RokuXD in store at Wal Mart

[dfergie]

I just returned from Wal Mart, they have the RokuXD for $78 in store here...

 

[concord]

Interesting, another made in china product for WalMart to sell . Even though I have one, I wish Roku would produce them in USA instead of overseas.

With today's automation of the factory line and use of Automatic Test Equipment (I used to be an ATE Test Design Engineer in the 80's), they can be made cheaply here, however they have to put up with all the regs (i.e. EPA). Too bad many of the sub-contract companies have either closed their doors or moved overseas (i.e. Solectron, bought out by Flextronics out of Singapore) and closed the plant near IBM (here) some time after IBM sold thinkpad to a Chinese company.

 

[dfergie]

I would try if they had the XDS, but I am about to pull the trigger on a Popcorn box for lossless audio...

 

[mastermesh]

I broke down and got one because we are giving up cable, and we are in a basement apartment without a balcony, so fta is out of the question.

It's a pretty nifty little device. The real neat stuff is in the private channels if you can find the the codes for them. I bought my Roku from Walmart on Sunday and have started the journey. There really needs to be a What's On there section for Roku since it's very similar to the same sort of issue that the FTA folks have.

Here's the channel codes I've found on various forums and online lists so far:
1080p Showcase 1080p
ABC Australia ABCAU
Al Jazeera ALJZ
Aljazeera EA7NG
American Movie Classics: 71B0Y
AnomaliesTV: XM7EG
AP’s Top News Headlines Screensaver BRYKR
Archive Classic Movies: WSW1P
Archive.org: NMJS5
AvalonPC YW0AS
Badpuppy bptv69
BBC BBCN
BBC SGWTZ
BBC World News BBCN
BYUtv BYUTVBETA
CBC CBCPOD
Chaneru SHZFF
Chaneru 0.4: EXPEL
Channel9 channel9
Charlie Rose charlierose
Christian Video Pix DKHAU
CNN RBFA1
CNN International CNNI
Democracy Now! DEMOCRACYNOW
Dmedia IPTV FUWMW
Earth-Touch HD 03VG9
EroticVision.TV IBRYL
EroticVision.TV – Gay HOMO
EroticVision.TV (Adult): IBRYL
Filmon FilmOn
FlickStream TV WVS3B
Food Network Nighttime FNNIGHT
France 24 G54GC
Funny or Die IU1VY
G54GC France 24
Gabby Beta gabbybeta
Google Maps GMAP
Google Voice: NXFBW
HGTV HGTV
HSN HSN
Hubblecast HD: 9OFQX
Hungrynation HUNGRY
Indy Mogul FILMY
Instant Watch Channel Lite J8XB5
ITunes Podcasts ITPC
IPTV My Way IPTVMYWAY
Jupiter Broadcasting ARB6K
Justin.TV JustinTV
Kelby TV kelby
Last.FM: X0MCZ
LDS Video Podcasts: TMLJW
LED Clock Screensaver QZB4N
LinkTV LinkTV
LinkTV LinkTV
Live TV Streams livetvnow
Mormon Channel byurocks
Movie Splash moviesplash
MRC TV MRCTV
Mummy Box livetvnow
NASA TV (Private): HIBMX
NHK World NHK
Nowhere Forecaster GIN8E
Nowhere Porn 32ZUX
Nowhere TV/Pod TV H9DWC
Nuod Tayo TV K49NL
Onion News Network ONN
PBS PBS
PBS PBS
Phoenix Traffic 9MQBZ
Picasa Web: NEJXJ
Pink Label pinklabel
Pink TV (Adult): CJ3Y4
PlayOn Personal MYPLAYON
Plex PLEX
Pod TV: H9DWC
Positive Peak Radio & TV MNYVP
PressTV ASV5R
Pub-D-Hub: ZFJB5
RadioReference.com ENGBH
Re/Max: G8VAR
Red Bull Sports REDBULLTV
RETRO TV MRCTV
Revelation TV revelationtv
Rohin RISHAB
Roksbox: P1KWQ
RT America RTAMERICA
Russia Today America RTAMERICA
Russia Today News English RTNEWS
Russia TV VXRTU
Russian Channels / Live TVTEKA
sarnav sarnav
SCMDL (secretly branded) Channel: CAFEH
Simple Weather: IFUIN
snagfilms YTIYX
Soundcloud LITE SCROKUBW
StraightCollegeMen.com Channel HWTIC
SubsonicTV Latest Release | SubsonicTV
sunimi.com SUNIMI
TackleBox FISH
tagesschau K8BVY
TED Talks LORYR
Teletica Canal 7 Costa Rica 9RRFU
Television Shopping Channel TVS
TERRA Nature of our World F3SIG
The Onion News Network ONN
This is my next ThisIsMyNext
TikiLive TV tikilive
Traffic Cam demo 9MQBZ
TV.com TVCOM
TVTEKA.com – Russian Live / Timeshift tvteka
Twitter Screensaver V8MRS
Universities of California TV UCTV
USB Media Browser: KGULU
Ustream: IN4DN
USTVnow ustvnow
USTVNOW.COM USTVNOW
VibesWorkshop ZZTGX
Viddler Viddler
Videobox Player F6D9K
Weather Radar radar
WineUpTV WineUpTV
Woot BPPIM
Woot: BPPIM
YouPorn SKOX7
YouTube B8VVK
Youtube: B8VVK
YUi Theater yui
WASHINGTON BANGLA RADIO MUQXX
retrovision retrovision

I'm keeping updates to this list over at Roku Channel Names and various Podcast urls « Jeff Thomann's Blog if I add anymore updates. I might not add more updates there since I really don't want it all dissappearing like fta clear channels have a tendency to do sometimes... But really, this is a bit different than fta since a lot of this stuff is podcasts that the providers are actively sending out to the world. There's also a lot more channels than the above in the 'channel store'. Unfortunately, the cheap walmart version of the roku can only hold around 30 channels in the main menu at any time - give or take 10 or so, depending on which channels you use and how much memory they use. The one you can buy online for twice the cost of the walmart one holds about twice as many since memory is twice as big, but really, since everything is stored in channel store after you enter the private channel codes, and you can swap stuff in and out of the store and main menu any time, that's not that big of a deal. Supposedly they are working on figuring out a way to work around that memory limit in the near future.

I've got Playon from a few years back and am working on downloading all the plugins for it too. Playon lets you get hulu without huluplus. Roku can't do youtube or hulu itself without the huluplus because google is pushing for google tv and hulu is trying to break any system that delivers the free hulu on to a real tv. You can do netflix on roku too, but we probably won't since there's plenty of other stuff out there. Just having the ability to have winamp type channel for radio without using cpu cycles on the computer makes roku worth the price imho.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I love my ROKU, only problem is I am out of memory to add more channels.

 

[TNGTony]

TV.Com no longer works on Roku. It will bring up a menu, but none of the programs will play. The code is no longer valid on the ROKU page
France 24 code listed above no longer works on Roku. unlike TV.Com, the France 24 icon has been removed from "My Channels"
FILMON causes both my Roku machines to reboot every time.
USTVNOW is only available from foreign IPs It does not work in the US You have to register on their web site.
PLEX adds the channel to the "My Channels" list, but I have yet to be able to connect to their server and it kicks me back out to the Home screen
RetroTV code is invalid

Thanks for all the codes. I knew about some of these but not all,

 

[TNGTony]

The channel listed as "American Movie Classics" is really "American Classic Movies" it is a royalty free movie channel that is available in the basic channels store.

 

[tigerfan33]

How do you bring these channels up to put in the access code?

 

[digiblur]

The newer rokus have more memory. I also saw their XD box at WalMart...I saw the box and said "They finally did it!" They were in a weird place with low traffic area at my store.

I rarely watch my Roku anymore though as I moved it to the back bedroom as the Boxee Box won me over and retired the Roku to the back TV.

 

[TNGTony]

To add the channels
Go to Roku Streaming Player | Watch Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and MLB.TV on Roku Player - click on log in to your account. Enter you user name and password to log in. Then click on "My Account" at the top right of the screen. Click "Add Private Channel". Enter the code. Follow the prompts. When completed, on the ROKU remote, press the HOME button. Find the channel store and select it. Once the channel store populates, press the home button again and that will force the new channel to appear.

Have fun!

 

[Ilya]

mastermesh, thank you for putting together the list! Very interesting!
It would be helpful to know which of those channels are free, and which require subscription.
If someone tried any of these channels, please post your comments.
Personally, the private channels I tried so far: YouTube and USB (before Roku released its own USB player)
Both worked fine for me.

P.S. Here is another thread on this: http://www.satelliteguys.us/249702-private-channels-roku-2.html