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wysocki
Reel Rookie

Roku Stick closes channels after timeout

I have multiple Roku stick+ and I have a complaint about one issue. If I am watching a channel and then hit the Roku remote power button to turn it off, I can come back within a short time, turn it on, and continue watching the channel. However, after some period of time (like a couple hours) when I turn the Roku back on, it has returned to the home screen. This is really annoying because I watch Plex content almost exclusively, and everyone in the house (mainly my wife) complains that they have to do a couple extra clicks to get back into that channel to resume their viewing. I'm not sure what the timeout period is exactly, but it's not just with Plex and it's very annoying.

Is there any way to have Roku NOT go back to home automatically?

6 REPLIES 6
renojim
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku Stick closes channels after timeout

No.  There's been plenty of complaints about this.

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DBDukes
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku Stick closes channels after timeout

I never turn off my TV. It doesn't draw that much power. 

One thing to look at, though. There is a data saver feature on Roku devices that will return the device to the Home Screen after four hours of inactivity. Not sure if this is part of what's happening, since you say it happens after a couple of hours. If the time is actually more like four hours, look into turning this feature off and seeing if that makes a difference.

Oh, and I assume you have the Stick plugged into its power supply and not to a switched USB on the TV, right?

DBDukes
Roku Community Streaming Expert
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wysocki
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku Stick closes channels after timeout

Never noticed the Bandwidth Saver (as it's called on my Roku), but it turns out that it doesn't apply in this case. It states that after 4 hours of no action from the remote, it will stop the channel from streaming. Doesn't say it will close the channel and display the home screen. And yes, I have the Roku powered continuously. I did some tests by leaving Plex running (but not streaming) and powering OFF with the remote. After various intervals, I'd hit the power button to start it up, hoping to still have Plex running on screen. Here's some interesting results of my testing various times between OFF and ON:

Up to 2:07 powered off - Restarted with Plex
From 2:09 and longer - Starts with home page

Mysteriously, there's a time somewhere between 127 and 129 minutes of no activity where Roku decides it's time to go back to the home page! This holds true on both of my Rokus. But, yesterday I left Plex streaming content and I powered down for several hours. Amazingly, Roku restarted back into that channel still streaming! Go figure!

At that point, I imagine the Bandwidth Saver would have kicked in if I had it enabled. But too bad I can't just leave the Plex channel running without streaming and have it resume on a Roku restart of any duration.

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DBDukes
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku Stick closes channels after timeout

@wysocki But did you disable the setting? You don't say that you followed the suggestion to disable the setting.

DBDukes
Roku Community Streaming Expert
Note: I am not a Roku employee.

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wysocki
Reel Rookie

Re: Roku Stick closes channels after timeout

Yes, the Bandwidth Saver was disabled.

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Grammie55
Newbie

Re: Roku Stick closes channels after timeout

Go to Roku menu , go into Settings, then go into network...go into Bandwith saver and check OFF...

This happened to me so many times..especially if I was listening to important info on the news..it became very frustrating. Apparently what happens when Bandwidth is ON, and the streaming automatically shuts off after 4 hrs. When Bandwidth is OFF, the channel your watching will continue to stream...

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