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Review of the Roku HD1000 Media Player
Animaether writes "Digital Producer magazine are running a review of the Roku HD1000 HD media player hardware. Between 'The unit crashed so much while I was testing it, I practically beat a path through the carpet to the unit's location on the shelf...' and 'Roku HD1000 misses by such a wide margin, it isn't worth buying', the review paints a pretty grim picture of this unit, and appears to put part of the blame on its Linux-based OS and software. The Roku HD1000 was previously covered here in December 2003."
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
First?
Just because you use Linux doesn;t necessarely mean that it will be good... You have to make it good.
Yes, it can do these things, but because of its awkward Linux-based operating system and sluggish response, the thing acts like it doesn't want to.
My guess is that the reviewer is talking about the "operating system" of the Roku in a broad sense, and not in the sense that computer geeks do. He probably means "interface", and should not have included "Linux" in that sentence; after all, he does go on to praise the Tivo, which is also Linux based (as he himself says). Just bad writing, if you ask me.
Does it strike you as odd that a consumer product should require that one "know what they were doing" when they purchased it? Shouldn't the product be easy to install and use?
I'm not sure you RTFA, but your response sounds like a knee-jerk to me. If I buy a Tivo, I don't want to have to spend hours and hours getting it to work. I also shouldn't need any programming or configuration expertise.
If you're producing a device like this for the general public, you'd better not make it hard to use or install. So that would be a problem with the product.
I agree with you, but I think (hope) he meant the people at Roku who set up the box didn't do a very good job of customizing it for what they were using the system for before they shipped it.
Engineers have a lot of great ideas and can even make them happen but there are a lot of angles they don't see or even think of. Many of the engineers aren't even the target users and don't really understand how something gets used.
...and big companies don't do this...okaayy..
I would say this is a small part of the problem, a lot of the time. Budgets and deadlines, PHB and marketing, now there are the real culprits. Engineers are smart people, and in this case, professionals. You tell them what you want, they will deliver it. But not when you've got one side saying this needs to be done yesterday and the other adding shit on your to-do list.
This is one place I will give props to the military. They require Quality Assurance and testing by the user before they will sign off on something.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
wow, just imagine how buggy this player would be if it ran windows!
I don't believe that the instability of this unit is because of the Linux-based software it runs. There's many other stable Linux-based media devices out there, such as Sigma Designs EM8500 DVD players, the Dreambox DM7000S DVB Satellite Receiver, Hauppauge Media MVP, and more. Bravo manufactures Linux-based standalone DVD players using the Sigma Designs chipset, as one LKML message points out, for example. I myself put the instability onus squarely on the shoulders of Roku's product engineering, having seen myself some very successful applications of embedded uClinux technologies.
You think the squeezebox is ugly? Really? I have one and I think it's pretty cute (as does the SO). It's very small and nicely rounded, with a sexy rubber coating. I agree that the Roku looks better (I considered getting one of those but it kept being delayed) but the SB is far from ugly. I wouldn't put it in my hifi stack (too small), but that's what the HTPC is for. I have it in the bedroom on a side table so we can have access to the entire music collection from there as well. It's hooked up into a discreet set of 2.1 PC speakers hidden away behind the lamps. All in all a fantastic solution.
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
If this unit was Microsoft made, the OS would be blamed left and right.
Ahh, at least I'm not the only one here who sees the double standard.
* Anything Linux Based Product: Good!
* Any Linux Bug: Unskilled and/or incompetent Users
* Anything Window Based Product: Bad!
* Any Windows Bug: Unskilled and/or incompetent coders
Help Brendan pay off his student loans
"That's what they get for not using a production ready operating system. Why would anyone choose Linux when they can use Windows CE?"
The NSA uses Linux. It is more than production ready. I've never modified my Xbox, but it does crash from time to time. My TiVo has not. And let us not forget that Microsoft has used its OS in a PVR before, their very own UltimateTV, which failed in the face of TiVo.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Ahh, at least I'm not the only one here who sees the double standard.
Yeah, 'cause for a second there I thought you were the only one with that observation, luckily after all these years on slashdot someone had the guts to post what the grandparent posted! All of those Apple and Linux threads we've seen, and nobody has pointed out the double standard that exists among all slashdot users (even you, deep inside your heart)
But the problem is that the 1.5 million slashdotters are the part of the population that everyone goes to for recommendations when they are buying electronics and computers. I know that I personally have about 15-20 people who usually talk to me before they buy anything more expensive than a cheap DVD player. If each of those 1.5 million has 10 million people that ask them for recommendations then that is 11.5 million who won't buy. Each of those 10 million probably have 3 or 4 friends who tend to try to keep-up-with-the-jones so those 30 or 40 million also won't be buying one (they'll get the better X brand item). That means that somewhere around 50 million people could potentially be affected by a very bad Slashdot review.
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I have been running a Sqeezebox for a month now, and I really like it. I went through and cleaned up my MP3 tags, now browsing artists/albums/genres is a breeze. Yeah, it does not stack with the other components, but it works so well, I don't care.
Does anybody now if the Squeezebox is running an OS at all?
Bullshit. It's got nothing to do with the fact that it's Linux, and not Windows. It has to do with the fact that the Tivo, which is Linux-based, is apparently well designed (I don't know...I haven't seen one personally), whereas this Roku thing (doesn't that sound like someone off LOTR?), which is also Linux-based, apparently sucks.
Notice:
Tivo - Linux - Good.
Roku - Linux - Bad.
Windows never entered the equation at all, until you brought it in yourself.
Of course, if it ran Windows, and it got a virus/worm/spyware/trojan infestation, then it would be totally the OS's fault.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Yeah, but Roku basically ripped off an old version of the Slim Devices software. They say it uses SlimServer, but you can forget about using any of the zillions of SlimServer plugins with a SoundBridge since Roku used an ancient version.