ehejl wrote:A little FYI I just discovered after hooking up the Roku XDS I got from the last Wootoff; What Woot's description of the product doesn't mention is that, outside of whatever services you need to sign up for to use the Roku with (e.g. Netflix, Amazon, etc), you also need to sign up for a Roku account and give them a credit card number to keep on file before you can use the unit.

Have they charged you?

Well just fair warning, When woot had this up a month ago being a netflix customer and roku lover I decided to upgrade. I got the first one, plugged it in and it would not connect to my wifi. Followed all steps, spoke to roku support they advised me to reset blah blah. the unit was broken. Plain and simple. After the reset it would get stuck at a loading screen. I emailed woot, they responded promptly with RMA and label, in a few weeks I got a replacement from them. SAME ISSUE. Did not work at all this time, just stuck on loading screen. Woot eventually just refunded me.
I don't blame woot, rather the refurbishing house who supplies them with untested garbage. Id stay away from refurbs from woot again. Until this experience I was ok with refurbs.

Is this the current model? The one on Amazon looks different, namely the top logo and the rounded sides.

I've had the Roku 2 XS for about a month and love it, I'm going to get rid of my cable TV provider and save about a $100+ a month. I can watch HuluPlus, Amazon, Crackle plus a multitude of other 'stations'. I'll miss the cable sports channels but I'll live. Hopefully I'll find sports channels on Roku.

I like the Roku better than my Logitech Revue with Google TV. Comparing Roku and Google TV isn't exactly apples to apples but I like the Roku better for watching movies and TV shows.

Question about using Flickr:
When using Roku, can you sign in to your Flickr account to see private photos or must all photos be public to view them?

ehejl wrote:A little FYI I just discovered after hooking up the Roku XDS I got from the last Wootoff; What Woot's description of the product doesn't mention is that, outside of whatever services you need to sign up for to use the Roku with (e.g. Netflix, Amazon, etc), you also need to sign up for a Roku account and give them a credit card number to keep on file before you can use the unit.

Within the past year I set a Roku up for a friend, and we got to that Roku account setup page that seems to require a credit card... it was a bit hidden on the page, but there's some link there to create an account without adding a credit card. So we were able to get the account set up without a credit card, but it wasn't obvious that that was an option to begin with...

I bought one of these the last time it was here. It arrived DOA. Woot said talk to ROKU and keep us posted. ROKU took a month to finally ship me a replacement that was a different model. Good luck with this one.

i wish my roku would airplay. roku does have more channels than apple tv, but airplay, and the interface and youtube makes apple tv better.

I've had my Roku XS (older generation) for a couple of years now.

PROS: no cable bills, HBO Go, Crackle

CONS: I have to re-boot my unit every couple of uses because it will just freeze or loose the connection completely. Lack of good sports channels (like ESPN). The volume on my unit fluctuates dramatically when watching content (connected via HDMI).

All in all, it's pretty good for what it does. My main issue is with the volume. I need to upgrade my Receiver to one that accepts optical out so I can test the sound from the optical output of the Roku and see if that solves the problem.

Does anyone know the following:

(1) Does this work well with the Plex Connected Devices channel thingy?

(2) What file formats does it support for containers (mkv, m2ts, avi, mp4, etc.), video (H264, XviD, etc.), and audio (AAC, AC3, DTS, etc.)?

linearone wrote:Well just fair warning, When woot had this up a month ago being a netflix customer and roku lover I decided to upgrade. I got the first one, plugged it in and it would not connect to my wifi. Followed all steps, spoke to roku support they advised me to reset blah blah. the unit was broken. Plain and simple. After the reset it would get stuck at a loading screen. I emailed woot, they responded promptly with RMA and label, in a few weeks I got a replacement from them. SAME ISSUE. Did not work at all this time, just stuck on loading screen. Woot eventually just refunded me.
I don't blame woot, rather the refurbishing house who supplies them with untested garbage. Id stay away from refurbs from woot again. Until this experience I was ok with refurbs.

All,
I had the same scenario as Linearone. First box was super glitchy, has to re-establish connection to my wifi, which I speed checked and was more that fast enough. Woot Customer Service was more than helpful with my replacement box. Tried the second box, exact same issues. I'm figuring it is just a universal issue with the model. I'm sure they're fixed it since. I'm not a fan of this deal. Was only getting a Roku to keep from having to run the PS3 all night. My PS3 is more than adequate for Hulu and Netflix, I'll just have to burn it up with the PS3 and hope she lasts another 5 years...

theguruguys wrote:I've placed 5 of these and none of them have failed. Are you putting them on top of cable boxes or other devices that heat up a lot?

I have 2 Rokus. A top level one I bought from Amazon, and this one that I bought at the last Woot sale. Both work flawlessly and I love 'em. Be aware though, that this model doesn't have a slot for extra memory. Not a big deal unless you like to have lots of channels installed.

stephenstrange wrote:I have 2 Rokus. A top level one I bought from Amazon, and this one that I bought at the last Woot sale. Both work flawlessly and I love 'em. Be aware though, that this model doesn't have a slot for extra memory. Not a big deal unless you like to have lots of channels installed.

I just read the specs for this model on Roku's website and it appears the XD does have a memory slot -- you are probably thinking of the HD model. http://www.roku.com/Libraries/Roku_Player_Documents/Roku2-XD-QSG.sflb.ashx
While it does have a slot for a memory card what it does not have is an ethernet port, so it's strictly wifi only. Too bad, because I need a cabled version. That's only available in the XS model. Waiting for Woot...

cosmicpea wrote:I just read the specs for this model on Roku's website and it appears the XD does have a memory slot -- you are probably thinking of the HD model. http://www.roku.com/Libraries/Roku_Player_Documents/Roku2-XD-QSG.sflb.ashx
While it does have a slot for a memory card what it does not have is an ethernet port, so it's strictly wifi only. Too bad, because I need a cabled version. That's only available in the XS model. Waiting for Woot...

Oops, my bad. That's the Roku 2 XD. Specs for this model are no longer on Roku's website. For the price I think I'll wait until the Roku 2 XS goes on sale.

Can I put multiple Roku devices on the same account? Can I use the same paid channels on both? What about externally-billed pay services like Hulu and Netflix? Are subscriptions automatically synced between players?

Do I love my refurb Roku I got on Woot a while ago? Sure! My Roku, when it works, is awesome. Pray you never have any problems. If you call Roku support you will not get any help. They refuse to replace your box and will give you the run-around. Buyer Beware!

vsync wrote:Can I put multiple Roku devices on the same account? Can I use the same paid channels on both? What about externally-billed pay services like Hulu and Netflix? Are subscriptions automatically synced between players?

you can have as many devices on one account as you like. for example, you can have Hulu on your PS3, Roku and mobile phone.

jwsimps2 wrote:All,
I had the same scenario as Linearone. First box was super glitchy, has to re-establish connection to my wifi, which I speed checked and was more that fast enough. Woot Customer Service was more than helpful with my replacement box. Tried the second box, exact same issues. I'm figuring it is just a universal issue with the model. I'm sure they're fixed it since. I'm not a fan of this deal. Was only getting a Roku to keep from having to run the PS3 all night. My PS3 is more than adequate for Hulu and Netflix, I'll just have to burn it up with the PS3 and hope she lasts another 5 years...

I also purchased this model through Woot a while ago. It constantly disconnects from my wireless network and requires resets. It also sometimes does not send a signal for my tv display to turn on. I did not attempt to contact Woot customer service, only Roku and all I got was the run-around. Beware you may get a glitchy box!

jwsimps2 wrote:All,
I had the same scenario as Linearone. First box was super glitchy, has to re-establish connection to my wifi, which I speed checked and was more that fast enough. Woot Customer Service was more than helpful with my replacement box. Tried the second box, exact same issues. I'm figuring it is just a universal issue with the model. I'm sure they're fixed it since. I'm not a fan of this deal. Was only getting a Roku to keep from having to run the PS3 all night. My PS3 is more than adequate for Hulu and Netflix, I'll just have to burn it up with the PS3 and hope she lasts another 5 years...

FWIW, I had the same issues with my two Rokus, which are a 1st generation HD (bought from woot) and a 2nd generation XD (bought from roku.com). Upgraded my router once to a Belkin N300, Same issues. Upgraded my router a second time to a Linksys dual-band router and haven't had a single problem since.

stevethorpe wrote:Does anyone know if it can get HBO Go?

Yes-- Go through PlayOn.

Just got a Roku and reduced cable bill. Be careful. Cable will try to upsell you to faster internet (you only need 3 mb, which may be faster than some DSL but they tried to get me on "blast" which takes me from 12 to 20 mb). Haven't had any problems yet. Very easy to install/operate. I did upgrade my router to an N, which I don't know if I needed to do-- there's some question about the speed needed to prevent buffering.

Some channels work better than others. Playon has great options but is slow and requires a computer connection. Many channels are a waste-- you spend 10 minutes looking for it, get excited when you find it and then it's just a 2 minute clip rather than the whole programming.

If you have a DVD WiFi, I don't know that you need this, although the ease of working with its channels is still a plus at this price.

So if I bought two of these I'm guessing one streaming Netflix account would not allow two different shows to be playing at the same time? Just like I cant use two computers at the same time with the same Netflix account.

Come on WOOT! I see this thing on here every other day. Apple TV is the way to go.

mastrbob wrote:So if I bought two of these I'm guessing one streaming Netflix account would not allow two different shows to be playing at the same time? Just like I cant use two computers at the same time with the same Netflix account.

That's based on the type of Netflix account you have paid for. I think the most basic Netflix streaming account only allows 1 at a time but you can pay more and get up to 4 at a time. Check the netflix website for more details on this.

Doesn't everyone have at least one of these by now? I already own more Rokus than I have TVs. Should I seek help?

cosmicpea wrote:Oops, my bad. That's the Roku 2 XD. Specs for this model are no longer on Roku's website. For the price I think I'll wait until the Roku 2 XS goes on sale.

Actually this is the 2050X, one generation back. So there is no expansion microSD but there is an Ethernet port.

Momster wrote:I've bought three of these off the roku site. Use one at home, one at our vacation home and gave one to my mom. Add an $8 netflix account.

The best part is I can check to see if my mom is still alive by reviewing the history on my netflix account. If there are a bunch of Jerry Lewis movies and Murder She Wrote episodes, she's still around for another day.

Lots of channels to get free or pay for. Heck of a lot cheaper than cable.

That's so wrong....

ehejl wrote:A little FYI I just discovered after hooking up the Roku XDS I got from the last Wootoff; What Woot's description of the product doesn't mention is that, outside of whatever services you need to sign up for to use the Roku with (e.g. Netflix, Amazon, etc), you also need to sign up for a Roku account and give them a credit card number to keep on file before you can use the unit.

False, my friend, I use Paypal on their site.

I have 2 Roku players, including this one. This remote is apparantly not available any more, it's a great remote.

Does this Roku support subtitles or closed captioning?

alex001 wrote:Is this the current model? The one on Amazon looks different, namely the top logo and the rounded sides.

This is not the most recent model. This is the Roku 2050X XD. It looks like it was originally released in September 2010 and discontinued in July 2011.
Compared to the newest model, it looks like this one does not have a microSD slot or the newer remote. Also no Netflix captions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku#Feature_comparison

http://support.roku.com/entries/20345913-product-comparison-all-roku-player-models

mb6592 wrote:Does this Roku support subtitles or closed captioning?

According to this -
http://support.roku.com/entries/20345913-product-comparison-all-roku-player-models - no Netflix captions. Not sure about other sources.

fromcincinnati wrote:I'll miss the cable sports channels but I'll live. Hopefully I'll find sports channels on Roku.

We cut cable in January for a Roku. The MLB.TV channel on Roku gives you a free game most days (lookup who for the week on MLB.TV) and some other sports have channels too of course.

I've tried PlayOn.tv to get ESPN3 with hit or miss success. For example, during the NBA game last night, it had to refresh/restream about 4 times in less than 2 minutes (less than 30 seconds of actual game action) while other times it performs great.

FWIW, if you want the Roku 2 XD it's only $10 more at Roku right now. Just click the refurb button on the home or products page.

AlienZulu wrote:bought one during the last woot off
it's pretty cool but would be 372863478623 times better if it worked with my slingbox

I guess I don't see the point of having it work with the Slingbox. Couldn't you easily take this with you wherever you go and get the same content?

ok, I'm old - so I wonder: what does the Roku do that my blueray can't take care of: extra channel choices?

I <3 my Roku.
I <3 using my iOS devices as remote controls for my Roku.

I wish I could stream YouTube yoga on it so I didn't still have to hook up the mac mini to the same tv (see also: Hulu without Hulu Plus), and I wish the Roku remote control had volume controls so I didn't have to go find the TV remote constantly, but overall we've very happy together.

dcdjason wrote:According to this -
http://support.roku.com/entries/20345913-product-comparison-all-roku-player-models - no Netflix captions. Not sure about other sources.

The Roku 2's, at least, do support Hulu Plus captioning... I used it yesterday. I have no info about others.

For those who depend on subtitles and captions on Amazon and Netflix, just be aware that this unit will *NOT* display any subtitles, no how, no way. I bought this unit last time it was offered on Woot and couldn't pin down for sure if it displayed subtitles until I received it and tested it out. So take it under authority it won't show any subtitles for you. Even after the 5th date and plied with drinks. No subtitles for you!

It's a nice unit otherwise, I installed it in the basement TV for the kids and it works fine for them.

-Derrick

amccann wrote:ok, I'm old - so I wonder: what does the Roku do that my blueray can't take care of: extra channel choices?

I don't think you need the Roku AND the bluray. My parents' blueray streams netflix, amazon prime, pandora, hulu plus, etc. The extra Roku channels (NASA, Fitness, Science, Math, shopping, etc) and Angry Birds can be interesting, but the strength of the product comes from streaming the more popular content.

HD video cables NOT INCLUDED. You will need an HDMI cable to do better than 420P. Might have mentioned that under "things you'll need" list.