If you wish to manually set the speed of your connection to a specific value for video streaming on the Roku video player, there is a way. Follow these steps to enter a code to access the speed override settings.
- Break out the Roku remote and go to the Home screen.
- Use the remote control to enter the following sequence to access the “Bit Rate Override” screen:
- Home 5 times
- Rewind 3 times
- Fast Forward 2 times.
- A screen will appear where you can select “Manual selection“.
- Choose the desired selection on the “Select bit rate” screen, then press “OK“.
Note: You may want to start by trying the 3.5Mbps setting, test playback, then try a different setting for best results.
FAQ
What is the “Enable playback debugging” setting?
The “Enable playback debugging” option turns on a feature that will display the speed you are getting while playing video on the screen. Enabling it could help you figure out which setting works best for you.
Jerchav says
How do I get the voice adapted to the screen?
Casey says
No longer functional/Never functioned as described. From Roku:
4-17-2017 (Mark N. Engineering and implementer of the ‘feature’)
“It should be noted that the bit rate override screen does nothing for adaptive streams, such as the ones used by Netflix and Amazon. And for non-adaptive streams, it normally doesn’t matter if you set the bit rate override because the system will automatically play only streams that are below your measured network bandwidth. There may be a few situations where the bit rate override improves buffering, but they shouldn’t be common. The screen is a debugging tool and was never intended for general purpose use.
–Mark”
And the coup de grâce
5-17-2019 (Tanner ‘community manager'”
“Thanks for reaching out.
I know this may not be the answer you are looking for, but testing and development features within ‘Secret Screens’ are not customer facing functions that we support for general use. These can change at any time, and are not intended for end-users. I’ll help pass along your feedback to the team though.
You would want to use any individual channel’s video quality settings to control your bitrate, or modify network bandwidth allocation for your device on your home network.
Thanks,
Tanner”
Miles Willis says
goes back to auto
LESLEY ERCANBRACK says
I have the same issue. It keeps switching back automatically to automatic. Isn’t keeping the settings I want it at…
Larry says
I have a 10 Mbs Internet connection. I can watch 2 movies on two Rokus and watch youtube video and watch video on our two cell phones all at the same time. But to do so requires very careful bandwidth allocations for each device. It helps that I’ve been in IT for over 40 years and understand the issues of latency and how it affects throughput. My Rokus are set to 2.5 Mbs, youtube nailed down at 360p. These people who fall for the sales pitch that they need 4K are just wasting their money. Your eyes can’t differentiate anything above 750 lines.
WIlliam says
This works great! After the recent ice storms my Roku had been buffering, showing low resolution and testing at 1 to 3 Mbps connection speed. After changing it to manual and setting it at 5 Mbps my connection speed now tests at 67 Mbps! I’m on Charter Spectrum with 200 Mbps using a wired connection. Also upped my other ROKU on wireless 5G to 50 Mbps. I’m leaving them on Manual from now on.
Ann Tiffany says
I don’t know if this will help, but since my Roku wouldn’t do the manual set, we reset the blasted thing back to factory settings and it fixed all the lag/pause crap!!
Debbie Sanders says
I can’t get mine to stay on Manuel setting either! Please help.
Terry Mullin says
Wow! I have the same problem. Just bought a brand new 65 inch Roku Tv. Every time I change the bandwidth, it goes back to automatic. Tried calling the support team but they don’t understand. If someone can figure this out It would be fantastic.
Val says
I have the same problem bite rate goes right back to automatic at highest level. how to keep it at the rate I want?
kevin says
Chip, I have the same issue. I set it and it goes right back to Automatic on our Roku Ultras
Chip Stockard says
1) After selecting a desired bitrate for my Roku Stick, pressing the OK button on the Roku remote and then returning to Home, I find that the bitrate is still set to Automatic. i.e. Bitrate did not change.
Question: After selecting a bitrate other than Automatic and pressing OK, how do I get my new bitrate setting to stay set? It’s always set to Automatic when I return to reset it.
2) Where is the current bitrate setting displayed on my TV screen, with “Enable playback bebugging” enabled?
3) I have no buffering delays while watching content on my Roku Stick. However, I experience long buffering delays on Roku bootup, changing streaming services within Roku and changing channels within a service. Is this a bitrate issue? (My AppleTV device has no buffering delays at all. Everything switches instantaneously.)