21 Responses for "Roku Netflix Player Unboxing & Setup"

1. Ricky May 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm 1

   HA! I just watched Strange Brew yesterday!!

2. Geoffrey Sperl May 23rd, 2008 at 3:53 pm 2

   Slightly off-topic: I actually just moved off of the wireless in my entertainment center and ran gigabit to it. Even bought the wired adapter for the Wii.

   On-topic: At $99, this might convince me to finally give Netflix a shot… though I would prefer to see this functionality in my TiVos.

3. Dale Dietrich May 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm 3

   Gosh, I do NOT want video transferred via wifi. I live in a condo with dozens of wifi/routers around me. When I tried to subsist on wifi to my TiVo, PS3 and Xbox 360 it was a hellish experience. Since moving to Linksys Powerline AV Ethernet Adapter solution, pushing heavy traffic around my home became a breeze. I HIGHLY recommend it.

   Wish Roku worked in Canada. Hey Dave, want to send your Roku up to me for a week. I’ll test it and send it back. I’d love to see if it will work up here or if the do IP blocking to thwart it. If it worked, I would purchase one and set up a dummy U.S. address to use with my U.S. credit card.

   …Dale

4. Dave Zatz May 23rd, 2008 at 4:13 pm 4

   I’ve got 10 visible networks in my apartment at the moment and my throughput is enough to stream Vudu in HD (via ASUS wireless bridge) or have max bars in Xbox Live, with WPA on. Hard wired is preferable, but until WiFi no longer handles it I’m not running cables. At the old place, I used more Powerline (Sling) gear but haven’t unpacked it here yet.

   Dale, I’m off to Wisconsin, then Chicago, then California. Remind me the second or third week of June and I’ll send this up to you to check out.

5. Dale Dietrich May 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm 5

   That would be cool Dave … not sure if your ‘running cables’ point was directed to my comment or not, but the Linksys powerline solution I’m talking about doesn’t require stringing any wires – that’s the point. You just plug them into the nearest power outlet (one behind your TV and the other behind your router). That’s it. It’s simple and just works. But, whatever you do, DO NOT use the D-Link powerline product. They really suck! I’ve witnessed 3 of them burn out within weeks of installation.

   Cheers.

   …Dale

6. Roger May 24th, 2008 at 10:21 am 6

   I just googled and answer the question I was about to ask…
   it has support for 802.11b/g with WEP, WPA, and WPA2

7. Jim Moyer May 24th, 2008 at 5:17 pm 7

   Works with wep,wpa, and wpa2. Easy setup with either wired or wireless. Wireless is a Big Plus. Only downside is if your TV is far from router. At 99 this is a steal. I run HDMI into a HDMI auto switch. I dont think there is a power on the remote so this is an issue with my auto switch I have to think about. Quality is surprizing good on my 42in plasma. Selection at Netflix is limited but its free with my Netflix subscript. Overall this is a winner for Roku and Netflix.

8. Mike May 27th, 2008 at 6:19 pm 8

   Try the Actiontec MegaPlug 200 mbps AV Powerline Ethernet Adapters. Works great for STB, Media Players, Xbox, PS3, Wii, Sling, etc. Check out Buy.com they usually have great deals on Actiontec gear.

   http://www.buy.com/prod/actiontec-megaplug-200mbps-powerline-homeplug-adapter-kit-hle200av0-01k/q/loc/101/204647344.html

9. Paul May 30th, 2008 at 12:12 pm 9

   Well Personally i would not use Wifi of any kind for video streaming! I got my NF box and hooked it up to my WIRED network W/ Comcast basic 4mb service and it works at near max resolution! but when i tried it with a G router it stumbled and video quality SUCKED!
   Love the Box though!

10. CJ LaCava June 9th, 2008 at 11:03 am 10

    These boxes are now 5 weeks back ordered!

11. CJ LaCava June 11th, 2008 at 1:07 pm 11

    Opps. Scratch that. Even though they said five weeks, it shipped today. I guess the sped up the supply chain.

12. QuantumIguana June 18th, 2008 at 6:04 pm 12

    I got mine last weekend, and I love it. I use wireless, and it works great. I could run ethernet to the box, but I haven’t needed to do so. There’s some varying quality of content, but the box does a great job. It is tucked away discreetly beside the VCR, so it doesn’t waste space. Netflix gained a new customer because of this box.

13. J. B. Rainsberger July 6th, 2008 at 8:30 pm 13

    I’m eager to find out whether the Canadian experiment worked. If it does, that’s one more step away from cable TV.

14. George Winston July 16th, 2008 at 5:36 pm 14

    Despite cable modem, quality isnt that great wireless. Would I get better quality if I used ethernet cable instead?

15. CJ July 24th, 2008 at 9:31 pm 15

    Any word yet regarding getting this thing to work in Canada? If so, I would jump on it in a second. Just have to set up a PO Box near a border crossing.

16. JC August 5th, 2008 at 4:32 pm 16

    Yeah, I would love to know if it’ll work in Canada or if they’re using some type of IP origination in the code that stops it from working.

    Something tells me a hack/fix would be quite around the corner if that’s the case.

17. teenwah September 7th, 2008 at 11:25 pm 17

    The majority of reviews I read of the Roku was how great this product is, and how easy it is to install. I am having problems. I live in a 2 level condo with my internet modem and 2 computers downstairs (office room) and my big tv upstairs (connected to cable). I want to install the Roku upstairs (living room), but it’s one hella of a job trying to run wires in the walls.

    Alternatively, I buy a router and split the line up, and run a long 35 feet cable upstairs, but that would look really ugly.

    Any suggestions or ideas? I guess the easiest would be wireless. But how about the quality?

18. Rob Vaughn October 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 am 18

    I’m running WiFi with a Belkin “Pre-N” router that supports 802.11/b and 802.11g, which potentially could support 54Mbs. Although 802.11/n? (pre-N I haven’t read up on) might support greater, it seems to grab the WiFi fine although I only get “1″ or “2″ quality, the former being far worse than VHS, but “2″ being DVD quality on my 11 year old TV. Obviously my 1.5Mbs DSL service is the bottleneck. I haven’t found out how much memory/disk(?) this box has, but it buffers OK – still, I think it’d be nice if there was enough storage for an entire movie/TV show and it would buffer the first five minutes and keep storing while I watch. Given the GPL source code and plans to support HD with this box I’m hoping those of us who don’t care about HD will be able to get true Rewind/Fast-Forward without long pauses. Overall, for the price ($113 with shipping) it’s still worth it given how Netflix slows down delivery if you return disks too quickly – at least I’m not stuck in bed (due to medical problems) for 1-3 days without something to watch other than crappy network TV.

19. ukor November 13th, 2008 at 3:10 pm 19

    teenwah – as long as you get good quality or above it should be ok .. the bottleneck is your DSL or Cable. I know at 1.5mbps sucks, 3.0mbps+ is 3-star, 6mbps+ is 4-star

    1) try wireless booster
    2) try homeplug adapters (lan-over-powerline) and if that doesn’t work
    3) try MOCA (multimedia over Coax) if you’re a VZ customer ..
    4) http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/tutorial/1672/step-by-step-how-to-run-wire-through-a-wall.html

20. Clint McPhee December 7th, 2008 at 5:28 pm 20

    As an American living and working in Canada, I would LOVE to see if the Roku box will work up here. My brother wanted to get it for me for Christmas and I thought I would do some research to see if I could get it to work. Anybody find anything out about a hack or a way to get it working up here???

    Clint

    Please email me if you know anything!

    clintmcphee (at) g m a i l (dot) c o m

21. Patti May 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 am 21

    Bought Roku…have Belkin Wireless G router…cannot connect to internet. Any suggestions would be appreciated.