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[Jrez]

I started with Roku when it first came out. We loved it but over time the User interface has become old. 

I have tried and tested them all. I have tried googletv, androidtv, andoid boxes, firetv and of course roku.(sorry not a fan of apple products - ecosystem too limited for me))

The 2 best options > Roku, Fire TV

We now prefer Fire Tv (We want to use Roku but not the way it is) Clunky.

So If Roku wants to continue to be the leading independent platform (not exactly independent) it needs to improve its interface.

1. Make the ROKU channel the new home screen. Yes, it is similar to Fire TV and many other streaming services. If not by default allow us to choose that option to make it the default. All the current menu choices on the left can now go to the top going across or have it pop out like Netflix. Allow the user to customize which rows\ streaming banners to include from streaming channels if available on the Roku channel screen.  

2. Provide live playing content in a rows\ streaming row for a quick view. 

3. Allow a few buttons to be programmed on the remove for your favorites, above the ones you license on the remote.

4. Improve Remote setup to find all your equipment, TV, Sound Bar, Speakers, Xbox, PlayStation, etc. Your competition does this better. The remote should always control the TV Volume, adding the ability to change the TV source would also be nice and no one else has it. Add the ability to have the buttons light up in the dark.

5. Allow Us to Auto launch a channel. This would improve Cordcutter's switch over. They are used to turning on their tv and cable is on the last channel they watched. So when in sleep mode clicking any button will wake up the device and go to you default streaming service.

6. Improve voice Commands so we can do everything from voice commands on any given channel, no one can do that. Yes, Google would be a good partner and android tv is horrible.

7. Partner or Build a better DVR that works with all the channels that provide live TV including the awesome Roku TV antenna options. 

8. Improve your search to include all channels. I understand that most of the searches are driven by revenue and licensing agreements but you can still show your banner ads, I just want to be able to search for anything on anything.

9. If you really want to be king, figure out a way to license or get local channels in a user's area without the antenna or figure out a way to include the antenna channels as a stream in ROKU so we don't have to switch. This would keep us looking at your ads - lol.

That's all for now. This is what I've learned from my years of streaming and testing. 

Look forward to your response(s).

[bluejaysfan75]

Well? 5 months and any response? I mean clearly there's no public reply, but I thought you may have been given a PM. You have a number of good ideas put forth. But too many I think. In fact I think it harms your cause rather than helps. A couple grand ideas but impractical or not feasible as in with the design of the remote it would not be able to keep it's current form and could end up looking like a VCR remote from 1982...plus you can o my tell someone their **bleep** is old, out of date, and obsolete so many times before they get offended.    [[|:{ )>   ⬅Thats Inspector Hercule O Petite-fleur (his friends call him pancakes).

[RonW]

Hello, I see you have many valid requests, and as stated earlier maybe overload for tech support. However the reason I am here is #3. "Allow a few buttons to be programmed on the remove for your favorites, above the ones you license on the remote". I don't use Hulu, Sling or Disney (just how many movies can one watch, especially if no children under 71 in the house). Anyway, I see you have not received any responses from "Roku Tech Support", so I guess we can only count on a "maybe" in future units. 

[Jrez]

Thanks for the reply.

It's a bit frustrating. They have a good product but still trying to make it cable like and have all your streams work together for a full a experience. The home screen is just old and they really need to use the roku channel as the home screen with a snapshot of whats available on each stream like amazon firetv. I use firetv as our primary streaming device but it's a little slow and the ads are really starting to bug me!  The quick launch buttons would be better if we could program them, but its all about money.

[RonW]

JREZ,

I was looking at Amazon FireTV but didn't like the aspect that it does not record and store like Roku does. 

Now that you have indicated that it gets slow and has "ADs" I think I'll get another Roku in the near future.

Thanks for your info,

RonW

[Jrez]

Do you use sling at all? 

They have a device called airTv and if you have a good antenna it's integrated with Sling and you can use it as a DVR with a hard drive. It works pretty well. I get about 20 channels with local ABC and NBC with no issues. 

We also use Playon.tv for DVR recording and it allows us to skip commercials and it works great. It's a desktop solution so you need to dedicate a good laptop or desktop with a good video card. We are using an old gaming laptop that is about 5 years old and it does a very good job.

If you have a roof antenna the sky is the limit - lol.

Do you use Pluto TV - great for cord-cutting, unfortunately, they have commercials 🙂 but they keep adding channels.

We still use ATT TV now because we get a great discount with our wireless plan. Although the pricing keeps going up and if it goes up another $10 dollars we will completely drop it. Slow and laggy and horrible DVR, but i'm on their old plan so the price is right and we get all of our locals with 20 hours of DVR.

If I can help at all just ask. I've been working on cutting the cord for a long time. I've tried every streaming service on the planet.

Stay Safe,

JR

[RonW]

Jrez,

Don't use Sling / Hulu or any of the other steaming options you mentioned. Went with Roku with YouTubeTV,

Have Prime and Netflix. We cut the comcast cord to save almost $100/month. Got AT&T Fiber 300 for Internet. (super speed for us) All great. Don't even bother looking at RokuTV movies, etc. Almost nothing there interests us. As senior citizens not really interested in  Disney or similar offerings. YouTube gives us all local and sports needs.

Anyway, thanks for your info. Be well, all will be good soon.

RonW

[Jrez]

Hello RonW, 

We tried YoutubeTV when it first came out and just a few weeks ago. The issue with us is that it only has current Seasons of TV shows. We also have Hulu, Nextflix, and Amazon Prime. The DVR is probably their best feature. I think the biggest issue cutting the cord for us is LIve Sports, especially the NFL. We pay for sling during the football season to get NFL network and the Redzone. 

YouTube TV is probably the best Streaming service since Playstation Vue departed. Once ATT TV Now raises their prices $10-15 dollars more we are gone. Which at the recent rate of increases should be this year -lol.

We still get HBO free and Showtime for $8 dollars so the package is still the best one available. We love DVR because we don't like commercials -lol.

We are almost ready to view everything on-demand but the networks are not providing full seasons on demand. So if you miss one oops too bad and Netflix doesn't always have every show.

We plan on building a home next year and plan on installing a nice antenna for all the locals and may go straight on-demand except for sports. I used to watch everything, now its just NFL. 

Well, stay safe and thanks for the feedback and chat :-).

Thanks,

JR

[bluejaysfan1975]

What lé fuq! Roku records and saves? Ive had one for 3 months and cant even pick a screensaver for the 972 options that there are...and now I hear it records?! I am gonna have to sit down and think about this for a bit.

[02vreyes]

Roku need to improve closed caption. Not all the channels does not have or do have closed captions. I alway want to watch abc news live and there no closed caption but it's always on closed caption. When will Roku need to update with closed captions every channel?? please update with closed captions,