Netflix Player by Roku Activation Thread

Post here when you get your Netflix Player by Roku box installed and activated, let us know how it goes. The first batch of orders shipped on Tues 20th, the announcement date.

Roku have been swamped with orders, so if you didn't get your order in in the first day or so, there is going to be a delay of a few weeks as they ramp up production.

If the software delivered on the box itself is down-rev, then the first thing that will happen on installation after it is connected to the Internet is a quick update and restart.

Adrian from Netflix

Tags: roku

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Adrian on May 21, 2008 at 5:40pm: My (beta tester) setup - 3Mbit Verizon DSL, Westell 327 DSL modem, Apple Airport Express or Fonera WiFi router with WPA security, Roku box, component output, old-ish Panasonic 54" LCD projector 1080i capable HDTV (doesn't have HDMI option), stereo audio into TV routes to stereo HiFi with subwoofer.

I entered the activation code into www.netflix.com/activate on my iPhone (via WiFi obviously). I have also added movies using my iPhone, when I'm too lazy to go get my laptop....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Rosen on May 25, 2008 at 10:24pm: Installed and was viewing movies in 5 minutes after opening the box. Excellent product. Simple to use and does what its supposed to do and does it well. Now ... get more frikkin content available for instant watch before this little box becomes a $99 door stop! Seriously, I bought this thing knowing very well how much content was available but I did my part to support this service. Now do your part and figure out a way for us to instant watch new releases (ill even pay for the service). The clock is ticking - tick tock !! PS. Cable broadband - LInksys wireless router - 4 dot quality - 5 - 15 seconds to start streaming.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Biff on May 25, 2008 at 10:36pm: But does it support Closed captioning? That's my biggest beef with instance watch on the computer, I need the closed captions.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by jeldobar on May 26, 2008 at 12:04am: hearing impaired not allowed; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adrian on May 27, 2008 at 4:24pm: Sorry, the data isn't encoded into the streams....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by reign on May 27, 2008 at 7:56pm: I received my player today as a birthday present. Had it up and running within 10 minutes. The majority of that time was just getting all the cables pretty like the rest of the devices. I'm so excited! Such a great bday present too! My husband must have ordered it the day it was announced.

We have wifi available, but we also have all the other tv devices on a wired router, so I just hooked it up to that. Might has well have the fastest I can, right?

There doesn't appear to be a power-off? Or am I just being completely dense?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spindaddydad on May 27, 2008 at 7:58pm: My understanding is no power off; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adrian on May 27, 2008 at 8:23pm: It doesn't use much power (4 watts) and its always on. When the screensaver is running it shuts down as much as it can.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spindaddydad on May 28, 2008 at 7:10pm: Ordered my Roku box on May 21, had it shipped via FedEx Ground and it arrived today. Opened the box at 8:26 pm, hooked everything up and the first movie began playing at 8:44 pm. I'm using my wireless connection via Verizon Fios and receive the highest of the four quality options available when the movie loads.

Decided to run the audio through my Bose system as it splits the stereo audio channels into a simulated 5.1 surround sound. Must say, not bad. I watched a little bit of The Guns of Navarone and was getting some mighty fine surround!

Was a breeze to connect and hit absolutely no snags. The only problem is that now I have an extra remote that I don't believe I can program into my Universal Remote. Gonna try, but don't think it's possible.

Good job guys for offering an inexpensive box with a user-friendliness and ease of setup that can't be beat!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Spindaddydad on May 29, 2008 at 6:36am: An interesting observation: I loaded about 5 or 6 movies yesterday on the Roku so that I could measure the load times, learn the interface, etc. When I loaded Blade Runner (theatrical version) it would only give me the 3rd highest quality option vs the 4th (max) highest. All other movies automatically selected the max. Wonder if this is a phenomenon unique to Blade Runner for some reason? i.e. that's the maximum resolution they have for that film? Even at the 3rd highest notch it's still watchable, but wondering if it will do this to other films. Anyone else experience this with other movies?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Adrian on May 29, 2008 at 7:02am: There is an average bit rate for each stream, but the short term bitrate for a section of the movie can actually be substantially higher. Some streams have a high initial bitrate or more variability than others, and the small-ish buffer in the Roku box means that it decides to play safe and avoid rebuffering by picking a stream with a lower average rate.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by trowerboy on May 30, 2008 at 6:19pm: Opened the box at 8:26 pm, hooked everything up and the first movie began playing at 8:44 pm.
Wow you sound like Joe Friday in the Dragnet episodes hehe.; ▶ Reply to This