New Roku Players Hitting the UK 18th October 2017

[schnapps]

According to this Engadget article, Roku will be officially offering to us in the UK two new players from the 18th of October 2017

There will be the Roku Streaming Stick + with 4K & HDR at RRP of £80, together with the Roku Express for a RRP of £30 

Not sure how accurate the article is, if so i might be purchasing a Roku Streaming Stick + to replace my ageing Roku stick 

https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/11/roku-uk-4k-streaming-stick/

[Anonymous User]

A lot of wasted real estate with those pictures along the top of the screen taking up so much room. To be honest for me it's not in the looks but how it performs, ie. can I find my programmes and will my device play them 

As for 1080p, I'd bet my house on 1080p being available on all devices that support it 

[schnapps]

Just a heads up that Roku are dropping their prices on Black Friday 2018 for the Roku Express £19.99 and the Roku Stick Plus to £49.99.

 https://www.msn.com/en-gb/finance/technology/roku-reveals-black-friday-2018-deals-that-youre-not-goi...

Not a bad price for the Roku Express, thou i have seen the Roku Stick Plus Cheaper in the past during the January Sales and recently when Sainsburys had a pricing error on their website where some people where lucky enough to pick up the SS+ for £20. 

[Anonymous User]

Just bought a Roku + Streaming stick. Beware. If you want to watch UK TV, it's at 50hz refresh rate. Roku+ does not support 50hz, only 60hz. And despite what anyone says about it not being noticeable, if you have eyes you'll notice the duller, downgraded picture quality and the judder.

The auto refresh rate that comes with the stick simply doesn't work. I've spoken at length with Roku support and their answer was "Yes, the stick only does 60hz. It is what it is".

[RoyB]

@Anonymous User 

I always reply to this moronic tautology with “Then it isn’t what it ought to be”

[Anonymous User]

@Anonymous User 

Are you sure you have the Roku Streaming Stick+ as your wild claim is totally false.

My Stick + (and those of all my friends) handles 50fps AND 60fps perfectly well. Could it be your tv isn't compatible? You may need to check your TV's specifications to see if accepts refresh rate switching.

Roku Support would be correct to claim the Roku Stick only does 60Hz BUT the Roku Streaming Stick+ does 50Hz and 60Hz.

On your Roku Stick+ choose Settings - System settings - Advanced system settings - Auto display refresh rate, ENABLE that setting. Also check what your Display setting is in the main Settings menu and ensure your tv is compatible with the signal over that particular HDMI input. 

The picture output quality from the Roku Stick+ is exceptional so I'm assuming you have an issue either with the way you have the Roku set up, possibly using the wrong HDMI input on your tv, or your tv hasn't been properly set up for optimum picture quality and correct HDMI signal input.

If you follow the above you'll be back getting a fantastic, non juddering, picture again 😀

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

I also echo what @Anonymous User is saying.

Where both my Roku Stick Plus and NowTV 4K smart box offer auto variable refresh rate and works pretty well on my Panasonic TV.

Using various Apps and watching YouTube content shot at different frame rates both my above devices can play the native film rate at 24,25,30,50 and 60 fps.

Using the BBC iPlayer App has an example when watching the live News TV channel with the ticker tape scrolling at the bottom of the screen and the Roku set to Auto refresh rate the ticker tape looks much smoother in 50fps than leaving the Roku in its default setting which would be fixed at 60 hz which introduces micro stutter and judder.

I agree though that native 60fps content with 60hz playback looks a slightly more cleaner picture (not duller) where the screen image is refreshed 10hz more per second than 50hz typically used in the UK.

Roll on native 4K, 100 & 120 fps high frame rate for Sports etc, where i would imagine it will look stunning when it does eventually arrive sometime in the future (where i am Not referring to NowTV mind still stuck on shockingly inappropriate 25fps for Sports 😠).

Though i am not looking forward in terms of money outlay to upgrading my TV Hardware to accommodate the higher frame rate broadcast service.

[Anonymous User]

My TV is a 2018 LG OLED 65B8PLA. I can't find anywhere that confirms or denies it will accept auto refresh rate, and nowhere in settings that I can change it. However, the TV does faithfully reproduce BBCiPlayer from my BT Youview box at 50hz, perfect picture, and NOW TV from my Apple TV box when I set that to 50hz. If I set the apple tv box to 60hz, UK content from NOW TV judders. I'm guessing from that info that my TV is perfectly capable of reproducing 50hz and 60hz tv signals. Maybe it just won't accept auto refresh rate, whatever that is.

Roku+ stick (It IS a roku +) sets the display at 4K HDR at 60hz, HDCP2.2. All the TV's HDMI inputs are the same, apart from one which supports ARC, and is clearly labelled.

I think I already said I'd tried Auto-adjust display refresh rate; my screen just goes black, no picture at all. When I mentioned this to roku support, they had no answer, just agreed that the stick only supported 60hz refresh rate.

Now TV support have advised me that their 4k smart box DOES support 50hz refresh rate, and I suspect investing in one of those will resolve my issue.

I would still advise anyone using a Roku+ to look at iPlayer through a youview box. I suspect you will be suprprised at the increase in picture quality. To be fair, 4k Netflix and Amazon are stunning from the Roku+ stick, and it's very smart in recognising the different types of HD content and telling the TV what display type to use; it's just the 50hz content I have an issue with. These are not WILD accusations, simply MY findings using different hardware for different content.

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

When the Roku Stick Plus auto refreshes the screen picture will go blank for about two or three seconds then it should switch to the native frame rate broadcasted.

Sounds to me that there is some sort of conflict between the Roku Stick Plus and your LG OLED TV (Nice TV BTW would love to own one but unfortunately out of my financial budget).

I am guessing you have tried all four HDMI inputs on your LG TV with the Roku Plus or trying out the Roku on another TV just for testing purposes ?

Anyway just to prove that the Roku Plus can auto refresh at 50hz here two screen shots when watching the Live News on the BBC iPlayer App from the Roku.

When navigating around the BBC iPlayer UI it will be 60hz, but when you start watching something on the iPlayer it will display 50hz.

50 hz playback with auto refresh enabled.

60 hz playback with auto refresh set at default disabled.

[Anonymous User]

@Anonymous User  @schnapps 

Good post @schnapps I don't know who he was talking to at Roku but they've given him duff info if they believed the Roku Streaming Stick+ could only do 60Hz 😂

@Anonymous User  Have you the stick powered by the TV's usb port or plugged into the mains? Not all of the usb ports on a tv work properly as the stick needs to be in the highest powered port. Your tv manual should be able to help there.

If your Roku is powered from the mains and has the auto refresh rate enabled (auto refresh rate simply means the tv will change from 50Hz to 60Hz and vice versa as described by @schnapps) then the problem lies within the television input itself, especially as you tell us the screen goes black but doesn't actually produce a picture. Does it also behave that way when changing from 60Hz to 24Hz material on Netflix? 

The NowTV Smart box is the same as the Roku Streaming Stick+ except in box format, as in both behave the same way, the only difference being the box is limited to the few apps Sky allow onto it. If your tv can't handle 50Hz input from the stick it isn't going to work any better from the box. 

I suppose the reason you think iplayer looks better through the Youview box is all down to whatever issue your tv is having with 50Hz from the Roku. I also own both devices and the Roku Stick+ blows Youview out of the water when using BBC iplayer.

All I can verify is that the Roku Streaming Stick+ does 24Hz, 50Hz, and 60Hz exceptionally well, auto refreshing between them as and when required, and produces judder free crystal clear images from all the major apps, NowTV included, with little or no effort.

[schnapps]

Just updated my Roku Stick Plus to Software Version 9.10 from 9.0.0 and it looks like the Netflix App is now stuck at 60fps 😠.

Which backs up what has been reported on the Roku Forum, all other Apps which i have tried so far on OS 9.1.0 seem to be auto refreshing the frame rate to its native output.

BBC iPlayer, NowTV still playing at 50hz and Amazon Prime Movies at 24hz.

https://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=153501&hilit=Auto+refresh