RokuAnthony wrote:

Yes, the video player could do internet radio (or pandora or whatever).

We internally debate whether customers would appreciate music on it. You would have to turn on your TV to select the music. What do you think?

In theory I am in favor of adding this capability. I guess it would make the Digial Video Player into a Digital Audio-&-Video Player.

Some pro-and-con thoughts and questions:

Would it in effect perform the function of a Roku Soundbridge, substituting the TV Screen for the LCD readout of the soundbridge? If I use a soundbridge to stream a radio station and leave it on that station for hours, then during that time, there is no need to look at the LCD readout (or glance at the TV screen, if the TV screen were used merely as a station-choosing display). So, would it be necessary to have the TV on during playback, or only during the selection process?

In practice, it is a bit hard for me to predict if I would waver and want to go back to purchasing and using a separate soundbridge to play back audio. Perhaps beta-testing such a feature with a few soundbridge owners within your organization might be a good idea, should you decide to explore it further.

Side-note that Roku's approach to the Soundbridge side of the business has been a bit of a mystery to me.

Anyway, coming back to my own original reasons for asking this question, I am not certain why I wouldn't want to expand the number of audio and video sources that I can bring into my media playback system(s). It is possible that in further thinking through and discussing the matter I would see the wisdom of solving this better by getting a separate soundbridge, but for now I think that maybe I would be good with being able to choose stations (including audio stations) entirely through what is presently the DVP. Maybe there would even be some subtle improvement possible for Roku on the business side, in terms of further leveraging Roku Radio. I don't know. Anyway, those are some of my initial thoughts.

jlsoaz wrote:

In theory I am in favor of adding this capability. I guess it would make the Digial Video Player into a Digital Audio-&-Video Player.

Some pro-and-con thoughts and questions:
[...]

I forgot to add a side-note that is important to me personally, as an energy conservationist, but which may not be mentioned or agreed-with by many others.

If the TV screen itself actually had to be on in order for a person to listen to radio, (not only for station or song or playlist selection, but during all listening) then this would I think drive up the use of energy. It's hard to say, because the overall use of power of an Audio-Visual system may depend on various parts (LCD screen, plasma, CRT or other?, modest audio amplification? large speakers? Separate speakers?, etc.).

I guess I'm just saying that while in theory I would tentatively be in favor of adding the option of choosing audio options through my TV screen and listening to streaming audio using the DVP, I would also be in favor of keeping an eye on energy use, wherever possible.

jlsoaz wrote:

jlsoaz wrote:

In theory I am in favor of adding this capability. I guess it would make the Digial Video Player into a Digital Audio-&-Video Player.

Some pro-and-con thoughts and questions:
[...]

I forgot to add a side-note that is important to me personally, as an energy conservationist, but which may not be mentioned or agreed-with by many others.

If the TV screen itself actually had to be on in order for a person to listen to radio, (not only for station or song or playlist selection, but during all listening) then this would I think drive up the use of energy. It's hard to say, because the overall use of power of an Audio-Visual system may depend on various parts (LCD screen, plasma, CRT or other?, modest audio amplification? large speakers? Separate speakers?, etc.).

I guess I'm just saying that while in theory I would tentatively be in favor of adding the option of choosing audio options through my TV screen and listening to streaming audio using the DVP, I would also be in favor of keeping an eye on energy use, wherever possible.

If you didn't have some sort of home theater system and just had the Roku connected to the TV, then of course it would need to be on to listen. If you had a HT setup you could pipe the audio of the Roku through it and would only need the TV to choose a station. Listening through the DVP would be impossible as it has no speakers.

billc124 wrote:

jlsoaz wrote:

jlsoaz wrote:

In theory I am in favor of adding this capability. I guess it would make the Digial Video Player into a Digital Audio-&-Video Player.

Some pro-and-con thoughts and questions:
[...]

I forgot to add a side-note that is important to me personally, as an energy conservationist, but which may not be mentioned or agreed-with by many others.

If the TV screen itself actually had to be on in order for a person to listen to radio, (not only for station or song or playlist selection, but during all listening) then this would I think drive up the use of energy. It's hard to say, because the overall use of power of an Audio-Visual system may depend on various parts (LCD screen, plasma, CRT or other?, modest audio amplification? large speakers? Separate speakers?, etc.).

I guess I'm just saying that while in theory I would tentatively be in favor of adding the option of choosing audio options through my TV screen and listening to streaming audio using the DVP, I would also be in favor of keeping an eye on energy use, wherever possible.

If you didn't have some sort of home theater system and just had the Roku connected to the TV, then of course it would need to be on to listen. If you had a HT setup you could pipe the audio of the Roku through it and would only need the TV to choose a station. Listening through the DVP would be impossible as it has no speakers.

Yep. My Roku is connected to a home theater, so I wouldn't need my TV on to listen to music. Just the Roku and the home theater system.

It would be interesting to learn just what percentage of people actually hook-up their DVP boxes to home theatre systems and thus be able to enjoy the superior sound quality rather than trying to listen to available high bitrate Internet Radio stations through the sub-optimal speakers that most TVs have.

billc124 wrote:

If you didn't have some sort of home theater system and just had the Roku connected to the TV, then of course it would need to be on to listen. If you had a HT setup you could pipe the audio of the Roku through it and would only need the TV to choose a station. Listening through the DVP would be impossible as it has no speakers.

Thanks. I did understand that, but it is certainly a point that needed to be made, so it is clear to everyone and we can mull it over.

In my case, I do not presently have my Roku DVP and TV hooked up with any sort of full multimedia separate-speakers setup (my amp and speakers and soundbridge are presently in another part of the house). If-when the Roku DVP is modified such that it can start doing some or all of the same things as the soundbridge, I would consider whether I want to listen through my TV speakers or some other speakers.

Also my TV is presently a CRT type, and I think energy use could be decreased with some other type?

Also, if conservation is a goal (and it is only one goal among several for me, so I do not mean to imply it is the last word here in my own personal setup, but that I think it is something worth considering for electronics designers), then not only kWh usage but also the acquisition of and disposal of "stuff" should be considered. The more electronic gizmos and speakers and stuff that I accumulate, and duplicate, and duplicate again, then the more I am down an arguably-somewhat non-conservationist path. E-waste, and waste in general at some point will catch up with us and our civilization. This is all a bit heavy on my own thinking and not focused enough on the matter at hand (what will it be like to stream music through the DVP), so I digress. An excuse is that thinking these things out beforehand is perhaps best, particularly for an electronics-maker like Roku which seems to have done a very good job in the forethought inherent to their products.

Anyway, separate speakers is an issue that I would come more into focus for me if-when the DVP can stream desirable stand-alone Audio and not just Audio that accompanies the video. (Can the Tivo or other sort-of competitors already do some stand-alone audio?).

I have 5 SB devices and love them all. Since Roku has more or less abandoned this product line, I'd love it if they extended the functionality (and the investment they and we made in the Roku Radio site) to the Roku video box.

Please Please Please!

Going slightly off-topic, but energy-use has been mentioned in this thread:
It is a misconception that the "new" flat-screen TVs use less power. I have a Samsung 42" HD LCD. The power consumption of my old 32" CRT, and the new 42" LCD both vary with the picture content, but the difference is far more with the LCD. On a very dark picture the CRT would go down to only 85 watts, whereas the LCD only varies between 300 and 380 watts.

Sales of Plasma TVs are to be banned by our government here in the UK as a 42-inch Plasma TV consumes 830 watts of electricity in comparison with only 330 watts for a flat-screen 42-inch LCD and 320 watts of a 32" CRT, (data based on our 230 volt mains).

RokuAnthony wrote:

Yes, the video player could do internet radio (or pandora or whatever).

We internally debate whether customers would appreciate music on it. You would have to turn on your TV to select the music. What do you think?

My SB is still in use for internet radio, but Pandora or others would be nice. However, as a projector user - I would not turn it on to listen.

How about a 2nd gen unit that can connect to one of the small USB displays coming on the market - or offer one from Roku as an accessory?

RokuAnthony wrote:

Yes, the video player could do internet radio (or pandora or whatever).

We internally debate whether customers would appreciate music on it. You would have to turn on your TV to select the music. What do you think?

Yes, I would: because services like Pandora and Slacker are interactive. Album arts and liner notes are interesting and showy. The coverflow views of these services could be easily adapted to the cover art paradigm already on Roku. I use my iPhone hooked to my stereo for this now, but I'd prefer to free it up for calls and other things.

I understand that Vudu is getting Pandora.

Energy conscious folks: my LCD TV has an Audio Only mode, you may wish to check if yours does. I use it often with the audio channels on cable.

Saqqara wrote:

Energy conscious folks: my LCD TV has an Audio Only mode, you may wish to check if yours does. I use it often with the audio channels on cable.

Thanks for the tip on Energy-Saving. I will look for this feature in my next TV purchase, and look for some consumer tests online to verify by watt-meter that this does save energy. Given the confluence of media-devices, it sounds like in real-world use it might save some households some energy.

Saqqara wrote:

RokuAnthony wrote:

Yes, the video player could do internet radio (or pandora or whatever).

We internally debate whether customers would appreciate music on it. You would have to turn on your TV to select the music. What do you think?

Yes, I would: because services like Pandora and Slacker are interactive. Album arts and liner notes are interesting and showy. The coverflow views of these services could be easily adapted to the cover art paradigm already on Roku. I use my iPhone hooked to my stereo for this now, but I'd prefer to free it up for calls and other things.

I understand that Vudu is getting Pandora.

Energy conscious folks: my LCD TV has an Audio Only mode, you may wish to check if yours does. I use it often with the audio channels on cable.

Yeah. I want either an on-demand service like Rhapsody or an interactive service like Pandora over Sirius. I'd prefer a free-ad supported service.

I would like internet radio/streaming music, whatever you want to call it.. I'd especially like it if there was the availability of 5.1 digital surround music. That'd be great, but I know that's really never caught on on DVD music discs.

Jeffrok you’ve hit the nail on the head -
Being retired, one of my great pleasures is to play Rock Music DVDs or my SoundBridge M1001 into our Hi-Fi Home Cinema 5.1 system, that has enough power to bounce the ornaments off the furniture cabinets

To listen to high-quality 5.1 sound, and watch the skilled musicians in a band like Pink Floyd, or merely hear high-bitrate Internet Radio via the same system is a real pleasure to behold. For those of you who have not yet hooked-up your DVP boxes, and a SoundBridge via a Hi-Fi Home Cinema Audio System, you really don’t know what you’re missing.

alanmc wrote:

Jeffrok you’ve hit the nail on the head -
Being retired, one of my great pleasures is to play Rock Music DVDs or my SoundBridge M1001 into our Hi-Fi Home Cinema 5.1 system, that has enough power to bounce the ornaments off the furniture cabinets

To listen to high-quality 5.1 sound, and watch the skilled musicians in a band like Pink Floyd, or merely hear high-bitrate Internet Radio via the same system is a real pleasure to behold. For those of you who have not yet hooked-up your DVP boxes, and a SoundBridge via a Hi-Fi Home Cinema Audio System, you really don’t know what you’re missing.

As I mull over your point and others', I think in my view the argument for offering audio-only over the DVP becomes stronger. "Tuning in" to a radio station, or to a playlist on one's network, would seem to be easier over the DVP and TV Screen than over the LED screen on a Soundbridge. Many here seem to report multiple soundbridge purchases. At the same time, for hooking up a multimedia system such as the one you describe, sound and video internet tuning responsibilities I think could be handled by one device (a DVP with audio streaming). One's playlists, networked music, internet radio favorites, presets and radio roku could be a channel on the DVP, next to Amazon VOD and Netflix (or there could be two top channels, one is audio-only and one is audio-video?).

Radio Roku in this theory could be monetized a bit, but I don't know. I also have lost track of where the free internet radio channel thing is going. Are all those stations still on the verge of being forced out of business by having to pay fees higher than traditional radio has to pay?