Remotes

[jeffrok]

Hard to ignore.. you're getting worked up about buttons on a streaming device. I also suggested getting a different remote.

[beq]

Just hypothetical... what if Roku provides a secret screen menu to switch what app each shortcut button launches?

Doesn't have to be user friendly at all, just 4 blank fields to enter the target App ID's that we'd have to look up ourselves (see Remoku favorites -- xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8060/query/apps).  Or enter "0" to disable the button.

Roku should be able to keep the same revenue from button affiliation deals, as the secret menu wouldn't be mainstream knowledge.  Besides, changing the launch targets would NOT change the imprinted labels on the buttons themselves, so this would only attract people who can live with the button labels no longer corresponding to the actual functions 🙂

[mikebdoss]

"beq" wrote:
Just hypothetical... what if Roku provides a secret screen menu to switch what app each shortcut button launches?

Doesn't have to be user friendly at all, just 4 blank fields to enter the target App ID's that we'd have to look up ourselves (see Remoku favorites -- xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8060/query/apps).  Or enter "0" to disable the button.

Roku should be able to keep the same revenue from button affiliation deals, as the secret menu wouldn't be mainstream knowledge.  Besides, changing the launch targets would NOT change the imprinted labels on the buttons themselves, so this would only attract people who can live with the button labels no longer corresponding to the actual functions 🙂

A secret like that would probably be against the agreements they have with the advertisers. If such an agreement wasn't in the contracts, most large advertisers wouldn't participate. A key part of advertising is assuring advertisers that there's no easy way for users to avoid the ad placement.

[Binarygeek]

Hi all,

New guy (and Roku victim) here.  Regarding the Roku remote, there is just something inherently wrong when the first thing I did was physically remove the Hulu etc...buttons.  What's wrong with this picture?  This is not about "subsidizing" the cost of the Roku.  This is corporate greed running rampant and adding to the company profit line.  I can't believe I saw jeffrok suggesting "getting a new remote".  WTF??  On top of the cost I just paid for the remote?  That statement is absolute asinine...ASININE. Who are you, a Roku employee?  And let's make something absolutely clear:  This is not about "liking" or "using" these buttons.  If that's all it is, then there wouldn't be an issue.  This is about those buttons interfering with my use of the Roku.  Do you understand?  INTERFERING.

What's interesting is that these buttons are impacting the company line.  I just bought a Roku for my wife.  Instead of buying the new Roku Ultra 4660, I got her a used Roku 3 4200R for (40 bucks off of e-bay), without those buttons.  So there you go.  You've lost a sale.  Because of the remote.  Buying that used 4200R certainly doesn't help YOUR bottom line.

I've been using Roku or about 7-8 years and used to love and adore the Roku remote.  Just sheer simplicity.  No need to look at the remote to use it.  And then you blew it.

Should we take a poll?  See who supports those four shortcut buttons, and those that want them disabled/removed.  My guess would be that 85-90% of the users (Roku employees excluded) would like them gone.

Thanks for letting me vent.

[twiceover]

"Binarygeek" wrote:
Hi all,

New guy (and Roku victim) here.  Regarding the Roku remote, there is just something inherently wrong when the first thing I did was physically remove the Hulu etc...buttons.  What's wrong with this picture?  This is not about "subsidizing" the cost of the Roku.  This is corporate greed running rampant and adding to the company profit line.  I can't believe I saw jeffrok suggesting "getting a new remote".  WTF??  On top of the cost I just paid for the remote?  That statement is absolute asinine...ASININE. Who are you, a Roku employee?  And let's make something absolutely clear:  This is not about "liking" or "using" these buttons.  If that's all it is, then there wouldn't be an issue.  This is about those buttons interfering with my use of the Roku.  Do you understand?  INTERFERING.

What's interesting is that these buttons are impacting the company line.  I just bought a Roku for my wife.  Instead of buying the new Roku Ultra 4660, I got her a used Roku 3 4200R for (40 bucks off of e-bay), without those buttons.  So there you go.  You've lost a sale.  Because of the remote.  Buying that used 4200R certainly doesn't help YOUR bottom line.

I've been using Roku or about 7-8 years and used to love and adore the Roku remote.  Just sheer simplicity.  No need to look at the remote to use it.  And then you blew it.

Should we take a poll?  See who supports those four shortcut buttons, and those that want them disabled/removed.  My guess would be that 85-90% of the users (Roku employees excluded) would like them gone.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Ugh.  They are a company, companies need to make money.  Get over it.

[twiceover]

Double Post.

[wallydog]

The shortcut buttons for some may be a convenience I never use them myself . In the past four years I may have accidently hit one a few times and it was anoying but my body temperature didn't rise and it only took a second to correct. I wouldn't worry unless they started adding Pizza Hut or Uber or anything that actually cost me money if I pressed it .

[2pints]

"somebody" wrote:
I mean the Netflix, Amazon, Sling and Google buttons.

It really annoys me if I'm watching something and accidentally hit one of those instead of Rewind.

I can get to the channels I use easily enough with Home and a couple of arrows, but if I just want to catch a bit of dialogue I missed and hit one by mistake all of a sudden it's exiting whatever I'm watching and it's firing up Sling (usually that's the one I hit by mistake).

IMO It was a poor design choice to put these buttons on the remote in the first place.    Despite it being thicker I much prefer the old 2XS remote which I still use on one of my TVs..

So far I've found 2 suggestions on other forums around the internet.

1:   Just put tape over them
2:   Take the remote apart and and literally destroy the contacts on the circuit board for those buttons..    

I don't want to do EITHER of those things.    Having the ability to reprogram them would be nice.   I could reprogram them to NULL or to just Rewind or maybe even to Volume and Power for my TV.   Then I wouldn't need two remotes just to watch TV.

I hope Roku got paid well by those 4 companies because it seems to be more of an annoyance than a benefit to customers.


In fact I even discovered some models have a button for Rdio which I never even heard of and is apparently a defunct company so the button is useless now anyway.

Option 3, if your prepared to take the remote apart, put some insulating material between the contacts ( ie plastic) that can be removed if you wish, saves physically destroying anything, although it will invalidate any warrantee

[atc98092]

While I'm another user that never uses the preset buttons, they don't really bother me. Especially since the firmware now asks if you really want to leave whatever channel you are on ans switch to the one for that button. Just ignore it and you stay where you are, or select no to clear it faster. 
.
i'm looking at the remote for my Insignia TV. Of the four buttons it has, Netflix is the only channel I subscribe to, although I do have Google Play sync'd to my Movies Anywhere account. I don't use Sling or Hulu. Even if I did use the buttons, it would be annoying that the buttons on this remote most likely don't match my other remotes, so I can't go by memory if I wanted to use one. That's the thing that makes it dumb for me.

[drjekel_mrhyde]

"Emissary35" wrote:
The fact that Roku only cares about getting advertising revenue by putting specific app button instead of customizable programmable buttons is nauseating. You get a remote with buttons Roku has decided to set for you and if you don't use those channels they are completely worthless, they should just make them programmable preset buttons that you can use to open any channel like your car radio has to set your favorite stations. But Roku would rather get paid by those channels to add 'their button' on your remote whether you are going to use it or not. My favorite is this stupid discontinued Radio channel button stuck on my remote and the channel no longer exists! Nice job on that one Roku! It's sickening that Roku chooses to do this over doing something more useful for the customer. Not to mention their uselessly annoying ad banner that takes up a huge portion of the right side of the screen instead of using that space to show more channels on your account. It's all about the money and not the customer satisfaction.

Oh God yes. I have 2 TCL Tv's and the only button that is the same on both is Netflix.  One has Amazon, rdio and Vudu, while the other has Sling, Hulu, and Starz. I wold love to replace the rdio button with the Starz button. That would be more useful to me