Remotes

[VA1DER]

@RokuBe wrote:

Specifically, we're looking if there's a specific device channel update that could have exacerbated this, as we haven't pushed a firmware update for most devices since May.

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Look at this very thread.  There were a couple of reports prior to May, but on May 22 is when a flood of reports started.  A firmware update in May is a very good place to look for a problem that started to see a lot of reports in May.  Don't you think??  Also it takes time for people to experience a problem before they go through the pain of searching out a forum, creating an account, and reporting it.  So a month or two of a problem existing and people suffering through it it is a reasonable time frame to expect that the reports will then begin to increase.  All of which suggests that a May update is a pretty reasonable suspect.

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The most useful info people can post is what channels they're using where they see this skip behavior.

Affected:

• Britbox
• Curiositystream
• Disney+

Seems to be unaffected:

• Roku Channel
• Roku Media Player

I do not see the behaviour on the main screen.  However, if I am in Britbox (or another affected app) and his "Home" to get out of it, the home button press will often bounce repeatedly four or five times, including a few times when the home screen is showing.  Thereafter it does not repeat.

Also, if you can check and see if it happens when using the mobile app versus using an IR remote or a RF remote.

Occurs with RF remote.  Never occurs with mobile app.  Don't have IR remote.

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Also useful would be posting if you've also had your device reboot unexpectedly or seen channels close to the home screen.

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No.  I have experienced none of this behaviour.  I do not think it is a memory leak.  It seems to happen when a player app is busy.  If I do an action on an app which spikes the CPU, then hit a button, it seems to happen quite frequently.  It feels like an interrupt or OS notification is being sent to the app which the app isn't responding to quickly enough and is being resent.  Did your May update include an API change to have the API re-notify an app of a button press if the app doesn't respond to one quickly enough?

Also, please note, on affected apps and during the most affected times, if I press and hold a button it never skips/bounces.  It only happens on quick button presses.

[LIG]

On our Roku Stick devices we found the skipping on the Xfinity Streaming channel, which is the channel my wife uses most frequently. I don't watch TV much, but I have watched some documentaries on the Curiosity Stream and Netflix channels, and didn't have the skipping issue on either of them.

[jekel]

Let's face it, this is the remote's programing being as how I experience it with multiple boxes as well as a Hisense Roku 4K TV. But never with the App. 

I don't  think it is in a recent set or box update. As far as I know the remotes are not able to be re-programmed at all.

If it IS in a recent set or box upgrade, why is a fix so long in coming. It should be ASAP after first notice. Again i state I have no issue using the App, only the remote on all 4 of my sets/boxes.

But since the issue seems to be the remote's programming, there is not a way to fix that other than a replacement at their cost, which obviously is not going to happen.

Their ultimate advice is to buy a new remote...which will double the cost of some boxes.

I have not seen any versions for software listed on remote packaging nor inside the batt compartment. Only bogus 'QC PASSED' sticker. So beware you may well be getting another defective remote.

"The Fix" as I mentioned is to replace them, on their dime...but...one might as well replace with something universal, if a replacement of their remote is not a revised program. 

I have not tried a third party universal as of yet, again it kind of kills the 'value' of the boxes by increasing the cost times 1.5 or 2.

So, Roku...will you send me 3 new remotes at your expense...something with a software revision and we and see if that does indeed fix this issue?

[RokuBen]

Roku IR remotes can't be reprogrammed, but RF remotes do sometimes get firmware updates. However, usually those are only to fix issues like battery drain problems, and many of our RF remotes haven't needed an update in years.

However, since this problem has been seen by users with both kinds of remotes, we're not looking into the remote firmware anymore as a cause of the problem.

This is definitely an system OS issue.  We've already seen logs internally that show how the problem is affecting the system, but we're working on figuring out what specific set of channels, network configurations, and device behavior puts it into this state.  As people have noticed, usually this is fixed by rebooting the device.

[RokuBen]

@VA1DERyou said "However, if I am in Britbox (or another affected app) and his "Home" to get out of it, the home button press will often bounce repeatedly four or five times, including a few times when the home screen is showing."  How are you telling that the home button is bouncing?  Are you hearing multiple click sounds?  Is it going to the home screen, then navigating back to the top of the channel grid?

I'm asking because this behavior isn't consistent with our current theories of what's going on.

[RokuBen]

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@Stirboo wrote:

Home 5x and Back 5x does nothing

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That key sequence does two things -- it sticks a special marker in the device logs and shows a dialog with more information useful in posting a bug to Roku, including your device serial number, OS version, and time/date of the report.  It shouldn't alter any other system state.

[Dave38]

I simply unplugged my Roku for a couple of minutes and plugged it back in. Seems to have helped.

[Bluewinkle]

The channel skips by skipping one column at a time moving horizontally and one row moving vertically and then is stable.

Channels with the problem:

Max

Hulu

Paramount Plus

Channels without the problem:

Apple+

FX Now

Amazon Prime and channels on Prime:

PBS Masterpiece, Acorn, Crime Central

[Dino1]

I find it skips on the channels I buy directly from Roku (MAX and Acorn) but not on Prime or Netflix - on both my Rokus after working for years

[VA1DER]

Hi Ben,

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@RokuBen wrote:

How are you telling that the home button is bouncing?  Are you hearing multiple click sounds?

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Yes.  Typically when it happens I'll press home and after a half second delay I'll hear one-five more home button keypress sounds while the screen is changing, sometimes once or twice after the home screen displays.

Right now I'm experiencing an issue about 10-20% of the time, so duplicating that on a home key press is difficult.  I made a new video to show it.  You can get it here:

https://va1der.ca/~public/Test_KeyBounce_001.mkv

During this test each time the home key bounces each time it only bounces once (ie: one additional home key sound during the transition).  But it happens on three occasions:

1. 3m17s
2. 3m55s
3. 8m03s

Throughout you can hear quite a few times when the play/pause or ff/rew bounces.

The other notable occurrence is at 6m32s where after a bounce the Roku stopped responding to the remote entirely for about ten seconds.