Side by Side Comparison of: Western Digital vs Roku

Hopefully this is helpful to people who buy this product as I couldn't find the answer when I wanted to buy this. We had a 1.5TB that was full of movies and TV series. We upgraded to a 6TB hard drive and our TV wouldn't acknowledge it, so we wondered if this product would. After researching, I couldn't find a direct answer about 6TB but others were reporting they had success with 4TB.Considering this is a WD product and our 6TB HDD was WD, I took a gamble. I'm happy to report that this product DID read our 6TB drive. It works great.The only drawback is that it doesn't play files continuously, if that makes sense. So, for instance, if I'm watching a TV series from my HDD that all episodes are in the same folder, once one episode is done, it goes back to the main screen and makes me select the next episode to play rather than automatically playing the next file. This could be a settings adjustment, not sure. But I did go through all the settings and have had no luck.

I use the WD TV player to stream videos from a Windows-based server. It paired easily with my WiFi router -- and CAT5. The really cool thing about this box is its flexibility. It plays pretty much every format that I've tried (with the exception of a very small few with an odd frame rate that were easily converted into more popular formats using Handbrake). You can also plug a USB hard drive or thumb drive into the front and back of the device to read the files locally. It boots quickly. The screen UI and remote control are pleasing and easy to use.Tip #1: You can use a program such as WDTVHubGen to download cover jpegs and xml metadata for your movies -- as well as properly rename your movies into a consistent filename format -- which allows you to show movie summaries and images in the various views provided by the player.Tip #2: Once you have the movie metadata generated by WDTVHubGen, you can select a movie, press the Options button on the remote, and choose Look Up Info on Flixster. Assuming that you've hooked up WiFi/Cat5 network access, it will take you to a panel showing the Flixster info about the movie, its cast, reviews, and (some) let you play a trailer.

I did a lot of research before buying this device, and I am debating whether I will send it back right now. Everything in these reviews is fairly accurate but some comments are misleading. The interface isn't great, its what it is for the price. It does NOT playback all of your media, although when it does it does so sufficiently and it supports a lot of formats and the subtitles that may or may not go with it. If you watch a lot of anime, then probably you have some amount of HVEC or 10-bit files and you may or may not be aware of this. This device will NOT play these files, which unfortunately are the bulk of what I wanted to watch. I basically didn't want to sit in front of my computer anymore watching Japanese anime and this was going to be my solution, it isn't. Everything else I have found it plays well. Every now and then I get a random reboot, but for the normal types of files its pretty much what I expected and I know I can get firmware updates, etc from WD vs. some random manufacturer, so I think for most people this may be a good choice. I really need a full out PC/media center to play my collection.The reviews that say that it will play all of your files are simply wrong. It does play a lot of file types for what you pay for, so I have decided to keep it.You can download the full manual from the WD website and look at page 209 in the Appendix and it will list the supported file types. HEVC is not listed. If your inclined, handbrake is pretty easy to use and you can re-encode your problematic files to MP4/MKV and they should work. Subtitles are always problematic, but I haven't had any problems yet.

I'm pretty frigging impressed. I used to just hookup my laptop to stream from my cloud, but my laptop was starting to burn up as well as my small form desktop I use. This is so much easier and I didn't know it came with all the apps built in. I'm a network admin by trade. I gotta step my game up on this stuff as I've always just streamed from laptops or small desktops.I ran Cat 5 around my house and wont hook up things wireless if I don't have to. I hard wired this as well.It's funny reading all the bitching about this unit in other reviews. Setup isn't rocket science, it's quite easy actually. Perhaps your cluttered network you built at your pad is the problem. Having a 1000 things going back wirelessly to your router may cause a lot of latency. Maybe you have viruses or are streaming the world. Or if you are on the other side of the earth ( i.e wireless connection 5 rooms over in the basement ) could be it as well. This is a dumb box with a little OS, that's it. As soon as I plugged in, it went to the setup screen, found my cloud ( WD 3TB ) and poof, done, worked. No harm no foul. I keep all the files I use local to my main desktop and nightly use SyncBack Free ( great mirror software ) to copy all to my cloud.If having issues, I wouldn't blame the unit per say, I would check out ALL peripherals and systems around your house before I blame this thing. As stated, it's dumb, it's just a point and connect.One thing it doesn't like is hitting my main system in my office, so screw it, just push it all to the cloud.The apps are great as well. Docudrama is a great station as I'm a documentary nut and will watch anything.All in all I'm stoked. Got an open box deal for just over $50 and may buy another one for my front TV. I wont get cable or Direct TV again as it's simply costs way too much. This works perfectly fine for my needs.ThanxDavid

So this is my 5th media player and the most expensive. The first one broke after a year of good service but had been discontinued, so there was no replacement available. The 2nd didn't work. The third didn't work. The 4th worked well enough but didn't give me what I specifically needed and this is important to me: As I am hard of hearing in the human speech range (too much Deep Purple at #11), no matter which center channel I use in my surround system (and I've tried some very good ones), when I'm watching movies the dialogue sounds muddy to me. However, the garbage speakers in my big screen TV actually clear up the dialogue enough, so if I route the sound through my 5.1 receiver and my TV at the same time, I can understand speech and still get surround sound plus butt-kicking bass out of my powered sub. But most media players can't do this. It's one or the other.Before buying this unit I spoke to a tech at WD and he assured me this player could play both audio playback systems at the same time. And it does so beautifully. I route an audio optical cable from the player to my 5.1 receiver (I needed a splitter because of my blu ray player but that was no big deal) and an HDMI cable for video and audio from the player to my TV and I'm extremely happy with the results. The receiver more than overwhelms all audio from the TV except dialogue, which is perfect and finding a sonic balance between them was a snap. For source material, I'm using flash drives with movies, which I patch into the handy front USB port.The remote is a delight. There is a minimum of buttons (thank goodness) and those are logically laid out. The remote has the feel of hard rubber, so it's easier to hold and operate than any other remote I own. Some reviews of this unit complain about the long wait time from pushing a button on the remote to getting something to happen but I didn't find that to be the case at all.There is way more to this unit than playing movies from flash drives and, because of my specific user needs, it's unlikely that I'll ever need it. The online user manual, for example, has 244 pages and I used maybe 3 to get a quick handle on playing movies from a flash drive, which is total simplicity. Like, I went through the setup guide and there was nothing I needed to adjust. How nice is that?Maybe if I used the WD TV Media Player for more than I do, I might find fault with it. But for my needs, it's 5 stars.

This box is great for what I need it for. I don't use Netflix, I don't like Netflix and I will never subscribe to it, so that is irrelevant to me. I connect a 2 TB hard drive to it and play movies, music and watch pictures. This box does all those beautifully and much better than most competitors using the Realtek 1186 chipset like those from KDlinks and Micca. The WD player can do things the others cannot, like resuming a large music file after shutdown. Also, the startup time is very fast compared to others made by Micca for example, because it doesn't actually shut down, it just goes to low power sleep. So it takes about 15 seconds to go from off to playing something. The GUI is very pleasant and much more refined than the competitors as well. Is it perfect? No. I did have a few glitches at first and sometimes I need to restart the whole thing (rarely, but it happens). Also, customer service is a complete joke. I wrote them a question and they responded after 10 days with a stupid form letter that was totally useless. But the bottom line is if what you need is a fast, reliable, easy-to-use media player then this one is fairly priced and is more refined than most of the other ones out there.

I LOVE my Roku - most especially the headphones jack in the remote. For 20+ years my poor husband has had to sleep with the tv on (loudly) while he prefers silence. Now, I can doze in and out with the tv on as loudly as I want and he sleeps like a baby! Love it!The ONLY thing I don't like is that some of the apps that come with it automatically are very misleading. One is called something like freeflicks (or something like that) and when I first opened it, a number of adult films appeared on the screen. I have two young kids and was really taken aback that this happened. I haven't figured out how to delete that app from it but I'll keep looking into it. Just be wary of those.

I recently purchased this Roku 3 after purchasing a Roku TV several months ago for my bedroom. I had never used it with cable so I was used to using the Roku system in my room for the few times that I watch TV. I put the Roku 3 into my living room for my kids to get a feel for in order for me to find out whether or not I can cut my cable bill and just keep Wi-Fi. I also purchased an Android TV box as well and the Roku 3 is much more user-friendly for a six and nine year old. I think it has plenty to offer and I have hooked it up with Plex on my main computer and it seems to stream well. The only thing I don't like about it is that it needs to be manually powered on and off but I fixed that with an extension cord with a foot pedal that I bought at my local Walmart. All you have to do is step on it to turn the power on and step on it to turn the power off. Overall, I would recommend this box if you are looking for something that works for the kids. I don't watch too much TV but it's good for when we do sit down and use it. If you don't have accounts with Hulu or Netflix, you may desire a little bit more but I do and it's great!

I subscribe to all of the home theater and computer magazines and every time I've run across a comparison test of streaming boxes Roku has come up on top. I have 3 Roku's in use within my house and all have performed flawlessly. I previously used an Apple box and it was pain having to load externally acquired videos using iTunes plus it had a limited channel selection. The best feature is the the USB port which provides you the the opportunity to burn videos and pictures to a flash drive and play/show the files via their Media channel. My only complaint is the USB channel will not play back the compressed format Xvid but will play most other popular formats like mp4 and mkv.

I am in the midst of "cutting the cord" and we began with this device. Chose the Roku3 over the 2 for the remote with voice search capabilities. I didn't get the Roku4 because I don't see the real need in 4k (yet). The Roku is an "always on" device. There is no power button. I've noticed it freeze up a few times which required me to pull the plug. I'm guessing its not able to handle all of the apps that are running in the background. Other than that issue, the apps load quickly and its working just fine. One major reason I chose the Roku is it won't have brand specific recognition. For example: The Apple TV will attempt to only show apple specific apps or available shows. The Google version does the same towards the google products. And same for the Amazon stick. But the Roku will tell me that a certain movie is available (for instance) on 5 apps, 4 cost money, but 1 is free on a different app. Making it less costly overall by not purchasing unneeded items. It was very easy to learn for me, my wife, my 8 year old, and even grandma! If you are planning to cut the cord or just want to make a dumb TV a smart TV, choose the Roku.[...]

Update:This is now working perfectly, and I really like the product. Please purchase from a seller you trust with a decent return policy and NOT from Roku directly, just in case there is a problem. Roku's customer service and technical support are terrible. I'm confident that amazon would've taken care of me if it came to that. And in case you experience the same problem I described in my review, I fixed it myself by performing a factory reset. After hours with technical support and speaking to multiple people, not one of them suggested this. My next step would've been returning it to amazon if I didn't figure out how to fix it myself.Original Review:Summarized:* My unit is brand new and defective (bought it 3 weeks ago}* I've spent hours working with tech support without any resolution* I have 70 days left (out of 90) of free tech support* They charge money for tech support!!!!* Tech support is outsourced to India and you'll experience different standards in professionalism than what you were hoping for.* Don't spend more for voice search feature, it will recognize less than half of the shows and movies you ask for.* Roku doesn't stand behind their own products.Full story:I have been using roku devices for many years, since the first model roku. I've recommended roku many times. This was my 4th roku purchase, and for the first time I am disgusted with this company. Not the product (hey, defects happen) but with Roku support team. You should know in advance what you'll be up against in case you receive a defective unit.The unit I received mostly works. The defect is that it will not work with the roku app, even though they're connected to the same network. I've tried this with 2 smartphones and 2 tablets, all four devices connect flawlessly to my old roku 3 (2013 model). But they are unable to detect or discover this new unit. To some, this issue may seem minor, but we are constantly losing these little black remotes so this is not a defect I can tolerate in a brand new roku. Especially considering the price.So I contacted Roku support using their live chat option and they started troubleshooting, giving instructions to turn off my phone, roku, router & modem and then turn everything back on in reverse order, then contact them again with my case number.Next person made me repeat many of the same troubleshooting steps, Uninstall and reinstall the app, repeat info over and over, and then, finally... Blamed my phone, giving no reason for that conclusion. Please! Bought my phone 2 months before the roku. There is not a thing wrong with my galaxy s6. So I tried explaining why I know the roku is defective but she kept arguing without giving any reasons in a "no it's not" "yes it is" kind of argument. Frustrated I asked for a supervisor. Was told I would have to wait for supervisor to call me back within the hour. I did not receive any calls.Then I noticed a follow-up email after my first chat, checking to see that everything was okay. So I replied that my device is defective and that chat support is failing to resolve the issues. But roku email support never replied.It became clear that once they realize your problem is a defective unit they begin to either avoid you or blame anything else they can think of (your phone, your Internet, your router).So I gave up on chat and email support and called the number. After a couple minutes I was connected to a woman in their call center. Quickly recognized the accent was from India. (now the differing customer service standards are starting to make sense, we are in different worlds). This person spent a half hour trying to help me and then in the end, no surprise, she couldn't, she needed to forward the info to a supervisor because it sounds like my device has a defect, and I should wait for a call back. More waiting. No resolution.Don't think this situation is just me. This is what I found on contacthelpdotcom:{{Roku outsources its support to India. You will get connected to someone fairly quickly but likely won't get your issue resolved unless it fits into their script. In addition, don't expect a new unit as a replacement, as Roku "reserves the right" to send you a refurbished unit as a replacement. According to their Warranty, "Roku will either repair the unit or replace the unit with either a new or rebuilt Roku Product, at its option", which is a bit disturbing.}}Also found roku "support" stories much worse than mine. Many were told they had to pay a fee for tech support. I was told "don't worry, you have 70 days left of free tech support". Lol, I bought about 3 weeks ago, so if something fails after a mere 3 months don't expect free help from the manufacturer. The worst stories reported by several people were that roku needed to access their computer and then they were told about hacker/network problems that could be fixed for a fee that is several times more expensive than roku devices. These problems are all results of outsourcing tech support. Roku is obviously not in the business of repairing network problems. They shouldn't even be in the media streaming business since they fail to stand behind their product.

INTRODUCTION – The new Roku 3 is very easy to setup and use. The processor is extremely fast. The user interface makes accessing countless shows and movies simple and intuitive. Roku’s best feature is that it helps you find the cheapest source for each movie.MAIN NEW FEATURESVoice search – The voice recognition is not perfect, but it definitely beats trying to scroll to type one letter at a time! While it’s great to have voice search built into the remote, you can just download the app for your phone to use voice search with older Rokus. (As a result, you don’t need to buy a new Roku 3 to get voice search, but the Roku 3 remote’s voice search doesn’t have reliability issues like the app.)Other new features … Well, in my opinion, there are not many other substantial new features. That being said, the new Roku 3 is still an amazing player (because it has the same great features as the old Roku 3). I cannot tell any difference in processor speed between the old Roku 3 and the new Roku 3.WHAT’S NOT INCLUDEDRoku 3 actually includes almost everything you’ll need. Here are a few other things you’ll need:- Internet- Credit card (to pay for movies and shows)- HDMI cable- Mount (If you have a WALL-MOUNTED TV, you’ll need a mount to attach Roku to your TV.)“UNLOCKED” ECOSYSTEMThe main reason to buy a Roku is that Roku is not trying to push you towards certain content providers. Apple TV, for example, does not allow you to access shows and movies from many sources. Fire TV tries to encourage you to buy content from Amazon (although a few other content providers are available if you look for them). Unlike Apple TV and Fire TV, Roku makes it easy to search for shows and movies from many sources AND lets you see how much different providers charge for shows and movies. This difference is IMPORTANT – If you want to watch a certain movie, you’ll love instantly seeing which source rents the movie for lowest price! Bottom line – You’ll probably save money in the future by renting shows and movies via Roku 3.DIFFERENCE FROM OLD ROKU 3The most important thing to note is that the new Roku 3 is very similar to the old Roku 3. I bought the new Roku 3 because I love having the latest tech. After comparing the two devices, I would not recommend buying a new Roku 3 if you already have an old Roku 3. However, if you have any other old Roku player, then the new Roku 3 is a great upgrade (mainly due to the faster processor).DIFFERENCE FROM APPLE TVRoku 3 will enable you to access shows and movies from many more sources (often with lower rental prices). The Roku 3 interface might not be quite as simple as the Apple TV interface, but Roku 3’s interface is still easy to use. Unlike Apple TV, Roku 3 includes voice search, headphones that attach to the remote, and a few marginal games.DIFFERENCE FROM FIRE TVFire TV provides access to several sources of shows and movies, but Roku 3 provides access to more sources of shows and movies (perhaps more sources than you’ll ever need). Roku also makes finding the cheapest price much easier (by instantly showing you prices from different sources). Fire TV has much better games. Both Fire TV and Roku 3 include voice search. Unlike Fire TV, Roku 3 includes headphones that attach to the remote.DIFFERENCE FROM OTHER ROKU PLAYERSBoth the new Roku 2 and the new Roku 3 include the same fast processor and 1080p (HD) resolution. Buy Roku 3 if you want voice search on your remote (rather than by downloading an app on your phone), you want headphones, or you want to pick from a few simple games. Otherwise, buy Roku 2. Roku 1 also has 1080p (HD) resolution, but the processor is much slower. Only buy Roku 1 if you don’t mind a slower user interface and other delays. Don’t buy the Roku stick … you deserve better.

I upgraded to this WD TV media player from the previous WD TV Live 4 months ago for playing a movie collection of about 550 from a WD 3TB USB 3.0 Passport drive. I'm not using any other feature just movie playing so this review concerns only movie playing. Setting up the player is very easy but you need to scan through a 244-page PDF manual to get the knack of the remote. The on-screen user interface is a joy arranging your files very neatly and with various options. To avoid long file lists I have created directories of decades ('20s, 30s, ..., '00s, '10s) with subdirectories containing each movie and a .jpg pic of the movie poster (found over the net). They're perfectly displayed File Manager style with subdirectories sporting the .jpg poster as thumbnail. Absolutely gorgeous and easy to navigate. Remote control has all key functions neatly positioned (particularly audio track/subtitles/chapters) plus you can go anywhere into the movie by entering the desired time - no more endless fast fwd or rewind.On the downside you need to press Off (red button) for 5 seconds on the remote to shut-down the player otherwise it stays on stand-by without any LED indication to show. Curiously that doesn't work all the time, it stays on stand-by regardless meaning the player's surface stays hot all night/day wearing itself for no reason. WD should have included a proper switch-off key on the remote for such a critical function. Second, future-proof it's not. It cannot play x265 files, the CPU is not fast enough. That means larger x264 movie files in your Passport drive, you may run out of space sooner than you expect and 4K will probably be down-sampled in x265 FHD not x264. However, for existing movie collections fine. Overall I'd rate 4 stars due to the on-off switch. Great improvement over the previous model and a nice buy for the price.

Works great. I've got access to 2 of these now. These are ideal for people looking to play media from local sources (network, server, external drives). If all you are looking for is internet streaming movies, then there are less expensive (and more current) options.This device has no troubles handling everything I've thrown at it - from ripped BDs to a large selection of various quality HD mp4s and mkvs.It's small and basic looking.Cons: I don't think WD is supporting it anymore and the custom/modding scene doesn't seem particularly active or interesting. Just adding additional movie info scrapers appears to be a fairly advanced task. The lack of production is also driving up price.

pros: -wifi compatible-plays many if not most media files (only files i notice that do not work are flac with video, and older WMVs)-has many apps-customizable interface and remote buttons-decently long power cord-2 usb hubs-small and lightweight, takes up hardly any spacecons:-does not come with hdmi cord (comes with composite) however it does support hdmi-comes with input lag HOWEVER if you take the time to turn off the auto settings there is much less lag and it will be hardly noticeable *****-no netflix, but many many other apps are included (this seems to be a deal breaker for many, but i got this device solely for usb purposes)tips;-if you do notice input lag i highly recommend turning off extra features such as auto update-if you are using the usb hubs be sure to turn off the auto settings for video info to manual, otherwise it will take a long time to load up big folders-there will still be noticeable lag at times especially when going from a video to the main menu again but that is to be expectedfinal words;-if you are looking for a usb media player for your tv without having to hookup and stream from your laptop this is your best choice for the price, it supports almost every currently used media type/codec. it is notable however though that flac audio does not always work. but it has played nearly every file i threw at it in my 3TB archive.-if however you are looking to use many streaming services especially netflix, look elsewhere. either try an older model of wd tv OR just go with roku it has a much vaster app gallery (roku however has a fairly limited file support)

I've owned this thing for a month or two now and I'm satisfied with it. My wired and wireless network works fine and was easy to set up. I've had no issues with playback on any file formats I've tried. I will say some of the online apps don't work very well. Youtube is fine.....Facebook is, so far, unusable.....tons of free movies you can stream online if you're into 70 year old Westerns or Abbott & Costello. Can't really complain about "free" content.Also, I've noticed a slight delay in the response time of the remote control. Not a deal breaker but can by annoying when navigating menus ("Did I miss the button or is it just lagging.....I'll hit it again.....DOH!! TOO FAR").UPDATE!: It's been 4 months now and this thing is still working as described above. I have to say that I'm a little disappointed with how slow it is to start up. Sometimes, it takes maybe 3 minutes to actually get to the main menu screen. It will go to the "WDTV" loading screen....the screen will go black....and the loading screen will pop up again. I always get a sense of dread that it may not actually start up for whatever reason. Eventually, it does start up and it works fine.

I bought this to take to a summer cottage. At home I have a smart TV. Paired easily, took a little while to reduce the screen size so I could see the menu but after that all was well. Works well with a WD wireless passport and WD EX2.From my Galaxy S5 AllShare works as well as it does with my smart TV. If you have the YouTube app on your android phone, you can pair the app to your WD TV. You just need to get a free code. Much easier to search and you will have access to your YouTube channel.Would give it 5 stars if WD settles their differences with Netflix and Amazon prime.Will play my GoPro videos that my smart TV can't.

Great way to enjoy almost any files stored on your home network. I am using this to play music / video from home NAS devices and it works fine. It does have access to other Internet services which may or may not be what you are looking for. However, for straight playback of anything stored at home this does the job perfectly.Firmware was updated at first install and no problems connecting to my wireless-N network. Software menu could be better but for me this wasnt any big issue. I am using a Harmony remote to manage it and the device was fully supported.Great unit for what it does best.

I would offer 5 stars if you didn't have to activate different channels and you could just log in with regular apps.I just bought this but my roommate had one and I always found it terribly irritating that I had to get onto a computer every couple weeks to activate a channel. Why can't I just stay logged in like on the apps on my phone?Other than that, super fast, one crash but I think that's as a result of the app I was using not working properly.Great product. Highly suggest. Glad I went with 3 instead of 4 considering all the problems people are having with the roku 4 device.

I love you roku, but WHY can't you include better parental controls?? How hard would that be? I would like the ability to restrict adding channels, restrict opening channels, create profiles, any of the things that most all devices these days offer! But the only thing I can do on the roku 3 is create a pin that will restrict adding any NEW channels. Yep, that's correct. If I have any channel on my roku at ALL that I wouldn't want my children watching, and I am talking about regular channels like news, movies, etc, my children, no matter their ages, will have complete access to these channels if they know how to operate a tv. I have small children, and teenagers. I do not watch questionable content in my home nor anywhere else. But I also do not consider movies and news to be appropriate for certain ages of children. With a roku, I have 2 options. Keep the remote hidden any time I am not at home and hope no one decides to go looking for it, OR, remove every channel that I wouldn't want my children watching every single time I am done using it. How ridiculous! Because of this stupidity, I have the roku in my bedroom, and in my living room I have an Amazon Fire, which allows me to control content my children see. Roku needs to get with the program in my opinion. Not family friendly at all.

I did a lot of research regarding the multiple streaming players available to purchase (Apple TV 4, Amazon Fire Stick and Roku 3). Honestly, all of the streaming devices perform very well and very similarly to each other with a good Wi-Fi connection. It's only a matter of opinion and preference which of the devices you might prefer. Roku seems to have the best availability for all streaming channels that you would desire. Amazon Fire Stick is good but aimed more at Prime members. Apple TV is targeted to Apple product users. The reason I gave the four star review to Romu 3 is due to the remote. Unlike Apple TV remote (sleek with a track pad, automatic pairing and the ability to turn on and off tour tv), Roku's remote is unable to link with my Samsung TV or Visio sound bar. Additionally, the remote is behind the times as far as ergonomics and sleekness go. It is a very chunky remote. One positive aspect of the Roku remote however is the ability to plug in headphones (into the actual remote) and listen to your movies/shows in private. Finally, AppleTV links with your iTunes but does not offer Amazon video or the sci-fi channel. These two issues were a dealbreaker for me since I do not have cable. I have no idea why Apple and Amazon seem to not get along but Apple does not carry the Amazon Video app and Amazon does not have AppleTV available for purchase.

I do like this enough to buy a 2nd one for it purchased the first one as a gift for my mother and she loves it and then I bought a 2nd one for myself for I have a Samsung Smart TV that has a built-in web browser that has Netflix and HBO go etc. on it and when I watch something streaming like HBO go and I log into my account I found that every time I found something to watch let's say a movie I would then click the button to start watching the movie and it would never load the first time for I would have to collect on the back button on the remote and reload it maybe 3 or 4 times before it might actually start working and I thought that had to do with HBO go or Netflix just not working correctly for whatever reason but then I purchased the Roku 3 unit for myself and I am not joking when I say it's the difference between night and day for my Samsung Smart TV as I have found is not very smart at all for the TV is only about 4 years old if that but it appears that the firmware built into the TV is not fast enough to properly watch streaming programming for maybe the newer Samsung Smart TVs are better but when I connected the Roku 3 and used it to connect to sites like Netflix and HBO go and Amazon prime I have had absolutely no problem logging into any of these accounts and my shows and movies start playing immediately without having to refresh anything and there is no buffering just click and play and so this far the least I am very happy with the product.I was however warned about the Roku stick player that's the Roku player that connects directly to the TVs HDMI connection but from what many people have said is that it is not as fast or even closely as fast as the Roku 3 and the stick player from what I have read in the reviews also has a problem connecting to the remote control so I am glad I went this route instead.

I really liked this idea as a x-mas gift for my dad - it's not that expensive, and there's loads you can do from your phone to your TV that make any HD TV with HDMI truly a smart, unique experience. That said, there are a number of different features that the Roku vs Apple vs Fire TV provide that affect your viewing experience. For example, what content is available, process speed, and memory on the device itself. If you know what your dad wants, for example, if he likes to download and store a lot of movies vs stream them, then getting something with more storage is key. Luckily all of these devices have HBO, (game of thrones is a must!) but many have apps that are specific only to their platform. I suggest you check out [...] - it's a good place to compare side-by-side each platform and see which one would be best for you or the person you're giving it to. Happy shopping!

I love my Roku 3! The biggest difference, for me, between a Roku 3 and an Apple TV is that I can access PLEX from my Roku 3 but not from my Apple TV; this alone was enough to sell me on the product. I will say that I don't like how the Hulu and Netflix apps are done on the Roku 3 as much as I do how they're done on the Apple TV. Additionally, the remote eats batteries like nobody's business on one of my Roku 3 units but not on the other one, so I'm not sure what's going on with that... Regardless, decent product at a decent price!

I have bought several media player hub devices. This one will play a lot of different codecs. It has some built in apps for Tvs, Movies, and seems to be built solid. They reason I would rated it with only three stars is this product will not stream videos or movies directly from your pc. You can not ad Plex app to the apps that come preloaded. As others have stated their is no Netflixs app which would have been nice. And if you try to return it to a Amazon reseller they may charge you a 20% restocking fee as I was informed. I was disappointed with WD technical support thinking they could show me a work around procedure.If you want a media hub to play off your external hard drive or usb storage device this will work for you. I am not sure about using a cloud storage off of internet as I didn't get that far with it. So I guess I am stuck with it. Just want others not to make the same mistake as I didI think they WD have a good product but to me it lacks some important things that a true media player in todays age needs.

No Netflix...well i don't care that much about netflix. i bought this thing to stream video from my mycloud. my videos start off fine then after 10-20 seconds they lag and shutter. at first i thought it was because i was using a wireless connection so i switch it to a wired connection. and nothing has changed....same old shutter and lag. i have the most updated software for the WDTV by the way so its not that either. i heard if you hook an external dive to the WDTV it won't shutter but that defeats the purpose of the device. i can hook my laptop directly to my tv if i wanted to do that.UPDATE: so after searching the web for hours i figured out that the latest software update that was released was causing the issues. i had to downgrade the software to the previous version. so now that everything works i have brought it from one to three stars.

I, too, have a love-hate relationship with this streamer.Pros- It plays everything I can throw at it. 1080p MKVs, ISOs, full quality high bitrate blu-ray rips, WMA music files, jpeg pictures, etc.- Integrates seamlessly with my network. DLNA means I can "Play To" the streamer from Windows. Connects perfectly to my Netgear ReadyNAS using CIFS (aka SMB, aka SAMBA).- Much more stable Youtube app than I have with other devices. Connects to my computers and holds connection better when I "Play To" the WDTV from YouTube on my computer.- Works very nicely with PlayOn and PlayLater software. It's very easy to "Cast To" the device with PlayOn and the PlayLater mp4 files play just fine on the device.- While it's only 10/100 LAN, I have no issues streaming the highest bitrate blu-ray rips over Gigabit ethernet.- DTS HD-MA audio passthrough.Cons- My first one burned up in 10 months. A net search shows this to be a regular problem.- Overheats very easily. The operating range is 40-104 degrees F. If kept in my entertainment center with the glass door closed, it'll overheat in an hour or so and lock up.- Very warm...even hot to the touch during operation.- Warm to the touch, even when off and sitting in open air.- Passive cooling only. All the vent holes are on the bottom and there are no vent holes on the top. What??? Whatever happened to the well-established concept that "heat rises"??- No x265WD has a great product, but they've got to fix the overheating issues. In the meantime, I set it on a 120mm Dual Ball Bearing USB Powered Case Fan to keep it cool.

I use this to run a 1TB hard drive with my movies and music through my home entertainment system and at that it works well. I use the HDMI port to connect to my surround system.2 wishes that I would like this device to do is: 1) the rear USB port power up when I turn the device on and power down when I shut it off. As it is, the USB port is powered at all times. I wanted to use it to power the cooling fans that I installed in my entertainment cabinet. 2) the software doesn't support music playlists or a random selection of music.It does what it said it would do, so no complaints it got my new entertainment system up and running, it's just a little late in the silicon age for such one dimensional employment. Going to look at using a Raspberry Pi as a future option, just got to learn Linus first.

The PRO's:1. The device has excellent file format compatibility.2. It will play everything presented to it.3. It is easy to setup and has an intuitive menu4. It has a very good remote controlThe CON's:1. It takes DAYS to index the media contents on a WD NAS device even though it is hard wired via 1GB network.2. Adding just a few pictures, re-starts the same "indexing", this is a MAJOR fault as compared to an LG Smart TV or a Sony BluRay Media player, each of which will play any of the media residing on the WD NAS, be it pictures, movies or music in just a couple of seconds.3. The device is rather poor in the availability of content, no Netflix, etc. the usual repertoire of the included or available choices from other such similar devices.WD hear me now, get this device up to par and you will have an outstanding winner.

I am only interested in playing local media files, and had high hopes for this, but this thing easily gets stuck where you have to restart it.My primary use is to archive my DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and play them from a library on a locally attached HDD (and later from network after I upgrade my WiFi speeds).At first I was hoping to play directly from ISO images, but that only works for DVDs but not Blu-Ray ISOs.For Blu-Rays (and DVDs) the next best thing is to rip the tracks to MKV with MakeMKV. The MKV files contain the original video data (no re-encoding) so they have exact same quality and are very fast to rip, but file size is rather large. MKV can also contain multiple soundtracks (also in original format like Dolby TrueHD or DTS) and subtitles, which is great when there are director commentaries. You can switch soundtracks with the Audio button on the WD remote.This is my big gripe:if I pause a movie and then turn off the unit, or it goes to sleep, when I power it on again and try to play a movie, it just gives a spinning orange circle forever and doesn't play. Sometimes even just pausing it and playing again can get it into this state but a little different - it will tell you the format is not supported but it will play again, but there's a constant spinning circle during playback, and you can't play anything else, so you still have to restart it to get it cleared up. I learned If I want to stop playback and resume it the next day, I must STOP playback and go back to menu, the POWER OFF. If I do that, it's ok when I power on again and will offer resume playback from the place I left off. The trick is to STOP playback, and not just PAUSE it.I've learned to live with these quirks, but they sour the experience for me.

I don't want to trash Roku at all, as I may just have a bad unit. I own two other Roku 2 units and they work flawlessly. This version 3 seems to freeze a lot on the voice search function. It works about 80% of the time, before I have to reboot it from it crashing on apps and I avoid using the voice search function. Good news is support got back to me in regards to troubleshooting within 48hrs.

This Roku 3, with ethernet, set up immediately out of the box. The picture, 1080 hd, and audio are excellent. There are no interruptions to streaming through the 100mbs Ethernet and 3.5Gbs internet download speed. The remote does not need line of sight, the unit responds to signal bounce off walls. Roku does, however, require an account setup through a computer to activate the device.There are a plethora of channels to access through this device, but it will not replace cable TV because...Aggregate channel access is inversely proportional to aggregate quality access. The market really does work. If you think most of the channels on your cable system suck, the Roku only adds channels at the bottom of the suck list, not at the top, otherwise they would already be on your cable system.Any show you might like already requires a subscription service such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon. But the likelihood that every show you like is on one of them exclusively is nil, so you would have to subscribe to many services to get all of the ones you like. And even then, they are not live stream, they are delayed downloads. But after you watch the series a couple of times, the subscription price continues even though your desire to watch runs out.Of the few news channels that are recognizable, the ones you may already like, the channel alters the programming so as not to upset the cable distributor by either deleting the side bands, like news and stock tickers, or offering much delayed snippets, such as chopping the news into hundreds of three minute segments, each of which requires you to re-access the remote.What's left to keep on is a lot of B-movies you've never heard or foreign stuff if you're lucky enough to know another language.Nevertheless there is bound to be three or four channels you'll love for free if that makes it worth it to you.

I purchased this item in September of 2015. By Christmas it began to fail but would work fine after unplugging it and letting it sit for a while unplugged then restarting it. By June of 2016 the streaming was so bad that say “Law and Order” through the Hulu channel would play show for about 45 seconds then require several minutes of buffering. In my opinion it is unuseable.FYI: It is installed 26’ from the wireless router. The routers measured speed is 32 Mbs and no competeing useage of the internet through the router. There is a ROKU stick installed 3 feet from same router that works fine with no buffering.Headphones never worked giving an unbearable stutter.Update: After spending quite some time with ROKU chat support we have resolved (at least for now) the problem by reinstalling the firmware. They showed me how to get to a secret screen and choose the "Install latest software" option. You get to that screen by the following sequence on your remote... Press "Home" 5 times rapidly, then press "fast forward" 3 times rapidly, then press "rewind" 2 times rapidly. It took several efforts but I got it. It replaced with the same identicle version number but it fixed the problem none the less.

I recently upgraded our old first generation Roku. I loved Old Roku. It did everything I wanted it to, but they started dropping channels (No HBO Go anymore!), was getting pretty laggy after 8 years, and the interface was impractical once we upgraded from our tube TV.On those fronts, the Roku 3 is an improvement. I like the phone-as-remote function, and it's still pretty user friendly.However, it's been pretty glitchy, often freezing/buffering, and has already needed one factory reset (after about 2 months), which the box assures us should almost never happen.My least favorite thing is the auto-play for the next episode when watching TV shows. I do not ever want the next episode to auto-play, but there is no way to turn it off. It's especially annoying when you hope to fall asleep to something mindless and have a nap. I can't be the only one who likes to do that occasionally.The remote and headphones are more navigable than Old Roku, but the remote is lightweight and I think cheaper, as our new one's battery casing broke the second week.Still love the system, but disappointed with some of the tweaks to this generation.

I have several fireTV devices and have never tried Roku. Looking at the photos I always wondered what the thing sticking out of the remote and the box was. I did not know if it was some kind of card to pair or what. It turns out it is a silly fabric tab that says "Roku" on it. What a useless waste. Time for the scissors or knife.It set up OK, you just have to go to the web and register it with codes it displays.I'm not sure the voice search is of much use as it only searches on certain services. For instance, I have Hulu and it would not look for shows there that I know are on Hulu.Not sure how it works on Wi-Fi as I run it on wired Eithernet. The speed of operation is OK. Maybe not quite as fast as the fireTV boxes and it does seem to buffer a bit more between segments of news services.

I've had a Roku 3 in my living room since it first came out, and I love it. I purchased a 2nd unit for the bedroom and now the honeymoon is over. During setup, the Roke 3 found my home network and connected to the internet - or at least the check marks indicated it did. In reality, the connection to the Roku server was sporadic, and I would get different error messages when trying to download and run apps, and would occasionally get a "no connection" message.After resetting the device and my router and going through all of the troubleshooting steps, I returned the device, assuming it was bad since my other Roku 3 works perfectly, and always did. Got a new unit, and guess what? Same problem. I called Roku support, and the CSR indicated to me that the problem was with a setting on Comcast Xfinity (Arris) router's security and channel settings. Issue was resolved after changing the router settings to "older" security setting and channel 11. Apparently, this is a somewhat common problem according to the Roku phone rep, and he actually seemed a bit peeved at the situation, putting the burden on Comcast.This seems pretty lame to me considering that all of my other devices, including tablets, phones, Blu-Ray players AND my old Roku 3 worked just fine. And I don't like they specify I use channel 11 on my router, since that channel can be congested in my area at times. It seems Roku must have changed something in the hardware or firmware in the newer version of the Roku 3, and at least in my case, its a step backwards.

First, it's performance is atrocious. Played the help video after hooking it up and it took almost five minutes to load. Tried to update the firmware and it kept telling me there was a network error even when streaming worked just fine. At one point, it used enough bandwidth to cause a momentary interruption in my pc's connection. Couple all that with the fact that they removed Netflix, and it's a subpar player. The only redeeming quality I found was the customer service which while eager to please, ultimately ended up being useless. Save your money and buy something else. This is a step backward for Western Digital.

Pros:---------------Plays all kinds of video including ISOs and subtitlesPicture quality is highDolby and DTS output is fab.Updates available and downloaded properlyRemote does well from 9 feet distanceClean UICons:-------------I found it very slow and lagging here and there. Average speed when using USB drivesMinor bugs while keypad shows up. White dots appearing here and there.Typing Bugs while using remote appVery less in house Apps availableSometimes fails to start up and need to be restartedDoesn't show if wifi is connected or notLED is not utilised fully for any other indicationsWhen turned Off from remote, the USB drive connected light still blinks which means it's reading it on standby/turned off.Most important : No warranty in India. I got warranty active till February 2016 which is like 6 months only and unable to extend date from WD site

This is my review of the WD TV Media Player (WDBYMN0000NBK-HESN). I bought this hoping to get the player controls of a DVR or DVD player on a box that would act as a client for a media server. I wasn't especially interested in the streaming sources from the internet, though I was hoping this player would offer the same controls on all streaming sources. It worked as described, but some of the descriptions of player controls I read in the user manual before buying (which Amazon helpfully makes available through a link on the product page) were a bit vague. The controls I found on the unit were very minimalist: a play button, a pause button and a fast forward button with several fast forward speeds, about what I would expect on a cheap 80s video recorder. It had a zoom function that seemed to work only on stills, though it did have a pan control. I could not find a slow motion or step function, though there might have been something I missed. There was seemingly a lot of effort devoted to things that didn't interest me, like selecting various wallpaper and screensaver options, moving tiles around on screen, that kind of thing. The unit functioned OK. It played the homemade DVD file I tried. The minimal functions it did have seemed to work fine. I would have been very happy with it had it offered the trick play modes typical in a DVD player or, to a lesser extent, in a DVR. I'll keep looking.

If you you plan on using this to playback videos on Windows network shared folder, do yourself a huge favor and dump all your video files in the Libraries > Videos. Do not even bother with custom shared folders, because chances are, it won't work. And if it does, it won't stick.If you Google "WDTV windows 7 invalid username", you will know what I mean. I would not be surprised if people have passed out from stress trying to get this device to work.Keep in mind, even getting above to work is no small feat because of extremely sluggish interface and unintuitive menu and setup. This is not a plug-and-play device for those who are not particularly computer savvy.I'm a mild mannered person, but this device really tested my patience.

I have owned previous versions of the WD TV Live Streaming Media Player. That model worked great for me until WD upgraded the firmware from 1.x to 2.x-- then my home movies I shot in *.MOV format on a Nikon S1 J1, the audio portion would not play. I then purchase this model-- the latest and greatest, now called by WD the WD TV Media Player (externally looks the same), but the firmware had the same issue- no MOV format audio. I called WD support, they took note and I have not heard back. The unit plays MP4 format just fine. I returned unit and downgraded my older model to the last 1.x firmware level (1.16.13) and I am fine. Bottom line, be cautious if you want to play MOV formatted files. See http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5860/

I have a love/hate relationship with WD. I love how this box plays all of my media - all of it - I love that. I hate the UI - hate it. I hate the 3 second lag every time I press any button on the remote. I hate the stupid swipe area on the smartphone remote - it is impossible to control. I hate simple stuff like not being able to make one of my favorite photos the background image. Yes it says it supports this but it does not. And I hate how WD has managed to name every one of its similar products names that are ridiculously overloaded to the point where it is impossible to find online help for your product because it shares names with 5 other products. WD TV. WD TV Live. WD TV Live Plus. WD TV Media. WD Live Player. WD Live Streaming Media Player. Seriously? Are you serious WD - that's your product marketing genius? Honestly I can't even tell which one this is - I just tell my friends "it's the one that doesn't support netflix."In the end, it's sub $100 and it plays all of my network media and ultimately that's what these boxes are useful for. But jeez WD - why go to so much effort to nail the hard part - supporting every codec in the western (and eastern!) hemispheres and then make the UI, remote, and support such complete horse shat. Why?Edit 2014-07Okay Alberto Medina called me today from WD support and he helped me solve the problem of using my own image as the wallpaper - it turns out you can only do this from local media (USB). So that's a bit of a workaround but hey I will give credit where it's due - they called me and solved this. Kudos to WD for trying so hard.This is a good device and does what it should. It is still a bit slow in scrolling through files but hey, nothing is perfect.Edit 2014-07 #2My device suddenly stopped being able to access my WD My Cloud EX2 which is really frustrating. My older WDTV Live in the other room (same network) still accesses it just fine so clearly it's not a network or config issue on the EX2. I've rebooted the WDTV and the NAS and the router - no help.Also the remote control app is beyond horrible - who in the world designs a UI that requires finger swiping to replace pressing a button. Aside from the fact that it's a horrible UI decision, it flat out doesn't work.

I have a Roku 2 and love it. This Roku 3 is not so great. I keep getting glitches in Netflix and Amazon apps that I don't get with the Roku 2, and sometimes it freezes and needs to be rebooted. The headphones have static even a few feet from the TV, so I never use that feature. Voice search is useless.

I'm a long time Roku fan. Had the original Roku, Roku 2, and Roku 3. I ended up giving my Roku 3 to someone who needed it and was going to purchase the new 'updated' Roku 3. Now I miss my last one.The main reason is that the remote control on these new Roku 3's suck! They aren't responsive and don't always respond to every click. If you're looking though a long list of Netflix movies for example you'll end up clicking the up or down button multiple times sometimes to get it to respond. Most of the time it works fine - the occasionally it just freezes for a sec and 'loses' the click.I thought it was the remote at first, so I purchased a replacement remote. Nope, same issue. Then I followed the instructions on the Roku site to hard reset my Roku device to see if that was it. Nope, after completely wiping it twice it still has the same behavior. Now our Roku 3 sits largely unused because we're not happy with the responsiveness of it. I have no idea what changed with the newer version - but it's not as smooth an experience.

My wife and I recently cut the proverbial cord and went to streaming only via the Roku. The device worked great for the first couple of months before the Roku automatically updated itself. Now we keep getting a purple screen with an error telling us that content is "unauthorised." I contacted Roku support, who indicated that this is due to the fact that both ends of the HDMI cable need to be "refreshed" and told me to restart the device. Indeed, a restart "fixed" the error...until the next day when another restart is required. Now, since the Roku device is always on (The remote doesn't have a power button) this means either pulling the power from the back of the Roku, or scrolling through several menus to select "restart." I reminded Roku tech support that the device worked great before their update "broke" it, and suggested that they do the right thing and fix it with another update, but they are not willing to do so. It's worth noting that I have 2 other identical Roku devices on different television models that still work normally, but this restart issue is so frustrating to me because it's required on the television in my living room. BOTTOM LINE: Get assurances IN WRITING that your specific television model is completely "compatible" with their device before purchasing. Either that...or maybe go with a different streaming device.

I realize that most people by Roku to use web-based services like Netflix or Youtube and it probably will be great for these purposes.To me however media player was an important piece of functionality and it turned out to be a big disappoinment:1) Many video files perfectly playable by other devices were not recognizable;2) Cyrillic font in the names of the files and directories was not readable - all cyrillic caracters were replaced with spaces;3) Files were shown on the screen as big icons, and there was no way to show them as a compact list instead. In case of directories with a big number of files, this is not usable.The bottom line: if you count on the media player functionality of this device, don't have high expectations

Doesn't get strong wifi internet signal. My original Roku was sometimes slow, but it always connected to the channels. This Roku has a weaker wifi antennae (according to Roku tech support). Sitting 10 feet further than the Roku box from my wireless router, I have no issues watching TV or movies on my iPhone or iPad. Roku has been trying to load a channel for over 10 minutes. It hasn't been able to load Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, News channels, etc. Roku tech support told me I need to hard wire it. It works for a few days the no streaming for days. Have been through the reboot reprovision move the router move the box routine from ISP and Roku til I want to get the hammer and end the misery.

When I first received this Roku, I fell absolutely in love with it. I love the channel options, the speed, the small size... it was great!However, I've now had it for a couple of months and in the past couple of weeks, the Roku keeps freezing up or won't connect. It almost seems like the Roku itself is fine, but the remote doesn't work. The only way to fix it, since there is no reset or power button on this model, is to unplug the unit from the wall and let it sit unplugged for 5-10 minutes. After plugging it in again, it works great. It also freezes if I leave a show on pause for more than a couple of minutes. Getting VERY annoyed with having to keep unplugging the unit.What started out as a product I fell in love with has turned into a product I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

I bought this in August 2014 and another one about 3 months later. It is now 1 1/2 years later. The following applies to both units. They stopped working about 6 months ago. Almost all services give a screen that says, "This service is not available in your area." I'm in NYC. Even when it was working, programs would not run from start to finish without the units crashing. Also they even lose lan connections. Back and forth with customer support who was very nice but the suggestions which involved hours of my time did not resolve the issue. I have to give up. Who has time for this? In the garbage they go and I am resolved not to buy any more products where the manufacturer controls the firmware and software updates.

Extremely disappointed with this purchase. I had owned an earlier WD TV Live unit which worked perfectly. I gifted that unit to my Mother and bout this piece of junk to replace it. Maybe I just got unlucky and received a defective unit. All I know is this one doesn't work as advertised.Playing video files from a half dozen different USB flash drives from several different manufacturers (eliminating the possibility of flash drive problems), it just stops. I mean, while playing a video the picture will freeze. Sometimes, after a half minute, the picture will fast forward to where it should have been (I guess) and resume for a while .... then repeat the same behavior again. I've powered down (pulled the plug), let it cool down, no improvement. The flash drives work fine on my computers.Also, the user interface is horrible when compared to the older model. I bought this one at least in part due to an owner review that said it was fast, that it didn't have the lags of earlier models. Absolutely NOT true in my experience.It has now become pretty much useless. I'm shopping for a replacement. This box is destined for the garbage can. I've had it for five months, so I've given it more benefit of the doubt than it deserved.

NIGHTMARE!! I bought this over three months ago and it still doesn't work properly. It's too late to return. I'm on my second box (replaced by WD). Won't recognize my 4TB WD My Book Ext Hard Drive that I bought with the Media Player. WD support is iffy, one guy says it should work, another said this model has NOT been tested with the MP, and another now claims the MP doesn't support 4TB HD. I've wasted many hours doing many, many resets, back to Factory Defaults using menus and paper clip. Unplugged it, restarted it, reset it, tested it with my 2TB My Book, which worked until I was feelin' lucky and plugged back in my 4TB drive; it didn't work and got the No Local Drive detected message. So plugged back in my 2TB My Book drive, and now that didn't work. Before swapping drives I always pressed the Eject button on Home screen. Plug the other drive back in resulting in a The Previous drive was disconnected, do you want to search for new content? So each time I want to search for new drive content, it says No Drive is Detected message.

The WD TV Media Player was working fine out of the box, but then there was a new firmware update and it freezes every 20 minutes or so while streaming from Netflix or USB stored media. The unit does not respond to the remote control, so you cannot just turn it off or stop.The solution that I am applying is disconnect from power supply and restart the whole thing. As you can imagine, it is really annoying . Either WD fixes fast its problems with firmware or just forget WD TV Media Player from streaming or playing USB stored media . This is my second WD TV Media Player with this problem.

I have a reasonably large collection of ripped Blu-ray movies on 6TB of storage that I have attached to the new WD TV Media Player. I bought the WD TV media player because it has video and audio codecs for almost every video and audio format. I especially wanted to play back my movies in DTS-HD Master audio, which is the most popular audio format at present. I have to say I am very satisfied with this latest iteration of WD TV media players. The video (1080P 24FPS) and the audio look and sound better than in the theater! I am also pleased with the user interface. It is simple to set up.When I attached my USB drives to the player, it scanned the drives and provided thumbnails for each ripped movie file.I am not happy that there isn't a user manual. There are many choices to be made and a user manual makes things a lot easier. However, I was able to download a manual from the WDC website.Others may not be happy that there isn't a Netflix or Amazon Prime app. Netflix is so popular that I think any additional cost borne by WD could be passed on to the end user. However, in spite of thousands of complaints, WD has yet to budge.There is a large WD community and the WD forums can be very helpful to the new or inexperienced user. I have owned several media players and I find the WD TV Media Player best in class.UPDATE: After three days of usage, I must say that I am very disappointed in the media player. It freezes when using various apps, and it doesn't recognize all my movies files. I have almost 100 movie files, and it only recognizes 63--But when I use the file app (instead of the video app) it see and plays all. It also rebooted on its own a few times. I am requesting a return from Amazon.IMHO: At last, I am convinced that these small form devices (media players) are almost always disappointing. I intend to use my HTPC (a tower PC), because it is reliable always. I just wish it wasn't was large.

I really wanted to like this thing. I've become disappointed with my AppleTV needing iTunes running "somewhere" and therefore requiring a dedicated PC/Mac. So I plugged my usb drive into this thing and pointed it at my library. The problem is that in order to view your stuff by categories and not just a dumb, long list, you have to let the device compile everything.This causes two deal-breaker issues. First, no matter how "alive" the attached/network drive is, it re-compiles at the drop of a hat which takes several minutes. Second, it mangled or ignored the categories on much of the music and video (but not all, kinda weird). So between the two, my media always turns into a big, dumb list of file-alphabetical items which is impossibly painful to navigate.I did find a way to "hack" the SQLite database, going so far as to export the compiled database, fixing all the categories, and importing it back. Actually pretty easy to do. The problem is that after a while the device decides it needs to recompile the media again and overwrites my changes. Maybe I could set the database file as read-only or something to prevent overwrite, I've yet to find a setting that allows me to stop the re-compile.So the only method to stop it from recompiling is to turn the feature off...which puts you back to the big, dumb list again.Still, it might come in handy for "ad hoc" movies someone might bring over on a thumb drive or something, it just doesn't work well as a media center.

I purchased this from Portable World, a vendor in the Amazon Marketplace. Within the first 4 months the remote died. I completed troubleshooting with my son - an IT Professional with the State of Idaho, and the Roku Technician in the official Roku Websites "Live Chat" support. The remote is officially dead as can be, new batteries - no lights come on on the remote at all, will not pair, just dead.I contacted Amazon, they referred me to the vendor - Portable World. Portable World sent me to Roku.com official support. Roku Support agrees the remote is dead but it is their policy that they only replace products purchased on THEIR website. They referred me back to Portable World to complete an RMA. This is a major run around where the buck is being passed and no one is taking ownership or honoring a warranty that is 1 yr from the date of purchase. Save yourself a headache - DON'T buy a Roku online, at all, period. Buy it at Costco or Walmart where they honor their return policies even if the manufacturer refuses to stand by the product. Buyer beware!!!

This is the fourth Roku I have owned. I have never had a problem until the Roku 3. It is extremely hot to the touch and freezes. I have contacted Roku and there customer service is definitely not what it use to be. The first call took an exhausting hour and a half and they had me run the same test over that I had already completed. Then they told me it was a problem with my router and ended my call with telling me to contact my router manufacturer (it was not the router), then I called back and went round and round with another customer service rep, I kept asking to speak to a manager or someone in the United States, both request ignored. Then he wanted me to pay to ship the NEW faulty Roku back and I suggested I should also pay more for an additional warranty of this unit since it was giving me issues. I protested at paying more money and after being disconnected and going round and round again he told me he would send me a label for free shipping to end the call with me. I received the email and the shipping was not free! I gave up. I will be discarding this unit. I use to give these as gifts and brag about the Roku, I can understand getting a bad unit but it is sad that Roku no longer stands behind their products.

THE CONSOLE IS PERFECT. BUT I BOUGHT BECAUSE I NEED TO USE THE REMOTE WITH THE HEADPHONE. THE FIRST REMOTE DIDINT HAVE SOUND. I NEEDED TO FIND THE PERFECT POSITION TO LISTEN SOMETHING. TRYED THE SAME HEADPHONE ON COMPUTER AND CELLPHONE , AND IT WAS PERFECT, SO, PROBLEM WAS WITH ROKU'S REMOTE. CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE, THEY TRIED UPDATING AND SOME CONTROLS SEQUENCE, NOTHING. THEY SENT ME ANOTHER REMOTE QUICKLY. TESTED YESTERDAY- STARTS WELL , AND THEN, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE , THE CRACKLES START. I NEED TO REMOVE HEADPHONE AND PUT IT BACK. MADE SOME RESEARCH, IS NOT HARD TO FIND FORUMS RELATING SAME PROBLEM. TO ME, SEENS TO BE A NOT MATURE PRODUCT. I ALREADY HAD ROKU STREAMING, JUST BOUGHT THE ROKU 3 BECAUSE THE HEADPHONE...

At first I really enjoyed having the Roku 3 because there were so many channels to choose from but after three months of use the device started over heating (VERY hot to the touch) and its performance became unpredictable. I propped the device up thinking it might help to have airflow underneath but that didn't help. For those who might wonder, the device is not enclosed inside a cabinet and is sitting openly on a TV stand. The device used to be predictable; sit down, grab the remote and start watching. The difference after three months is when I grab the remote to watch TV it randomly doesn't turn on, or it will connect and I can open Netflix (or any other channel) but there is sound & no picture other than a HDCP error message across my screen. Not to mention the device heating up to the point of being VERY hot to the touch when used. It's really annoying to have to unplug the device and wait 30 minutes or more for the device to cool down before reconnecting it. I read on Roku's web page under the forum section this has/is happened/happening to other people. Roku replies were along the lines that even though the person's device was overheating, it wasn't effecting the devices performance. Sounds like a hardware issue they don't want to address or acknowledge. Based off what I read in the forum it won't be replaced and I'm stuck with a device that overheats and is unpredictable. I'm disappointed with Roku and won't be a repeat customer.

I just got off the phone with customer support. It is now confirmed that we received a defective Roku 3 player. After attempting to launch the Roku player and setting up through various trial and error, different inputs, different TVs, purchasing a new HDMI cable, hard resets, simple plug and unplugs and everything else support asked of me, i now have the privilege of retiring the defective unit at my cost to ship! Seriously! And only after you have received the unit and verified that it is defective, then you will send me a replacement (refurbished or new - who knows!) player. I think it is ridiculous that although i paid for this unit and trusted Roku, they do not trust that i will return their paperweight so will not release my replacement until they received the defective unit which i must now pay to ship and return! This is a standard that i reject and if the company had any integrity, they would release a replacement unit. They can feel free to charge me for it if i do not return the defective unit. I gave this as a gift to my wife and it has never worked. Also, dealing with support who cannot understand an American is frustrating. Having to spell simple things like my name and numbers and street names that are common like Station - really? Then after all this i get treated like i am untrustworthy? Insulting. I don't know if we will like this product once we receive a working player but the experience and standards that Roku has set are a huge turnoff and frankly wrong.

My ROKU3 does not handle YouTube well at all, which is the primary reason for my purchase since my Sony Bravia TV would no longer play YouTube. The ROKU often displays an error message when YouTube videos are selected for playback. The message states "Playback Error, please try gain". Often trying again just yields the same result....sometimes 3-5 times before the video will finally load. My ROKU also crashes every few days and sometimes every few hours and has to be reset. We have been unable to determine the reason for these failures. Our internet provides a fairly consistent 8-12 Mbps. Playback of YouTube videos on our computers is trouble-free so the problem is with the ROKU. Our ROKU also has some playback issues when we attempt to view football games via ESPN3, occasionally the ROKU will freeze up and crash. Once again, if I hook up my Dell Laptop the ESPN3 feed plays without a problem, so the issue seems to be with the ROKU. Netflix videos play without any problems as do most other channels. One other thought....the ROKU3 remote works via WiFi not Infrared signals. Therefore, other universal remotes will not work with the ROKU3...something to consider if you use a universal remote control. We have owned our ROKU3 for about seven months and we are not pleased with it.