Introducing Roku 3 | Hacker News Reader

Introducing Roku 3

blog.roku.com

75 pointsrkudeshi74 comments

Adding a headphone jack to the remote is a smart idea. When watching movies late at night I string a long audio extension cable between my headphones and the DVD player, but this solution is much more elegant. It's one of those "of course!" ideas that seems so obvious once you see it.

Thanks to the Bluetooth remote. So obvious, I'm surprised this hasn't been done before.

Actually the remote uses Wifi-Direct. I wonder if this device supports Android wireless display, which would be cool.

Thanks for correcting me, that's pretty neat stuff.

Headphones in the remote is such a brilliant idea!

Would love this feature on a standard universal remote.

The problem is that the standard universal remote has one-way communication with the devices it controls. The Roku remote uses bluetooth to control the Roku, so adding audio was no big deal.

The Roku 3 remote uses Wi-Fi Direct instead of bluetooth.

Would love a smart tv that has the capability to send sound to my phone.

Seriously. I have a smart TV, but I might buy this just for the remote headphones. Nice wireless headphones are at least as expensive as a roku box, but I already have nice wired headphones.

Depends on the battery life of the remote. Most people wouldn't be too happy if they were changing their batteries every few weeks because they watched a few movies with headphones.

Ok, this is something that I cannot seem to understand - why is it impossible to create a well-designed remote for a TV device? Look at (seriously, look at them now) your remotes for your TV. What the hell? Compare this to the design of your actual TV. Or how about your laptop or phone.

I'm blown away that they insist on designing their remotes like kids' toys.

On top of that why is that silly ABC keyboard used everywhere on TVs? I've seen it on the 360, Apple TV, and the Roku. I have to actively look for where the keys are. If it's QWERTY, I may have to push a few extra buttons, but I know where the keys are.

I was going to say something sarcastic about how most of us still remember the order of the alphabet, but then I realized that there is probably another reason for their choice. Unless the software keyboard is going to have four wide rows, alphabetical order is probably better. In the video the keyboard is a 6x6 grid, which lets it fit alongside the search results better.

Those keyboards are the devil, they're the most infuriating part of modern technology.

The most sensible work around seems to be generating passwords based on the keyboard type, having passwords that don't require jumping up and down left and right for every new character reduces the experience to a mild inconvenience. Fortunately I've not had to use a device with such a keyboard in a while, since putting my Apple TV in a box... if I ever have to go near one again then investing an hour putting together a keypad friendly password generator may be in order.

Mercifully, MS put out an update for the 360 that made that keyboard into a QWERTY keyboard.

I like the Boxee Box remote, which has a QWERTY keyboard on one side of the remote, which is a better solution than having an on-screen keyboard.

It's nice and small but it's almost impossible to read the keys in a dim room. I think remotes have to be backlit to be usable.

The keyboard that came with the Logitech Revue (Google TV) is probably the optimal HTPC remote.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Keyboard-Controller-Revue-Goo...

The problem with it, is that it's the size of real keyboard. It's just huge, and it just doesn't feel natural either in the living room or on your bed. I've never found a way to only use it with one hand.

I felt the Co-Star's remote was much better.

Sony's Google TV remotes are very well designed:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/8/2692223/sonys-next-generati...

Yeah it looks like they copied Visio's Co-Star remote.

Their original remote was small, but it just had too many buttons. The sticks were strange as well.

ROKU and most of the other serious TV device players have fully functional smartphone remote apps:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/roku/id482066631?mt=8

is this meant to validate the comment you're replying to? a touchscreen is a terrible (primary) interface for a TV remote.

Aside from the numbers (which isn't really relevant for internet set top boxes), normal people only tend to use the channel changer, volume control, and the power button. Most of the other buttons tend to be ignored, unless it's Netflix related. Did I miss something?

Also, why is Roku missing volume control?

It can be annoying to have multiple "layers" of volume control: one for the player, one for the TV, one for the receiver/sound system, etc. It's arguably a lesser evil to leave volume completely up to the user's TV or audio system, the way Apple TV does.

But then you need multiple remotes, which I feel is the greatest evil of all. I agree the Roku doesn't need its own volume control, but if you stick one on there, you can make it programmable to control the volume of your TV.

That would be ideal, though it might complicate the experience for non-techies, especially during setup.

Tangent: one thing that drives me nuts about universal remotes that they are all modal; ie, you must put the remote in receiver mode before you change the volume, etc. I wish I had a remote that could remember device presets for each button simultaneously, such that volume always uses the receiver RF, D-pad always uses Apple TV RF, etc.

Ummm, I like my Roku 2 remote and the Roku 1 remote before that.

What about these remotes bothers you?

I see where you’re coming from but honestly the Roku remote feels pretty good to me. It’s not too thin like the Apple remote, the round back feels great in the hand, the buttons are good, and it’s a dead simple layout.

I use a Roku almost every day and I love the remote. I think it's the most well-designed remote I've used. What issues do you see with it?

Has anyone here done any app developing for the Roku? Does this open up new avenues for that, or is it the same SDK as before?

I remember taking a brief look at the SDK a few years ago and deciding that it was too much of a mess for me to work with it and keep my sanity.

I have built numerous apps for the Roku box. The introduction of the Roku 3 does not bring any SDK updates, the biggest update for developers would be hardware improvements. SDK updates usually come when Roku do firmware upgrades, something they usually do mid-product cycles as well.

I wonder how they built in the universal search without adding any APIs. Were they already indexing the content (and prices) for all of the channels?

Universal search has been available for some time, and it is more of a backend thing than a client thing.

We just bought 2 XS but hey maybe we will upgrade in 3 or 4 years to what's out then, we enjoy Roku, with that and free HD over the air we dropped cable. The channels on Roku are great like NetFlix, CNET and IGN. The big news outlets are on there but usually just have clips. Still interesting to keep up to date. If only the History channel was on there, I miss at least two of their shows.

Do you think we'll ever be able to pay HBO directly for an HBO Go subscription? It's the only reason I still pay for cable -- would jump on this Roku immediately if it let me cut the cord.

If Netflix can keep pumping out quality content like House of Cards, they will eat HBO's lunch.

Who's to say? HBO is inking 10-year exclusive content deals just to lock Netflix out. These are huge deals, like Universal Pictures & Focus, that take away any chance of Netflix streaming many blockbuster titles all the way through 2023. At the same time, HBO has its own streaming platform ready to go head-to-head with Netflix the moment it makes sense to break away from cable (currently generating billions of their revenue, so not too soon). They have much more original content than Netflix, and are running trials of streaming-only subscriptions in other countries.

HBO likely can become Netflix faster than Netflix can become HBO.

I wouldn't rule out Netflix. HBO has a great brand name, but Netflix has a better direct relationships with customers. And Netflix has access to capital too.

HBO offers a subscription only service here in Norway, but I don't know anyone who has signed up for it. --Everyone I know (myself included) refuses to sign up for a service that requires a 1 year commitment and doesn't offer a trial period. On the other hand, lots of people went ahead and signed up for Netflix because they were offering a 1 month trial and you can cancel at anytime.

I'm not saying HBO won't succeed in the online space, but at least in Norway their arrogance has really hurt the perception that people have about them.

The cable companies know some subset of customers only keep cable for premium channels (movies, ppv sports, etc) which is why they pay HBO alone over 4 billion dollars a year.

It will take some time, but is not outside of the realm of possibility. The cable providers subsidize the premium channels, which makes an exclusive alliance with the providers very lucrative. Direct sales could be profitable, but they run the risk of alienating their best customers: the cable providers. Obviously, the old media complex tends to be risk-averse and profit-centric, which necessitates being innovation-averse.

In addition, most of these companies likely loathe "the internet" due to the pervasiveness of piracy. They see making their content available online directly as enabling the "thieves."

The only thing that will drive them towards acknowledgement of the need for online, direct distribution will be competition, likely from Netflix.

(Take all of this with a grain of salt. I am not any sort of cable executive, and the fact that they so frequently behave in such an illogical manner means that I'm likely wrong.)

They already started http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/08/hbo-cuts-the-cord-br...

Neat little device. However, if you buy a new tv, they have most of these built in apps to stream movies already. I'm not sure why they focus on those features so much?

Depending on how you consume your content, I suggest looking at building your own HTPC (Home Theater PC) running XBMC. If you want support for DTS-HD and blu-ray content then an HTPC is the only way to go.

The biggest benefit is that an HTPC + XBMC can play anything you can throw at it in just about any container. Build it once and it's future proof for quite awhile.

The built-in streaming apps in televisions are never as quick, featured, varied, or up to date as what's available on a Roku or similar product.

A DIY HTPC simply cannot compete with a $99 or less Roku.

Obviously that's great for us hacker types, but I doubt my mom would want to build her own HTPC.

Roku's have a Plex app ('channel' in Roku marketing speak) which is a pretty easy way to getting any container streamed to the box.

I still prefer my Boxee box, which can probably best be described as VLC the hardware device.

>However, if you buy a new tv, they have most of these built in apps to stream movies already.

Not if you buy a cheaper TV.

None of the top 5 best-selling TVs at Amazon have internet streaming built in: http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/172659/ref=...

Since the 3 is coming out, here are some ideas for the 4:

* Voice recognition from a mic on the box and/or in the remote with commands that are natural to speak in each language it supports

* Cheap subscribe per channel model for each channel currently provided via Cable, etc. with month-by-month contracts (for HBO, etc. so you can quit when the season is over)

* More quality control over the channels. Don't shut out the channels that can't hack it, but instead help them not fuck it up so much. Watch their content regularly

* Parental control via something other than having to type in a pin (maybe a "safe word" if doing voice recognition)

* Streaming games, with some free

* More streaming channels that don't require as much interaction but with cloud-powered DVR rewind, etc. and commercial skipping, maybe even as a paid feature per channel

* Optionally completely wireless except for power (the box is so small that it flops around with the HDMI cable)

* Make Pandora stream music videos :)

This is neat, though I still prefer the Android-based Google TV boxes. It's had the same ability to search for shows, movies, actors and tell you what app or site to use to watch it now for years. The only reason I have both that and a Roku 2 is that someone's still holding a grudge against Google. It's practically the only STB completely locked out of Hulu Plus.

That search functionality is now available on the Roku 2 XS... at lest for a title - search, and it will show you that it's available on Netflix, not on Hulu, or for rent on something else.

The search functionality looks fantastic. Plus, I love that they're updating Roku 2 with this new interface. I can't wait.

I so wish there was a 100$ device like Roku that would have the media capabilities of Roku or XBMC and airplay mirroring. Rasberry Pi could be that one, but unfortunately doesn't support mirroring.

If someone can build me a 100$ box with xbmc and airplay, i probably buy 5 of them

You can jailbreak an Apple TV and load up PLEX Client on it. That's what I do on the living room aTV.

I have a Roku and like it but really wish it had better support for playing off of USB and network shares - this is the one reason I still use my WDTV Live as often as I do. Oh, not to mention the WDTV supports every format under the sun and streams my 3DTV with zero issues too.

I know there is a USB app for Roku but it sucks and doesn't work consistently.

I know I could use Plex to retrieve files from my shares but I don't care for navigation in this app much.

Anyway, glad to see Roku continues to make nice updates, I just wish there was a single solution at this point.

On my existing Roku 2 I've found apps misbehave unless I reboot the device. Even the FAQ for Vudu mentions rebooting due to memory issues. I found similar problems with a channel I tried the other weekend. Unfortunately the problem is that the channels misbehave in bizarre ways (eg Vudu will say there are network problems, the other channel I tried had random video corruption). Hopefully Roku can fix this and at least make channels crash when running out of memory.

Disappointed it still doesn't seem to have native DLNA support? I'm in the market for new wireless headphones and this would have solved the problem nicely.

Do they have a non-native solution? Because not having DLNA has been the one thing keeping me from getting one.

I have not personally used it, but apparently http://www.plexapp.com/ uses DLNA. I imagine you need to run their server application, which defeats the purpose of it all.

If it is the same setup as the Roku 2 line, yes you do need to run a Plex server.

Try MyMedia out... it streams from your computer to the Roku and has a nice little "channel" too.

http://netguy204.github.com/roku_media_server/

It runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux, and it's GPLed:

http://rokumm.appspot.com/walkthrough

I can't find any documentation stating if it plays from network shares? Samba? NFS? Currently, I have an external USB drive connected to my PlayOn! media player, but I'd like to move that to a computer so I don't have to swap the drive back and forth to copy new shows to the drive.

And the headphone jack on the remote is brilliant! I might buy one just for that feature alone.

The Plex app for Roku may be what you're looking for, although you have to run Plex Media Server somewhere on your network.

http://plexapp.com/roku/

I use this, and it works awesomely on the Roku; much better than the 360 with the DNLP(?) support.

I like Roku - They have been affordable from the beginning and allowed non-gamers like me to enjoy Netflix while the company blocks Linux.

The real ultimate feature that's missing here though - the one that no one else has and would make go out and buy 3-4 of these things is the ability to sync audio and video playback across multiple devices throughout my house.

>The real ultimate feature that's missing here though - the one that no one else has and would make go out and buy 3-4 of these things is the ability to sync audio and video playback across multiple devices throughout my house.

That seems like an incredibly niche feature.

http://www.iheartubuntu.com/2012/11/ppa-for-netflix-desktop-...

Just FYI - that should help you with netflix on linux. Worked for me, and I haven't had to boot to Windows in a week ;)

Love my Roku 2 XS. It's a little slower than I'd like so I'm jumping on this immediately.

I'm quite pleased with the device overall, but the interface, although certainly an improvement, still appears inferior to the Apple TV (which itself has a large number of intolerable flaws.)

It does seem faster than the response lag on the Apple TV, although I'd obviously have to use one to be sure.

Good, good. Now slap XBMC on this thing and we're done!

compare to the slow progress of Google TV and Apple TV recently, Roku’s evolution pace and focus on entertainment (rather than crappy "social", or vague “second screen") is simply amazing.

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