Forum Discussion

onebithead's avatar
onebithead
Channel Surfer
2 years ago
Solved

5GHz UNNI Channel Support

I have two 5GHz capable Roku devices but am struggling with identifying the exact 5GHz channels they support. From reading other posts (outside this community) it seems that older 5GHz 802.11n Roku players are limited to non DFS channels 36-48,149-161. Do the newer 802.11ac models have the same limitation? Are these specs posted anywhere?

If all the Roku players are limited to eight channels, are there any Roku product managers monitoring the community threads that can address this for future products? I would be highly surprised if the 802.11ac radios used in the current players have this limitation so I'm guessing the channels are limited in software for some reason. In the current state, the 5Ghz capable Roku players are blind to 17 5GHz channels which are commonly used in all higher-educational environments where these players will be deployed.

 

tv & player wifi
  • makaiguy's avatar
    makaiguy
    2 years ago

    In Roku OS version 12.0 DFS channel support was added for those models equipped with Realtek 13xx chips.  Per the Wikipedia Chart at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku#Feature_comparison, those models are:
     •   Streaming Stick 4K/4k+ (3820/3821)
     •   Express 4K/4k+ (3940/3941)
     •   Ultra/Ultra LT (4800/4801)

     

  • AvsGunnar's avatar
    AvsGunnar
    2 years ago

    MitchFlorida 

    If you have a 4800 model series Ultra, you should be DFS compatible.

    From Roku support article https://support.roku.com/article/21332729601687, the DFS "excluded" (non-supported) list comprise the following...

    The following streaming device models do not support DFS channels: 3600X, 3800X, 3810X, 3811X, 4200X, 4201X, 4205X, 4210X, 4210X2, 4230X, 4230X, 4230X2, 4620X, 4630X, 4640X, 4660X, 4660X2, 4670R, 6301X, 6302X, 6303X, 6102X, 6103X, 6104X, 6106X, 6107X, 6108X, 6109X, 6110X, 6112X, 6113X, 6114X, 6402X, 6403X, 6404X, 6405X, 6406X, 6407X, 6408X, 6409X, 9101X

    ----

    I was able to previously test my RokuTV, my Streambar 9102, and Express 4k+ 3941 and they all worked on DFS as indicated.  My Ultra 4660 is not supported and thus was not able to use DFS.

    I do not personally use DFS, but for those that can get some benefit from DFS, good to see Roku starting to offer support/compatibility.

20 Replies

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert
    2 years ago

    So far, all Roku 5GHz capable devices do not support DFS channels. There's been talk about changing it, but so far it's not happening. Since DFS channels are restricted in power levels (half the power) permitted in many regions (including the US and Canada) it's probably simpler for Roku to just not use those channels instead of having to deal with the lower power levels and the lower connectivity issues that would go along with it. 

    And there's 12 channels on 5 GHz that Roku devices can use, not eight. 

    • atc98092's avatar
      atc98092
      Community Streaming Expert
      2 years ago

      I was provided an update from someone that knows Roku devices better than I do. Apparently Roku added DFS channel support starting with OS 12.0 for the devices that use the latest Realtek 13xx chips, That's starting with the Ultra 4800, and includes the latest 4K Streaming Stick and the Express 4K. No idea if any Roku TV supports them, since we don't know what hardware is used in the TVs. 

      • onebithead's avatar
        onebithead
        Channel Surfer
        2 years ago

        That's really good to know as I do have a 4K device but its wired. I will need to take some OTA captures and see what channels it actually scans..

        Thanks again for your help!

    • onebithead's avatar
      onebithead
      Channel Surfer
      2 years ago

      Whoops, forgot to count 149-161 🙂 Thank you for correcting me...

      For most homes this not an issue so I fully understand Roku taking this path as most customers will only have one AP. I have eight so I'm not a typical customer 🙂 Not a big deal, as I can quickly create a new AP group and remove the UNNI 2E and ISM channels for a few APs.

      Thanks again for your help!

       

      • atc98092's avatar
        atc98092
        Community Streaming Expert
        2 years ago

        Yeah, I have a few APs in my home as well. Just added a mesh system, so testing that out. I now have an AP within four feet of my Premiere, and it's still only reporting about a 20 Mbps connection. But that's a hardware limitation on that particular Roku, especially since it's 2.4 GHz only. My Ultra 4800 is only a few feet away from a 802.11ac AP, and it reports 230 Mbps, which is more than double the possible speed using Ethernet on it. But I've also tested the Ultra using fixed bit rate videos over the USB connection, and it can't play a 250 Mbps video without buffering. So that's the limit using existing hardware for them. It can still play my UHD movie rips from my DLNA server, which has average bit rates of around 80 Mbps, with peaks exceeded 150.