Roku TVs (sets with Roku capability built in) already had Settings > System > Power > Power settings > Auto power Savings options, whereas separate Roku devices had only Settings > System. On the Roku TVs this gives two options:
- Reduce power after 15 minutes
When selected it put the TV "to sleep" in a reduced power standby setting when there has been no signal received and no user interaction in 15 minutes. (This is the same as turning a TV off which has the "Fast TV start" feature enabled.) This standby condition allows your TV to then start up much more quickly than when it has to start up from a complete power off condition. - Turn off after 4 hours
When selected, this will power down the TV completely after 4 hours with no user interaction and no live TV or videos watched. This feature is disabled when your set has the "Fast TV start" feature enabled because "Fast TV start" puts the TV into low power standby and prevents a full power down.
Then in Roku operating system version 10.5, the latest one currently in release, they extended the power saving concept to Roku devices as well as Roku TVs. On some newer Roku devices, they added a Settings > System > Power > Power settings > Auto power savings menu option like on Roku TVs, but it has only one option:
- After 20 minutes of no interaction
When selected this will put the Roku device into a low power standby mode after 20 minutes with no user interaction and no live TV or videos watched, such as when the TV has been turned off.
I don't think they did a very good job of thinking through how to implement this on a system where the Roku and TV are separate non-integrated devices.
With a separate Roku device, turning the TV back on when its been off a while just leaves the connected Roku device in low power standby limbo. In its current implementation you can bring the Roku back up by methods already mentioned but you are not told of these methods and there is no way to do it automatically. Today all you can do to avoid this on a separate Roku device is to disable this new power saving feature altogether.
And, of course, this whole thing is complicated by Roku not telling us on which "newer Roku devices" this change has been implemented in the first place. In @rockworm's case, it even sounds like they may have implented it on at least some Roku models without including a menu option for disabling it (??).
We can only hope that in a future update Roku will find a way to correct this (perhaps by extending CEC into a two way function where the TV can fire up the Roku, instead of its current one way function where a Roku remote command will cause the TV to turn on and if necessary switch its input to the one for the Roku.).
Roku Community Streaming Expert
I am not a Roku employee, only a user like you. Please, no support questions via private message -- post them publicly to the Community where others may benefit as well.
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Ultra 4800 | Streaming Stick 4K+ 3821 | TCL Roku TV 43S245/C107X
