Why Roku’s IPO Will Be Worth Watching | Hacker News Reader

Why Roku’s IPO Will Be Worth Watching

valuewalk.com

51 pointsjpelecanos41 comments

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What amused me most is that the market share of Roku differs A LOT across sources:

(I own a chromecast so I just compare Roku vs Google.)

18% vs 30% https://www.valuewalk.com/2017/09/rokus-ipo-will-worth-watch...

8% vs 16% http://www.businessinsider.com/roku-hits-a-new-milestone-as-...

36.9% vs 38.9% http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/roku-apple-tv-chromecas...

I can understand these are sensitive numbers and can be difficult to get. But these agencies strived to reach completely different results. How can this be possible?

Roku is an extremely US-centric device, to the point that it's almost impossible to set up properly unless you are in the US.

I had to use a proxy and fake a US mailing-address to be allowed to use Spotify (a European service!), from Europe. And I had to try 3-4 times, with different email-addresses, because I had to create new accounts.

This thing took a reasonably seasoned hacker some serious effort to set up. I'm not buying a single device from this company ever again.

Compare that to Chromecasts: You can give those to grandmas and they'll just work.

My guess is if you compare global numbers to US-only numbers you will get very different results, and you will find Roku having almost no marketshare what so ever outside US-borders.

I'm in the UK and I haven't experienced those sorts of issues. Maybe I've just been lucky with what I've signed up for, but I think it would be unfortunate to paint a really good product (IMHO) as bad unnecessarily.

The only issue I have is that, in the UK, you can't preload Amazon movies via the web for watching later, but that's an Amazon thing AIUI not Roku.

The author might not be from UK (he just said "Europe") so his experience might be completely different from yours.

I've met a fair share of devices who simply refuse to work in continental EU while still demanding registration to US streaming services. Stupid issues like not being able to update Spotify app on Android (due to Play Store geoblocking) while the app demands update (and works after manually applying it).

As someone from the UK you probably didn't have to assemble your own power-supply either? (Yes I had to, because it shipped a US power supply only)

Spotify was just one of many examples which for me solidified the impression that this device was purely made for the US market.

I just bought my first ever Chromecast cast (I live in BG) and it works flawlessly.

The only thing that saddens me is why it took me so long to buy one. The chromecast is brilliant.

For a bit of perspective. The Chromecast used to be an absolute pain to get working. When they launched, they specifically locked it down to be US only, by forcing it to Google's DNS and do a check against that

Enterprising hackers quickly found that you could simply blackhole Google DNS and it'd use your local one, which would remove the baked in "hardware geoblocking" as it was termed

Within the first year of the Chromecast release I was using it without any issue outside the US. So I am assuming Google fixed this "quickly".

I use Roku in Greece and it's been a pretty good experience.

It's not Roku that makes you jump through all those hoops for spotify, but spotify itself.

https://support.spotify.com/us/listen_everywhere/on_tv/roku/

> Compare that to Chromecasts: You can give those to grandmas and they'll just work.

Unless you happen to have one of the many different wireless routers that Chromecasts just refuse to see.

My experience might differ, but I always use wired networking for anything which is supposed to handle media-streaming. That includes the chromecast.

My patience is way past relying on wireless for such tasks.

For what it's worth, the Roku is available in Australia, along with localized services.

It's been rebranded and only available through the dominant telco, but it's certainly available (and better for grannies in my experience): https://www.telstra.com.au/tv-movies-music/telstra-tv

> Chromecasts: You can give those to grandmas and they'll just work.

Having tried to train several "grandmas" on streaming media, Roku absolutely trumps chromecast for ease of use. They can understand an on screen interface and a remote. The paradigm shift of using a mobile device or a computer to drive the TV is a pretty big leap. And that is assuming they understand how to use the mobile device itself. That assuming they even have eyes that can see the phone screen, distinguish the very subtle visual elements and the dexterity to tap the little icons.

Roku devices are great. For less than $70 I got a box that plays Netflix, Amazon Video, Google Play, Youtube, Hulu, and a lot more that I don't use.

The big selling point for me was the built-in headphone jack on the remote. After the wife, kids go to bed, I can still enjoy a late-night movie without waking anyone up... so long as I don't laugh too loud. (grin)

This is my second Roku device - been using them for about 5 years now. Kids broke the remote on the last one and it was nearly as cheap to buy a whole new device than replace the remote.

I got a Xiaomi Mi box and find it similarly amazing. It runs Android TV, which means I can install Kodi, which has been amazing for watching my movie collection, I don't know if Roku supports that.

I used to have a Chromecast but the Mi box is much more convenient.

> I don't know if Roku supports that

It does through Plex

Here's my evolution:

2008 - Eureka LX350HD Really buggy, crashed often, no MKV support, but played most of my library from back in the day

2010 - WDTV Gen 1 Great upgrade from the Eureka, MKV support

2012 - WDTV Live Streaming Gen 3 I still consider this the best media player I've owned, but it got slower over the years as apps improved (got bloated). Supported all video formats, supported all major online services, ability to mount over network, lots of advanced config options, and native playback from local drives via multiple USB ports.

2013 - Apple TV Gen 3 Having to transcode all MKVs / stream them from my Mac Mini was a non-starter, very slow, but I thought I'd give it a try (The WDTV Live could play all formats natively).

2014 - Roku 3 (+ Plex) Eventually the WDTV Live got too slow and firmware updates didn't help. Roku was a huge upgrade for online services, and Roku + Plex made transcoding tolerable (more-so than the Apple TV). Headphone jack in remote was a nice touch, and hidden private channels were fun.

2016 - Xiaomi Mi Box (Official Android TV + Kodi) This is the best media player I've owned since the WDTV. Kodi / SPMC does everything the WDTV could do and so much more. Ability to mount over the network and native playback from local drives means NO MORE TRANSCODING or remote media servers. Although Roku + Plex made transcoding tolerable, native playback (smooth seek / fast forward etc.) can't be beat.

The only negative with official Android TV is limited apps, compared to Android + Chromecast or the older Android boxes. Android TV desperately needs a native Chrome web browser without side loading. The CBC app is great, for anyone in Canada! And Netflix / YouTube runs faster compared to the Roku 3.

Android TV via the Xiaomi Mi Box or NVidia Shield with Kodi currently provides the best overall experience, and most options in terms of playback, apps, and advanced setup options.

That echoes my experience. Is Firefox not available for Android TV yet? I don't really use a browser on the TV, so I haven't even tried installing one (not sure if it already comes installed with Chrome).

I know you said "no sideloading", but downloading and installing the Firefox APK right from Mozilla's website should be simple, no?

I sideloaded Chrome and Firefox a few months ago using the sideload launcher app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.t...), but the browsers have issues, mostly UI / UX tweaks to make them usable with the onscreen keyboard, Android TV remote etc. without buying a bunch of extra hardware.

The easier work around at the moment is to cast from a laptop.

I've tried a lot of things over the years, but my current setup consists of 3 3rd Gen AppleTVs, 3 Roku sticks and a TV with integrated Roku software.

I'm running a Plex Server and Plex Connect (https://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect). Plex Connect let's you run a real Plex client on a non-jail broken AppleTV by intercepting the Trailers app and serving up custom TVML (Apple's proprietary HTML like markup language).

Those are almost exactly the same features I get from my PS4.

True if you already had a PS4, but tell me where to get a PS4 for $70 I'll be listening.

There are bluray players for $70 that can stream netflix over wifi.

And the interface is usually complete crap. I'm sure you can find counterexamples, but I've been burned so many times. Even the Xbox one had several second load times for pretty much every menu page.

Since other comments have already pointed out some negative aspects of roku, I just wanted to say that I really enjoy my roku. Moreover my parents and non-tech-savvy friends love it. I'm not sure why, but when it comes to roku vs similar products these demographics just seems to 'get it'. I refuse to get cable TV since everything I want to watch can be streamed; but my roommate complained almost every day that he didnt know how to stream, he didnt like the chromecast or PS4 and "why cant we just get cable?!". Unrelenting I picked up a $50 roku premiere hd. For whatever reason, he loves it. He says it feels familiar - whatever that means.

The chromecast pairing can be rather unintuitive for a first timer. Hell I always fumble around when I have to set the thing up once a year when I travel to a random ski lodge.

Roku's products are in a stage of rot that is very disconcerting.

For example, despite Rdio failing as a company, Roku lacks the ability to map their Rdio button to a different function. This seems to indicate fundamentally bad practices by their engineering department. Similarly, it is possible to quickly hit the search button too fast and cause the entire Roku device to freeze. On top of all of this, there are some channels that seem to be impossible to remove from their devices.

Roku apps feel pretty clunky/jerky compared to Chromecast and Apple TV. Feels like a product built in the 2000s.

Until recently the Plex-app available for Roku literally looked like something out of the 90s. I've seen fancier menus on my old Amiga.

The eco-system and its apps are not really built to impress.

Makes me wonder: if the Roku was released today, how successful would it be? Seems like they have a huge first mover advantage in that people know it. But now there are lots of big players in the game who can really polish their respective products. I guess this IPO is supposed to help with that, but I feel this just means that there's a challenging road ahead.

The mainstream services, like amazon, hulu, HBO, and netflix, have very rich modern apps at least on the latest gen rokus. The older rokus probably lack the horsepower to use the newer apps.

I am still using Chromecast (1st gen) device to cast pretty much every video I can find on my phone. For the video apps without cast option (like Amazon Instant Video for example), I simply cast entire phone (Android system 'Cast' that mirrors screen ) on my TV. This solves fragmentation issue for me as I can cast pretty much everything: YTube, Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, Amazon Video, CuriosityStream, etc. Works great for me.

The nice thing about Android TV boxes (which I think Roku doesn't run) is the remote, so you don't have to use the phone. You can also pause/rewind etc from the remote, which, to me, is more convenient than the phone apps. I made the switch and much prefer it over the Chromecast (mostly for Kodi, though).

I have a Roku 3 and don't plan on buying another. They plastered ads all over the home screen.

Luckily I'm in the Apple ecosystem, so I've got a good backup option when this one dies.

4K ATV comes out this month apparently. I'm a FireTV owner (current gen, got it when it came out) and I've been pretty pleased with it. Works with HBO Go, VLC, Kodi, Netflix, Spotify, and Prime. It's the only game in town that will do all of those without jail breaking / messing around a lot with the software. It's not perfect and the dist of Android has some issues, but a ~weekly reboot isn't bad for how often it works well enough. I wish it was more responsible and didn't have issues with the remote disconnecting, I wish the launcher was better, a usable browser would be nice, etc but again it all works with the least amount of hassle vs the other options.

It's currently unavailable on Amazon, and there are rumors of a new one coming soon, which seems very likely to compete with the new ATV even though I've considered Amazon Fire TV and sticks to be ahead of the other offerings for at least a year at this point.

We've come a long way from MythTV / XBMC days. It's an exciting time to be a content consumer, hah.

The Xiaomi Mi box will do the same and is available, I quite like mine.

> 4K ATV comes out this month apparently

Any official links I can share with my friend who is an Apple fan? All I came up with in a quick search was the rumor sites.

Thanks in advance for your time.

nothing yet but should be announced tomorrow

https://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2017/

I only see like one ad on the right of the channel list. And it is usually just promoting some tv series, which is a very relevant ad. Anyway, I spend like 10s looking at the home screen while I select the app I'm gonna watch. Pretty trivial. Half the time the add doesn't even load before I made my selection.

Roku's are great, my elderly mum loves hers as it just works.

Best birthday present I ever gave her (according to her).

Well, they make the best set top boxes. They were first for Netflix Instant and are still the best. Even beats Apple TV.

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