Roku Starts Rolling Out 'Pause Ads' As Update Ruins Some HDR Content

A new update is rolling out to Roku devices which implements ads whenever content is paused, all while many users have run into problems with HDR.

Roku has been working towards putting ads on pause screens for a while now, with the company detailing the “Pause Ad” format on its website. Now, that functionality is actually rolling out to users.

Over the past few days, Roku has been rolling out pause ads to its users across various devices. Users on Roku’s forums and Reddit report seeing the change across different types of devices such as Roku Ultra and Streambar Pro. TechIssuesToday highlighted the start of the rollout. This functionality has been known for a while, with a Lowpass report from last year highlighting a patent for how it would work on top of HDMI inputs, but it’s now out there in the wild.

Roku demonstrates how Pause Ads work in the video we’ve embedded below.

Roku also recently tested ads that show up when the TV first turns on, before the TV can be used.

Beyond that, Roku also confirmed an ongoing issue with HDR content on its platform right now. Users have noticed that Disney+ content that’s playing in HDR is “washed out.” The company says that it is “investigating the Disney Plus HDR content that was washed out after the recent update.”

One user shared an example of the washed-out colors using a scene from Andor.