Greetings Community Members,
I have a model 5407X Roku TV made by Insignia, model 24ER310NA17; Roku Software Version 9.0 (updated March 21st).
The topic heading is a bit misleading, as this is just the latest issue I’m experiencing. To that end, here’s a little background…
Age of Tablo Device: About 2 weeks
Method of Tablo Connection to Router: Ethernet
Network Setup: AT&T Fiber w/ Netgear Nighthawk AS2600/R7800 behind Arris BGW210-700 Gateway
Number of Devices Running Tablo: 5 all connected wirelessly (4 Rokus, 1 Xbox)
Band Roku TV is Operating On: 5 GHz
Issue Summary: Insignia Roku TV is consistently exiting from live streams and recording streams for no apparent reason; this began with crashing the app and network connection altogether, but after repositioning the TV is maintaining network connectivity and exiting to the guide mid-stream.
Issue Detail:
I just installed the Netgear device this week past weekend due to some recurring buffering issues my wife was experiencing (on a different TV, Vizio w/ Roku Stick) when watching her morning shows and getting ready for work…oddly, this only occurred in the mornings, but that’s not relevant. Anyway, if she can’t watch her Daybreak and GMA, then this whole enterprise would come crashing down.
None of the other Roku devices were experiencing that issue including, as far as I could tell, the Insignia Roku TV that was literally inches away from the AT&T router/gateway. After adding the Netgear router, every device in the house is experiencing considerably improved Wifi performance except the Insignia TV, which again, was inches from the router. It is possible, that I just didn’t watch the Roku TV long enough to experience this issue, but considering that when it began occurring it took less than 2 minutes to crash, I don’t think that’s the case.
In getting my new router configured, I did a lot of testing with various devices on my network including but not limited to my streaming devices. This includes moving them back and forth between wireless networks until I shut off the Arris wifi altogether on Sunday; this was actually part of the troubleshooting for the Roku TV. The Arris wifi has remained off since then. I also renamed my SSID because the default names are boring. It’s actually after this that I noticed the issue. Previous tests of that device didn’t reveal any issues, but maybe I just didn’t watch long enough?
Anyway, I’ve since taken several steps to troubleshoot and performance has improved, but issues persist.
Initially, (re)connecting the TV to Wifi, other applications would play fine. However, when I’d launch the Tablo and play a recording or live stream, the app would buffer, then disconnect/reconnect from Tablo, then display the guide. This pretty much happened immediately after playing a stream. After that, no other apps would play - Tablo was basically causing the device to get kicked off the network.
I thought that maybe the TV was too close to the router and was being overwhelmed by the strength of the signal. So, I moved the TV across the room. Performance was better…streams would play for longer, but would eventually crap out and return to the guide. However, device was staying on the network.
After a lengthy discussion with my wife (a Calculus and Chemistry teacher) who explained to me how electromagnetic waves work, I decided to move the TV even further away from the router and swap it with another TV (with an old Roku stick). So now, the Roku TV is about as far away from the router as possible, in the kitchen, at the weakest signal point in the house. And in it its place, right next to the router, is the Toshiba TV with a Roku stick from 2016 that only operates on the 2.4 GHz band. Btw, when the Toshiba was in the kitchen, it had no issues.
So last night, I had streams running on three different TVs. The Roku TV, now in the kitchen was running a live stream, as was the Toshiba, which was now in the upstairs bedroom next to the router. Finally, we were watching a recording in our living room (2017 Roku Ultra). The Roku TV ran for quite awhile, but eventually exited to the guide; however, wifi connectivity was stable, and I was able to relaunch the stream and play Netflix. The Tablo session on the Toshiba streamed continuously for about two hours until I turned it off at bedtime. As has consistently been the case, I had no issues with the Roku Ultra.