{"id":12557,"date":"2012-05-20T16:10:28","date_gmt":"2012-05-20T15:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=12557"},"modified":"2012-05-20T16:10:28","modified_gmt":"2012-05-20T15:10:28","slug":"roku-media-and-netflix-player-officially-comes-to-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=12557","title":{"rendered":"Roku Media and Netflix Player Officially Comes To Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the USA, it seems like that if you subscribe to Netflix then you probably also buy a Roku.\u00a0 I knew about the devices from a few years ago when I friend introduced me to Netflix and Roku when visiting with him in NC, USA.\u00a0 Netflix came to Ireland early this year, and thanks to my employers (a distributor), Roku is now available in Irish retail outlets too.<\/p>\n<p>I made sure to put my name down for one once they came into stock.\u00a0 That was a few weeks ago but I\u2019ve been out of the office for a while.\u00a0 I finally got my one on Friday and set it up that night.<\/p>\n<p>Here in Ireland (and the UK) the Roku comes in two models, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.roku.com\/uk#2\" target=\"_blank\">the LT and the higher spec 2 XS<\/a>.\u00a0 I went for the latter model.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.roku.com\/Libraries\/International\/netflix-34.sflb.ashx\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The device is tiny, about 3 inches square and about 1 inch tall, taking no space at all under the TV, and is totally silent.\u00a0 It has a HDMI output and a composite output.\u00a0 There is a USB port and a micro SD port.\u00a0 It can use wifi or a classic wired network connection (always preferred for streaming media).<\/p>\n<p>Setting it up was easy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cable it up \u2013 power and TV connection (HDMI for me)<\/li>\n<li>Configure the wifi connection<\/li>\n<li>Allow the automatic software update &amp; reboot<\/li>\n<li>Set the time zone<\/li>\n<li>Log into <a href=\"http:\/\/roku.com\/link\">http:\/\/roku.com\/link<\/a> with an activation code<\/li>\n<li>Create Roku account and activate the device<\/li>\n<li>Create a payment method for any future purchases, just like with iTunes<\/li>\n<li>Select apps\/channels, e.g. free Netflix or TWiT<\/li>\n<li>The Roku downloads apps automatically right there<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At that point the machine is ready to rock and roll.\u00a0 The Roku is a great way to watch Netflix on your TV.\u00a0 I went into the settings and configured it for 1080p instead of the default 720p.\u00a0 Then I fired up the Netflix channel, logged in (required once only) and started browsing and watching.\u00a0 I also tried out the TWiT channel and started watching an archived episode of Windows Weekly.<\/p>\n<p>The other big reason to have a device like a Roku is to play media.\u00a0 Apparently you can do this with USB, and I guess the micro SD card.\u00a0 But I prefer to use the network for this.\u00a0 I keep content on m Windows Home Server.\u00a0 I was told that a free download called Plex could be installed on a Windows machine so that\u2019s what I did, turning my WHS into a Plex media server.\u00a0 The Plex server is configured using a web portal, where you can add channels for TV, Movies, and Music, pointing to the folders that contain the content.\u00a0 I browsed the available channels on the Roku and installed the Plex client (channel).\u00a0 Starting it, it automatically discovered my WHS.\u00a0 I browsed my content and found that Plex also downloaded metadata for some content from the web, making it easier to browse.<\/p>\n<p>The Roku is a nice device.\u00a0 The lower end model is pretty cheap, making it one of those things that you could quite happily pick up without a big decision.\u00a0 I\u2019m liking it so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the USA, it seems like that if you subscribe to Netflix then you probably also buy a Roku.\u00a0 I knew about the devices from a few years ago when I friend introduced me to Netflix and Roku when visiting with him in NC, USA.\u00a0 Netflix came to Ireland early this year, and thanks to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=12557\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Roku Media and Netflix Player Officially Comes To Ireland&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}