Roku 3 -thoughts?

danoriordan1402

Just picked up a roku 3 mainly just for netflix on my not so smart TV. Has a few useful free channels as well but the majority is crap. No bbci player or Nowtv available in the rep of ireland though which is a shame.
Anyone else using one?

runswithascript

danoriordan1402 wrote: »

Just picked up a roku 3 mainly just for netflix on my not so smart TV. Has a few useful free channels as well but the majority is crap. No bbci player or Nowtv available in the rep of ireland though which is a shame.
Anyone else using one?

Hey there

Mine is on the way from Amazon. You can get all the channels using UnoDNS, it's a cheap subscription service that makes it look like you are connecting from the US, and UK etc automatically - awesome, I know!

Are you going to configure Plex? If you do not know what that is it will play all media types from a local server, or even local computer, you can configure it to stream video to all of your devices, and it has many of its own channels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C2SaTOFfbs

danoriordan1402

hey, good to know - yeah I will be getting plex set up - the only drawback so far I can see with the roku is the lack of playback for a lot of my movies, avi's xvid etc's, i think I should be able to transcode from plex to the roku box.
Will I be able to change dns at the eircom router with that?

degsie

You cannot change the DNS settings on the Roku, so in order to use a DNS proxy service you have to change the DNS settings on your router. If you have a Sky Hub router then you are screwed as you cannot change the DNS settings on it either.

runswithascript

danoriordan1402 wrote: »

hey, good to know - yeah I will be getting plex set up

Nice, are you building a server or do you plan to use a server or PC you have already? I have an old dell which I am going to convert and use as a Plex Media Server for the moment. It only has a Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz E4300 so I am not sure how well it will do. I am investigating which OS to put on it but I am thinking something like Ubuntu so I could also use it as a regular server also, not just a Plex server.

Soon enough I would like to build a server that is low power but can transcode very quickly and includes RAID, a nice CPU, and SSD etc.

danoriordan1402 wrote: »

- the only drawback so far I can see with the roku is the lack of playback for a lot of my movies, avi's xvid etc's, i think I should be able to transcode from plex to the roku box.

They do this to keep costs down. If they paid for some proprietary formats they would have to pass it onto the consumer.

danoriordan1402 wrote: »

Will I be able to change dns at the eircom router with that?

Yes, at least with the Netopia 2247 we have, you may have the newer model but you can probably change that too. For our version, go to http://192.168.1.254, click on expert mode, then configure, and then connection. You can enter custom DNS settings there.

degsie wrote: »

You cannot change the DNS settings on the Roku.

Nobody is suggesting that.

degsie wrote: »

If you have a Sky Hub router then you are screwed as you cannot change the DNS settings on it either.

I heard the same about the UPC router. Is there no way to reset or hack these devices so you can change the settings? If not, you can get ask UPC or Sky if you can use a different device with it and buy a replacement on Amazon for under €25.

degsie

dusf wrote: »

Nobody is suggesting that.

No, but still relevant for anybody reading this thread and thinking of going down the Roku/UnoDNS route, don't you think?

dusf wrote: »

I heard the same about the UPC router. Is there no way to reset or hack these devices so you can change the settings? If not, you can get ask UPC or Sky if you can use a different device with it and buy a replacement on Amazon for under €25.

Sky will not entertain 3rd party routers. In fact they will refuse to troubleshoot any problems unless you have one of their routers attached. It is possible to replace the router but you would be well advised to hang onto the original router to use if you ever have to deal with Sky CS.

_Puma_

Planning on picking up one of these from Maplins at the weekend. Anybody got any experience, good or bad, with the roku as a replacement to a TV service

danoriordan1402

I went away from the Roku and picked up an Ouya box which is a dream running my xbmc, on special offer here a few days ago

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057312056

runswithascript

_Puma_ wrote: »

Planning on picking up one of these from Maplins at the weekend. Anybody got any experience, good or bad, with the roku as a replacement to a TV service

Streer clear of Roku, and I speak as a Roku 3 owner. The source code is locked which means it is not open to running anything like XBMC which is what you are after. I first ran XBMC on a Raspberry Pi, which while impressive that the device could even run it, was not up to the task of what we threw at it, even when overclocked and using all the tricks to speed it up. Rpi would crash often and lock up or restart.

We now use a quad core Xunity Eclipse which comes with XBMC running on top of Android. XBMC does require some setting up and finding the right add-ons for you. Cancel Netflix and look into iStream which is more like a suite of apps. It is worth the time and effort as you can stream virtually any movie or tv show, and it makes them appear in your collection as though in your library, even updating episodes, once you select subscribe. If you find it very slow learn how to add and remove sources etc. You have to accept sometimes the first or second link will not work and you have to choose another, and on some much older TV shows or movies it could take a few minutes to find a working stream. There are many guides on the Xunity-talk forum and people in their chatroom willing to help. It is not perfect though so learn how to back up (SD card wizard, individual parts backup method) so if there is a problem you do not lose all of your customisations. Having Android on the same device means you can use the official RTE player, BBC iPlayer, ITV, and 4OD etc. Some of those will require the use of a cheap monthly subscription to somewhere like UNOtelly who will make these streaming services think you are in the UK or even US or wherever. There are XMBC plugins for some of these but they are mostly buggy and do not offer the same user interface. That said, there are many stable awesome plugins. For sports I have found, thusfar, if you want quality and reliability you need to pay someone like offside streams £10 per month. There are other providers that offer all channels in HD, not just some. For music use the Market Place Helper app to make the Play store think you are on a tablet and then install free spotify which allows you unlimited listening of virtually all music, any track, any time. Confirm Eclipse still comes prerooted before buying.

You should also consider a decent Saorview serial for live Irish TV and/or configuring a satellite for free to air satellite channels in Ireland, there are many British, including HD, and an old Sky dish can be used for this also. Personally do not have this setup yet.

Xunity-talk will tell you they are not affiliated with the Irish manufacturers of the Xunity Eclipse but all of their programmers work for the latter. There are many complaints on the official website about support, although my own experience was great, and the unofficial support on Xunity-talk is brilliant. I have heard rumors there is a new eclipse on the way which will run on top of regular Linux instead of Android (Linux) but even as a Linux enthusiast I would not like to lose the Android functionality.

What I have described is our basic setup up and I know there is still so much more I can learn to make XBMC and Android offer us and that I have just scratched the surface. NUC run XBMC even better so consider building one or any other XBMC device recommended. The Eclipse seemed best when I bought.

I hope this helps answer some things I wish I knew before starting, and that you have not already bought a Roku! Please let me know how you get on.

If anyone knows better methods to receive the content mentioned I would welcome your advice.

_Puma_

Fair play dusf, this was excatly the Input I needed. Had been looking at a PI running XBMC but decided against it, so was just going to take the easy option and get a Roku3. Glad I didnt now.

Did a quick lookup of the Xunity, coming in at €155 which is about 20 quid more expensive than the Roku3 in Maplins but seems like it will be worth it.

We dont have a netflix sub yet so I will look into iStream.

Was thinking I would need a Sub VPN for 40D etc so will look into UNOTelly too.

Would be able to get a Sky Dish but unfortunately for us we might not be able to put it up as we are in a estate that does not allow them so Saorview might be out of the question for the time being.

I'll get on to the guys in the link above and confirm the Eclipse comes prerooted! Im guessing its not a huge issue to Root the box regardless?

runswithascript

_Puma_ wrote: »

Fair play dusf, this was excatly the Input I needed. Had been looking at a PI running XBMC but decided against it, so was just going to take the easy option and get a Roku3. Glad I didnt now.

Sorry for the late reply, I am very glad you found my post useful.

_Puma_ wrote: »

Did a quick lookup of the Xunity, coming in at €155 which is about 20 quid more expensive than the Roku3 in Maplins but seems like it will be worth it.

If you are going with the Xunity I would recommend ordering directly from the manufacturer, they are in North Dublin somewhere. http://xunity.tv/

_Puma_ wrote: »

We dont have a netflix sub yet so I will look into iStream.

Yeah, I think it is the way to go although as I have cautioned it is not. I have my sources whittled down to what seems to be mostly reliable although I should probably update them. The biggest problem I have with it is the delay on the system when we try to play a stream that is bogus, there must be a way to have it cancel the attempt after 5 seconds etc rather than make us wait for it to timeout. Something I need to look into.

_Puma_ wrote: »

Was thinking I would need a Sub VPN for 40D etc so will look into UNOTelly too.

Yeah, I highly recommend UNOTelly/UNODNS. If your router as a dynamic IP though make sure you follow one of their guides to set up a cronjob to let UNO know when your IP changes, this will save you endless times having to manually update them on their website. I had the Eclipse doing it at one point, there was some cronjob guide on UNOs website and I used it with a cronjob guide for Android.

_Puma_ wrote: »

I'll get on to the guys in the link above and confirm the Eclipse comes prerooted! Im guessing its not a huge issue to Root the box regardless?

There's a popular post on the xuntiytalk forum in the eclipse sub forum where someone mentions there are rumours the devices are no longer rooted and why it could pose a problem.

Keep me updated on your experience.

fixXxer

Probably a silly question, but would it be possible to plug a webcam into this and use it for skype conversations on the big tv?

Johnboy1951

dusf wrote:

Streer clear of Roku, and I speak as a Roku 3 owner. The source code is locked which means it is not open to running anything like XBMC which is what you are after. I first ran XBMC on a Raspberry Pi, which while impressive that the device could even run it, was not up to the task of what we threw at it, even when overclocked and using all the tricks to speed it up. Rpi would crash often and lock up or restart.

The R-Pi 2 (4 core SOC) seems to have fixed most of the problems, if my own experience and those I have read are indications.

(yes I know it is an older thread but thought to update the info for anyone reading )