How to add USB storage to a Roku TV

(Epitome credit: TCL)

Whether you have an old or even a new TCL Roku Boob tube, you tin add together a bit of premium functionality for pretty much free. By plugging in a USB drive to i of the TV's built-in USB ports, you tin add the ability to pause and rewind live TV, letting yous rewind up to ninety minutes of live television. And y'all don't even need 1 of the all-time Roku TVs to do it, since all models offer this capability.

For a feature that cable and satellite companies will frequently accuse for, or that once required a separate bulky device, you have the option of adding it to your Roku TV for no toll, and only a couple of steps. All you need is a 16 GB wink drive.

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In that location are limitations to this feature, though. Get-go, alive Television pause is limited to ninety minutes of paused Tv. This requires a 16 GB drive to provide the necessary storage space, meaning that a smaller drive will not work; a larger bulldoze will still be express to that xc minute limitation, so at that place's no benefit in using a bigger drive.

The other caveat is that the interruption part is only available on the live TV input, limiting you to whatever's coming over your antenna or cable connexion.

If all that however sounds useful, here's everything you need to know for how to add USB storage to a Roku TV.

How to add USB storage to a Roku TV: Before you kickoff

If you want to add storage and live Boob tube break to your Roku smart TV, yous'll demand the post-obit items:

Roku Smart Television receiver
Live TV input (Antenna or cable)
Roku Television remote control (or connected Roku smartphone app)
A USB 2.0-compatible flash drive, 16GB or larger

You too want to brand sure that the flash drive doesn't have any of import files on it, or that you've backed upwardly those files elsewhere. The alive TV pause function does crave reformatting the drive. While your bulldoze volition all the same be usable as storage if y'all unplug it, y'all will lose any files previously stored on information technology.

How to add together USB storage to a Roku Tv set: Footstep-by-step guide

ane. Locate one of the USB ports: Similar most smart TVs, you should find one or more USB ports on the back or side of your Roku Tv set. In that location may be more than one USB slot, but whatsoever port will work. Brand sure no other USB drives are connected to the TV during setup.

two. Plug the USB bulldoze into the USB port.

Roku TV - How to add USB — (Image credit: Future)

three. Actuate Alive Idiot box Intermission. On the Roku home screen, highlight the live Tv input.

Instead of selecting live TV, printing the star button to open the options menu.

Select "Set up Live TV Pause" to begin the setup process.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete setup.

4. Reformat the attached USB Drive. There are a couple of steps that address this, including entering in a Pin number to approve the reformatting. This isn't a security check, it's confirmation so that y'all don't accidentally reformat a drive with valuable files on it. If your bulldoze is ready to reformat, the confirmation code can be constitute just below the key pad of the on-screen prompt.

Enter the confirmation lawmaking using the remote control'south directional pad. Once you use the confirmation code, the USB drive will begin reformatting.

Once it's done formatting the drive, you will be able to break live TV.

five. Go familiar with live Tv pause. Once live Television pause is enabled, yous volition be able to pause live goggle box using the play/pause button on the Roku remote.

Once paused, you tin can fast frontward and rewind through intermission content using the media playback controls on your Roku remote.

With up to 90 minutes of paused TV saved to the drive — though simply every bit a cache for pausing, at that place'south no way to pull saved video from the USB storage — you can break a show and come back with enough saved time to skip ads.

To disable live TV suspension, only unplug the USB drive.

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Brian Westover is an Editor at Tom's Guide, roofing everything from TVs to the latest PCs. Prior to joining Tom'due south Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.