ROKU has truly left the customers in the dirt on this issue. I am also going to consider adding an Amazon Firestick on at least one device, as I am hearing of a potential block of YouTube.
Thanks to a customer - no thanks to ROKU - I tried the "detach your sound system from TV and try again to catch a code to control volume." This "sort of worked". My original older remote controls volume. The new remote Roku device I purchased, which supposedly can mute volume, can now raise/lower volume. Mute does not work.
The reason I continued to purchase multiple ROKU streaming devices was to be free to add whatever apps I wanted. I did not want to use an Amazon product because I did not want to be pushed to Amazon content. I did not want to use the pricey Apple TV streaming device because it locks out Pandora and also seems to be curating what I would be allowed to watch.
ROKU - a device I believed and trusted would not hijack its customers over specific content. Wrong. Instead of steering us to "ROKU channels", ROKU has decided to become pirates, blocking users ability to add apps and stream at will.
All we want to do is "cut the cable cord" and ROKU was a "friendly" in this, allowing customers to choose from the big "plus" channels such as Youtube Plus, Hulu Plus, Sling, etc. Now, we can potentially purchase a ROKU TV or multiple streaming devices...and then find out we can't stream the content we invested in ROKU to stream. This is not how a business grows. This is how a business loses goodwill. These customer threads have shown me that, unless ROKU turns their business model around, they will be lose in the device wars. They do not provide content, they provide hardware.
Dear ROKU: do not be greedy. If you lock customers away from desired streams to squeeze revenue from YouTube and other content providers, your customers are going to abandon your hardware. Be fair and understand WHY we chose your devices: we want decent customer service for the HARDWARE and we expect to be able to access the apps that inspired us to leave cable in the first place. LISTEN to your customers - or risk losing our business.
