*Official* Roku 2 Media Streamer Thread - Page 21

I just checked mine and nothing here either. If they increased navigation by 50% that will be a big improvement. I thought it was already quick.

Particularly after the 4.3 update--both Netflix and Amazon got significantly faster.

What I need from them are fixes to their interpretation of some of Netflix's title metadata. A few titles still aren't seen to have HD and/or 5.1 sound which actually do have them. They improved that a one point but there are still some exceptions. It's particularly uncool for 5.1 sound; you'll get the HD encodings whether the description mentions them or not but it can't turn 5.1 sound on unless it knows that its there. Trollhunter and Ong Bak 2 are examples of titles with 5.1 sound which don't show up that way on Roku 2 (Trollhunter used to not show as HD, an example of improvement).

... from the Roku forums:

4.6 is on hold for release at the moment, due to a minor bug we discovered during the rollout. This should NOT affect Canadian users (ie, you should be update soon with the correct firmware). We have the bug isolated, and hope to have it handled in the next couple of days.

C. Shawn Smith

I have a WD Live and it will play streamed video from networked computer via wireless for a few seconds then stutter. I'm thinking of getting the roku with lifetime playon but I'm worried the wireless will choke. Is streaming video via the roku less demanding?

Mine, a Roku2 XD, works fine over wireless. Much will depend on your network though.

Philip

Edit: My Roku got updated to 4.6 but as far as I can tell Plex still has the artifact problem.

Even when you have perfect conditions wireless barely works for higher resolution streams. Few people have perfect conditions. There's always the likelihood of other devices on the same channel (yours or neighboring) or other interference. So if you want solid, reliable performance your best solution is a wired connection. Or, barring that, a wireless connection with as perfect a connection as possible (like being sure to be on other channels without other devices consuming the same bandwidth). Wired is 'do it once and you're done'. Wifi isn't.

It depends what you are streaming. My ATV2 has never had a problem with 720p streaming wirelessly. The Roku does just fine. I usually use wired but sometimes it just isn't possible without some major rewiring. In the medium term wired will become less important. It's a technology that will disappear in homes except for those wanting to stream Blu-ray in the highest possible resolution and audio fidelity, something that few care about.

Philip

Well, I don't know that I agree with the 'disappear' notion. There's a finite amount of bandwidth available in given area. You're never going to be free of potential conflicts and degradation. Especially not when the trend is toward even higher bandwidth demands. Whereas you have a nearly unlimited potential for clear delivery with a wired connection. So anyone assuming wireless is going to work, let alone stay working is perhaps ill-advised.

It's always possible to go extra steps with a wireless setup to guard against problems. Like bringing additional access points into play or using different channels and/or signal strengths. But it only makes sense to weigh what might only be stop-gap measures for wireless against the known guaranteed results to be had from a hard wired connection.

I've no dog in the race one way or the other, just years of experience with proven success with using wired connections whenever possible, and wireless only in truly necessary situations like a portable device (tablets, casual use laptops, etc). A box already connected by wire to a TV and AC power is certainly not one that truly needs wireless. Bite the bullet and get a wired link setup and never look back. Heck, even a simple powerline bridge would be less worse.

Well a few years ago I had our home wired and for the most part we still used wired. I agree with you that it is more reliable. However, as the number of wireless devices have grown (iDevices, laptops, phones, etc...) I expanded the wireless part of the network and to my surprise it just works great. Never had much luck with poweline but that is really wiring related. If you are building a new home then sure wired is obvious. In older houses it is not trivial to be fishing wires all over the place. I just feel there are a lot of people who don't want to go through the hassle of having it done and finding someone who can do it properly. A lot of people still want a hard drive connected to their media players so they can move things back and forth from their computer. You have TV, computer, Internet, media collection. Getting them talking to each other is a great mystery to most people.

Philip

Yeah, it's not "trivial" to run a wire or two in an older house, but nor is it impossible or even really all that difficult. Even paying a local electricial is going to be cheaper than the time lost and frustration with wifi hassles.

It's a lot less hassle to do this once versus on-going surprises with wireless. All it takes it someone else setting up a nearby access point on the same channel and you can watch your wifi performance tank. If you're wired that never happens.

I've encountered plenty of people that have trouble with wifi for media devices, especially in older residential structures (aka, chicken wire mesh, old plaster and lathe, LEAD PAINT... they're practically Faraday cages). Setting up one or two key wired locations generally solves most of their network troubles.

Agreed - I made a weekend project out of running a couple hard wires to a couple more locations in an older residence quite some time ago and also disabled wireless in my router's settings - I know I'm much more secure now and also have a much faster network that doesn't 'choke' on any HD content that I stream to any desired location in the house!

I have searched everywhere and can not find adefinitive answer to this question.can i stream comcast xfinity on roku xd or xds? I have seen that maybe I can do hbo go. xfinity access would make buying one a no brainer.I have 2 tivos so netffix/amazon are not important.any help will be appreciated.

I don't think that there's an Xfinity channel. HBO Go and Epix are there but I think that's it insofar as cable SVOD is concerned.

At my local radio shack,their info is that xfinity streampix and hbogo are available with several other cable cos.,bot not comcast at least in my area

Yeah--HBO Go is not available from all cable carriers (obviously Xfinity would only be available on Comcast systems. HBO Go was not available on TWC in most areas (if any); I'm not sure about now.

I'm in the northeast Ohio TWC area. HBO Go is available as a free app for iPhones if you have an HBO subscription--don't know about Roku, but I have a hard time seeing the point of it for Roku, since your Roku unit is in your home, where you already have HBO access on your TV.

Its my understanding that HBOGo has a much larger selection of HBO content then most cable providers HBO VOD selections.

True, but you might not have a cable STB at every television. For instance, I have a TiVo on this television and can watch and record the linear HBO channels using CableCARDs in the TiVo, but I can't watch VOD cable channels; I can watch HBO Go on Roku. Also, HBO Go is packaged differently and I strongly doubt that HBO On Demand offers everything available on HBO Go, which has, as far as I can tell, every episode of every season of every HBO original series. All of the newer series have extras packages, featuring interesting commentary from the cast, production staff and directors and creators.

Aha! I didn't think of that! I have only one TV with a cable box; the others (older CRTs) just show the basic channels coming over the cable wire.

I picked up a Roku2 XD today. Best Buy has them on sale for $70. It has 4.6 on it. I don't know if it came with it or updated to it.

EDIT: It must have updated to it. I see my XS is updating to 4.6 right now.

I tried it a few hours back with no luck but it's downloading now.

I don't notice that 4.6 has become perceptibly faster in Netflix, Amazon or HBO Go (after the 4.3 upgrade it became hands down my fastest players of either Netflix or Amazon, both loading the app and starting streams, by a huge margin). What I do notice is that they've further fixed their metadata interpretation problem such that it sees that both Trollhunter and Ong Bak 2 have available surround sound, something which 4.3 did not do. Oorah .

If this thing had a VUDU player it would be the streamer of my dreams .

First noticeable update that I've seen on my XS2's big improvement with Netflix performance.

I have VUDU on my Onkyo AVR and it is next to worthless with multiple tries to connect. VUDU support was no help. So I checked Amazon from my Roku 2 and it seems to have most of what VUDU has without the hassles.

It also is the first sign that Roku is working to address the HLS format bug that hits hard on Plex.

The latest update makes the picture distortation much less then it was. Still noticeable, but better.

I use VUDU on multiple devices, albeit not an Onkyo receiver, and have never had any issues. Likely an issue with the Onkyo or network. I wish you had another device with VUDU to try it. HDX looks very nice.

just bought roku 2 xs from costco..89.99 with hdmi cable. anything i need to know or do before i hook it up?

I have used VUDU on multiple devices with no problem--the PS3, Xbox 360 (720p only), and 3 different BD players (Panasonic BDT-110, -220 and Sony BDP-S390). It's hands down the finest streaming video service, with available 1080p at 9 Mbps streamable or downloadable on the PS3, and Dolby Digital Plus audio, 7.1 channels on a handful of titles.

As I stated, a decent implementation of VUDU on the Roku 2 would make it the perfect all-in-one streamer for me, but I suspect that to qualify for VUDU a device has to have the capability to render DD+ 5.1 into DD 5.1 or to decode it into multichannel LPCM. Roku 2 can only pass it through.

Plus isn't the max bitrate for MPEG4 with the Roku 2 around 8Mb/s? That would eliminate it even being able to play 3 bar HDX.