Official Roku HD/XD/XDS Owners Thread - Page 18

There is no off button -- you just leave it "on" all the time. It does go into a powersave mode after a set time of inactivity (the LED on the front will turn off). It's setup this way partially to ensure firmware updates get applied appropriately (they are pushed to the boxes automatically during their idle time). The power draw on the boxes in powersave mode is very minimal.

Have a look at the following post for a pretty good summary of the available private channel listing websites that are out there: http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?p=266545#p266545

That should give you a pretty good start. You can always keep an eye on the Roku forums for new private channels as well.

I haven't found a public statement of any target, but in a live chat with a Roku agent I was told [Netflix 5.1] "will not require a new box" and "I believe it would be in this year".

Here's to hoping!
It's a tad annoying going from one room (ps3 playback) to another (Roku playback) and having everything change on you

Not that that's picky or anything....or the second one is a bedroom, but still!

My apologies if some of this is covered elsewhere, but I wanted to share some info that may help others which I recently discovered about my Roku.

I have the Roku XD.

1. My Roku operates best on wireless channel 6. I was working for hours to improve streaming, which was unacceptably choppy, and thought I had tried everything. Found a note in a small thread on another forum about using channel 6. Thought it was crazy, but in desperation tried it anyway. Flawless streaming ensued! 802.11N Netgear router. I suspect channels 1 and 11 may work well also, but I'm not going to mess with it now.

2. If you are a fan of Korean drama series or Japanese anime, Crunchyroll is a good free channel. Subtitles included at no extra charge. Netflix has some Korean movies, but never have seen any of their series on there.

3. Al-Jazeera is a live stream on the Roku Newscaster channel. I find it to be a lot like BBC news. Nice to have access to international viewpoints and footage unavailable elsewhere.

This is great. I found this forum while looking for help on an NAS I just bought. I know it's not going to give the same quality as I had on DirecTV, but I have noticed that MLBTV is pretty bad. Is it MLB's internet streaming or is there something I am missing? I am using a Roku XD/S into a 61" Samsung DLP TV via HDMI. The HDMI cable is fine and all other HDMI sources are fine on this TV. I am thinking that it's their streaming. Any thoughts?? Otherwise this unit rocks.


Dominic

The picture quality of MLB is very good from both my XD and XDS boxes, better than that of my PS3 though the PS3 has a nicer interface and superior features. The HD kind of goes in and out on my PS3 but the Roku boxes maintain the resolution pretty well. All devices are connected wirelessly and feed two Panasonic plasmas (50" 1080p and 42" 720P) and a 32" 720P Westinghouse LCD.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents to the ROKU discussion.

First of all, I had read a user review on amazon.com that ROKU does not work with ATT's 2Wire modem. Fortunately I assumed the guy was an idiot and went ahead and bought it. It does work just fine with the 2Wire modem.

My first experience with streaming video to my tv was about 4 weeks ago when I bought an LG670 BluRay player and had my old ATT modem exchanged for a 2Wire wireless router/modem.

So part of this post will be a comparison of the LG670 vs the ROKU XD as it pertains to streaming Netflix and Pandora - the only 2 I've used it for so far.

Why did I trade in the LG670? Unfortunately it has a known problem playing dvd's - it drops the audio during chapter changes - and over the course of 4 weeks they did not fix it via firmware and I heard that many of these units have this problem and LG is aware of it but doesn't know how to fix it. So I traded it in on the LG BD630 which does most of the same stuff but doesn't have the built in wireless. And a ROKU XD.

Okay, so the first thing I noticed about the ROKU XD vs. the LG BD670 is that ROKU has a much better interface for Netflix. Both work, but the LG interface was a bit hard to navigate and sometimes paused in loading the movie icons. The ROKU XD has a much better navigation system and has never paused once. It also loads in about the same time as the BD670 - about 10-20 seconds to load the browser and about 20 seconds to load a movie.

I have the Elite DSL service from ATT. I get between 4mb-5mb per second for download speed.

So far we have watched 3 documentaries and 3 tv shows via the ROKU /Netflix and have had zero pauses once it loads at the beginning. Excellent! (I also did not have any pauses with the LG 670.)

I have not had the ROKU hooked up as long as I had the BD670 so it's not yet a fair comparison but over the week or so that I had the BD670 hooked up I experienced a number of freezes of the software and had to turn the unit off and on or unplug it in order to recover when browsing Netflix. I have not seen these complaints online re ROKU but I have read them in regards to the BD670. This is one reason why I went with the ROKU instead of buying a wireless receiver for the BD630.

As for Pandora, both the LG and ROKU are about the same - both work very well with no pausing. However I like the BD670 Pandora interface *slightly* better than the ROKU interface. No big deal.

As to the remotes, the BD630 remote is actually better than the BD670 to me, in the way it is laid out. The ROKU XD remote is kind of funky with the "enter" button being a straight down press in the middle of the up and down arrows that surround it. I don't like that design as it seems more difficult than having an Enter button separate from the arrows. But it's not a big problem. Both remotes serve their purposes adequately.

As mentioned I have the ROKU XD. However my intention was and still is to buy the XDS because it has an optical audio out and due to my a/v set up I need that. I am currently listening to the ROKU via analog audio.

Also the XDS for only $10 more has Dual-band wireless technology - the latest standard and a USB port for playing stored photos, music, and videos.

I have heard that the usb browsing on the ROKU isn't as good as on the LG bluray players. But who knows, it might get better with updates?? Mainly I want it for the optical audio out and the better wireless standard which could come into play at some point. Oh, and the ROKU XDS has a "search back 10 seconds" button which sounds like a good idea.

So overall I am very happy with the ROKU XD and expect to be happier still with the XDS.

p.s. Is ROKU tech support as bad as people say it is? I just hope I don't end up needing it!

Just had our very first freeze up while watching a Netflix movie on the XDS. We have ATT-DSL service as well. Had to power cycle the Roku to get it working again which was a first over the channel website itself having issues.

I have ATT DSL as well. Have never had a freeze up or "burp" as I call with with streaming. My whole house is hard wired with Cat6.

My only complaint is the MLB TV as I mentioned in a prior post. Netflix is way and beyond better than on the Wii up in the Living Room

I will have to check my A/V receiver. All HDMI runs through it. I thought that the video processing was turned off. It could be on. Might that be a problem?

Tried the plex client today on my roku and unlike the IOS client I can't seem to get it to list any video or program channels. my library does not show up like on the IOS port of the plex client...

Anyone having any luck with the Plex client on the Roku?

Sean

does the XDS model output on HDMI and Component video at the same time. I need to feed two different sources at the same time

All outputs on all models are active at all times.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post19885455

nice

Will it put the component down to 480p if hdmi is in use at the same time? Many dvd players do.

That I'm not sure of. Sorry. I'd suggest asking the question at the Roku forums. http://forums.roku.com/viewforum.php?f=28

New roku 2 HD

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/30/r...-a-new-remote/

Well, I did notice that they were offering free shipping on the Roku XD and Roku XDS from their own website. Perhaps they are blowing those out to make room for the new Roku 2 HD. I wonder what the price will be? It looks like the 3000X, 3050X and 3100X are good/better/best.

If I had to guess, I'd say chances are the pricing scheme for the new models will be very similar to the existing lineup, if not exactly the same. That's pretty much what they did when they introduced the HD/XD/XDS lineup, anyway.

Hi all - below is a copy of a post that I put up on the Netgear forum, so far with no luck. Maybe somebody here can help out.

Internet connection Motorola SB6120 cable modem
On the LAN - Linsys E3000 router, Netgear GS108Tv2 switch, Roku XD, Synology NAS, Yamaha AVR, Dune B1 media player and two PCs.
Topology - both PCs and switch (port 1) connected to router. Roku, NAS, AVR and Dune connected to switch. Switch and AV stuff are in a different room than the router/PCs. (Edit: everything hardwired.)
Been banging my head against the wall for a couple of days now - cannot figure this one out. Cannot get my Roku XD to connect to my LAN through the switch.
Can connect to the internet with Dune (browser) and the AVR (Net radio). Can connect to the NAS with the Dune and both PCs. This indicates that the switch/router seem to be playing well together.
Now to the problem. Everything except the Roku is set up with static IP. The Roku does not allow this, so it is DHCP. Do not know if this is a factor. After I launch the Roku connection routine, I can see that the router has allocated an address associated with the Roku MAC. I can also see that the Roku has been "learned" into the MAC table of the switch. The Roku display indicates that it recognizes the cable/port, but it cannot connect to the LAN. Since the Dune works I tried using it's cable - no difference. I tried connecting the Roku to a different port - no difference. If I bypass the switch and use the line that runs directly to the router, the Roku works fine.
Ideas??

All,

I am a noob to managed switches. As the saying goes - I know enough to be dangerous.
Figured out that I had DHCP filtering (Admin Mode) enabled but did not have the Roku port set as trusted. The Roku is the only DHCP device on the switch, that is why everything else worked.
Feel pretty stupid, but all's well that ends well. Lesson learned.
Maybe this info will help someone out.

Charlie

PS3 would be the best choice flor streaming netflix.it does both 1080p and 5.1 audio the roku does not

I think the ps3 is the worst netflix device I've ever used. It makes you login to psn. I've never gotten it to work properly. Every time I try it's something different. My roku, no problem, same with all my other nf devices.

They all got less valuable if you mostly get discs. I'll pass on the one movie a month I watch streaming for $8 savings.

This box seems about the best streamer to get for the money.

I have searched first to get answers on the audio part, but it doesn't seem clear so here goes:

Can this unit play back 5.1 AAC? If so, can I set the box to bitstream 5.1 / 2.0 PCM via HDMI? Can it output 2.0 over optical?

As to dts, can the box bitstream 5.1 / 2.0 PCM via HDMI? Can it output 2.0 over optical?

I have a lot of MKV rips with mixed audio. I have been using my LG BR player to play them back but I would like to get a roku box to play back my videos via hard drives (and create some nice moviesheets) as well as Netfix, Amazon VOD, ect.

THX, JNT.

Hey there,

I just got my XDS set and started to notice some image quality issues on Roku that I didn't notice on my Xbox. I tried getting the same frame of a movie for comparison. The only difference is that Roku uses HDMI and the Xbox uses VGA.

The image on Roku is higher contrast and compression artifacts can be seen in testable scenarios (white on black text, etc.). This is not at all as bad on the Xbox -- is this because Roku lacks upscaling or could this be something else?

Both are showing in HD from Netflix. I'm using a Sony Bravia XBR 46" to view.

Thanks,
John

Roku 2

http://www.roku.com/roku-products

Not a big fan of the lower two units dropping ethernet ports.

Even worse is that none of them support component anymore.

-Suntan

Does seem like quite the omission, wired ethernet is still a pretty big deal.
I personally don't mind the loss of component connection but I can see that dropping it will impact a number of users (and potential buyers).

What I don't understand is what actually changed other than design and free angry birds
Is any of the hardware different/better? Will they be capable of 5.1/HD streaming now or is that a firmware update to all past devices as well someday?

Well, the new ones have no venting on top and a rated power consumption of *2 watts* while playing 1080p, which is better than the older ones could do while in standby, so it is surely new hardware.

As for the ability to do 5.1 and Netflix 1080, who knows. I thought they have been saying all a long that the current XDS would be able to do those with an update to the Netflix player.

-Suntan

Power reduction is always welcome, however, from 5W to 2W I feel like we're starting to split hairs!

I thought that the previous gen hardware was "capable" of 1080p/5.1 but not currently enabled to play it. From reading this thread and elsewhere it sounds like a firmware update (or perhaps only Netflix player) but I'm still not seeing 5.1 audio from it