Speaker 1: Are you looking to get more out of your Roku TV or streaming device? Here are seven hacks and tricks to get you streaming like a boss. Roku is simple to use, but it comes with some cool extra features and shortcuts that can enhance your viewing experience. Whether you're looking to use your phone as a remote, or to listen to your TV through your Bluetooth headphones, here are some hidden tricks that can turn you into a streaming expert.
Speaker 1: First [00:00:30] tip, you can use your phone as a TV remote for your Roku. Every Roku comes with a remote that works fine for scrolling through content, but sometimes you really wanna use a keyboard to type in your search terms or passwords. Luckily Roku's app, which is available on iOS and Android does just that it allows your phone to act as a full-fledge remote, meaning that you can use your keyboard to type in anything you want. Now here's how to set it up. First. You have to download [00:01:00] the Roku app and make sure your Roku TV or device is powered on both your phone and the Roku should be on the same wireless network. Now, when you open the Roku app on your phone, you'll see a homepage full of Roku content. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see a row of menu auctions hit devices.
Speaker 1: The app will now search for any device on your network. Your device should come up on the screen. And once it does tap on the device to connect it to your phone, the screen should now have remote [00:01:30] channels and a media tab listed under a picture of your Roku. Click on the remote, and you'll see a full screen replica of Roku's clicker. At the very top. There's a gear icon for settings followed by an icon that looks vaguely like a keyboard. This is the one you want tap on it and you'll get the full phone keyboard where you can type whatever you want. Don't feel like typing and wanna talk instead, go back to the remote screen and tap the microphone [00:02:00] icon just below the purple directional pad. Speak into the mic. When it says that it's listening to search and control your Roku with your voice.
Speaker 1: Tip two, listen to your TV through your headphones. Sometimes you wanna watch TV without disturbing the rest of the house. Roku's private listening feature. Lets you use your headphones to watch your shows. So no one else can hear what's playing while some Roku models come with an on remote private listening feature that requires you [00:02:30] to plug headphones into your remote. Every Roku can access private listening through the Roku app. Once again, both your phone and your Roku need to be connected to the same wireless network. First connect your wireless headphones to your phone. Then open the Roku app, go to the in-app remote from the navigation bar. Now tap on the he phone icon underneath the purple arrows and tap the headphones to activate private. Listening up to four mobile devices [00:03:00] can listen at the same time. Roku automatically adjusts the audio syncing with your headphones.
Speaker 1: But if the dialogue seems a little off, head to the settings on the remote screen, by tapping on the gear icon on the upper left hand corner, scroll down and tap on adjust audio delay. Now you'll be able to use the camera on your phone to help fix the audio. Hold your phone up to the TV while the audio is playing in your headphones and hit get started. Follow the onscreen instructions and the [00:03:30] app will analyze the audio and sync it up. If it still isn't quite right, you can go back to the adjust, the audio delay, screen and click on advanced adjustments. Now you can use a slider to fine tune the delay. Tip three, turn on instant replay to quickly hear lines you might have missed. Dialogue can sometimes be hard to catch, but Roku's instant replay feature makes it easier to quickly figure out what you missed.
Speaker 1: You can press this circular arrow button [00:04:00] on your remote to automatically rewind whatever you're watching by 10 seconds, but you can also add closed captioning in order to hear and read exactly what just happened to enable closed captioning on instant replay, hit the home button on your Roku, remote and scroll down to settings from there, click on accessibility, then scroll to captions mode here. You wanna scroll down and hit on replay. Now when you hit the replay button on your remote, it should automatically [00:04:30] give you the last few seconds of what you watched along with a closed captioning. For that time. It's important to note that this doesn't work as advertised on all the content on every channel, but when it does work, it's pretty awesome. Tip four automatically level out your volume. Don't you hate it when the commercials are louder than the program you're watching or when explosions are so much louder than the rest of the dialogue, Roku automatic volume leveling makes it.
Speaker 1: So these extremes are not nearly [00:05:00] as pronounced to turn on automatic volume, leveling start playing, whatever you wanna watch now hit the star icon in the remote to bring up in movie settings, turn on the sound settings and hit volume leveling clicking on it. Well turn on automatic leveling from this menu, you can scroll down night mode clicking. This will set a maximum sound threshold. So an explosion in an action movie, won't shake the entire house. Tip five, [00:05:30] set up a special mode just for guests. It can be great to have guests, but it's also not a good idea to share your streaming passwords. Rokus guest mode addresses this conundrum by providing a place where your guests can sign into their own streaming accounts. Instead of using yours to enable this feature, you'll have to first add a pin to your Roku account on roku.com.
Speaker 1: Once you've done this head to the settings menu, then click on system scroll until you get [00:06:00] to guest mode type in your pin hit, okay? And your system will reboot in guest mode. Guests will have a home screen with some default channels, but we'll be able to download anything they want. They'll be able to sign in using their own accounts and stream their shows as though the Roku were their own on their chosen signoff date, their profile will be deleted from the system. Now, if only the rest of the cleanup was this easy tip six, use the remote finder to locate a lost [00:06:30] clicker. Some Roku models make it easy to find a lost remote. The Roku ultra for example has a small button. You can push to make the remote emit a sound to let you know where it is, but the Roku voice remote pro is even more advanced and can be purchased separately to use with any current Roku TV or device.
Speaker 1: The pro is voice activated. So if you don't know where you put it, all you have to do is say, Hey, Roku, find my remote and it will start [00:07:00] emitting a high pitch beeping sound so you can locate it. Tip seven, use Roku zones to search for content across apps. Not quite sure what to watch. Roku zones make searching for content across channels, easier by aggregating movies and shows by genre or topic to access zones. You'll need to go into search from your home screen. Next type in a genre. You wanna check out I'm feeling like something fast paced. So I'm gonna type action into the [00:07:30] search box. As you can see, I now have a result for action movie and TV zone clicking on. It brings me to a screen full of browsable content, organized by new releases, included with subscription free and to rent or buy I've. Now got all the action content in one place so I can easily find something to watch no matter what app it's on, which tips do you think are the most useful? Let me know below. And while you're down there, subscribe to CNET. Thanks for watching.
