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Review on πŸ“Ί Roku Express: HD Streaming Media Player with High-Speed HDMI Cable and Easy Remote Control by Jose Miller

Revainrating 4 out of 5

ATTENTION HDMI switch/splitter users!

In general, in the end I was moderately satisfied. The initial setup was easy. However, I was quite shocked when video from many channels didn't stream - instead of video, I got audio and error code 020. (Note: I tried running our Roku through an HDMI signal switcher.) As it turns out, many HDMI signal switchers/splitters sold by Revain are NOT HDCP compliant. (HDCP is a form of digital copy protection; I didn't find out until trying to troubleshoot this Roku). Many of the channels available on Roku use HDCP. As a result, content from these channels could not be streamed to our TV through our Roku HDMI switch/splitter. It took a bit of googling to figure that out - Roku's support article on HDCP error messages mainly discussed disabling and reconnecting, and re-enabling and disabling. No mention was made of the HDMI switch/splitter incompatibility. If that were the case, I would start working faster and be happier at the end. After figuring that out, I plugged the Roku directly into the TV and it worked great. Unfortunately, to do this I had to rearrange all of our other HDMI inputs. If you rely on HDMI switchers/splitters, find out if your switcher is HDCP compliant before purchasing this incarnation of Roku. Also, the Roku mobile app is advertised as having a keyboard function - on my iOS, all of the mobile remote control functions I've tried work except for the mobile keyboard. Hopefully a google search will bring up a solution, but I'd be even happier if this keyboard feature came out of the box. EDIT: The remote stopped working after a month. Good thing there's a Roku mobile app. Otherwise we would have to order a new remote control.

Pros
  • Stylish and modern design
Cons
  • Tape