Roku 4 has a fan

Now that the Roku 4 has been released, the one troubling issue is that it has a fan. The fan noise is apparently noticeable by most users, and the fan runs 100% of the time.

Some are really bad like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hip3H8WN26k

Other people don’t notice it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDY8vl4gK-I

Hard to get what every (?) wants and do it with passive cooling. In fact, I’m pretty sure there are some that would love to see an oil immersed solution just so the can get the ??? feature.

Faster, better usually means hotter and more power consumption.

It’s just a big change for the Roku.

When I switched from a USB powered hard drive for the Tablo to a bigger wall-powered external hard drive, I started noticing fan noise from the drive. But I don’t hear it unless I am behind the TV.

The Roku 4 fan is noticible in a quiet room for sure.
I don’t mind it when watching TV, but it’s annoying when everything else is quiet.
Not the kind of thing you want running all night in your bedroom.

I’m trying out the auto power down after 30 minutes feature now.
Really hope it gets quiet then, otherwise, I’ll have to unplug it’s power cord when it’s bedtime.
Not optimal.

So, the auto power down after 30 minutes feature works.
Fan turns off.
Takes around 20 seconds to wake back up.

Would be better with more auto power down time choices, like 10 or 15 minutes.
Even better would be a power down immediately choice.

At the Roku forums, a lot of users are already complaining about the loudness of the fan (4 pages worth after just several days). Too bad, I had to deal with fan noise on the early Tivos and DirectTV DVRs. Had to put them in a cabinet behind glass doors (for remote usage) with open backs on the cabinets for ventilation. This way the noise came out back, not front. Hopefully my Roku 3s will last a long time and I won’t need a Roku 4…

I read the fan noise problem is only when playing 4k, can anyone confirm this? I have 1080p tv, so if so should not be a problem for me…

The fan runs even with a 1080p TV.
Mine fan seems steady at 25% speed.
Not a big problem, because the TV audio drowns it out.
However, the fan continues to run after you’re done watching TV.
Not a good thing if it’s in your bedroom, and you’re trying to sleep.

That being said, the picture quality looks better to me on the Roku 4 when compared to the Roku 3.
Looks sharper with deeper colors.

You can set the Roku 4 to power down (it’s really a deeper sleep mode) after 30 minutes of inactivity.
Settings -> System -> Power -> Auto power off
Check the box ‘After 30 minutes of no interaction’

You can also immediately power it down via a secret menu.
The following Roku remote button presses will get you to the secret menu:
Home-Home-Home-Home-Home
FF-Play-RW-Play-FF

The screen it brings you to will display the Roku’s temperature, and fan speed percentage among other things.

Then select ‘System Operations Menu’
And then ‘System Suspend’

Now we have silence, again.

Press any Roku remote button to wake the system back up.
It takes around 20 seconds to wake up.

I’m only displaying 1080p, but haven’t noticed the fan. I’m not saying it isn’t running, I just haven’t noticed it.

Roku addresses fan noise:

Do you have a Roku 4 with a loud fan? We talked with Roku PR, and they are asking you to contact them. Roku is offering an exchange for anyone with a broken fan.

In an official statement sent to Cord Cutters News Roku said, “There have been some reports of fans that are louder than expected. We encourage these customers to contact Roku customer support to determine if the player is performing as expected.”

Roku went on to say, “there are only a few cases and of course we are working with these customers with affected players to exchange their players.”

If you have a Roku 4 that is making a loud fan noise you can contact Roku at 1-888-600-7658 (ROKU).

From our own testing we found the Roku 4 to be quiet even after hours of use. The Roku 4 does get warm in a similar way that all the older Rokus heated up. We tested the Roku 4 with six hours of WatchESPN streaming last Saturday and had no noticeable fan noise.

Some responses from the Roku forums from users who have asked for replacement Roku4s because of fan noise:

“I received my replacement and it’s been streaming on a 4k display without issue. After a couple of hours of use, I felt the unit and it was warm but not hot. I held the unit up to my ear and I could barely hear the fan. It was almost silent. I’m sure this is how Roku intended this device to operate. I’m very pleased with how the Roku Engineering Team handled this issue and the replacement they sent.”

“I received a replacement from Roku very quickly, plugged it in, and it’s glorious. On start up, it is silent, and stays silent. It’s so quiet I checked the fan’s speed to make sure it was even running! After streaming content for 2 hours, the fan was still at 25%, and the temps quite low. After receiving the replacement from Roku, I am very happy with the purchase, and the noise level.”

I installed an Android app called Sound Meter Pro on my tablet.
I realize my Samsung Tab S 8.4 is does not have a professional microphone, but it’s better than just guessing should levels.

My semi-obnoxious laptop fan sound level is around 5 dB higher than ambient.
Interesting, because I don’t like the fan sound.
Now I realize the level of sound is not what I don’t like, it’s the actual sound that’s irritating.
It’s a whining sound.

I performed a similar test with my first and second Roku 4.
The first, with fan at 25%, sound level is around 3 dB higher than ambient.
However, the whining, buzzing noise is irritating even when 15 feet away in the same room.

The second, with fan at 25%, sound level is also around 3 dB higher than ambient.
However, this sound is not irritating.
The difference is there’s no whining, buzzing noise.
It just sounds like a quiet fan.
My audiophile son agrees.

I’m returning the first Roku 4, and hope to receive a replacement as quiet as my second.

That being said, I’m still not sold on the idea of having even a quiet fan running all night in my bedroom.
So, I will be setting the 30 minute auto power off timer, and probably manually force a power off when ready for bed.

There is a setting in the System Menu called “Control other devices” which has the option to put Roku 4 into system standby when a connected TV (via HDMI) is turned off. Might do the trick for you.

Thanks, but I tried that setting, and it doesn’t work for me. :frowning:
Oooooooo… wait, I think I need to change a setting on my TV…

Ha!
My LG TV SimpLink feature needs to be enabled.
Works great!
Thanks for making me think about why it didn’t work in the first place.
Have to admit I felt a little giddy when it finally worked.

Wow - that’s great that it’s working. It’s a good feature that Roku added given the fact they now have the fan. I totally understand the “giddy” feeling when you finally break the code and get something like this to work.

The good…
I have one Roku 4 whose fan is really whisper quiet at 25% speed.

The bad…
I have two Roku 4s whose fans sound like mini-vacuum cleaners/jet engines.
Sending those two back for a refund.

The ugly…
1 out of 3 is not good odds.

Mine is like that when running at its slow speed…but when it is cranked up to maximum, it is loud by any standard I know of for such a device. And it isn’t the broken sock-full-of-marbles noise that I’ve seen the YouTubes about, it is just a computer fan spinning really fast and making the noise you’d expect of a fast spinning fan. Just not ideal for an home A/V device.

So do two of yours just stay at high speed all the time?

No, they never get above 25% fan speed, so I can’t imagine if the fan speed was higher what they would sound like.

Roku has an exchange program for noisy fanned 4s.

Yup.
I bought 2.
1 quiet fan.
1 loud fan.
Exchanged loud fan, and received another with an even louder fan.
I’ll just keep the one quiet fan.

Just like the NFL; ask the fans to quiet it down and instead they get louder…