*Official* Roku 3 Streaming Player Thread - Page 6

The throughput is faster for me in certain areas. In fact that is the whole idea of range extenders.

Yes and no. Range extenders achieve their goal through repeating/relaying the signal back-and-forth from the client to the main wireless access point (WAP). As such, your throughput is degraded AT LEAST 50% from the single, stand-alone WAP - assuming you are in range of the original WAP. If you are streaming HD content, this can be a big deal, as the real-world Wi-Fi throughput is usually no where near the stated maximums on the packaging.

So, if you previously measured throughput from the original WAP, but you were in range with a very weak signal, and then measuring again with the extender, you may see throughput benefits. But it will always be at least 1/2 of the WAPs maximum.

You have to be careful using extenders, because depending on where you place them and which station the client connects to, you can actually degrade your network performance in the most common use cases (e.g. your laptop in the living room, versus the Blu-ray player in the den).

I can be streaming a Roku, 2 iPads, 2 wireless surveillance cameras and a laptop downloading on Usenet from all over the house using the main access point and one extender everything getting all the signal it can use making 50% irrelevant. This is with a 15/2 connection. Sure I could keep turning more stuff on and find a limit but it becomes a waste of electricity before then.

2.4 Ghz is unbearable in my area. There are 67 other networks. Even just streaming low bit rate music it could not keep up even with the iPod in the same room. I did get a new iPod and only stream music on 5 Ghz which is much better.

Although I have my Roku 3 hardwired to my switch at least it has 5 Ghz wireless as 2.4 Ghz is unbearable.

You're right, Gary. I guess others are just "holding it wrong".

Or maybe just you and plenty are having good success with extenders.

Interesting, but If I diagrammed my setup it would look quite like yours. I have somewhat less equipment, but in 3 years I went from zero extended network to at last count 26+ items hanging off my router. I do think we are the exceptions, though I've have been expanding friends and family networks quite frequently. As the Roku boxes get more popular I bet more and more people have 2, 3 or more boxes, and network components to support them.

I agree, as more folks 'cut the cable' and do more streaming they will be beefing up their network capabilities. I knew when we cut the cable that we needed a decent infrastructure, so wired all rooms with CAT6 cable. I also keep another list with all the MAC and IP addresses (whether Static or Dynamic) so that trouble shooting an issue is easier - not a problem doing from the server. It just keeps me organized.

I had recently upgraded my router from a Linksys E4200 (decent router) to the new Netgear R6300 (actually not any better than the E4200 in the 2.4 GHz band, but better in the 5 GHz band). I also upgraded my range extender which was an Ampedwireless 10000 to the Netgear WN2500RP which is Dual Band. The router is on one end of the house (office) and the extender on the other end - which increases the coverage for out in the back yard and the garage. I retired my other range extenders (from Ampwireless and Linksys) and routers to parents and friends homes (my brothers upgrade theirs every couple years also and do the same - so a lot of our friends benefit from our upgrade-itis). One of my brothers got the new Asus 801.11ac dual-band routers (AC1750) and we compared it to the R6300 that I got - pretty much the same speed and range.

We're all using the Rokus and really like them. I also use Apple TV as do my brothers (one also used the Boxee from Dlink). In comparing all of them, the Rokus still give us what we want in programming.

Good Day.

Thank You. Just added it to my ROKUS. MQ

I also downloaded the speedtest app from that link so thanks but I do notice that the speeds are correct but I am getting around 4000 ms which I know is wrong. Anyone else.

You mean that you're getting a 4000 ms latency? Repeatedly, to all the test servers that they offer?

Main, ain't THAT the truth!

All sorts of compromises, one way or the other. Nothing seems to hit enough of the high points to pull into the lead.

You have to wonder at what point will something be done about that kind of problem. Eventually there should be large enough local uplinks to stop forcing everyone to host their own SSID.

Yes there should be one box that has everything and be half the price. Oh and on a thumbnail drive.

Also some SSID in my area are running at 40 MHz mode. If i cant even stream low bitrate music (64k aacPlus, 128k MP3 & AAC) without random dropping and buffering then I have no hope for video. I use to have to change my channel from 6 to overlapping channel 3 and then after a few weeks change it back to channel 6 because it will start dropping out again. I tried channels 1, 9 & 11 and it would either get very slow or drop out the wireless completely. Thank goodness for 5 Ghz. Yes the range is not as good but at least it does not keep dropping out. Most of the time I am in the same room as my router only about 2 meters away.

I am not at my computer but when I go on it I will post a screenshot.

If your client is 2 meters from the router and you are getting signal drop outs or significant slow downs then it may not be due to neighbors' 2.4 Ghz transmissions.

The problem may reside on your end:
1) Your router
2) Your client's NIC card and/or antenna(e)
3) Electrical interference in your home or possibly a neighbor's. This can be from anything that uses electricity (or batteries or wireless signal such as computer mouse, radio-controlled toy, baby monitor). For example, an electric knife cut my signal in half while being used 3 rooms away.
4) Physical barriers to signal between your router and client. This can be any object(s) such as walls, furniture, glass, plumbing, etc.
5) Some other issue with your computer or software not directly related to WiFi signal.

Specifics on your router model and client NIC as well as you doing some testing of signal would be helpful. If you have a WiFi-enabled notebook computer then use iperf/jperf or LAN Speed Test to test multiple locations for throughput. Do not rely on internet based speed tests as there are confounding variables that can confuse the accuracy.

+1

Thanks. The thing is 5ghz is fine though.

I'm new to this thread and would like to ask a question about the Roku 3? What does the Roku get me if I already have the applications that I use (Netflix, Vudu, CinemaNow, etc.) available on my blu-ray players or TV? How is it advantageous to get a Roku as opposed to using these other devices? Do the trick-play functions (FF, rewind, frame by frame advance, etc.) of the Roku work better than using these other devices? I'm curious and may purchase one? I know this may result in somewhat biased answers since this is a Roku thread but hopefully I'll get objective answers?

In truth it may not get you much of anything that you don't have that you want; in fact, it doesn't have CinemaNow. It has a cool, integrated multiple service search (see this video) which will search for a title and tell you which services have it, if any, checking Netflix, Hulu Plus, VUDU, Amazon Instant Video, HBO Go and Crackle (currently--they may add more). It has 700+ "channels" mostly streaming video, though much of it won't be at all interesting. It has games, like the Angry Birds titles, played with an RF motion controller, similar to the Wiimote. It's up to you to decide if any of that appeals.

If you're happy with the applications provided by your current devices and any of the additional public or private channels offered by Roku don't appeal to you then you shouldn't get it. In my case the apps on my BD Player and TiVo are painfully slow and quirky so this provides a better user experience. Additionally I get channels like HBOGO and Amazon cloud player that the others don't provide.

Thanks, my current TiVo Premiere does the search like you describe where it will tell me who is providing the searched movie, etc. The only other question would be "how does the trick-play functions of the Roku work"? I know that the FF, rewind, frame-by-frame, etc. are very sluggish or non existent on my blu-ray players so I don't like that functionality at all in my current devices.

They work pretty smoothly on Roku, with instant response to RF commands nearly instant responses to IR. No Netflix player that I know of offers a "moving" fast-forward or rewind, just still frames displayed over the picture. The Roku Netflix player starts faster than Netflix players on other devices that I own (5 or 6 seconds) and it starts playback faster than any player I have other than the PS3 (I have Netflix on PS3, Xbox 360, Sony and Panasonic BDPs, TiVo Premiere and this PC, connected to the same panel and AVR as the rest). I have a strong tendency to use Roku for Netflix, though I'm starting to prefgr the WD TV Live that I recently bought. It's not nearly as smooth in browser navigation as the Roku, but it has some features in playback that I really like, being a stream status display (like this which lets me see what level of PQ I'm streaming, with a realtime time counter and the ability to turn subtitles/captions on and off with a remote button).

There are Android and iOS apps to control the device via phones and tablets (true of TiVo and many BD players) which lets you enter text with a touch keyboard, among other things.
Edited by michaeltscott - 3/18/13 at 4:37pm

WiFi is a radio frequency communications protocol, as is Bluetooth.

Roku with PLEX is amazing for me. No more WDTV Live issues. I'm using it to replace cable as much as possible, but wondering if anyone knows of an "easy" way to get regular Hulu on it? This article http://thecreativealternative.com/alternatives-to-cable/ lists many channels that I've also used to replace cable TV, but not regular Hulu. It doesn't work on Plex. The article also notes the power consumption is really low. Not certain what it is for the older Rokus though.

What does it matter what variety of RF remote it is? It uses a radio to send commands to the device, making it an Radio Frequency remote control. A WiFi Direct remote is an RF remote, a Bluetooth remote is an RF remote, an X10 remote is an RF remote, a remote using some proprietary wireless protocols to talk to IR repeaters in an A/V closet is an RF remote.

When I said RF remote, I meant as opposed to an IR remote.

It's you who are playing with semantics, objecting to my calling a remote control which uses a radio to communicate with the device that it controls a radio frequency remote. The only RF remotes that I know of which are compatible with other RF remotes are X10 remotes, the use of which isn't all that common. Many things which are referred to as RF Remotes, like the Logitech Harmony 900 and the UFC RF series, use proprietary protocols to talk to IR repeaters to control IR devices located out-of-sight of the place the remote's being used, or which talk to one specific device using RF communication.