Solving playback issues

[knottied]

I've got a Roku Ultra 4660X on 10.5.0 build 4208-46.  Everyday, it gets so slow that I have to manually reboot it.  If I tried to stream anything when it is like this, it will lock up and reboot itself.  Any hints on how to fix this?

[DBDukes]

@knottied 

The 4660 is four years old, and could be going bad, but I would expect longer life from a top of the line Roku device. However, one of mine just went bad, so it does happen. However, we want to try to resolve this if we can.

There are two things that can commonly impact the performance of a model 4660 Ultra:

1. MicroSD card
2. Screen saver

If you have a Micro SD card installed, remove it then reboot the Roku. Does the issue resolve? If not, leave it out while we try the second thing.

Check your screen saver. Use a simple screen saver. If you have a third party screen saver, remove it. Don't just switch to the clock or traveling Roku, actually remove the screen saver, particularly if it offers news or image feeds. Those run in the background and can impact performance.

[knottied]

After a little playing around, we've discovered it is the Netflix app.  A family member had been watching Netflix late at night, but not returning to the home screen before turning off the tv.  Many hours later, after the app times out and returned to Roku's home screen, it became slow and unusable.  However, by exiting the app cleanly, the issue doesn't appear.

It still may be a screen saver issue, but not Roku's.  Rather it is Netflix's.