Yesterday I had my first look at the new Roku OS 8 with its new home screen. We knew about many of the new features such as single sign-on, better voice search, and grid guide for over-the-air TV, but it seems Roku held back some of the details about the new Roku OS 8. There has also been many changes to the Roku home screen and menus.
You can find all the new user interface changes in this side-by-side look at the new Roku OS 8 vs the Roku OS 7 here:
The following are some of the under-the-hood changes you will also find:
- You can now test your network and Internet connection and receive information to resolve connectivity issues such as poor wireless signal strength or Internet speed: go to Settings > Network > Check connection. For details, click here.
- Closed Captions are now displayed with a more consistent on-screen appearance across streaming channels.
- More Ways to Watch for Roku TVs has been updated with a new visual design making it easier for you to identify which streaming channels have content related to what you’re watching via HDMI inputs such as cable or satellite boxes and/or connected HDTV antennas.
- You can now configure your Roku player for 24, 25, 30, or 60 Hz HDMI output based on your audiovisual equipment and viewing preferences. For more information, click here.
- Fixed multiple bugs that caused Roku devices to reboot intermittently when steaming specific channels.
- Fixed a bug that caused 4:3 streaming content to be “over-stretched” when some Roku TV models were put into Stretch mode.
- Improved UI navigation performance on Roku Streaming Stick model 3500X.
- Fixed a bug that caused system reboots when Audio Guide is enabled and long scrollable text blocks appeared on screen.
- Fixed a bug in which color banding would appear on the screen for some Roku TV models when entering USB media player.
- Fixed a bug that caused some Roku TV models to freeze when displaying the screensaver.
- Fixed a bug in which audio would not immediately mute after some Roku TV models were turned off.
- Updated UI text for Night Listening Mode to make it more clear what the feature will do when enabled.
- Fixed a bug in which Closed Captions would occasionally not appear in some streaming channels after an advertisement was played.
- Fixed a bug in which the battery life indicator for Roku player model 4200X would sometimes display inaccurate battery life.
- Fixed a bug in which HD streaming content from some channels would appear in “double letterbox” display on some Roku TV models.
- Additional updates and fixes were made to improve overall streaming performance and reliability across Roku devices.
Supported Roku Devices:
- Roku Streaming Players – 4660X, 4640X, 4630X, 4620X, 4400X, 4230X, 4210X, 4200X, 3910X, 3900X, 3810X, 3800X, 3710X, 3700X, 3600X, 3500X, 3420X, 3400X, 3100X, 3050X, 3000X, 2720X, 2710X, 2700X, 2500X, 2450X, 2400X
- Roku TV – All Roku TV models are expected to receive Roku OS 8
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