Roku Developer Program

[Microguy]

These two statements seem to contradict each other. Local media support seems to have gone from 'it's coming" to 'it might be coming' over the course of 11 months.

posted on: Thu Jan 21, 2010 9:32 pm

"RokuKevin" wrote:
We've taken note of all the activity in this forum around local streaming solutions and you can expect Roku to play a role in the space in future releases.

posted on: Mon Dec 13, 2010 8:10 pm

"RokuPatrick" wrote:
DLNA is still a if/when kind of thing. No ETA or commitment.

Is it possible to get a clarification on this, or is it time to look for other solutions (eg. hard drive people's box) for DLNA? Thanks.

[kbenson]

"Microguy" wrote:
These two statements seem to contradict each other.

DLNA is not the only method for providing local streaming, so the statements don't necessarily contradict each other. You may think that it would make sense for them to add DLNA support to fulfill their desired local streaming plans (which I think would be a valid assumption given the support of the technology), but we really know very little about their actual plans.

There have been threads in the general forum where it was discussed that while the hardware support mpeg2, the software may not be licensed to use mpeg2. If that's the case, it could be expensive to add mpeg2 support, which is required for DLNA, right? I have no idea how valid this is...

[Microguy]

"kbenson" wrote:

"Microguy" wrote:
...but we really know very little about their actual plans.

Agreed. That could make it tough to compete with other devices that also do local streaming, without transcoding, for the same price.

[Arwen]

"kbenson" wrote:

"Microguy" wrote:
These two statements seem to contradict each other.

DLNA is not the only method for providing local streaming, so the statements don't necessarily contradict each other. You may think that it would make sense for them to add DLNA support to fulfill their desired local streaming plans (which I think would be a valid assumption given the support of the technology), but we really know very little about their actual plans.

There have been threads in the general forum where it was discussed that while the hardware support mpeg2, the software may not be licensed to use mpeg2. If that's the case, it could be expensive to add mpeg2 support, which is required for DLNA, right? I have no idea how valid this is...

Their appear to be different levels of DLNA support. For
example no one would consider the Roku streaming media
player a portable device. Yet, reading DLNA supported
formats indicates that MP3 support is only required for
portable devices.

Tekzilla, (from channel Revision3), episode 173 about 6 minutes
in, lists the required formats for a "Home Device" as these;

Photo - JPEG
Audio - LPCM, (2 channel)
Video - MPEG2

Everything else is optional.

Now we all know that some home servers have enough
horse power to transcode. But the Roku probably does
not have enough horse power to transcode MPEG2 to
MPEG4 in software. That's why it has built in hardware
to do the decode.

As mentioned, purchasing the rights for all Roku streaming
media players to support MPEG2 might be too costly. And
without MPEG2 support, it can't be considered a DLNA Home
Device.

[fmedina]

So I guess I should be selling my little Roku box on ebay. I bought it with the expectation that it would eventually include DLNA compatible browsing of my local media. From what I am reading, there is little chance of that happening in 2011. I understand there might not be transcoding, but I was not expecting that.

I guess I should not have been cheap and just bought another PS3 🙂

What a dissapointment. I am happy with everything else Roku does, but not streaming local media is a deal breaker.

Thanks for the memories Roku!

[Arwen]

"fmedina" wrote:
So I guess I should be selling my little Roku box on ebay. I bought it with the expectation that it would eventually include DLNA compatible browsing of my local media. From what I am reading, there is little chance of that happening in 2011. I understand there might not be transcoding, but I was not expecting that.

I guess I should not have been cheap and just bought another PS3 🙂

What a dissapointment. I am happy with everything else Roku does, but not streaming local media is a deal breaker.

Thanks for the memories Roku!

Yes, sell it and move on. The Roku streaming
media player is not the end all, "One box to
rule them all". But no other box has earned
that title either.

Never buy a product for future features unless
those features are clearly advertised and the
company has a good reputation of following
through. Roku has a good reputation of
following through with advertised new features.
And Roku has never advertised DLNA support
for their streaming media player.

Caveat Emptor, (let the buyer beware).

[KirkNmaconGA]

I have a fix for DNLA and its easy

Go to http://www.gabilan.com (download the beta version) as of 01/20/11 Its FREE

its easy to setup...not like the others mentioned earlier

Download software
find the file or files that you need to share

oh yeah you need to get the channel..its a beta channel for gabby

https://owner.roku.com/Login/?ReturnUrl ... =gabbybeta
It gives you a warning about the page is not certified...but it works fine

So far so go for me...I just downloaded tonight as was able to watch downloaded video from my harddrive

Let me know how it works for you

Kirk
Macon GA

[destruk]

Threatening to sell something really isn't going to entice anyone to give you more help with your issue, and I doubt anyone at ROKU will lose sleep over whatever you decide.

[tdurrant420]

What one and for how much?

[Arwen]

Contrary to a recent prior post, there are
no DLNA fixes or options for the Roku
Streaming Player. At present, the Roku
software does not support DLNA.

DLNA is a very specific protocol and clearly
defined. Any device that claims DLNA support
would need to follow the protocol perfectly.

However, their are several options for LAN
or local media access on the Roku. They are
NOT DLNA to the Roku.