Suggest a Feature

[ebfly21]

One of my HD tvs PIP and I used to use it all the time for 2 sports games, but I just got a bigger tv for the livingroom and it doesn't have it.  😞 I miss it! When I subscribed to cable, I used to hook my cable DVR up to one input and then use a coax cable from the wall to my tv for digital cable. And then the PIP feature would work because the wall cable is a seperate input. 

I ditched the cable company and went to Roku. So, now with the Roku, there is no true PIP, but here are a few ideas to help toggle:

1) If you have a tv with the PIP function, then use your Roku as one input and the wall cable digital over the air as your 2nd input. A clear picture may involve buying one of those antennas that you have to stick to a window if you don't subscribe to digital cable.
2) Buy 2 Rokus and put them both on one tv under seperate inputs. Then, choose a show on one, toggle to the other input and put your other show on that one. Then, you should be able to just toggle back and forth between inputs. It might still have to buffer each time (I haven't tried this idea yet), but it's better than changing shows within one Roku. Much less clicks!

[pmv800]

I think Picture in Picture these days just means buy a second display.  Since the cost for TVs is so cheap it might not be worth adding in a PiP feature.  Yet when I had Google TV, with the Logitech Revue, it was pretty sweet until in went end of life. I could move the PiP around and browse the Internet or run another apps like Netflix or ESPN while my Football games where playing from my Cable box on the same display. Also it was sweet when WatchESPN would let you stream multiple games in a PIP mode in one browser window.

[cloaked1]

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@beq wrote:
I imagine if the Roku TV ever gets PIP, it would not involve decoding multiple streams at the same time (which the hardware may not be able to handle)?

But perhaps they could do PIP between two HDMI inputs, or between an HDMI input and any Roku streaming app (as a group), or between an HDMI input and the Antenna.  Anyone thinks this is achievable with current models?  A goal for Roku OS 9?

This would be exactly what I was hoping the TV could do. I'm a software developer. I use two of these awesome TCL Roku TVs as dual-display. One of them has inputs connected to my PS4 and cable TV. I'd love it if this TV could PIP one of the other two inputs in the corner of the screen while I'm developing on the other screen.

I hope the devs read these boards. That would be an awesome feature!

[dthorpe]

I'd love to have PiP via my Roku box so I can keep an eye out for guests arriving at the front gate camera while finishing out a movie or TV show. 2 IP streams.

[RokuTannerD]

Thanks for the notes here! Please feel free to visit the 'Suggest a feature' section of the Community to see if anyone else has shared this suggestion, or add a new one, if not. 

Cheers,

Tanner

[mulderlr]

This isn't a gimmick.  It is super helpful for a lot of applications and I was looking everywhere for this feature on a 4k TV.  Couldn't find one in my price range and no idea why! Definitely need this feature.

[Lexluthor17]

It's not a gimmick because it's actually useful for people like me who play video games and watch YouTube at the same time, I like to watch YouTube while I play my video games and I refuse to compromise so do even try to bring up other options 😛

[TheRealElbadoo]

I like to watch Youtube feeds for SpaceX rocket launches. Being able to watch both the SpaceX official channel and a commentary channel like EveryDay Astronaut - and being able to flip between them - would be great. This would be a HUGE feature addition for Roku. Roku Ultra Ultra? Roku Ultra x2? Oh, please make it happen...

Conceptually, this wouldn't rely on any sort of capability within the TV/monitor you're using. This would need the Roku box itself to be able to stream two distinct feeds and then manage compositing them into the HDMI output to the screen. Add a dedicated PIP button into the remote and Roku would have an absolutely killer product that (as far as I know) nobody else has.

[Red_chocobo]

Honestly I really enjoyed ot as a kid and would be interested in it coming back. To this day I remember playing on my ps1 while watching cartoon network. It'd be interesting to be able to play games while watching YouTube videos (without having to buy a second TV just to pull that off cause that's a bit much imho).