I too play ripped UHD movies, although I usually don't normally use Plex. I agree that the Shield is the better player for local ripped media, mostly because it supports bitstreaming the lossless audio to an AVR and supports image based captions (Roku does neither). But I can still play my UHD movies on my Roku (with the lossless audio transcoded to AC3) using WiFi instead of Ethernet.
I have tested my Ultra 4800 on both Ethernet and WiFi for max speed, as well as playing directly from the USB port to eliminate the network from the equation. What I have found is the Ultra will max out at roughly 220 Mbps on an 802.11ac access point that is less than three feet away from the Roku. Playing some fixed bitrate test videos, on Ethernet it starts having issues at 90 Mbps (completely expected on a Fast Ethernet connection) and can play reliably over WiFi up to about 200 Mbps (which matches the reported speed in the network test). But I also found that even using USB the Ultra can't go faster than 200 Mbps, so that's pretty much the hardware limit of the 480x Ultra. I have a 4850 coming, and I will be repeating these tests to see if the latest hardware is any faster.
My ripped UHD movies have a 60-70 Mbps average bitrate, but they all have peaks that can exceed 150 Mbps, so Fast Ethernet will never suffice for that content. But the Roku is perfectly capable of it with a good WiFi connection.
I just hate wireless. I'm a "wire first if possible guy". If you rip your UHD's lossless with MakeMKV or the like, a pure 1GB wired connection is all you need and everything works perfect. I do understand the benefits and growing tech of wireless but it is never pure as a wired signal and never will be IMO.
I just think it is senseless for Roku to not have a 1G ethernet option in 2024/25. 1G ethernet cards are under $10. Should be easy to add in bulk if they wanted to for an Ultra at very little extra cost to the consumer. Anyway, thanks for the reply atc98092!
I have 1 GB cat 6 Ethernet in my house. I can not get the ultra 4850 to recognize the wired connection. I am not looking for the Ultra to actually use 1 GB. I just want to use the wired connection. Is the conclusion here that the Ultra can not recognize a wired connection if it is over 100 MB? ie forget the wired jack if your network is capable of more than 100 MB? I don't understand this because I have many devices wired that can't utilize 1 GB but are happy with the connection.
tlwolf wrote:Is the conclusion here that the Ultra can not recognize a wired connection if it is over 100 MB? ie forget the wired jack if your network is capable of more than 100 MB?
Ethernet doesn't work that way. It's not the device that recognizes different connection speeds. That's the job of the Ethernet switch to support different speeds. If your switch only supports Gigabit then no Roku wired device will work.
My Ethernet switches are all backward compatible 10/100/1000. Many other devices of 10/100 work just fine. I have tried different cat6 cables known to work also different switches known to work. Connected directly to modem and it still will not connect.
