How to Set Roku to 1080p

Evan Gower November 7, 2019

A streaming player such as Roku doesn’t have a resolution of its own. It adapts to the resolution of your smart TV, so you can adjust it to your liking.

Thanks to this, setting your Roku to the highest possible resolution shouldn’t be an issue. Of course, if the TV can handle it. If not, then you’ll have to settle for less.

How to check this out? It’s simple. In the following article, you’ll learn everything about changing the resolution of your Roku and whether it’s possible to do so with a Roku TCL TV.

How to Change Resolution on Roku?

If you own a Roku player, you can easily increase the resolution. That said, your TV needs to support the higher resolution or else nothing will happen.

To check the available options and change the resolution, you need to access the “Settings” menu on your Roku. Do the following:

Press the “Home” button on your Roku remote to access the Home screen.
Go to “Settings” at the bottom of the page.
Select “Display Type” from the following menu.
Find the 1080p option and select it.

When you choose the resolution, Roku will analyze the HDMI connection and try to adjust the screen resolution. When this happens, your TV might go blank for a few seconds. Don’t worry and just wait for the process to finish. When everything is done, you’ll need to confirm the selection before you can enjoy the 1080p resolution.

Note: If you have a TV that supports 4K resolution, you’ll see a bunch of 4K options, too. On the other hand, if your TV doesn’t support it, you might only see 720p and sometimes even lower resolution options.

There’s also an “auto-detect” option which selects the resolution based on your TV specifications. If you’re unsure whether a certain resolution is a good fit, you can always opt for this option.

What If You Have Roku TCL TV?

Unfortunately, if you have a Roku TCL TV, you may not find the “Display Type” option in the Settings menu. This is because each Roku TCL smart TV comes with a built-in resolution that you cannot change.

So, if you’ve purchased a 720p Roku TCL TV, you’ll have to settle for the lower resolution. You can always check the resolution on the package or on the internet before you buy. Therefore, if you want to stream in 1080p on your TCL TV, you’ll have to purchase a 1080p TV.

The only option that comes close to changing the resolution on Roku TCL TV is the image-stretching feature explained in the following section.

Alternative Option: Stretching Your Screen

You can stretch the screen via your remote and cover a greater area of the screen, but this is a double-edged sword. Most of the time, the stretched screen will get cut off and you will only see a part of the picture, which makes it near-impossible to enjoy watching movies or playing games.

You can try this option out:

Press the “Star” button on your TCL remote to open the “Options” side menu.
Navigate to the picture size section using your remote buttons (arrows).
Choose “Stretch” by pressing the right arrow button on your remote.

If this option cuts off the picture to the unwatchable point, then it’s best to return it to the normal resolution.

If you want a better screen resolution for playing video games on your PS4 or Xbox One on a Roku TCL TV, there’s another trick. You need to lower the resolution to the lowest possible in the Settings menu of these consoles after you stretch the image. The graphics won’t be as good as 1080p, but you’ll see the whole picture and use the full potential of your TCL Roku screen.

Be Careful When Buying TV

As you see, if you have a regular Roku USB stick, changing resolution shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, it will automatically adapt to the highest possible resolution of your smart TV when you access the “Display Options” menu.

On the other hand, the Roku TCL TV causes major issues because you’re stuck with the resolution of the TV. Thus, be careful when buying a TCL TV.

Which TV do you have? Have you managed to find the “Display Settings” option and switch the resolution? Do you have any other solutions for those that own a Roku TCL TV? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.