What you need to know
- Users have quickly taken to Roku’s official forums to voice problems following its v14.5 patch.
- Many reports say streaming HDR/4K content on Disney Plus, YouTube, and Amazon Prime appear “washed out,” extremely bright, or bleak.
- Roku kickstarted a test with users recently, which brought seemingly unskippable auto playing ads to their devices, blocking the home screen.
Roku users looking to enjoy Andor Season 2 aren’t having a great time, as reports fly off the shelves.
Over the past few days, Roku owners have taken to its official forums to report issues when streaming Disney Plus using the company’s products (via The Verge). A main thread for reports was created by a Roku moderator to gather information. Users quickly chimed in, stating that, while watching Disney Plus, the colors in the content appear “washed out.” One user states they own a TCL model 65S405 and their colors are “bright/washed out.”
The user goes in-depth, stating they’re encountering these issues while watching content in 4K/HDR resolution. The post states that tinkering with HDR’s settings only provides a minimal (positive) difference, but the Disney Plus content still appears washed out or extremely bright. Moreover, these issues seem to extend to YouTube videos, but aren’t “nearly as bad.”
Another report claims to have encountered issues with Roku’s streaming device on Amazon Prime, as well as Disney Plus. This user states problems disappear when streaming at HD quality.
One thing in common that all of these reports share is when the problems occurred: right after Roku’s v14.5 software update. The problems appear quite closely connected, considering the sheer number of reports citing the same version and issue across several video streaming apps. The Roku moderator said the company is investigating, so hopefully, a resolution will arrive sooner rather than later.
Roku’s Recent History
The Verge dug deeper, and discovered that while the bulk of user reports concerned TCL TVs, there were a few that involved Hisense devices.
Strangely, these reports report severe issues with the streaming quality/experience of Roku’s devices following v14.5. The update, which rolled out in April, didn’t focus on streaming “quality,” per its patch notes. Roku cited bug fixes, security improvements, and the like. However, it did note the addition of “performance optimizations.” There’s a chance there’s some conflict going on between the previously mentioned TVs and the latest OS.
Roku was also on our minds recently, as users started noticing its autoplay ads on startup. The experiment involves displaying ads to users before they’re able to reach the stick’s true home screen. Regardless, users haven’t reacted too kindly to seeing these ads while trying to relax with their shows or movies. Users reported the ads are “unskippable,” but Roku claims there is a way to close them.
Another report tested this theory and concluded that the option to jump past these ads wasn’t available. Users on Reddit added they were stuck watching movie trailers, unable to get to the content they truly desire.
