grinningdog wrote:I'm fed up with problems with my two Samsung TV's and transcoding more recent movies so I've been looking for a better solution. I keep reading about Roku and it does look good but I don't want to waste money.
So, if I buy a Roku box (or 2!), is it going to allow me to watch x265 or remux videos? Which model? (bearing in mind I only want Serviio not all the subscription channels)
Do I use the Android apps from here?
And lastly, these seem a lot cheaper in the US. If I pick one up in May will it work in Europe?
TIA
Roku players have limited codec support, compared to say an Nvidia Shield. However, if your media has the supported codecs, in a supported container, the Roku is a reasonably priced option. If you have H.265 content, then you would need one of the Roku players that support 4K. That would be the Ultra, Streaming Stick+, or the Premiere/Premiere+ models. This are the current models available in North America. If your audio is something other than 2 channel AAC or Dolby Digital (or DTS if connected directly to an AVR), then the audio will require transcoding. However, audio transcoding requires very little computer power.
If you aren't interested in the other channels (apps) available, then there should be no issue using a Roku anywhere in the world. Many of the channels are geo-locked, and only work in certain countries, and they are aware of your location based on your IP address.
Roku doesn't run on Android, so no an Android app on a Roku doesn't work. It runs on a highly modified version of Linux, and the system is completely locked down, so you can't sideload anything into one unless you are a channel developer.
So, if your media is in a MKV/MOV/MP4/TS container, the video is H.264/265/MP4, and the audio is stereo AAC, Dolby Digital or DTS, then you can play them using the Roku Media Player without transcoding. However, if you have unsupported containers and/or codecs, paying a little more for an Nvidia Shield might be a better option. Also, you won't get captions on a Roku, unless you have SRT files. It can't decode embedded captions, while the Shield will.
EDIT: also, the latest 4K players also now support the MPEG-2 video codec.
Dan
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