Software update makes HDR content “unwatchable” on Roku TVs

An update to Roku OS has resulted in colors looking washed out in HDR content viewed on Roku apps, like Disney+.

Complaints started surfacing on Roku’s community forum a week ago. On May 1, a company representative posted that Roku was “investigating the Disney Plus HDR content that was washed out after the recent update.” However, based on user feedback, it seems that HDR on additional Roku apps, including Apple TV+ and Netflix, are also affected. Roku’s representative has been asking users to share their experiences so that Roku can dig deeper into the problem.

One user, going by “Squinky” on the forum, reported having a TCL TV with the problem and shared the following photo comparison:

Users have reported that both shows and movies viewed in HDR via a Roku OS app are affected.

Roku hasn’t provided a list of affected devices, but users have named multiple TCL TV models, at least one Hisense, and one Sharp TV as being impacted.

We haven’t seen any reports of Roku streaming sticks being affected. One forum user claimed that plugging a Roku streaming stick into a Roku TV circumvented the problem.

Forum user Squinky said the washed-out colors were only on Disney+. However, other users have reported seeing the problem across other apps, including Max and Fandango.

“I’m surprised more people aren’t complaining because it makes a ton of shows simply unwatchable. Was looking forward to Andor, and Tuesday night [was] ruined,” posted forum user noob99999, who said the problem was happening on “multiple apps,” including Amazon Prime Video. “I hope the post about imminent app updates are correct because in the past, Roku has taken forever to correct issues.”