thanks!

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It would help us to know what Roku your aunt has. It might also help to know what TV it's connected to, and if there's anything else in the connection string between the Roku and the TV (sound bar, AV receiver). From your description, her remote is the simple IR version, not the WiFi Direct model. There is no pairing required for IR devices. 

I can't think of anything in particular that a remote button press would cause the screen to blank out. Since it's an IR remote, you must of course have a direct line of sight between the remote and the Roku. If the batteries in the remote were getting weak, you'd more likely just not get a response to a button press. Once we know what model Roku, then perhaps there's something else we can address.