Roku owners warned of cheeky remote prank that turns people’s TVs off – and users are ‘tempted’ to do it to neighbours

ROKU customers have been warned that they might fall victim to a cheeky remote prank at the hands of their neighbours.

It sees the prankster switch off your TV from afar, while you're still watching - even when your Roku TV remote is right next to you.

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Roku TV remotes use infrared (IR) technology, which is used by many other devices, including:

• Most cable set-top boxes
• DVD or Blu-ray players
• Audio/video receivers (AVR)
• Some LED and fairy lights

When these types of devices are near each other, its possible that a command meant for one device may also cause a different device to perform a random action.

"My LED [lights] and Roku remote share IR frequencies so every time I turn the volume up I have a rave," one personalongside a video of their lights flashing.

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Although it is uncommon, there is one example Roku uses where the remote for a Logik L3HDVD19 DVD player can perform actions on your Roku TV instead.

As the company explains: "When these devices are too close, button presses on the Logik remote can unexpectedly control aspects of your Roku TV like powering on/off the screen, adjusting volume, and switching inputs."

The issue is fairly common knowledge - and is common enough for Roku to have a help page on its website about it.

"Tonight, I’m tempted to drive around the neighborhood turning random people’s TVs off," another person on X (formerly Twitter).

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'Undesired control'

If you not worried about pranksters - but are concerned or annoyed about "undesired control" of your Roku TV, there are X ways to prevent it.

According to Roku: "To operate reliably, an IR remote must be pointed directly at the IR receiver on the device it is intended to control with nothing blocking the signal.

"There is some margin for pointing the remote higher or lower, but IR remotes typically do not work as well when pointed significantly to one side or the other.

"Knowing this, moving the interfering devices away from each other horizontally may provide the best solution."

However, Roku added that moving a device only a few inches may be enough to prevent the behaviour.

"In the ongoing example, try moving the Logik DVD player to the left or right of your Roku TV," the company explained.

"If there are no improvements when positioning the player to one side, try the other.

"Once you find a suitable location for both devices, be sure to point the appropriate remote directly at the device it controls and away from the device it does not."

Roku voice commands – the official list

Here are some voice commands to try with your Roku mobile app, as revealed by the TV giant itself...

• Find a specific movie or show
  “Harry Potter"
  "find Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
  “show me episodes of Silicon Valley”
  
• Search for your favorite actors or directors
  “Halle Berry”
  “search for comedy movies with Will Farrell”
  "find all Martin Scorsese films"
  
• Browse popular genres
  “show me comedies”
  “find thriller movies”
  
• Find content in a genre on a channel
  “show documentary films on Sky Store”

• Launch a streaming channel
  “go to YouTube”
  “launch Prime Video”
  "BBC iPlayer"

• Playback commands
  "fast forward"
  "rewind"
  "pause"
  "stop"
  "resume"
  "continue"
  "skip"
  "next"
  "replay"
  
• Closed captioning commands
  “turn on closed captioning”
  “hide the captions”
  "show captions during replay"
  "turn on captions during mute"
  "what's my captions setting?"

• Move forward a specific amount of time
  “forward 15 minutes”
  “skip 5 minutes”
  “fast forward 3 minutes”
  “go forward 10 minutes”
  
• Move backward (or rewind) a specific amount of time
  “go back half an hour”
  “rewind 30 minutes”
  
• Restart video from beginning
  "start over"

• Search for content
  "play Taylor Swift"
  "play Daft Punk on Spotify"
  "play S-Town on TuneIn"
  
• Interact with your streaming service
  "thumbs up/down"
  "like/dislike"
  "what song is this?"

• Switch devices
  “switch the input to HDMI 3”
  “switch to antenna TV”
  "switch to Blu-ray player"
  
• Change over-the-air broadcast channels
  “channel up”
  "channel down"
  “tune to NBC”
  “find channel 7.1"
  "previous channel"
  
• Launch or hide Live TV Channel Guide
  “open live tv guide”
  “open channel guide
  "hide channel guide"
  
• Adjust volume levels
  "turn the volume up"
  "volume down"
  "mute"
  "set volume to 50%"
  "set volume to 5"