Roku 2 Firmware 4.1 build 2663

[mikeyts]

The 5.1 sound thing is a serious problem, since if the Netflix UI doesn't offer it, you can't get 5.1 sound (if it doesn't advertise that a title has HD encodings you'll get them anyway). Also, it still makes stereo the default for titles with 5.1 sound, even though I've told it in the device settings to output 5.1 sound.

This is currently by design, regarding defaulting to Stereo in Netflix. 5.1 in Netflix is a separate setting entirely.

C. Shawn Smith

That design needs to be changed however. Why would someone with 5.1 want stereo sound ever? Why would they want to have to chose 5.1 before each show. Netflix needs a global setting for this.

Given the Roku 2's inability to decode the 5.1 channel DD+ on Netflix''s stream to output as LPCM or something, I can see some excuse for this, since they can't assume that it's connected to a device which can deal with DD+ (and devices which can't probably won't output any sound if 5.1 is selected), but there are definitely ways to deal with that. For one, if the device is connected via HDMI (and it couldn't receive DD+ otherwise) they ought to be able to examine the downstream device's (AVR or TV) E-EDID block to determine if it supports DD+ at boot and store that information where the Netflix player can access it (or the Netflix player could check every time you start it). If not, the "Audio Mode" setting should have an option for it (Stereo, 5.1, 5.1 with DD+ support) and that information should be available to the Netflix player.

Also I think the point of the above post was that the 5.1 issue is compunded because 5.1 is available but the current UI problems prevent them from turning them on.

There's a bug in the Netflix UI which causes it to not indicate that some titles have 5.1 sound and/or that they have HD encodings. For at least some of those titles, this is a problem with Netflix's metadata (Red Cliff, Ong Bak 2, Trollhunter, etc)--there's at least one other facility that I know of which can't see that those titles have 5.1 sound, being tvandmoviesnow.com. On the other hand, there are things which can see that those titles have 5.1 sound: the Roku "Netflix Instant Browser" channel, the PS3's Netflix player and my BD player's Netflix player (that I'm aware of).

For me, 5.1 sound is a bigger factor in making video viewing immersive than high definition; given a choice between high def in stereo and standard def with 5.1 sound, for most titles I'd choose the latter (though I'd greatly prefer to have both). Having to remember to turn it on is a huge annoyance for me--I often start a title and then realize that stereo sound is selected and have to go back to select it and start again. When I'm watching a TV series, I often watch multiple episodes in succession and after every one I have to remember to enable 5.1 sound for the next episode. I thought that this was a bug and was prepared to wait for it to be fixed but now I know that it was by design. When a streamer emerges which has both Netflix with 1080p/5.1/CC and Amazon with HD and 5.1 sound I'm going to buy it and sell my Roku 2 (no offense, Roku). I'm hoping that the new WD TV Live model, which has the requisite full-featured Netflix player and VUDU, will add an Amazon player with 5.1 sound capability; it's gotten some pretty good reviews.

[visdoe]

Now my Roku2 is started having Audio video SYNC issues which i never had. Roku2 is a train wreck from beginning and this update screwed it further. Please let me know how to revert it?. This SYNC issue is worst with HLS streams.

I had little hope that roku can fix the issues with roku2. Now i started loose the hope as i see the progress of the fixes including the fix for Http live streams (HLS).

[RokuShawnS]

Now my Roku2 is started having Audio video SYNC issues which i never had. Roku2 is a train wreck from beginning and this update screwed it further. Please let me know how to revert it?. This SYNC issue is worst with HLS streams.

I had little hope that roku can fix the issues with roku2. Now i started loose the hope as i see the progress of the fixes including the fix for Http live streams (HLS).

I need more information than this to investigate. Please give extremely accurate details of your setup, as well as titles, etc, that you're having issues with.

C. Shawn Smith

[vandergraff]

]There's a bug in the Netflix UI which causes it to not indicate that some titles have 5.1 sound and/or that they have HD encodings. For at least some of those titles, this is a problem with Netflix's metadata (Red Cliff, Ong Bak 2, Trollhunter, etc)--there's at least one other facility that I know of which can't see that those titles have 5.1 sound, being tvandmoviesnow.com. On the other hand, there are things which can see that those titles have 5.1 sound: the Roku "Netflix Instant Browser" channel, the PS3's Netflix player and my BD player's Netflix player (that I'm aware of).

This maybe should be the subject of a new thread. I can confirm from recent experience neither Ong Bak 2 and Trollhunter show 5.1 as an option with the ROKU 2. I haven't tried Red Cliff.

[vidstreamer]

Now my Roku2 is started having Audio video SYNC issues which i never had. Roku2 is a train wreck from beginning and this update screwed it further. Please let me know how to revert it?. This SYNC issue is worst with HLS streams.

I had little hope that roku can fix the issues with roku2. Now i started loose the hope as i see the progress of the fixes including the fix for Http live streams (HLS).

I'm also having audio sync issues after the upgrade. Audio on Netflix is up to 1 second ahead of video. So the voice starts up to 1 second before the person's mouth starts moving.

When I can I will gather detailed information and test several different scenarios. But for now here is a summary.

Device: Roku 2 XD
Output: Composite
How it worked before: Netflix audio and video in perfect sync.
How it works now: Netflix audio and video so far out of sync that I will be forced to return the Roku if it can't be fixed.
What changed: Firmware updated to 4.1.2663
What else changed: NOTHING

I also have a Roku 2 XS connected with HDMI that I will test as soon as I can. If this can't be fixed I will have no choice but to return both units. It is so bad as to be unwatchable.

[Sabrewulf]

No sync problems here, watched Netflix for hours after the update and its been fine.

Two things that have been corrected for me, but are NOT listed in the change log: Composite connections on a 4:3 tv are now displayed correctly I think. There does not seem to be the stretched image anymore, but it may have some excessive overscan going on, still have to compare with the Wii, so unsure on this at the moment.

The Newscaster channel (specifically NBC Nightly News) is now, finally, completely smooth, where as before it would become choppy every 10 - 15 seconds.

The image still seems excessively dark to me, at least on the composite connection, have not tried hdmi yet.

*** It would sure be nice if a more through and complete change log would be made upon new firmware releases. ***

[helmsdeeper]

After my XS upgraded the firmware to 2663 on its own, I immediately started experiencing audio sync issues while watching the GBTV channel and was not yet aware of the firmware change. I cannot say yet if it does it on other video channels as I haven't tried. I tried unplugging the power for a few minutes to see it it would help, it did not. I went into the settings and seen the firmware change, selected check for upgrade and seen it offered 1275 (which it was previously on). I selected yes to upgrade/downgrade to 1275, it rebooted after downloading and so far my problem with the audio sync is solved.

My big worry now is this audio issue will not be fixed with 2663 or later and my XS will upgrade itself again and bingo, audio sync issue will be back.

Update - When I came home tonight my XS updated itself back to 2663 from 1275, and within 5-6 minutes the audio sync issues on GBTV are back. I switched over to Amazon Prime and watched 30 minutes of "Mall Rats" and no sync issues there so far. I went back to GBTV, selected two different shows, the first show was out of sync at 7 minutes, the second show out of sync at 9 minutes. What is interesting is when I hit the instant replay button the audio will resync with the video for a few minutes then starts getting bad again. All of this is reproducable. The bad thing is now the option for me to go back to version 1275 is gone from the settings page.

Device: Roku 2 XS model 3100X serial # 13A184078178
Output: Stock RCA Audio Video cable
Wireless signal: Excellent

[visdoe]

Now my Roku2 is started having Audio video SYNC issues which i never had. Roku2 is a train wreck from beginning and this update screwed it further. Please let me know how to revert it?. This SYNC issue is worst with HLS streams.

I had little hope that roku can fix the issues with roku2. Now i started loose the hope as i see the progress of the fixes including the fix for Http live streams (HLS).

I need more information than this to investigate. Please give extremely accurate details of your setup, as well as titles, etc, that you're having issues with.

C. Shawn Smith

Model : Roku2 XS
Channel : TLive (This is having WORST sync issue) (just listing one channel)
HDMI (audio and video)
Wireless and strength is excellent
Nothing changed except that the box got new firmware.

[Heyitsrick]

I, too, am experiencing some audio sync issues post-update that weren't there before. Roku 2 XS --> HDMI OUT --> LG 42LV5500 LED TV.

Fortunately my set has an audio sync adjustment bar, but that's not a "fix"; that's just a workaround.

However, on the other side of the coin, the update did fix my excessively dark chroma problem. Roku giveth; Roku taketh away, lol.

[Distalgia]

Just downloaded the update. Still didn't fix the clicking sound/pandora/Angry Birds volume issue for those of us hooked up to Onkyo receivers and some other models.

Yes I'm still waiting for that to get fixed.

[aaronwt]

....................For me, 5.1 sound is a bigger factor in making video viewing immersive than high definition; given a choice between high def in stereo and standard def with 5.1 sound, for most titles I'd choose the latter (though I'd greatly prefer to have both). Having to remember to turn it on is a huge annoyance for me--I often start a title and then realize that stereo sound is selected and have to go back to select it and start again. When I'm watching a TV series, I often watch multiple episodes in succession and after every one I have to remember to enable 5.1 sound for the next episode. I thought that this was a bug and was prepared to wait for it to be fixed but now I know that it was by design. When a streamer emerges which has both Netflix with 1080p/5.1/CC and Amazon with HD and 5.1 sound I'm going to buy it and sell my Roku 2 (no offense, Roku). I'm hoping that the new WD TV Live model, which has the requisite full-featured Netflix player and VUDU, will add an Amazon player with 5.1 sound capability; it's gotten some pretty good reviews.

I'm just the opposite, I'll take HD with stereo over SD with 5.1. I've been using a surround setup for a long time. I went 5.0 twenty years ago, 5.1 fifteen years ago and 7.1 ten years ago. With Dolby Prologic IIx it does a superb job creating a 7.1 sound field from a 2.0 to 5.1 source. of course ideally it would be Hd and 7.1 but since I've been watching HD for ten years now, HD trumps 5.1 for me.

Plus the stereo content is typically encoded in prologic so the info is there to extract the multichannel sounds. While not as good as discrete multichannel audio it does a great job especially with the Prologic IIx which creates a discrete 7.1 soundfield form the 2.0 source.

[UserInSeattle]

I agree with others that there is a new bug relating to audio delay in build 2663.

Watching "Meet Joe Black" last night on Netflix on the Roku 2 via HDMI to a Yamaha RX-V663 receiver required me to manually put in 45 ms of delay to get things in the ballpark for lipsync (and it could have used a bit more, but tweaking it on the Yamaha would randomly cause the Roku to lock up, requiring a reboot to see the result of the change...probably due to some sort of HDMI handshaking thing going on between the receiver and the Roku).

I also concur with the others that having to manually switch EACH element to 5.1 is not good, as I also frequently forget to do it, and have to restart. Watching back to back series items is !really! bad.

The person who outlined a solution for this is right on target.

I was also confused about the whole secret way that build 2663 was out there, then not, then there again...and was glad to see Shawn's note about the fact that the engineers put out a secret test version...watch the logs...then later release it into the general population. I initially thought, like others, that it was a recall for a bug.

Often the communication here seems like it is going through a fog-filter. Shawn tries, but it seems like with all the various threads, delays, and scatter that these forums are often more confusing that they should be in helping us dumb users figure out a solution to our problems.

To end positively: I really do like the Roku. It has dramatically changed how I watch content, listen to items, and has turned me on to a wide variety of new things that I had no idea existed. Thanks, Roku guys!

--Bill In Seattle

[mrgdonovan]

Within five minutes of watching GBTV the audio and video is out of sync. After this version updated on the 21st I have been having audo video sync problems, The device has a very hard time waking up and I have had volume problems on some channels.
Last night I was able to downgrade and the device seemed to be working very well with the older version.
What do I do now? Am I stuck with a broken device?

[RokuShawnS]

I've forward this information over to the engineers, along with channels suffering from this. They're looking into it.

C. Shawn Smith

[pointer23]

I also have the audio sync problem on GBTV with my Roku 2 XS. It started the next show after the Oct 21st 2663 upgrade. I have to replay a minute of the program to reset the audio every 15 minutes or so. This problem is much worse than the issues they were trying to correct with the upgrade. I do not have the option to download the older version.