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*Official* Roku 2 Media Streamer Thread

170K views 1K replies 185 participants last post by  krisbee 
#1 ·
There has been a bit of buzz in the blogosphere about the upcoming refresh of Roku's media streamer lineup:

Roku 2 Launching with Angry Birds (from Dave Zatz)

Roku 2 - Nearly Upon Us? (from Dave Zatz)


It appears as if the devices are slated to appear in stores on July 24. Let us use this thread to discuss the features of the Roku 2 and share tips and tricks.
 
#502 ·
No, they unfixed it for me and others.


My Sammy is pro calibrated by one of the best and I"m not going to change those settings becasue a $80 box does not like them. I use the Onkyo as a HDMI switcher and only feed one cable to the TV so changing the settings on a secondary input won't work for me either, plus I'd loose the HDMI audio option.


I guess I'll live with the situation as is for now, the Roku is not getting a lot of use at the moment, too much DVRd stuff to catch up on. It will get more of a work out later in the year.
 
#503 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt L /forum/post/21628655


My Sammy is pro calibrated by one of the best and I"m not going to change those settings becasue a $80 box does not like them.

It's not Roku rather it's the industry standard.
 
#504 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt L /forum/post/21628655


No, they unfixed it for me and others.


My Sammy is pro calibrated by one of the best and I"m not going to change those settings becasue a $80 box does not like them. I use the Onkyo as a HDMI switcher and only feed one cable to the TV so changing the settings on a secondary input won't work for me either, plus I'd loose the HDMI audio option.


I guess I'll live with the situation as is for now, the Roku is not getting a lot of use at the moment, too much DVRd stuff to catch up on. It will get more of a work out later in the year.

Mine has been calibrated as well. But I run everything through an DVDO DUO before going to my Sammy.
 
#505 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles R /forum/post/21628980


It's not Roku rather it's the industry standard.

Can't agree. Funny, I have a stack of other video equipment, 5 to be exact, all connected to the Sammy via the Onkyo and NONE of them have washed out blacks. Everyone of them displays properly other than the Roku, by deduction- the Roku is at fault.
 
#506 ·
When the Roku 2 first came out, a large number of people were complaining that it was using the PC black level scale (0-255) instead of the video one (16-235), severely screwing up contrast on televisions expecting the video black level scale. Roku engineers agreed and fixed it in a firmware update, after which many users complained that the new values looked screwed up on their televisions.
 
#507 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt L /forum/post/0



Can't agree. Funny, I have a stack of other video equipment, 5 to be exact, all connected to the Sammy via the Onkyo and NONE of them have washed out blacks. Everyone of them displays properly other than the Roku, by deduction- the Roku is at fault.

Your TV is not in compliance with the HDMI specifications, as has already been discussed. While your other source devices may be able to produce a "correct" image by also operating out of spec to compensate for your defectively designed TV, that doesn't indicate that the Roku is at fault by not also operating out of spec.


Bottom line: if your TV worked right, the Roku would produce a better image.
 
#508 ·
It would be better if the ROKU 2 output YCrCb like most other consumer video devices or gave an option to set RGB to be full or limited.


It seems like there are some (people have reported issues with Samsung and Visio) TVs which don't handle RGB limited correctly (yes they are out of spec - but it appears there quite a few of them).


I had the original issue and was happy when ROKU fixed it as it works well for me now - but it did unfix for many others.
 
#509 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by RoboRay /forum/post/21634149


Your TV is not in compliance with the HDMI specifications, as has already been discussed. While your other source devices may be able to produce a "correct" image by also operating out of spec to compensate for your defectively designed TV, that doesn't indicate that the Roku is at fault by not also operating out of spec.


Bottom line: if your TV worked right, the Roku would produce a better image.

Several points --- One, Samsung is the largess producer of TVs out there, so anyone with a Samsung panel and a Roku2 is supposed to suffer with a poor image, bad move by Roku.


Second, I dug into my TV a bit tonight and found something interesting, perhaps it will help others in my situation. As I mentioned my set is pro calibrated by Chad B., and the settings in Calibration mode are locked out as per my request to Chad. Anyway there are 2 or 3 settings available, one being HDMI black level. It's set to "Normal" for all my viewing, but ran the Roku2 through my Onkyo as I usually do and found I was able to change the setting to "Low"- it normally only has "Normal" available. When I set it to "Low'- voila! the image was great.


I thought I might have to program my Harmony remote to change the setting when I activated the Roku input, but when I flipped back to my Directv receiver, the setting was back to "Normal" and again locked out. I flipped back to the Roku and the setting was back to "Low". Apparently there is a flag on the signal from the Roku box that is triggering my Samsung to the correct setting. What ever, now the image is displaying properly and I did not have to juggle any settings in my remoter to accomplish that.
 
#510 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt L /forum/post/21637233


Several points --- One, Samsung is the largess producer of TVs out there, so anyone with a Samsung panel and a Roku2 is supposed to suffer with a poor image, bad move by Roku.

Not every Samsung panel, it seems. I have a Samsung LN46D630 (which is an LCD set). I waited to buy the Roku 2 until the firmware update came out that corrected the color range problem. I am very happy with the Roku 2 picture on HD material from Netflix. The picture is not overly dark, blacks aren't crushed, there is no posterization, and the image is reasonably detailed given the fact that Netflix is applying some compression. BTW, the Samsung is NOT set to display in PC mode, which was the recommended workaround before the update came out.
 
#511 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt L /forum/post/21637233


Several points --- One, Samsung is the largess producer of TVs out there, so anyone with a Samsung panel and a Roku2 is supposed to suffer with a poor image, bad move by Roku.

It's never a "bad move" to build a product in accordance with agreed-upon industry standards. It was a "bad move" by Samsung to (apparently, according to your next "point") build a product that defaults to a non-standard setting guaranteed to cause a poor image when connected to sources that are in strict compliance with the standards.


It doesn't matter how big your market share happens to be, if you don't comply with the standards it's not everyone else's responsibility to deviate from the standards to accommodate you.

Quote:
Second, I dug into my TV a bit tonight and found something interesting, perhaps it will help others in my situation. As I mentioned my set is pro calibrated by Chad B., and the settings in Calibration mode are locked out as per my request to Chad. Anyway there are 2 or 3 settings available, one being HDMI black level. It's set to "Normal" for all my viewing, but ran the Roku2 through my Onkyo as I usually do and found I was able to change the setting to "Low"- it normally only has "Normal" available. When I set it to "Low'- voila! the image was great.

I'm glad you got it working right and that it turned out to be just a switchology issue on the TV. Hopefully this information will help a lot of other people with Samsung TVs.
 
#512 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by pmcd /forum/post/21415497


I don't want to be negative here as I know very little about the Roku. Could someone tell me what the point is? Is it price? Plex? Netflix, etc .,, (there seem to be quite a few players, game machines, TV's, etc ... that access those).


It runs a low powered Broadcom SoC. Only has wired Ethernet with the top model.


What does it do that other players can't do?

Previous access of Netflix was via my Wii. Even with the component connect to TV, the picture quality was terrible. The Roku 2 is way better and puts my favorite apps (Pandora, Amazon, HuluPlus, etc) all in one easy to access place.
 
#513 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by SkiSmuggs /forum/post/0



Previous access of Netflix was via my Wii. Even with the component connect to TV, the picture quality was terrible. The Roku 2 is way better and puts my favorite apps (Pandora, Amazon, HuluPlus, etc) all in one easy to access place.

Since writing that I got a Roku2 XD. Actually very nice. I like their channels and as you point out they have a nice access to major streaming sites. It's a nice streamer. I still prefer certain alternatives but it's one of those products that is well worth trying. That being said, I rarely use it as our Smart TV does everything the Roku2 does in a more convenient way (with respect to premium sites).


Philip
 
#514 ·
The Roku 2 is a pretty damn good product. That being said, if I find a standalone streamer (or inexpensive BD player) with VUDU (which the Roku lacks), Netflix with 1080p/5.1/CC support and Amazon with 5.1 sound support, I'll buy that and sell the Roku.
 
#516 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by kaybug51 /forum/post/0


My daughter got Roku & said it was awesome. She's stopping her Dish. What channels comes free with it? OR can you give me a link that explains in a novice way what it is, channels you get free, need to do to have a good picture? Etc. THANK YOU!
http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store


I don't see it as a replacement for cable/sat but that may work for you. It also has a lot of private channels in addition to the official channels you will find in the link.


Philip
 
#519 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by LDBetaGuy /forum/post/21727791


I'm considering purchasing a Roku 2XS. Does the unit output audio to the HDMI and analog audio outputs at the same time? I'm asking because I would be connecting the audio of the Roku to a 2 channel stereo receiver. Thanks!

Just tested it - simultaneous HDMI and Composite audio works fine with my R2 XS - although, normally I only use HDMI for audio (and video)
 
#520 ·
Bear in mind there seems to be an ever-so-slight difference in the timing of the audio. If you have both active your ears will be sensitive enough to pick up the difference. At least that's the case with the Roku XD I tried it with.


There are no options in the Roku setup to manage the audio. It'd be nice to have at least the option to enable/disable the outputs. A volume level would be great, otherwise you're stuck with programming a universal remote to handle everything instead of using the Roku remote (which isn't that great anyway).
 
#521 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by wkearney99 /forum/post/21727945


Bear in mind there seems to be an ever-so-slight difference in the timing of the audio. If you have both active your ears will be sensitive enough to pick up the difference. At least that's the case with the Roku XD I tried it with.


There are no options in the Roku setup to manage the audio. It'd be nice to have at least the option to enable/disable the outputs. A volume level would be great, otherwise you're stuck with programming a universal remote to handle everything instead of using the Roku remote (which isn't that great anyway).

Agreed -- I also notice an audio time delay/difference when using the HDMI to a TV/speakers and using an optical out from that same TV to an optical input on a receiver
 
#523 ·
I'm wondering if Roku can help in my situation??? I'm an avid race fan (F1, American LeMans, LeMans, DTM, BTCC etc.). The problem is, as of the 2011 season, the ALMS stopped broadcasting races Live. The only way to view races live is via ESPN3.com.


The obvious solution is to use my laptop, however, when I tried this last season, my MacBook Pro began to overheat after a few hours of viewing (the Sebring Race is 12 hours). Also, I'd like to view the event on my flat panel TV.


So, I'm looking to get a device that will allow me to view the races. Streaming movies, and other content isn't as important, but would be a bonus.
 
#524 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Lawrence /forum/post/21738830


I'm wondering if Roku can help in my situation??? I'm an avid race fan (F1, American LeMans, LeMans, DTM, BTCC etc.). The problem is, as of the 2011 season, the ALMS stopped broadcasting races Live. The only way to view races live is via ESPN3.com.


The obvious solution is to use my laptop, however, when I tried this last season, my MacBook Pro began to overheat after a few hours of viewing (the Sebring Race is 12 hours). Also, I'd like to view the event on my flat panel TV.


So, I'm looking to get a device that will allow me to view the races. Streaming movies, and other content isn't as important, but would be a bonus.

Currently, the only devices with ESPN3 access are PCs and Macs, iPhones, iPads, Android 2.2 or later phones and tablets and Xbox 360s.


Roku has a Motor Sports World TV channel.
 
#525 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott /forum/post/0


Currently, the only devices with ESPN3 access are PCs and Macs, iPhones, iPads, Android 2.2 or later phones and tablets and Xbox 360s.

And playon. You get a playon license and install it on a windows pc, install the playon channel on the roku and you can watch espn3, regular Hulu and others on the roku.
 
#526 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by michaeltscott /forum/post/21739075


Currently, the only devices with ESPN3 access are PCs and Macs, iPhones, iPads, Android 2.2 or later phones and tablets and Xbox 360s.

How about the Logitech Revue and Boxee Box? Of the two I prefer the Revue's implementation.
 
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