Solving playback issues

[SDMike]

I have a Streaming Stick (3800X) plugged into my small arm-mounted 1080i TV in my office, and within 30 minutes of turning on the TV I get the dreaded overheating message. I already have the HDMI extender, and since the TV is mounted on a arm swung out from the wall the Roku has plenty of airflow around it. In fact, it's hanging in mid-air from the extender. Any suggestions on next steps? Are other ROKU units better with heat than others?

[makaiguy]

@SDMike-

I have the Streaming Stick+ 3810, basically the same device as yours plus support for 4K and HDR10.  If anything I'd expect it to run hotter than yours with its extra functions running on the same processor.  When it initially was on my main living room tv it was running most of the day without issue.  Now that it's on a guest room set, installed much as yours is, it only gets occasional use, but when it does it can go hours with no problem.

I can only recall reading of one external factor that might affect this, and it's only been suggested a few times.  Some have suggested that if you are connecting to a crowded WiFi channel, it causes the Roku to work much harder sorting through all the extra WiFi chatter, which of course leads to greater heat generation.  This can be especially true if it is connecting to a channel in the crowded 2.4 GHz band (channels 1-11 are supported) that is shared with additional nearby routers and other uses such as Bluetooth connections and interference from microwave ovens.   I've seen one report where overheating ended when the WiFi channel the router used was changed to a less crowded one.  Most of the time, though, we never hear back to know one way or the other.

[Flex123]

I used to get the overheating message on HBO MAX within 10 minutes of watching GoT…. But I may have found the answer to the overheating streaming stick issue:  in the Roku settings, go to your Display setting.  It may be set too high and be incomparable with your tv  (eg 4K HDR10 60 fps or similar).  I changed my setting to the lesser resolution “4K 60 fps” and — voila!— it is no longer overheating!  Mine was auto set incorrectly by the stick—  and my manual change seems to have cured it.

[SDMike]

Mine is auto-selecting 1080P, but my TV might actually be just 720P. I'll manually adjust it down to see if the picture is still good and the overheating stops. Thanks for the tip