10-06-2012, 07:48 AM
Roku Streaming Stick used with the OPPO BDP-103
The Roku Streaming Stick (RSS) works quite well with the OPPO 103. There are a few important gotchas I'll mention below.
The RSS plugs into the FRONT HDMI Input of the 103. It derives power from the "MHL" features of that Input. It will NOT work in the Rear HDMI Input because that input is not MHL-capable.
Once the RSS has had a chance to boot itself up, the Input menu on the 103 will change so that Front HDMI/MHL Input becomes Roku.
The RSS does not have its own remote control. It is operated using the remote control of the 103 (or any programmable remote control using the IR command set of the 103).
Audio and Video output of the RSS is processed by the Audio and Video system in the 103. Your choice of cabling and settings in the 103 will still apply when using the RSS.
The RSS provides access to the entire set of content Channels available in Roku's Channel Store. Browse those via the RSS itself. The RSS dynamically loads Channel apps (over the network) as needed. That is, if you add too many Channels to your set of My Channels, the Roku stick will keep the most recently used ones in its memory and will replace those with others as you select to use them. Basically this means you don't have to worry about how many Channels you have added to your My Channels list, nor do you have to manage the memory storage yourself. I've not found any Roku Channels that are excluded from the RSS.
The RSS also automatically manages any updates that might become available, both for its OWN firmware and for any of the Channel apps. Again, except for perhaps a delay accessing your chosen app due to the need to download it over the network, this is not something you'll ever have to worry about or manage yourself.
When you select the Front HDMI Input in the 103 (called Roku after it has booted up), you will initially see your current list of My Channels (scroll left right horizontally) along with an item to browse the Channel Store and another item for setting the operation settings of the RSS itself.
When you select one of your Channels from that list, then that Channel app starts and what you see and hear depends on the particular Channel you have selected.
Generally speaking, the buttons on the 103 remote will do just what you would expect while using the RSS or any of its Channels. However there are a couple special button mappings you need to know about.
The OPTION button on the 103 remote will bring up the currently appropriate CONTEXT MENU in the RSS. For example, if you want to manage your list of stations while in the Pandora app on the RSS you press Option and those choices will appear in a Context Menu that pops up on screen.
Or if you want to DELETE a Channel from your My Channels list, you scroll to that Channel and press Option and a Context Menu will appear offering that choice.
MEANWHILE, the POP-UP MENU button on the 103 remote is used as a shortcut back to the My Channels list. No matter how deep you are in the user interface of any of the Channel apps, pressing Pop-up Menu will exit that Channel app and return you to your My Channels list.
GOTCHA #1: If you mistakenly press Home on the 103 remote the 103 will switch back to its "Blu-ray Player" Input and will display its normal Home Menu. I.e., you will no longer be looking at the Roku Streaming Stick stuff.
The Roku Streaming Stick has its own, built-in Wifi. There is no way to make the RSS use the networking of the 103 itself. I presume they designed it this way because the RSS is intended to plug into a variety of TVs, etc., and they simply couldn't rely on networking being available through all of those in any useful way. Thus,....
GOTCHA #2: The RSS *REQUIRES* you have a Wifi setup. If you don't have Wifi networking, don't get the RSS
At the present time, the RSS seems to be extremely sensitive to the method of connection to the 103. I.e., using an HDMI extension or angle adapter may significantly impact the performance of the RSS. Also note that any such extension/adapter has to be able to handle the MHL flavor of HDMI. This sensitivity may be something Roku and OPPO can adjust over time. In fact there is new firmware I'm testing now that may already address this. But UNTIL WE KNOW FOR SURE.....
GOTCHA #3: Assume the Roku Streaming Stick will have to be plugged DIRECTLY into the Front HDMI Input of the 103 -- which means it sticks out the front.
The amount it sticks out is quite a bit less than the free space you need in front for the 103's tray to open, but still, there it is. I have my RSS plugged in adjacent to a USB thumb drive stick I also use for testing, and the two of them are comparable.
The big advantage of the RSS is that it gives you access to the huge library of Channel apps Roku has collected. For example, they have the MOG music app, and the TuneIn Internet radio app. They have a ton of specialty channels as well. See the Roku site to check on your favorite app.
Roku recently added VUDU as an available Channel app, which means the one, high-profile app they are still missing is a YouTube app.
In regards content accessibility, the RSS is identical to a stand-alone Roku solution. If you ALREADY HAVE a Roku box, then there may be no reason to get the RSS. Indeed you might want to try plugging your existing Roku box into the Front or Rear HDMI Input of the 103.
The advantage of the RSS is that it is already integrated with the 103 as regards, e.g., remote control functions.
Now, the processor power in the RSS is less than what's available in the 103. This is most noticeable playing Channels that do high-end Video, or that have complicated User Interfaces. Indeed you'll find that some of the Channel apps have simplified User Interfaces for just this reason.
Thus the 103 includes *NATIVE* apps as well -- e.g., Netflix, VUDU, YouTube, Pandora, etc.
My recommendation is that even if you get the RSS, you should continue to use the NATIVE apps in the 103.
EXAMPLE: The native VUDU app in the 103 supports 3D. The Roku VUDU app on the RSS does not.
However, there's one reason you might want to use the Roku apps, which is that the RSS will output 1080p/24 and the 103 will retain that on HDMI 1 or HDMI 2 outputs. At the moment, the native apps in the 103 do not support 1080p/24 output. My personal preference is still to use the native apps in the 103 where available.
Another result of the processor speed in the RSS is that it takes something on the order of 2 minutes to boot itself up.
HOWEVER, if you have Quick Start enabled in the 103, the Front HDMI Input remains powered even while the 103 is "OFF", meaning the RSS *REMAINS* powered up and thus there's no delay in using it the next time you turn on the 103.
This is pretty cool, and another nifty reason to use Quick Start, but there is one very important Gotcha you need to be aware of...
GOTCHA #4: With Quick Start Enabled, the Roku Streaming Stick WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM even while the 103 is powered off!
I expect this will be addressed in future firmware, but at present, you need to remember to exit whatever Channel app is currently playing *BEFORE* your turn the 103 OFF (with Quick Start enabled). Otherwise that Channel app will remain active and streaming according to however that app works. Which is probably not something you want happening on your Internet connection.
Again, the easiest way to exit whatever Channel app you are using is to press Pop-Up Menu on the 103 remote, which will stop that app and return you to the My Channels list in the RSS.
NOTE: If there's something like a power failure, that will temporarily disable Quick Start (even when the power comes back up), so the RSS will be shut down.
Most users of the RSS on the 103 will want to immediately change some of its default settings. You do that using the Settings item found at one end of your My Channels list. In particular, the RSS defaults to 720p Video output and Stereo audio output. Most folks here will want to change those to 1080p and multi-channel.
There is a Factory Reset choice in there as well, but it is probably more likely that you'd want to know about the Reset button on the RSS itself.
If you press and release that Reset button it will simply force a reboot of the RSS -- no settings are changed. If you press and HOLD that button for quite a while, THEN the RSS settings all get reset and you can start over from scratch.
The RSS can be used with a "Game Controller". My understanding is that the RSS uses a new style of Roku Game Controller which connects to the RSS via what's known as "Wifi Direct". Wifi Direct is a variant of Wifi which lets two devices connect directly to one another in their own special Wifi networking without requiring any Wifi base station or router to be involved. In particular, this means the Game Controller can find and pair with the RSS without having to know anything about the name/password of your house Wifi networking.
I've not actually tried using the Game Controller, but I can see the RSS presenting its Wifi Direct as a Wifi choice, so that's what's going on if you see that as well.
The Roku Streaming Stick (RSS) works quite well with the OPPO 103. There are a few important gotchas I'll mention below.
The RSS plugs into the FRONT HDMI Input of the 103. It derives power from the "MHL" features of that Input. It will NOT work in the Rear HDMI Input because that input is not MHL-capable.
Once the RSS has had a chance to boot itself up, the Input menu on the 103 will change so that Front HDMI/MHL Input becomes Roku.
The RSS does not have its own remote control. It is operated using the remote control of the 103 (or any programmable remote control using the IR command set of the 103).
Audio and Video output of the RSS is processed by the Audio and Video system in the 103. Your choice of cabling and settings in the 103 will still apply when using the RSS.
The RSS provides access to the entire set of content Channels available in Roku's Channel Store. Browse those via the RSS itself. The RSS dynamically loads Channel apps (over the network) as needed. That is, if you add too many Channels to your set of My Channels, the Roku stick will keep the most recently used ones in its memory and will replace those with others as you select to use them. Basically this means you don't have to worry about how many Channels you have added to your My Channels list, nor do you have to manage the memory storage yourself. I've not found any Roku Channels that are excluded from the RSS.
The RSS also automatically manages any updates that might become available, both for its OWN firmware and for any of the Channel apps. Again, except for perhaps a delay accessing your chosen app due to the need to download it over the network, this is not something you'll ever have to worry about or manage yourself.
When you select the Front HDMI Input in the 103 (called Roku after it has booted up), you will initially see your current list of My Channels (scroll left right horizontally) along with an item to browse the Channel Store and another item for setting the operation settings of the RSS itself.
When you select one of your Channels from that list, then that Channel app starts and what you see and hear depends on the particular Channel you have selected.
Generally speaking, the buttons on the 103 remote will do just what you would expect while using the RSS or any of its Channels. However there are a couple special button mappings you need to know about.
The OPTION button on the 103 remote will bring up the currently appropriate CONTEXT MENU in the RSS. For example, if you want to manage your list of stations while in the Pandora app on the RSS you press Option and those choices will appear in a Context Menu that pops up on screen.
Or if you want to DELETE a Channel from your My Channels list, you scroll to that Channel and press Option and a Context Menu will appear offering that choice.
MEANWHILE, the POP-UP MENU button on the 103 remote is used as a shortcut back to the My Channels list. No matter how deep you are in the user interface of any of the Channel apps, pressing Pop-up Menu will exit that Channel app and return you to your My Channels list.
GOTCHA #1: If you mistakenly press Home on the 103 remote the 103 will switch back to its "Blu-ray Player" Input and will display its normal Home Menu. I.e., you will no longer be looking at the Roku Streaming Stick stuff.
The Roku Streaming Stick has its own, built-in Wifi. There is no way to make the RSS use the networking of the 103 itself. I presume they designed it this way because the RSS is intended to plug into a variety of TVs, etc., and they simply couldn't rely on networking being available through all of those in any useful way. Thus,....
GOTCHA #2: The RSS *REQUIRES* you have a Wifi setup. If you don't have Wifi networking, don't get the RSS
At the present time, the RSS seems to be extremely sensitive to the method of connection to the 103. I.e., using an HDMI extension or angle adapter may significantly impact the performance of the RSS. Also note that any such extension/adapter has to be able to handle the MHL flavor of HDMI. This sensitivity may be something Roku and OPPO can adjust over time. In fact there is new firmware I'm testing now that may already address this. But UNTIL WE KNOW FOR SURE.....
GOTCHA #3: Assume the Roku Streaming Stick will have to be plugged DIRECTLY into the Front HDMI Input of the 103 -- which means it sticks out the front.
The amount it sticks out is quite a bit less than the free space you need in front for the 103's tray to open, but still, there it is. I have my RSS plugged in adjacent to a USB thumb drive stick I also use for testing, and the two of them are comparable.
The big advantage of the RSS is that it gives you access to the huge library of Channel apps Roku has collected. For example, they have the MOG music app, and the TuneIn Internet radio app. They have a ton of specialty channels as well. See the Roku site to check on your favorite app.
Roku recently added VUDU as an available Channel app, which means the one, high-profile app they are still missing is a YouTube app.
In regards content accessibility, the RSS is identical to a stand-alone Roku solution. If you ALREADY HAVE a Roku box, then there may be no reason to get the RSS. Indeed you might want to try plugging your existing Roku box into the Front or Rear HDMI Input of the 103.
The advantage of the RSS is that it is already integrated with the 103 as regards, e.g., remote control functions.
Now, the processor power in the RSS is less than what's available in the 103. This is most noticeable playing Channels that do high-end Video, or that have complicated User Interfaces. Indeed you'll find that some of the Channel apps have simplified User Interfaces for just this reason.
Thus the 103 includes *NATIVE* apps as well -- e.g., Netflix, VUDU, YouTube, Pandora, etc.
My recommendation is that even if you get the RSS, you should continue to use the NATIVE apps in the 103.
EXAMPLE: The native VUDU app in the 103 supports 3D. The Roku VUDU app on the RSS does not.
However, there's one reason you might want to use the Roku apps, which is that the RSS will output 1080p/24 and the 103 will retain that on HDMI 1 or HDMI 2 outputs. At the moment, the native apps in the 103 do not support 1080p/24 output. My personal preference is still to use the native apps in the 103 where available.
Another result of the processor speed in the RSS is that it takes something on the order of 2 minutes to boot itself up.
HOWEVER, if you have Quick Start enabled in the 103, the Front HDMI Input remains powered even while the 103 is "OFF", meaning the RSS *REMAINS* powered up and thus there's no delay in using it the next time you turn on the 103.
This is pretty cool, and another nifty reason to use Quick Start, but there is one very important Gotcha you need to be aware of...
GOTCHA #4: With Quick Start Enabled, the Roku Streaming Stick WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM even while the 103 is powered off!
I expect this will be addressed in future firmware, but at present, you need to remember to exit whatever Channel app is currently playing *BEFORE* your turn the 103 OFF (with Quick Start enabled). Otherwise that Channel app will remain active and streaming according to however that app works. Which is probably not something you want happening on your Internet connection.
Again, the easiest way to exit whatever Channel app you are using is to press Pop-Up Menu on the 103 remote, which will stop that app and return you to the My Channels list in the RSS.
NOTE: If there's something like a power failure, that will temporarily disable Quick Start (even when the power comes back up), so the RSS will be shut down.
Most users of the RSS on the 103 will want to immediately change some of its default settings. You do that using the Settings item found at one end of your My Channels list. In particular, the RSS defaults to 720p Video output and Stereo audio output. Most folks here will want to change those to 1080p and multi-channel.
There is a Factory Reset choice in there as well, but it is probably more likely that you'd want to know about the Reset button on the RSS itself.
If you press and release that Reset button it will simply force a reboot of the RSS -- no settings are changed. If you press and HOLD that button for quite a while, THEN the RSS settings all get reset and you can start over from scratch.
The RSS can be used with a "Game Controller". My understanding is that the RSS uses a new style of Roku Game Controller which connects to the RSS via what's known as "Wifi Direct". Wifi Direct is a variant of Wifi which lets two devices connect directly to one another in their own special Wifi networking without requiring any Wifi base station or router to be involved. In particular, this means the Game Controller can find and pair with the RSS without having to know anything about the name/password of your house Wifi networking.
I've not actually tried using the Game Controller, but I can see the RSS presenting its Wifi Direct as a Wifi choice, so that's what's going on if you see that as well.