HBO Max launches on Roku 12/17/2020

[ncted]

My current go-to in the living room is an NVIDIA Shield with AppleTV 4K as needed. Roku Ultra 2018 and Firestick 4K are also there if needed. The other TVs in the house all have Firestick 4Ks still. Anything more expensive would be wasted on those smaller, less used TVs.

FWIW: I've been struggling with getting my Shield in a few respects:

1. When watching with BT headphones, I get audio dropouts that I don't get with the same headphones on ATV4K or FS4K.
2. Also, while watching with BT headphones, I get noticeably dropped frames, especially when resuming from pause.
3. A lot of apps only give me 2.0 Stereo. I thought I had fixed the problem by disabling Dolby Digital Processing on most apps, but it returned after a couple of days.

At this point, we are primarily using the ATV4K with the Shield as a secondary device. Not that it is without problems. Hulu only has 2.0 Stereo, and the remote situation is annoying.

 

[KAB]

At this point, we are primarily using the ATV4K with the Shield as a secondary device. Not that it is without problems. Hulu only has 2.0 Stereo, and the remote situation is annoying.

That's why you should add a Roku or Fire TV to the mix.

 

[Bruce]

That's why you should add a Roku or Fire TV to the mix.

Yep, right now we have a TCL 8 Series (Roku) and the Shield as a back up, which worked out well, the HBO Max app on the Roku was having issues with WW1984, so switched to the Shield.

I would use the Shield 100% because of the superior picture, but the wife has the Roku figured out, no way will she want to switch inputs and then use another remote, with Arc (sound system) and she is down to just one remote, the TCL Roku, she is now so happy that we no longer have at least 5 (TV, Cable/Sat. Box, Receiver, Streaming device, DVD/BR player ).

 

[ncted]

That's why you should add a Roku or Fire TV to the mix.

So, if you read the post I was quoting closely, you will see I have those as well in the Living Room. For completeness sake, here are some of the problems we have with the Roku and Firestick.

Roku Ultra:
1. Volume buttons on side is awkward.
2. Private listening with headphones causes device to reboot randomly.
3. Private listening with headphones has audio dropouts.
4. Every device and remote are another device using wi-fi, raising the noise floor and reducing speeds for all other devices on the wireless network.
5. Random reboots even when not using private listening.
6. Power-off doesn't work with 2014-era Sony TVs. It tries to put them to sleep, but they just wake back up after a few seconds.

Firestick 4K:
1. Very laggy performance with Disney+.
2. OMG. SO. MANY. ADS.
3. Clumsy UI design. Very inefficient for finding what you want to watch. Probably efficient for delivering ads though!

There are other issues with both which escape me at the moment. I will say the Firestick has our favorite remote of the bunch. I tried the cube and found additional software bugs FWIW.

 

[lparsons21]

ncted

Can’t argue with your assessment of the Roku and FireTV as much as I would like to. I tend to end up using the Roku Ulra 2020 that I have more than any other device though.

The search function just works so much better than my other devices and I’ve gotten used to the blasted volume/mute buttons being on the side. The picture quality is just superb and the audio performance is great too.

I also have a FireTV Cube 2nd gen. I like it for the speed with which it works, switching apps is just so quick compared to Roku or AppleTV4K and the remote is elegant in its simplicity. But, yeah those ads! The UI just really sucks IMO.

BTW, did your FireStick 4K get the new UI yet? Supposedly it is better.

 

[ncted]

BTW, did your FireStick 4K get the new UI yet? Supposedly it is better.

None of them seem to have gotten the new UI yet.

 

[lparsons21]

None of them seem to have gotten the new UI yet.

I was hoping that some had gotten it since putting it out there now would probably end up getting on the Cube sooner.

 

[ncted]

I was hoping that some had gotten it since putting it out there now would probably end up getting on the Cube sooner.

I have seen some pictures, but nothing to suggest it is somehow less messy than the current UI. Hopefully I am pleasantly surprised.

 

[KAB]

Here's an interesting story. I recorded the last two episodes of neXt on Fox OTA, it somehow got corrupted and would not play (error 05). My fox channel was part of Nexstar, and I knew better than to try to watch on FoxNow. Yesterday, I tried again on my Apple TV, and I got the "Call Dish", your channel is not available. Signed out, back in, no difference. Then tried my Roku Ultra. Same story. Then tried my rarely used Firstick in my office and IT WORKED! Don't know why, just FYI.

 

[Bobby]

Here's an interesting story. I recorded the last two episodes of neXt on Fox OTA, it somehow got corrupted and would not play (error 05). My fox channel was part of Nexstar, and I knew better than to try to watch on FoxNow. Yesterday, I tried again on my Apple TV, and I got the "Call Dish", your channel is not available. Signed out, back in, no difference. Then tried my Roku Ultra. Same story. Then tried my rarely used Firstick in my office and IT WORKED! Don't know why, just FYI.

I was getting the channel not available earlier today on my AppleTV and Roku. It is up now and working fine.

 

[Howard Simmons]

Here's an interesting story. I recorded the last two episodes of neXt on Fox OTA, it somehow got corrupted and would not play (error 05). My fox channel was part of Nexstar, and I knew better than to try to watch on FoxNow. Yesterday, I tried again on my Apple TV, and I got the "Call Dish", your channel is not available. Signed out, back in, no difference. Then tried my Roku Ultra. Same story. Then tried my rarely used Firstick in my office and IT WORKED! Don't know why, just FYI.

Could it be that the dispute was over when you signed in?

 

[KAB]

Could it be that the dispute was over when you signed in?

It had been over for two days.

 

[Bobby]

It had been over for two days.

I find that it usually 48 hours or so for the disputed channels to get over to the streamers.

 

[KAB]

I find that it usually 48 hours or so for the disputed channels to get over to the streamers.

Good to know!

 

[Don in CT]

Wonder Woman 1984 was too long and it seemed to have a lot of material they could of cut out to speed the plot along. The actions sequences were few and far between. There was also too much touchy feely talk. But it was nice seeing Linda Carter in the Credits playing her scene. They even did it like a Marvel movie and let the credits end and then another scene. Loved her in the series.

Just finished it. Yes they should have cut 30 mins out of the movie. Way too long. The plot was good I didn't mind the slow movement. Overall I liked it.

 

[klang]

Finally watched WW84 last night. My friend and I were both disappointed. For me especially having just rewatched the previous one a couple weeks ago. Meh.

I did see that Warner Bros is happy enough that they have fast-tracked another sequel.

 

[Don in CT]

Finally watched WW84 last night. My friend and I were both disappointed. For me especially having just rewatched the previous one a couple weeks ago. Meh.

I did see that Warner Bros is happy enough that they have fast-tracked another sequel.

It wasn't a bad movie, just long and the plot was all over the place.

 

[klang]

It wasn't a bad movie, just long and the plot was all over the place.

I thought it was a waste actually. Hopefully they do better next time.

 

[Don in CT]

I thought it was a waste actually. Hopefully they do better next time.

I’m watching the first one now. Completely different movies.