One of the advantages that Roku had is that they handled updates to their TVs in the same way that they updated their streaming sticks and streaming boxes. Which is for the most part, any Roku device got the same features and fixes. Up until recently I thought that was good. But back in June that changed when Roku rolled out RokuOS 13. Specifically, the picture quality became worse for some people And after reading the release notes that Roku put out in regards to version 13 of the RokuOS, the answer is pretty clear:
Roku Smart Picture: Roku Smart Picture, available on Roku TV models, automatically improves picture quality dynamically as users stream. Backlighting, uniformity, and colors will automatically adjust based on the type of TV, and Picture Mode will optimize across detected content types including sports, movies, reality, animation, and more. Users can turn on Roku Smart Picture by pressing the * button on a Roku Remote while streaming and clicking into Picture Setting then Picture Mode. This feature will not override Dolby Vision® and HDR10+ formats if they are detected on compatible devices.
Now the key part is that Roku added this:
Roku Smart Picture, available on Roku TV models, automatically improves picture quality dynamically as users stream.
This is some sort of motion smoothing feature that Roku has implemented. And people who want the best picture quality possible turn off any sort of motion smoothing. They do that because viewing content filmed at 24 or 30fps looks really weird on TVs that run at 120 Hz and above. The insanely smooth motion makes the video almost seem too real. Or put another way, it completely destroys the movie watching experience. But for some reason Roku feels that it should be on. And not only that, in Roku’s infinite wisdom, they have no way to turn it off. Unless you have a Dolby Vision and HDR10+ TV from one of Roku’s partners. Or the streaming stick or box detects one of those TVs.
Frankly, this is the single dumbest thing that Roku has ever done. In effect, they’ve managed to anger a significant percentage of their user base for no good reason. Not that angering the people who buy your products is a good thing. In any case, Reddit for example along with Roku’s own community forum has a lot of angry users complaining about this feature, and the fact that you can’t turn it off. What makes the situation worse is that while Roku seems to acknowledge that the issue exists, they don’t seem very interested in fixing it. Or more accurately giving users the ability to turn off motion smoothing. Now there’s an extra twist to this. This feature might have existed before. While I haven’t noted that, and I am not affected negatively by this as I have a Dolby Vision and HDR10+ TV, older threads on Roku’s forums have mentioned similar issues before. Which makes me wonder if this is something that the company has been trying to push at the behest of their hardware partners.
Regardless, even though I am not affected by this, this whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to Roku. I happen to like their products specifically because I perceived it to be an open platform that gave me a fair amount of choice. And their support for things like Apple HomeKit and Fitness+ really fit into my home which is deep down the rabbit hole of the Apple ecosystem. But if Roku is going to do things like this where they force things upon their user base that their users don’t want, then I may hop over to a Google powered TV. While it is Google which means that they are as invasive in terms of collecting data about you as Facebook is, they aren’t known for this level of stupidity. Perhaps Roku might want to keep that in mind and not only find a way to roll back this change, but also find a way to calm their user base before Roku TV’s end up on Craigslist en masse.
Roku OS 13 Is Upsetting Users Because They Forced Motion Smoothing Upon Them With No Way To Turn It Off
Posted in Commentary with tags Roku on July 5, 2024 by itnerdOne of the advantages that Roku had is that they handled updates to their TVs in the same way that they updated their streaming sticks and streaming boxes. Which is for the most part, any Roku device got the same features and fixes. Up until recently I thought that was good. But back in June that changed when Roku rolled out RokuOS 13. Specifically, the picture quality became worse for some people And after reading the release notes that Roku put out in regards to version 13 of the RokuOS, the answer is pretty clear:
Roku Smart Picture: Roku Smart Picture, available on Roku TV models, automatically improves picture quality dynamically as users stream. Backlighting, uniformity, and colors will automatically adjust based on the type of TV, and Picture Mode will optimize across detected content types including sports, movies, reality, animation, and more. Users can turn on Roku Smart Picture by pressing the * button on a Roku Remote while streaming and clicking into Picture Setting then Picture Mode. This feature will not override Dolby Vision® and HDR10+ formats if they are detected on compatible devices.
Now the key part is that Roku added this:
Roku Smart Picture, available on Roku TV models, automatically improves picture quality dynamically as users stream.
This is some sort of motion smoothing feature that Roku has implemented. And people who want the best picture quality possible turn off any sort of motion smoothing. They do that because viewing content filmed at 24 or 30fps looks really weird on TVs that run at 120 Hz and above. The insanely smooth motion makes the video almost seem too real. Or put another way, it completely destroys the movie watching experience. But for some reason Roku feels that it should be on. And not only that, in Roku’s infinite wisdom, they have no way to turn it off. Unless you have a Dolby Vision and HDR10+ TV from one of Roku’s partners. Or the streaming stick or box detects one of those TVs.
Frankly, this is the single dumbest thing that Roku has ever done. In effect, they’ve managed to anger a significant percentage of their user base for no good reason. Not that angering the people who buy your products is a good thing. In any case, Reddit for example along with Roku’s own community forum has a lot of angry users complaining about this feature, and the fact that you can’t turn it off. What makes the situation worse is that while Roku seems to acknowledge that the issue exists, they don’t seem very interested in fixing it. Or more accurately giving users the ability to turn off motion smoothing. Now there’s an extra twist to this. This feature might have existed before. While I haven’t noted that, and I am not affected negatively by this as I have a Dolby Vision and HDR10+ TV, older threads on Roku’s forums have mentioned similar issues before. Which makes me wonder if this is something that the company has been trying to push at the behest of their hardware partners.
Regardless, even though I am not affected by this, this whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to Roku. I happen to like their products specifically because I perceived it to be an open platform that gave me a fair amount of choice. And their support for things like Apple HomeKit and Fitness+ really fit into my home which is deep down the rabbit hole of the Apple ecosystem. But if Roku is going to do things like this where they force things upon their user base that their users don’t want, then I may hop over to a Google powered TV. While it is Google which means that they are as invasive in terms of collecting data about you as Facebook is, they aren’t known for this level of stupidity. Perhaps Roku might want to keep that in mind and not only find a way to roll back this change, but also find a way to calm their user base before Roku TV’s end up on Craigslist en masse.
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