Netflix Roku Streaming Box Suffering From Serious Video Quality Issues
Based a a number of complaints posted on the Roku customer forum, it appears that their little $US99 Netflix streaming device has spontaneously suffered from a serious drop in video quality.
Roku engineers have acknowledged the problem, and are said to be looking into it. At this point they a directing blame at Netflix claiming that recent changes to the content distribution network (CDN) may have contributed to the problem, but the lack of complaints on other Netflix compatible devices like the Xbox 360 and the Samsung BD-P2500 / BD-2550 Blu-ray players make this defence unlikely.
Apparently, the problem is serious enough that some are experiencing quality drops of 50% or more with extremely low connection speeds. Just how widespread this problem is remains to be seen, so I have to ask: if you own a Roku, have you noticed any quality issues lately? [Roku Forum via Wired]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I have an Xbox 360 and there are some serious quality issues. It was fine when the new update came out (on the 19th) but for the last two weeks or so it has been so pixellated as to be almost unwatchable.
I have not been able to watch a movie all the way through on my PC or XBOX, since the XBOX 360 release. It starts out at high quality, an lowers the quality a few times, until you end up spending an hour watching if buffer. In my opinion it has become almost useless. It can only get worse with the Tivo release coming out later this month.
R
I have noticed serious quality drops, especially during hours when the Internet is busy i.e. 5-9pm at night. I also see problems when my kids are using our Internet connection.
I purchased a ROKU box in December and discovered that content was unwatchable. The movie or show I was watching would be interrupted every 10 to 15 minutes to be replaced by a “loading” message on the screen while more content was buffered. These interruptions lasted 3 minutes or longer, making movie watching virtually impossible. I tried without success to obtain a fix from ROKU tech support. I could not reach them by telephone (a recording said that wait times for a person were in 20+ minutes) and they did not respond to email. Since the box was unusable, I obtained an RMA (not without difficulty) and returned the box to ROKU. Now I am experiencing a problem getting my refund. ROKU is difficult to deal with and very unresponsive. If anyone is thinking of getting a ROKU box, I’d suggest checking out the ROKU video player online support forums to see how things are going before jumping in.
ROKU sucks. Even before the upgrade, it was unpredictable at best. Now it’s unusable, and there’s no tech support to speak of. Don’t waste your money; just get an S-video cable and stream directly from your computer to your tv. Or go without.