Roku Device Features, Settings & Updates

[Chaos101]

Kwese play/Econet went bankrupt yesterday and stopped their service. Is there anyway to change my Roku play to another service or is this going to be another piece of electronics sitting and collecting dust?

[jeffrok]

I looked this up.. This is a South African service? Most users on this forum are not from that region, so they'll not be able to help.

Are there no other services available for your Roku?

[Chaos101]

Yes this was a South African service and no Kwese was the only one. But what is the difference if we change to an overseas service. I stream youtube and netflix, if the services get a kick back from netflix etc, then the new service will get that as well?

[mario_dc]

Thanks for posting this as a topic. I agree that there has to be a way to bypass the Kwese Play service option on the Roku. I'm currently sitting with two units and the tech in me is refusing to believe that they are bricked due to 3rd party incompetence. I've been in discussion with the retail chain that sold me the unit, but would happily give a hard code restart to one of them as a test.

[Niems]

"mario_dc" wrote:
Thanks for posting this as a topic. I agree that there has to be a way to bypass the Kwese Play service option on the Roku. I'm currently sitting with two units and the tech in me is refusing to believe that they are bricked due to 3rd party incompetence. I've been in discussion with the retail chain that sold me the unit, but would happily give a hard code restart to one of them as a test.

Hi Mario, have you had any luck? It would be great if there was a way to re-flash these to the stock Roku system. 

[atc98092]

Unfortunately, there's no way to reflash a Roku device without connecting to their update servers. Your device is likely pointed at an Econet server, and there's no way to change it. You can't load firmware from a local file.

[Niems]

"atc98092" wrote:
Unfortunately, there's no way to reflash a Roku device without connecting to their update servers. Your device is likely pointed at an Econet server, and there's no way to change it. You can't load firmware from a local file.

Thanks atc98092. Unfortunate to hear. Seems like it will become a paper weight after all.
I heard that you cannot even jailbreak these devices, so I guess that would make re-flashing impossible as well.
It is quite infuriating that Econet were distributing these devices right up until their bankruptcy. In fact, some online stores are still selling them!

[atc98092]

Yeah, that's annoying a company would do that. And I've never been able to find any method of jailbreaking a Roku. Bummer for ya.  :cry:

[2pints]

Are these Roku units, or are they "Roku powered" units?

In the UK we have Now TV boxes/sticks etc that are Roku Powered, and there are also a small selection of Roku products available, form my understanding the same situation is repeated elsewhere:
 Rokus own hardware ( where available) thats reliant on Roku
and a Roku Powered hardware, that is reliant on whatever company is using it ( google image search Roku powered to see a vast array of equipment in this category)

What would be nice, and help reduce e-waste would be for Roku to provide a re flashing / unlocking service for these devices ( especially when the parent company has ceased trading) so that they become pure roku devices I'm sure that most people would be prepared to pay a reasonable ( ie not too much) price for such a service

[mario_dc]

Apologies for the radio silence - it's unfortunate that we can't re-flash these devices. I tried getting a refund from the retailer but they would only refund what I bought within the last year and of course only with original packaging, power cable, remote etc. All of which I have - but just on principle that they won't refund two devices I'm not purchasing there anymore.

The device is "Roku powered" Not too sure if that would provide a bypass. I'll tinker with it for interest sake and see what comes of it. Right now - it seems pretty useless. I think the tech is pretty redundant anyway considering the prices of smart TVs have dropped so much.

After this debacle I won't be using anything Roku either.