Roku legacy products

Still have old Roku models? Find help and recommendations for older Roku devices that no longer receive software updates or aren't eligible for channel updates.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Uglifish
Newbie

Roku 1 keeps dropping during playback on some channels

A lot of channels play okay but a few don't. Some Canadian channels will sometimes let the show play for a few minutes then either the device crashes - sometimes to the home screen, sometimes it totally resets. The problem doesn't seem to happen with Disney+ and Netflix. I specifically subscribe to the low-res version of Netflix. Is there some way of setting the default to standard digital video instead of high definition - SD instead of HD? My internet connection isn't very fast and my TV is small. 

Labels (2)
0 Kudos
1 REPLY 1
DBDukes
Community Streaming Expert

Re: Roku 1 keeps dropping during playback on some channels

@Uglifish 

Couple of things going on that could impact your situation.

First, and you really don't want to hear this, the Roku 1 model 2710 was introduced in 2013 and discontinued in 2016. It's older tech, and has some age on it. Now, yes it is a supported device still, in that it gets updates and many app developers still support it, though some don't, and you'll find that to be the case more and more. It's possible the device is nearing end of life and if this is a recent development, this could be a symptom of that.

Next, the settings to control the bitrate on the device worked back in 2013 and before but not so much these days. The way the services stream has evolved over the years, and the things that worked a while back don't work so much any more. Adaptive streaming doesn't play nice with the old device settings. And those settings were never officially supported (they worked, but if they ever stopped, oh well; unsupported features have their drawbacks).

For Netflix, there is a profile setting on the Website where you can adjust the stream. It's not on the devices (Roku or other) but on the service. Not every service offers this. Some did and dropped it, others never did, some do offer the settings. But they are from the service, no generally within the app or on the device.

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

If this post solves your problem please help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."