Best Roku Tips and Tricks 2021
Today we’re talking about some Best Roku Tips and Tricks to make your Roku shine now we’re going to be covering stuff in this article that you can do with Roku devices and Roku TV.
So I’ll kind of swap between the two, but I’ll let you know when I do what we will not cover is content stuff, so I’m not here to tell you which live TV apps are the best or whatever.
First things if you want to get your Roku running at its full potential, you need to make sure the software is up-to-date; now this should happen automatically.
But you can always double-check to be sure it’s working go into your settings and then go to system, and then there’s something called system update.
When you go there, it’ll tell you when the latest time was that it was updated when the last time was it was checked, and so you can double-check there alright.
Read Also: what channels are on Roku for free. 10 best free Roku channels in 2020
Tip number 1
Tip number one add a new remote to your old Roku or Roku TV alright.
So this is a remote that comes with newer Roku TV the one I have behind me I bought in 2019and, so it’s got all the lovely new bells and whistles including the voice search button on here.
But I have an older Roku TV somewhere else in the house that didn’t have that voice search button well good news is.
I can grab a new remote either buy one online or kind of type one from a more modern device, and I can add it to that older Roku TV or Roku device and then as long as that software is up-to-date.
I’m able to use the voice search on the remote to run the TV pretty lovely so if you’re frustrated with an older remote.
You know sometimes they don’t feel as good in the hand, or they’re a little too clicky. I prefer the rubber grip instead of the plastic ones you can always upgrade to a different remote alright.
Tip number 2
Next up tip number two you the Roku app learned to love the Roku app. so the Roku app is what you get on your smartphone you download it, and you use it either like a remote like.
I have this setting, or you can use it to kind of browse through the available Roku stuff so you can go to your channels.
This has got my TV’s stuff here on my phone, and so I can turn on Netflix or what have you with a touch in the app itself there you go yeah it’s working once.
I’m in there I can like I said use it like a remote so that I can use my arrow keys my okay critical play pause and all of that.
But one of the nicest things about this is as you know it can be a pain in the butt every time you have to put in your email address and password.
Or you want to search for something or what have you typing on the Rokuinterface or most streaming interfaces, not a pleasant experience.
But if you go on the Roku app, you can pull up your keyboard and do it that way, or you can use voice search like you would on the remote itself.
So it’s very slick. I highly recommend if you have a Roku that you get to know and love the app alright.
Tip number 3
Next up, tip number three is to use the auto sound levelling feature this is going to be on Roku TVs, especially newer ones.
But if you go into your settings, you can set auto sound levelling, and this is going to practically kind of squish the top end and the lower end.
So that nothing is too quiet or too loud, it is friendly for commercials, especially if you watch a lot of live TVwith loud commercials.
And this is going to be an excellent mode for you to have or if you prefer not to have a lot of variation in your noise level.
Then levelling is an excellent way to go there’s also, by the way, a night mode that caps the sound level completely.
So that if it’s late at night and you’re watching a car chase or a gunfight or something, then the loud stuff is dampened.
Won’t go above a certain sound level, so night mode is pretty great. But I am going to get to another idea if you’re watching at night in just a moment.
Tip number 4
Tip number four cast to your screen just like a Chromecast if you’ve ever used Chromecast.
Then you might know about this you can go onto your phone open up an app like YouTube or Netflix or have you and as you’re playing a video.
You’ll notice a little icon up in the corner that allows you to cast Chromecast users like I said are used to this.
But Roku users can do it as well as long as they have a device or a TV that is on the same network as the phone or the tablet that you’re watching from.
So are you going to use this in the same way that you would with a Chromecast where you’re just running everything off your phone?
Maybe not that’s the nice thing about having a remote but if you are in a position where you found a nice video on your phone that you want to watch.
Maybe something a little longer on YouTube like I don’t know a stunning 4kphone review from tohsaka that’s 15 minutes long and you want to throw that on your TV it’s a lovely setting to have
Tip number 5
Tip number Five is to use private listening now you’ll get this on some Roku remotes on some of the newer TVs or the Roku ultra.
You’ll get a little headphone jack in the remote itself and often like with the ultra it comes with headphones.
So you can do private listening. This is nice when it’s late at night, and you don’t want to disturb anybody else.
You can plug headphones into the remote, or you can go in through the app and do the same thing you press the private listening mode on the app and as long as.
You’ve got headphones plugged into the phone then you’ll be able to use it there as well.
Tip number 6
Tip number six is closely related, and that connects some Bluetooth headphones.
Now if you’re using Roku TV you can do this directly to the TV itself you go into the Bluetooth settings and add a device there.
Or if you’re using a Roku device and an older device or maybe a cheaper device that doesn’t have that Bluetooth capability.
Then you can still go in through the app and set up your Bluetooth device on your phone or your tablet.
Then use the private listening mode that I just talked about. So there you go that’s just a few ideas for some tips and tricks on your Roku.
I’m sure there are lots of others, and like I said today, we’re not talking about the content itself.
Pro tips
everything this is the one that works on all Roku TVs or Roku players it’s called the feature free it can now be found on the left-hand side of your menu on the home screen.
so you get home and then featured free in here Roku has taken all the free content from all the different roku channels out there and put it in one spot .
so even if you do have the channel installed it will still show it so ref back you see the Roku channel sony crackle pluto TVs here HGTV the Food Network’s got their stuff in here.
the CW and more so there’s a lot of Roku channels to have some content locked behind a wall and some of it free with ads and this section takes all that free with that content and puts it in one spot.
so you can easily find it and discover it now you see two-week crackle tea TLC go and more all these if you click on it will instantly launch the channel and start playing.
it, if you don’t have that challenge, stalled it will first quickly install it let’s say discovery go right here if you want to learn about the last Alaskans if you click on that it will soon introduce the channel.
and then start playing it no need to launch the app and find it it will be all right there this is a really
a great feature that Roku has been rolling out and slowly improving with more content every day it seems like there they and which channels are being supported with us.
and more so check it out if you haven’t used it before there really is a ton of content here and you can find it once again by going to the home screen on the left-hand side taking a look at the feature tree right there.
now there’s a ton of different features in your Roku TV beloved’s if you want TV primarily for gaming or cable with streaming being a secondary function of it and you don’t want it booting into this home menu.
here the good news is you can do just that by going into your settings system settings selecting power right here under the influence on the feature. you can go into your Roku TV and say hey I wanted to go to the home screen or let’s say I don’t let’s say my cable box is plugged into HDMI one if I haven’t quite convinced you yet to ditch cable you can select that you can also do things like the last input used.
so for example, if you were last watching a DVD player and you had it streaming on your TV turned off the TV when you turn back on it will go right back to that DVD player. maybe it’s an Xbox or a PlayStation it will go right back there you can even set to go directly into your antenna if that’s what you want by default they always do go into that home screen.
which you see with all the Roku channels listed across there and the menus on the left-hand side, but this is something you can change in a dress.
however, you want it oh weak if you want the TV to be primary TV in a Roku second now the other thing. I gave up our Roku TVs is because they’re a streaming player they do take a little while to boot up now it’s still reasonably fast.
I find it plenty quick for me let’s say you wanted your TV to turn on even quicker they do have something called an enable fast start in the power settings tab under settings here you will be able to keep your TV in a
hibernation mode a standby mode.
if you’re used to a laptop you’re probably used to the fact in your computer you can completely turn off the computer or you can put it to sleep or hibernate depending which brand laptop you have and when you turn it on it quickly.
the screen almost instantly pops backup and that’s what enable fast start does the downside here is it will all use a little more power how much more energy.
I don’t know it they say it will use more control than the default settings so take out grand saw but if you want a quick power on and off that is one option right there let’s go back and check out one of the cool things here about Roku TVs is the antenna support .
so Roku is very big into the world of core cutting they’ve done a really lovely job with antennas now if you launch your antenna if you have it connected as I do and you press the left arrow key once you start it you get this traditional grid guide.
I really love this it gives you the ability to go forward several days into the future here and be able to see what’s coming up so I can say hey oh you know tonight at 6 p.m. is local news hey The Bachelor if you want to watch that is right there.
it looks like a two-hour premiere right there the good doctors come out later let’s say hey I want to watch the excellent doctor buy maybe I missed some additional or last week’s show or something you see how there’s a little purple asterisk right there if you click on the Astra key on your remote, you get more ways to watch it.