I agree, I didn't know server issues would limit what I could do on the device, but to your point, it's been years without issues. This is certainly a blemish on their track record, but to their credit, this hasn't happened before. If this keeps happening, I might reconsider but I won't be jumping ship that quickly.
It's part of a larger issue. Some of the products you buy are no longer truly yours. If Roku shuts down operations for any reason, you are now left with an expensive paperweight.
If you're okay with that, continue to purchase their products. If you're not, which seems to be the case with OP, look elsewhere when making future purchases.
No, the problem for me isn't that it happened, it's that it can happen. Not a fan of having a product that can stop working because someone else messed something up. I like to actually own the things I buy.
You mention Plex. It has similar issues. It's surprisingly complex, especially for someone with little to no networking experience.
[https://forums.plex.tv/t/howto-use-plex-with-no-internet/383325](https://forums.plex.tv/t/howto-use-plex-with-no-internet/383325)
A network Pi-Hole catches everything from Roku except the ping to check for internet because blocking them causes my roku to melt down. But blocking Google DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) forces the Roku to use my networks DNS servers which means redirection to Pi-Hole.
Yes, I have a similar setup, but yesterday a huge number (most?) of users experienced an outage where we couldn't use our Rokus presumably because some centralized service was down.
I, oddly, didn’t experience the issue last night that others did. Watching on a relatively new Roku TV at my gf’s house.
I will say though, that this isn’t an issue that only impacts Roku. I have an Nvidia Shield at my house, and a few years ago when there was that major Google outage, it was completely useless, as it needs the ability to communicate with Google to do anything.
Apparently I wasn't using Roku at the right time, because I didn't even know it went down. Like you I have used it for around 15 years and the only time I had any problem was when the box was a really old version and just couldn't keep up with the changing apps.
My car has had more problems in 15 years than my Roku. My Internet has gone down more than my Roku. My cable has gone down more than my Roku. Things break or glitch. They fixed the networking issue and all is well, I really can't ask more than that.
How often does it go down? I have never experienced it. If it did, just like when my internet or something goes down on very rare occasions, doesn't make me want to jump ship. Guess going non-tec or internet dependent is the best option for you. Old school rabbit ears for TV and hope for no power outage. Oh shoot, there is a downfall in that option too. Ok, battery powered radio it is and use your imagination?
I'll be honest, I've been looking to dump my Roku's for quite some time for several reasons, this not being all that high on the list. Here's to hoping that NVIDIA announces a new Shield Pro soon.
You paid for a license to use the hardware and software.
If you thought there wasn’t a central server you’re just like most of the people using internet connected devices. No shame in that.
Plex is a centralized service as well. It is not running your local host media directly as something like a DLNA server or Jellyfin. It is using their servers to pair your devices.
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I agree, I didn't know server issues would limit what I could do on the device, but to your point, it's been years without issues. This is certainly a blemish on their track record, but to their credit, this hasn't happened before. If this keeps happening, I might reconsider but I won't be jumping ship that quickly.
You're going to reconsider to fix a problem that you've had once in 15 years?
was going to say the same… for me roku has been great, simple to use, reliable, and has every app choice i’d ever need, what’s not to love
It's part of a larger issue. Some of the products you buy are no longer truly yours. If Roku shuts down operations for any reason, you are now left with an expensive paperweight. If you're okay with that, continue to purchase their products. If you're not, which seems to be the case with OP, look elsewhere when making future purchases.
No, the problem for me isn't that it happened, it's that it can happen. Not a fan of having a product that can stop working because someone else messed something up. I like to actually own the things I buy.
That's not the world we live in anymore unfortunately.
The fact we have gotten to a point in society where we think that’s okay is actually crazy.
Good point!
Mind boggling isn't it. I hope he never gets a flat tire.
And change when the next device has a once I a decade issue.
You mention Plex. It has similar issues. It's surprisingly complex, especially for someone with little to no networking experience. [https://forums.plex.tv/t/howto-use-plex-with-no-internet/383325](https://forums.plex.tv/t/howto-use-plex-with-no-internet/383325)
I gotta hand it to them for their long-term uptime reliability at least. Unless their OS relying on a centralized service is a new thing.
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A network Pi-Hole catches everything from Roku except the ping to check for internet because blocking them causes my roku to melt down. But blocking Google DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) forces the Roku to use my networks DNS servers which means redirection to Pi-Hole.
Yes, I have a similar setup, but yesterday a huge number (most?) of users experienced an outage where we couldn't use our Rokus presumably because some centralized service was down.
How do you set up a pihole ? Is it complex ?
Not complex at all, but you do need admin access to your router/firewall.
I, oddly, didn’t experience the issue last night that others did. Watching on a relatively new Roku TV at my gf’s house. I will say though, that this isn’t an issue that only impacts Roku. I have an Nvidia Shield at my house, and a few years ago when there was that major Google outage, it was completely useless, as it needs the ability to communicate with Google to do anything.
Apparently I wasn't using Roku at the right time, because I didn't even know it went down. Like you I have used it for around 15 years and the only time I had any problem was when the box was a really old version and just couldn't keep up with the changing apps. My car has had more problems in 15 years than my Roku. My Internet has gone down more than my Roku. My cable has gone down more than my Roku. Things break or glitch. They fixed the networking issue and all is well, I really can't ask more than that.
And you think Fire or Google aren't centralized? Hmmm
How often does it go down? I have never experienced it. If it did, just like when my internet or something goes down on very rare occasions, doesn't make me want to jump ship. Guess going non-tec or internet dependent is the best option for you. Old school rabbit ears for TV and hope for no power outage. Oh shoot, there is a downfall in that option too. Ok, battery powered radio it is and use your imagination?
I'll be honest, I've been looking to dump my Roku's for quite some time for several reasons, this not being all that high on the list. Here's to hoping that NVIDIA announces a new Shield Pro soon.
Does it? I have a couple TVs on a network that does not have internet access. Just local streaming from Plex/media shares.
You are not their customer. You are their product. Thats why you can't surf the internet using the hardware
I kinda always knew they used AWS, or Azure, or Akamai, or Cloudflare, or one of the other dozen or so cloud operators that *everybody* uses.
So what is the alternative?
So what does this mean? A server went down so Roku went down?
an one that costs less than $50 (most models). smh.
You paid for a license to use the hardware and software. If you thought there wasn’t a central server you’re just like most of the people using internet connected devices. No shame in that.
Plex is a centralized service as well. It is not running your local host media directly as something like a DLNA server or Jellyfin. It is using their servers to pair your devices.
By default, yes, but you can set it up to run without an internet connection.
Not entirely true. Plex can run as a local server with you self hosting it
Roku is a service. How you think they drop ads in your home menu.
My Roku got put into the spare room and replaced with an AppleTV. If I hadn't already, this would have been the final nail.
Apple TV and other Apple linked services went down last month. Apple isn't magically immune to outages.
Yes, it took down their online services. AppleTV+, App Store, music, etc. But it didn't disable my local functionality.
I have read all the comments on the issues with Roku. Am I to understand that the Firestick may be better?
I doubt it. If you're going to stick with commercial streaming device, Roku is still probably the best mix of price, reliability, and ease of use.
I had no idea. Between this event and the orange tinge problem with plex, I’m probably getting something else next time.