Roku Developer Program

[philsoft]

At this time I would like to introduce all of the fine folks that were not around for the HD DVD / Blu-ray format war. When Blu-ray was "chosen" as the successor to DVD, it was known at that time that Blu-ray would be much more DRM, as opposed to HD DVD, which was going to be more open.

In spite of this Blu-ray won that format war, and it would be (I have no doubt) astonishing to most of us, to learn just how many of those screaming today, fought to put us right where they find themselves.

[bbefilms]

OK, found the answer in another earlier thread when the Roku DVP became available:

"RokuTaylor" wrote:
You will only be able to get HD resolutions on HDMI with HDCP support. Component video outputs are limited to 480p for copyrighted content because there is no copy protection.

I haven't seen this documented elsewhere. I didn't realize that it upconverts SD on the HDMI as well...

[KennyJ]

Interesting. The HD content on Netflix looks nicer than 480p on my component setup.

[bbefilms]

...but this from the Roku FAQ:

Playing HD movies and TV shows on your Roku player
Both Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand offer high-definition (HD) content. To play HD content you must:

1. Own a Roku HD player (also known as the Netflix Player) or HD-XR player.
2. Use an HDMI or Component video cable to connect your Roku player to an HDTV.
...
You’ll know that you’re getting HD when the “HDâ€

[KennyJ]

I can confirm that I get the "HD" logo when streaming HD content from Amazon or Netflix using component.

I did switch my Roku to HDMI to see if I could see a difference. One thing I did notice is that HDMI does give me a brighter picture (could just be my settings for each input though) -- but the picture quality doesn't seem any different otherwise.

[kc8pql]

"KennyJ" wrote:
I can confirm that I get the "HD" logo when streaming HD content from Amazon or Netflix using component.

I did switch my Roku to HDMI to see if I could see a difference.

I also did side by side HD comparisons. I couldn't tell any difference between the two on my setup, so I use component for the Roku to free up the HDMI port for an upscaling DVD player that won't work through component.