If you wish to set the speed of your connection for video streaming manually on the Roku video player, there is a code you can enter to access the speed override settings.
- Break out the Roku remote and go to the Home screen.
- Use the following sequence to access the “Select a speed…” screen:
- Home 5 times
- Rewind 3 times
- Fast Forward 2 times.
- A screen will appear where you can set the speed you desire.
You may want to start by trying the 3.5Mbps setting, test playback, then try a different setting for best results.
The “Enable playback debugging” option turns on a feature that will display the speed you are getting while playing video. This setting only works with streaming set to “automatic“.
Mark says
Every few days my Roku goes back to automatic which gobbles up data. So I reset usually to minimum. Then a few days later I find it’s on automatic again!!!
I emailed Roku and they were less than helpful.
Ridi James says
Why why why why WHY do they do this? Just let me set it to absolutely minimum bandwidth and leave it alone! I don’t care if it looks SD. I don’t care if it looks blocky. JUST LET ME CHOOSE AND LEAVE IT!
SatchimosMom says
I set all of ours at 1.5 using the actual remote. The settings held for months. Come December, we were suddenly using huge amounts of data. Went back in and noticed they had all reverted back to automatic. Just reset two nights ago and so far is holding.
I think perhaps they reset themselves when we had a recent upgrade. Just a theory. I’m going to start checking these weekly to ensure we keep our usage down as we are cord cutters with three retired adults in the household.
Sewahgroup says
Worked for me. The new setting held. Used real physical remote. Once you select the speed it exits automatically. Went back in and there was an “x” next to the speed I selected.
John says
Got into the Bitrate menu and changed from Automatic to 1.0 mB/S. Went to news channel and it seems the Bitrate was still on high. Confirmed that when looking at my bandwidth usage from my ISP. Going to contact Roku on this issue. Having limited BW makes this option very important to me.
Indie says
This didn’t work for me. It was already on Automatic, so I enabled speed, which was supposed to show me the speed for shows somewhere. But it didn’t show the speed. It was a nice thought, though.
Steve says
using the 5-3-2 code to access the screen to change the bandwidth is great, there are lots of options to choose from, however, as soon as you close that screen, the ROKU TV reverts back to “automatic” and when in this mode, streaming consumes about 1 GB per hour of data. How do you make the change stick. ?
Chima Alozie says
Hello,
Thanks for this… Wanted going crazy with the buffering problem on Plex in Roku.
Used the code, change the Mbps and didn’t stop again. Great tip.
Hel says
Hi. I, like Sandy (March 17, 2017 comment), used the secret code to change the bit rate speed of my Roku Streaming Stick to 3.5, but it stays on Automatic. Any ideas?
Sandy says
I have used the secret code to change the connection speed on my Roku 2. Now it stays on automatic. Roku doesn’t let you change it. Please advise.
Beatrice Hall says
I have a Roku TV and it would not connect directly to my modem but it will connect to a computer that’s connected to the modem by hotspot what should I do to get my TV itself to connect to the internet without going through my laptop or computer
Margaret Reitz says
This did not work on my ROKU? I m running through gigabytes like crazy watching k-dramas. HD is nice, but I want a choice. Any other suggestions?
Cynthia says
Thank you! I had tried this with the Roku app “remote” and it didn’t work, but it did when I used the real remote – thanks for the tip!
floyyd says
thank yo so much! I forgot how to do this!