Best possible Netflix streaming device - Page 31

Another choice is the Dlink MovieNite (DSM-310). It's only $38 at Walmart now. It handles Netflix, VUDU, Pandora and YouTube. It's not the best interface and doesn't have as many channels as players like the Roku. However, if you're just looking for a basic Netflix box, it will do the trick. It's wireless and also support ethernet too.

Just to confirm, your TV has HDMI correct?

Yes it has HDMI

For $10 more I'd do the basic Roku...

Well I went with the Roku LT and I couldn't be happier. It works flawlessly and was a piece of cake to set up.

Thanks!

Does this unit support captions on Netflix?

You're welcome. I'm glad that you're happy with it .
The Roku LT? Yes, as well as digital 5.1 sound for titles which feature it. Everything Netflix feature except for 1080p video, as it's limited to 720p.

Are you sure that the Roku LT will send Dolby Digital Plus?? (the audio format used by Netflix). The reason i ask is cuz i have a Roku2XS and was unable to get anything but stereo sound with it until i discovered that i had to have the Roku set to 1080p. My tv's native resolution is 720p,so i set the Roku to that resolution,but as i said i only got stereo with that setting. Unfortunately for me,the flimsy owners manual does not state this fact,and it took me nearly 2 wks. to figure it out.
Edited by greaser - 7/31/12 at 2:42pm

I get DD+ with output set to 720p (playing Black Hawk Down). If it once had that behavior it was definitely a bug which they've since fixed. You should try it now.

My Roku2XS is only 1 mo. old and maybe it has a bug,but as long as i can get DD+with it set to 1080p then i'm happy. I called Roku support 4-5 times with this problem,they tried to help,even bumping me to their 2nd.tier level of help. They asked me to check diff.settings,but not the setting for resolution.I had to discover that for myself. Maybe sometime i'll ask them about the 720p setting as it pertains to DD+ audio(i have the 2yr.extended warranty)but for now i'm happy just to have the better DD+ audio. When i told the tech. that i had figured out the problem(having to set the Roku to 1080p)he didn't have anything to say,which confuses me now cuz if it is 'supposed to' output DD+ audio @720p then he 'should have' taken note of what i was telling him and realized that my unit is not working properly. Heck,not only did i check the Roku settings(several times),i also checked my AVR's settings several times(per their request and my curiosity),even going so far as to question the HDMI cable that i was using and swapping out diff.cables to test and posting my question in the HDMI sub-forum here at AVS.
Edited by greaser - 7/31/12 at 3:53pm

Help with selecting Netflix compatible Closed Caption streaming Device

My current Samsung BD-C6500 Blu Ray player I use for streaming Netflix movies is not compatible with Netflix Closed Captioning & I would like your advice as to whether to upgrade to a new Blu-ray player or Roku 2XS or whatever might best fit my use.

The BD-C6500 is connected via Ethernet cable (15mbs speed) from my router. The Blu-Ray player is connected via HDMI cable to my Panasonic TH-50P2700U HDTV.
I play a blu-ray movie about once per week (with subtitles/captioning enabled) & usually steam a Netflix movies 5-6 times/week. Currenly, Netflix is the only streaming service I use but I don’t mind keeping my options open
.
Should I just upgrade the blu-ray player to get the CC/subtiltles or should I consider adding a Roku player as well. From my reading of this thread I get the impression I might better off with both devices.

Thanks for any comments.

peachman

This year's Panasonic (DMP-BDT220/320/500) and Sony (BDP-S390/590/790) BD players all have full-featured Netflix players (CC/subtitles, 1080p video, DD+ 5.1 sound); all but the BDP-S390 are 3D BD players. I currently own a BDT220, S390 and Roku 2 XS. While they're perfectly good streamers, I've decided that the Roku 2 XS is superior for the streaming services I use which it features (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus), primarily in speed and better user-interface, so I'm dumping one of the BD players, keeping the other for BD playback and VUDU, the one streaming service which the Roku does not feature.

Switching back and forth between them, I've decided to keep the BDT220. It loads discs faster than the Panasonic and has 1.5x disc playback with sound, which the Sony does not. If you do use it as a streamer, it can play any of the VOD services with 24p output. The Sony's Netflix player, though it has the same ubiquitous common Netflix UI, has a few extra features that I really like: it has a stream status overlay (this) and can turn captions/subtitles on and off with the remote's subtitle button. Its Amazon player is, IMO, atrocious and both Netflix and Amazon start streams extremely slowly for me, though others have reported faster stream start times.

I'd love to have a single device for Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus and VUDU and I thought that one of these BD players might be it (they do play all of them) but I would not personally be happy with either as my sole streamer. I continue to hold out hope for the future .

I have a Sony 370 and 380 in two rooms. The Netflix streaming has one major issue I do not like. It always seems to completely fill the buffer before playing. That includes if you try to FF or REW a bit. That can mean several seconds delay. Is the 90 series any better?

I've been using my WDTV Live Streaming for most Netflix streaming. It has the slideshow-style FF/REW, and usually starts up quite fast. The only time I use a Sony for streaming is the bedroom one. My main TV (also Sony) also does streaming, but generally starts as soon as the buffer begins to fill (with the WDTV, I rarely use it's streaming unless I'm checking something.)

The newer Netflix players, like the ones in the 2012 Sony and Panasonic BD players, Roku 2, PS3, Xbox 360, TiVo, etc, use a technology known as adaptive bit rate streaming (ABS); the player will shift up and down through the available encodes according to its ability to keep the buffer full under current conditions (bandwidth available on your connection to Netflix's servers--distinct from the nominal speed of your service--and responsiveness of those servers). ABS-enabled players make these shifts to lower and higher bit-rate/picture-quality encodes smoothly and without pause; when they do it well it's like watching the focus of a camera soften and sharpen. Some of the players (the PS3 in particular) will use this to achieve lightning-fast stream starts (1-3 seconds) by beginning with a very low bit rate/crappy PQ video encode and rapidly ramping up from there to better quality/higher bit rate ones. The others take variable amounts of time to start a stream, but will typically restart after FFs and REWs within a couple of seconds and instantly after pauses.

I believe that the Netflix interface on the 2012 Panasonic and Sony BD players (and the PS3 and TiVo Premiere, etc, etc) is the same as your TV Live's (this one). It's the one that Netflix has standardized on and the one you get unless there's been a custom version developed for your platform (like the Xbox 360 and Roku 2).
Edited by michaeltscott - 8/7/12 at 4:41pm

Michael & Andy – thanks very much for the insightful comments. Your responses have given me a better feel for how to proceed. I’m going to go with the RokU2-XS tomorrow as it sounds like that will best fit my needs. I’ll post back as to my results & opinions.

Thanks again for your excellent help.
peachman

Thanks. That is the type of interface on my WDTV Live Streaming. Generally nice, although I hate having to pick normal or kids interface EVERY time. Unlike the PS3, it doesn't seem to remember the selection.

No big deal, as I have no immediate plans to update the BD players. I've tended to be a Sony person of the years, but have been moving away and more toward Samsung. (Bedroom TV and two computer monitors are Samsung.) I even ended up replacing my old Sony receiver (STR-DB930) with an Onkyo (TX-NR609) as none of the Sony's were anything close to it.

Installed the ROKU2 XS yesterday & streamed a Netflix movie with it last night. The setup was simple & fast & the ROKU2 XS is much faster than my Samsung BD-C6500 streamer. Netflix site loads much faster & navigating around the site is fast. Closed Caption/Subtitles feature works great.

only negative imo (from a personal security standpoint) is having to use credit card to setup ROKU acct in case I ever purchase something from them online.

Thanks again for the great help from the AVS site & its pros.

Hummm... I prefer to use Roku XDS

Whether using the wired or wireless connection on the Roku2 will not make any difference with the streaming services. As long as you have a properly setup WiFi network. The experience will be identical.

My main issue with wireless is that it's more prone to interference, signal quality varying on exactly where you place a device and if somebody is walking around, etc... A wired connection is typically consistent, no matter what.

As of the most recent update the PS3 now properly bitstreams DD+ over HDMI.(Vudu is still screwed up though)

aaronwt will be so pleased .

EDIT: I just tried it and I suppose that it's doing the best that it can do, which is to convert DD+ into DD instead of bitstreaming the DD+. As I recall PS3s (at least the pre-Slim models) have some problem with that. Still, it's better than what it was doing.

You have an old fat? I have a Slim and I was clearly getting "DD+" lit up on my receiver from the PS3 on Netflix on 5.1 titles. Make sure you install the latest updates.

Yeah--I have a launch model 60GB PS3. Nice to know that people using the Slim get DD+.

Well, if they fixed it for Netflix then they can fix it for Vudu. (I have no idea if it works for CinemaNow on the PS3 even though they claim DD+ ability, I'm too cheap to test it)

Sony could probably even get 24FPS working on non-Blu-Ray playback if they set their minds to it, but at this point I was even surprised they got DD+ going.

Hi DaveFi, agree. They got PS3 3D with DTS-HD MA.

I still got a launch Roku and am thinking about upgrading to get 5.1/1080p/subtitles but i dont like those adaptive bitrate systems because on my old Roku i get 20+ Mbps spikes when it is buffering.

The WD Live Player cant even pull the HD stream and switches like crazy. So i am concerned that newer players will have problems pulling the HD feed because of inferior buffering. Does somebody have any input for me?

Inferior buffering? ABS is as good as it gets. It will give you the encode that can be maintained in current conditions (bandwidth available on the path to Netflix's servers, responsiveness of those servers). The only reason why you wouldn't get the HD encodes is because the player can't get enough content to keep its buffers full. If it were to insist on HD encodes, it would fill the buffer, play until it ran out, stop and rebuffer, lather, rinse, repeat. That ain't no fun to watch. The idea of ABS is to keep playing no matter how bad things get.

The size of the largest spikes are kind of dependent on those conditions; there will be times when it will read as fast as it can to top the buffer off. Here's a graph of bandwidth consumption of my Roku 2 XS playing minutes 5-14 of Ong Bak 2 (an encoder challenging sequence of martial arts combat in the rain). Nominal speed of my cable network service is 25 Mbps:

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)
You can see that the spikes in that are around 10-11 Mbps.

VUDU is now in the Roku Channel Store! (If you read the "Roku 2" and "Master VUDU" threads please forgive the re-posts).

Complete w/1080p HDX and Dolby Plus sound. It no doubt requires a downstream device--AVR, television, etc--capable of decoding Dolby Plus; I did not notice an option for stereo sound like Netflix so it might require a DD+ decoding AVR for use, period.

The Roku has just become my perfect streamer, with full-featured (well, mostly) versions of Netflix, Amazon, VUDU, Hulu Plus and HBO Go. (I say "mostly" because Netflix players on other devices have superior search--with separate people-name and title results, superior episode browsing, with a season selection instead of a monolithic list of all episodes and that new automatic next-television-episode start featire that I'm not sure that I actually like). Now I'll only use my BD player for playing BDs, something which I rarely do--it's gonna gather some dust .

The cherry on top is the $6 credit for adding a new HDX-capable device to my account .

I have both a Roku and Apple TV2--both are getting close to 2 years old. I recently replaced my Samsung Blu Ray with a Sony BDP-S590 player and am really impressed with the performance--and the interface. I now use the Blu Ray for both Amazon and Netflix and am going to give Vudu a try since the wi-fi test shows a strong signal good enough for their best streaming.

Just a tip: to test whether you're getting 1080p from your Netflix player (or just see it step up through the various encodes) you can run Netflix's "Example Short 23.976". It has a text overlay which states which video encode that you're seeing. I think the overlay is a fairly recent addition; I've played with the various "Example Shorts" in the past and never saw that before.