A CLEVER Roku trick lets you control your TV without touching any buttons.
You don’t even need to hold down the microphone button on the remote to get this special feature.
It’s called Roku Hands-Free Voice, and it’s designed to let you issue spoken commands without having to touch anything.
But it is only available on Roku Voice Remote Pro – the second edition version.
Roku explains: “In addition to push-to-talk voice, its Roku Voice Remote Pro (2nd Edition) supports hands-free voice.
“That listens to your commands without the need for you to press a button or even handle the remote control.”
For it to work, a little preparation is required.
HOW TO USE HANDS-FREE CONTROL ON ROKU
Once you’re sure you have the correct remote, you can get started.
You’ll need to activate hands-free voice by moving the slider on the side of the remote.
It needs to be in the on position, which will appear green (instead of the normal black).
Then you can say “Hey, Roku…” and issue a command, which the remote should respond to.
You don’t need to press it – just activate it.
Once that’s done, Roku suggests trying:
- “Hey Roku, take a break”
- “Hey Roku, turn up the volume”
- “Hey Roku, show me what’s new”
- “Hey Roku, turn on subtitles”
- “Hey Roku, play classic rock”
Any command that would normally work with push-to-talk will also work hands-free.
The only problem is that you absolutely must say “Hey Roku” at the beginning of a command or it won’t work.
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 Silicon Valley episodes” - Search for your favorite actors or directors
“Halle Berry”
“search for comedy films with Will Farrell”
“find all Martin Scorsese films” - Browse popular genres
“show me comedies”
“find suspense films” - Find content of a genre on a channel
“show documentaries on Sky Store”
- Launch a streaming channel
“go to YouTube”
“launch Prime Video”
“BBC iPlayer”
- Playback commands
“fast forward”
“go back”
“break”
“to stop”
“resume”
“Continue”
“to jump”
“next”
“repeat” - Closed Caption Commands
“enable closed captioning”
“hide subtitles”
“show subtitles during replay”
“activate subtitles during mute”
“What’s my subtitles setting?”
- Advance a specific period of time
“forward 15 minutes”
“skip 5 minutes”
“forward 3 minutes”
“forward 10 minutes” - Rewind (or rewind) a specific period of time
“Come back half an hour”
“go back 30 minutes” - Restart the video from the beginning
“restart”
- Search for content
“play Taylor Swift”
“play Daft Punk on Spotify”
“play S-Town on TuneIn” - Interact with your streaming service
“thumbs up/down”
“I like/don’t like”
“What song is this?”
- Swap devices
“change input to HDMI 3”
“switch to TV antenna”
“switch to Blu-ray player” - Change over-the-air broadcast channels
“channel”
“channel disabled”
“tune in 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 up the volume”
“low volume”
“mute”
“set volume to 50%”
“set volume to 5”
If you’re struggling to get the feature to work, you may need to adjust the way you speak.
Roku suggests: “For the best hands-free experience, try using a conversation tone at normal volume.
“Do not speak slower or louder than normal and do not pronounce too many syllables or words. Speak naturally with a clear and direct ‘Hey Roku…'”
Remember to speak towards the remote control and not towards the TV.
And make sure the remote is closer to you than the TV for the best experience – otherwise the audio may interfere with your commands.
It’s also important to keep the remote closer to you: Roku recommends keeping it no more than 10 to 12 feet away.
If you’ve lost your remote, you can still access voice controls (albeit one-touch, not hands-free) using the Roku mobile app.
This is a great replacement if you can’t find the remote but still want to use your voice characteristics.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story