....so I am looking for help on what what model is what. I have tried searching but to no avail, so apologies for this but....

I am looking to purchase the M1001 which is around £150 here in the UK. However I see what looks to be a very similar model on ebuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131852/show_product_specifications?spectype=extended for under £50. I believe it may be an M400 model. It appears to be the same thing, so can someone help me understand the differences? Look at the spec I guess the M1001 is WPA enabled and the M400 needs a firmware update.

Also can anyone point to a downloadable user guide for either so I can get to grips with it before commiting to purchase?

Cheers

Permit me to encourage you to consider the US model Roku-branded M1001 available from Expansys UK (phone them to check stock/delivery).
See ink > http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=128050 and check-out how much cheaper they are, and the display is much larger than the Pinnacle M400 !

Please Note: the Pinnacle branded units are not licensed to use DAAP, (which is the music-server protocol built into iTunes). BUT the US model from Expansys does use DAAP . . . . thus you've overcome such issues of having to use 'Firefly

One thing you could consider is buying one of the £50 cheapie units (with the tiny display) and using it as an assessment model. You can always ebay it after you are done, and you`ll get most of your money back.

If you like what you see, go and get a M1001 (or a 2nd hand M1000, which doesn`t upsample and therefore has slightly better audio quality), which has a much more usable display.

The only difference between the 2 is the display.

We think Roku`s are great (especially the new radio functionality in firmware 3.0) , but theres no substitute for trying one yourself.

Just my 2p

I bought 2 of the 40 quid Pinnacle units from ebuyer, and am very happy with them. mt-daap (Firefly) and internet radio work great. Once connected they automatically do a couple of firmware updates. If you point a browser at them you see a Roku logo. telnet port 4444 and 5555 seems to get you all the console/RCP stuff documented by Roku site.

IMHO The number one reason you should consider a more expensive unit (Expansys having the next cheapest option in the UK I think) is the utterly TEENY TINY size of the display on the Pinnacle unit. If you expect to do a lot of browsing of music collections or radio station lists via the soundbridge display, the Pinnacle will surely soon drive you crazy. If you mainly want to flip between a few presets or control it from your PC via RCP, it's less of an annoyance (even so, it wasn't long before I started renaming presets like "Soma FM - Space Station" to "SpaceStation-SomaFM").

Thank you all for your replies.

I have taken your advice and ordered the M1001 from Expansys today. They are quoting shipment in 7 days although when I spoke with them it would appear that they are not getting deliveries from the US until early December.

One additional question: Is this likely to come with a US or UK style power supply? I assume it will be capable of operating on 230v 50Hz or 110V 60 Hz, but is it the type with the plug moulded into the PSU? If not I can easily change the plug - I know I can use an adaptor if necessary.

One final question - can anyone point me to where I can download the user guide for the M1001 so I get to know it a bit before it arrives. Maybe I am thick but I can't see it on the Roku web site.

Thanks once again

You can find the manual at:

http://www.rokulabs.com/downloads/sb_an ... rGuide.pdf

B'Dog

Thanks B'dog

Told you I was thick!

JB

Thought I would just post back to say I did receive the M1001 from Expansys. It took longer than expected but in fairness to them their order tracking system did keep me up to date. Their email saying that it would be delivered next day only arrived the next day so I was not in to receive it. Apart from that, excellent service from Expansys. The M1001 was, as expected, a US version with a US two pin power supply. Expansys did throw in an adaptor however. Can't wait for Xmas to try it! (Yes, I am that sad. Buying my own Xmas pressies. Safer than asking Mrs Blink to get it though )

Welcome to M1001 ownership, I'm glad you finally decided to opt for this US version of the Soundbridge from Expansys.
Permit me to offer you some basic tips:
Always whenever discussing the type of SoundBridge that you have, describe it as a "Roku-branded M1001" - this will ensure that others understand that it has a 5 volt PSU, and also has direct support for iTunes.
Living in the UK you will need to first upgrade the firmware through to 3.0.44 and then 'sign-up' for 3.0.49 if you wish to play BBC Radio 1 > 4.
To obtain this 'Special' software: http://www.rokulabs.com/products/soundb ... ware/beta/
Follow the detailed directions carefully to avoid problems -

Enjoy your "new toy", Cheers Alan

Alanmc, thanks for the tip. The packaging indicates it has V3 firmware (essential as I use WPA) but I would have assumed this to be the latest, so thanks for the link. As stated, it will be a week or so before I can really begin to play.

I must admit I have not really dug into the Pinnacle / Roku branding, so again, thanks for that piece of advice.

Watch out for more posts when I am too stupid to get it working

Quick question: The Roku SB has come pre-loaded with 3.0.44. However, whilst it mentions WPA in the setup screens, if I try to use the WPA password it cannot connect. Yes I have checked that the WPA password is correct (many times!!). Changing to WEP produced instant connection. V3 firmware is supposed to be compliant with WPA. Before I start attempting to change to 3.0.49, I just wondered if there was anything I had missed. Christmas Day, a few to drink and all that (and yes, when I tried to enter the WPA password I was stone cold).

I have noticed issues with Speedtouch routers and yes indeed that is what I have. Have I answered my own question? If so, is there a fix for the Speedtouch ST585? (6.2.29.2)

Otherwise, apart from making me realise that I must organise my music files much better, the SB is brilliant!

I am using my M1001 (US version, latest firmware) with WPA to an Apple Airport Extreme router with no problems, and have previously used it successfully with WPA with a DLink DGL-4300 too.

I don't know what to suggest for you if it is working with everything else identical (same channel, same other wireless settings, nothing funny like MAC filtering enabled on the router, etc) but the wireless set to WEP. All I can think of, and I'm sure you'd have tried this, is to check the upper-lower caseness of the WPA key is right.

I don't know anything about Speedtouch routers at all. If it works well as a router (ie whatever you need to talk to your ISP, plus it has good operation from its wired ethernet ports) and you don't want an overall change, could you get (just) a wireless access point device, connect to the Speedtouch and set it (the new wireless access point) to "bridge mode" (so it doesn't try to also be a router, DHCP server, NAT, etc). That would give you an all-new, all-different wireless environment but not change anything else you already had working properly (at the expense and added complexity of having two networking devices rather than one).


ted.h.

p.s. I actually have three wireless/router thingies at home; a DLink DGL-4300 (gigabit wireless router) which is connected to my cable modem, but has its wireless turned off, and TWO Apple Airport Extremes, both set to bridge mode - one for a B+G wireless network (which the Soundbridge and my work Windows laptop and an older Mac connect to) and one for N (on 5GHz, which the other Macs connect to).