Need some streaming reliability

[fmw]

Aaaargh! The Roku arrived today. Cute little thing but mine is defective. No audio through HDMI. Going back tomorrow.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Aaaargh! The Roku arrived today. Cute little thing but mine is defective. No audio through HDMI. Going back tomorrow.

I assume you tested it with multiple cables...

But did it cure the streaming problems?

 

[fmw]

Yes, I did all the appropriate troubleshooting. It didn't like any cables. I hadn't thought about watching anything without audio. I'll try the component cable and see if that works. If it does, I'll check to see if it solves the problem.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Yes, I did all the appropriate troubleshooting. It didn't like any cables. I hadn't thought about watching anything without audio. I'll try the component cable and see if that works. If it does, I'll check to see if it solves the problem.

I'd run a test, however silent, because if the streaming hiccups continue you might as well just send it back for a refund.

 

[fmw]

I'd run a test, however silent, because if the streaming hiccups continue you might as well just send it back for a refund.

It doesn't have component video. Only HDMI and composite. I'm not going to waste my expensive bandwidth on a test. I tried to call for support to get an RMA. It's impossible. I'll write a letter and send it with the box to them tomorrow. If they don't refund, I'll do a chargeback. My advice is never buy one of these direct. Buy it from Amazon or Walmart or somewhere that will take a return. Dealing with them directly is not recommended. I removed Roku from my shopping list. Slick little product with no company behind it.

 

[Irvrobinson]

It doesn't have component video. Only HDMI and composite. I'm not going to waste my expensive bandwidth on a test. I tried to call for support to get an RMA. It's impossible. I'll write a letter and send it with the box to them tomorrow. If they don't refund, I'll do a chargeback. My advice is never buy one of these direct. Buy it from Amazon or Walmart or somewhere that will take a return. Dealing with them directly is not recommended. I removed Roku from my shopping list. Slick little product with no company behind it.

Well, good luck. Sorry to have misled you.

 

[fmw]

No problem, it was well meaning. I spent more than 1 1/2 hours trying to get an RMA. I finally got one after I sent a fax to corporate explaining that I was sending the unit to their office in lieu of being able to get a return address. I almost threw the thing in the trash and called it a day. It may be a dandy product but I wouldn't recommend buying it from Roku directly.

 

[TLS Guy]

Well done with your persistence. However I would never go near one of those extreme proprietary boxes with a barge pole.

 

[fmw]

As it turns out they didn't email the return address as they had promised. The UPS driver called as he often does about 10 minutes out so we slapped a corporate office addressed label on it and sent it on its way. I then spoke with a very nice person at American Express and filed the chargeback. It's a shame. Customer service is the single most time consuming part of operating a consumer oriented business and probably the most important for the long term health of the enterprise. Too many businesses get wrapped up in their product or service and fall down in the service area. So many companies are good at designing and making products while being bad at running a business.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Very odd. I remember contacting their customer service people after I got mine. I can't remember what the issue was... but I got immediate access and the issue, whatever it was, was resolved. Roku has done two things this past year that might have them overwhelmed since I got mine. First, they released the Roku 3, and then they released new firmware with a new user interface that was automatically downloaded to my Roku 2. Perhaps one of these new technologies has been their undoing.

 

[Grador]

Well done with your persistence. However I would never go near one of those extreme proprietary boxes with a barge pole.

...are you serious? They're better supported than Google TV at the moment.

Though you often post VERY useful and well written information you've been nothing but a grumpy curmudgeon in this thread. We get you don't like the roku (a valid and valuable opinion), but at this point you're adding nothing to the discussion.

 

[fmw]

Very odd. I remember contacting their customer service people after I got mine. I can't remember what the issue was... but I got immediate access and the issue, whatever it was, was resolved. Roku has done two things this past year that might have them overwhelmed since I got mine. First, they released the Roku 3, and then they released new firmware with a new user interface that was automatically downloaded to my Roku 2. Perhaps one of these new technologies has been their undoing.

The problem I had was just a manufacturing defect. I don't even blame them for that. All they had to do was give me a shipping address. But spending over 2 hours in two days with a contact to headquarters to get an RMA and then not getting it makes them deserving of some scorn. It's behind me. Onward and upward.

 

[Irvrobinson]

The problem I had was just a manufacturing defect. I don't even blame them for that. All they had to do was give me a shipping address. But spending over 2 hours in two days with a contact to headquarters to get an RMA and then not getting it makes them deserving of some scorn. It's behind me. Onward and upward.

Yes, I know. I'm more mystified by the lack of support access. I was thinking of getting another one for the guest bedroom, and now I'm wondering about their viability.

 

[fmw]

So onward and upward took me into a fit of review reading on the internet about streaming players. Google TV gets a lot of bad press. I won't go into the details. You can look them up for yourself. The Roku seems to be beloved by everyone but, as mentioned in this thread, is quite limited in what it can do. The Apple TV gets good reviews when it is jailbroken. I kept looking for something with overwhelmingly positive reviews. I found it. It is called the Matricom Midnight MX2. On Amazon it get 5 stars from 80% of its owners. Nothing else comes even remotely close in terms of positive reveiws. It isn't Google TV. Actually it uses the Android Jelly Bean OS and XBMC open source media player. So it is something like watching a movie on your smart phone except, of course, with a big screen. It handles 1080P, 5.1 surround sound, has 8 gb of internal storage and supports any USB wireless keyboard and mouse, if you like. It has 3 USB ports. It has Wifi and wired ethernet and HDMI 1.4. So unlike Google TV, nothing is blocked and unlike a Roku you can surf the web for your content and install whichever android apps you like. I happen to have Jelly Bean on my smart phone so I'm familiar with it. Some of the Android boxes use IR remotes. Apparently this one does not. I'm not sure if I will be able to control it with my Harmony One but I'll find out soon enough. It has a remote of its own. I placed my order today.

 

[Grador]

Sounds like this one could be a winner, tell us how it goes.

 

[fmw]

I will. I also ordered this tiny wireless keyboard with touch pad to use with it. It shouldn't take up too much room on the night stand.

 

[markw]

I'm late to the party, but I had similar problems with my old DOCSIS 2.0 "B" router but they went away when I upgraded to a Docsis 3.0 "N" series router after Comcast kept on saying my old cable mosem was not taking advantage of their "blast" speed.. Load speed was well below 8 before and n0w it's up into the teens on most providers. One of these solved our problems.

Of course, the level of your subscrined service might be an issue, too.

 

[fmw]

Of course, the level of your subscrined service might be an issue, too.

I'm pretty sure you are correct in this. The reason I say so is that I watched the final two episodes of Borgia through the cheap streamer built into my cheap Samsung BD player without a hitch or a fuss at all. It worked perfectly two nights in a row. Apparently, the speed varies from not quite enough to plenty depending on the mood of mother nature, the conjuction of the stars or whatever. I'll have some fun with the Matricom unit but I'm beginning to doubt that it will resolve the problem. The resolution is probably checking download speed before I start a stream. As mentioned earlier I have a powerful commercial router and access point. I can use my notebook in the back yard without issue.

 

[fmw]

<title>Untitled Document</title><style type="text/css">
body p {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
</style>I tried to post a review I wrote of the Matricom box. I had it formatted with html and the site wouldn't take it. I'll put it up on a web site. You should be able to reach it here.

 

[Grador]

Thanks for the review!

Interesting issue you were having with XBMC. I cannot say what it is doing that, but I have been running XBMC on my nexus 7 for a little while and it will happily play network content for me.