Solving playback issues

[RowCuckoo]

I've been using my Roku Ultra 4800x without any significant problems since I purchased it back in June of this year.

The firmware update going to version 10.5.0 caused a few issues:
1) The display resolution is wrong. I have a tv that works at 1080p, but now Roku sets the display at 720p or 1080p with a tiny screen size and incorrect spacing on the font text.

2) The home button on the remote no longer changes the television's video settings over to the Roku home screen.

3) The television on occasion would just shut itself off.

If you look at some of the current reviews on Amazon for the Roku Ultra, you will see users complaining about these issues, which really is terrible for anyone who just purchased the device, had the thing messed up by a bad firmware update, and didn't know how to do anything about it.

This is why there needs to be an emergency firmware fix (or rollback) ASAP... just make 10.5.1 an older version of the firmware until the bugs are corrected.

I wrote support, they somewhat ignored what I wrote, and gave me generic instructions on what to try. I tried the suggestions, but they were to fix issues unrelated to bad firmware. I then re-wrote almost exactly what I initially wrote in order to get the support person to try and do anything. I ended up sending over some more details and photos of the incorrect resolution screens, but I never heard anything back after that. Writing back and forth for over a week for this issue is ridiculous.  So, the support in this case is a big fail, and that is why I posted this message.

From what I've found, the best thing to do is to make some adjustments in the Roku Ultra's settings.
1) Turn off the auto-detect for the display and just set the display to 1080p (obviously, you would set the display resolution higher if you have a higher resolution tv and see an appropriate setting in the display options).

2) Uncheck the "Automatically Turn Off Roku After 20 Minutes of Inactivity" option in the Power settings.

The auto-turn-off setting seems to screw-up both the display settings and tv video input responsiveness to the Roku remote's home button. When the 20 minutes of inactivity occurs, the Roku Ultra doesn't reconnect with the tv correctly.

I'm not sure why a non-Roku tv would just shut off on its own. It only occurred twice so far, but it happened only after the Roku firmware update. I thought it might be something related to a Roku remote control trying to signal back to the Roku. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[JoeKC4G]

Same problems here, plus a few others... it's so ridiculous that I have written a letter to Anthony Woods, ROKU CEO & Chairman.  I suggested the same thing - roll back until it's fixed. I'm not exactly hopeful, though.

[RichCea]

For me, Sling doesn't load channels. Amazon Prime works OK, but displays a screen in German for a second when it starts up.

Was thinking about quitting Sling, but maybe a Chromecast device is the right answer.

Odd that there is nothing about this from Roku support - they must be deep into it.

[jontalk]

What I find odd with this update is the dramatic change in Audio settings. With the previous version, under HDMI "Auto" or "Passthrough" it would show ALL formats the AVR supports. With this version, it shows only Dolby Atmos or DTS which is weird. The audio appears to work OK (I use passthrough), but this doesn't seem right. I also notice that after being powered off automatically, when it reboots instead of the home page showing the last channel used, it reverts to the HOME button on the Left similar to how it works after a restart. Very odd performance. I sure with HBO would update the MAX app; slow as molasses. 

[RowCuckoo]

I just manually checked for a firmware update and went to firmware (10.5.0 build 4201). I’ll keep checking things out and see if that fixed the issues I mentioned.

[RowCuckoo]

The firmware (10.5.0 build 4201) update did not fix the problems I originally posted about. The 20-minute power-off option still causes the Roku Ultra to incorrectly re-connect with the tv once the power-off is initiated, which ends up causing an incorrect display setting and the Roku remote doesn’t make the tv switch to the Roku Home screen when the Home button is pressed.

So, I ended up changing things back… manually setting the display resolution and unchecking the power-off option.

[jontalk]

I updated to the most recent version last night and do not suffer with any of the problems you mention though the Ultra is routed through my AVR rather than directly to the TV. I doubt that would make any difference though. Regardless, I still feel it's odd that the Audio HDMI selections fail to show ALL surround formats an AVR supports as it did with version 10 and earlier. 

[DawgDawg]

Agree. Pretty much killed my Ultra. Disconnected it, tried to use LG remote, but not nearly so user-friendly as the simple Roku remote. To maintain spousal harmony, just installed a Roku 2021 Streaming Stick 4K. Works great, only $30. Guess the Ultra went the way of planned obsolescence?

[jamowa52]

Thanks for the reference.  I have an extra Ultra that I was planning to use as a replacement for an older Premier model. But since the Premier is the only Roku working.....   We may wind up with a stick in the meantime given the glacial response of Roku to user issues.

Cheers,

[wza97]

I just bought a 4800R because I read in another thread that I can passthrough 24/192 audio files using Roku Media Player. So far everything seems to be resampled to 48khz if the file resolution is higher than that. Not having the same options may be a factor?  I have also tried with Plex, seeing the same results.  Can anyone passthrough anything higher currently? 

I have the Roku connected to an HDMI extractor using coax into my DAC. I can get 192khz using a fire stick and Amazon Music, so I know the extractor can handle it.