I would assume the new Roku 2 and Roku 3 are considered a new generational family for those lines of Roku's.

What is new from the developers perspective? Are there Voice Search API's? And can we get the specs for them updated on the SDK docs site?

Thanks in advance.

I noticed that the model number on the new Roku 2 is now in the 4200 range, and is 4210, is it essentially the old Roku 3?

Ref Model 4210: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/roku-2-stre ... Id=4489029

Also, looks like the new model number for the Roku 3 is 4230: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/roku-3-stre ... Id=4488011

MatroxRT wrote:

And can we get the specs for them updated on the SDK docs site?

Not yet apparently. Some companies actually let their developer community know the specs of a new device before it's released to the public.

Sounds like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku needs to be updated with the new models. The hardware might be identical to "old" Roku 3 4200, the only difference in the remote!

squirreltown wrote:

MatroxRT wrote:

And can we get the specs for them updated on the SDK docs site?

Not yet apparently. Some companies actually let their developer community know the specs of a new device before it's released to the public.

I hear changing your developer name to Netflix or YouTube might help in actually getting responses But lets not kid ourselves, ROKU thinks of us little developers as second class participants because we don't pull the numbers that the big partners do. That's why there is 2 different developer kits and why you seldom get an official response here.

Good thing I started to learn Java because it's a level playing field on the other platforms currently.

squirreltown wrote:

Not yet apparently. Some companies actually let their developer community know the specs of a new device before it's released to the public.

As a matter of policy, RokuCo does not comment on products, unreleased or released
Keeping developers on their toes makes them bring their best game. Stay hungry, stay foolish.

I saw somewhere (linkedin?) that RokuPatrick has left the Co last year. Is there a dev.relations lead now, i wonder? Or are things trickling down now only on the good will of couple of the senior engineers?

MatroxRT wrote:

What is new from the developers perspective?

I spent this morning researching the subject (FCC, meditation, tarot etc) and my conclusion is that hardware-wise, there is no difference between the boxes.
I.e. 2013 Roku 3 (#4200) = 2015 Roku 2 (#4210) = 2015 Roku 3 (#4230)

That doesn't mean they will always behave identically - RokuCo may put software handicaps per model (e.g. like limiting Roku LT to 720p). The good news is that the new Roku 2 has OpenGL now - so games that require that (but no motion remote) will work there too.

RobSMS wrote:

That's why there is 2 different developer kits and why you seldom get an official response here.

Good thing I started to learn Java because it's a level playing field on the other platforms currently.

Is that really a fair statement? According to the forum logs, I have personally posted 1246 times in this forum, and other Roku employees also post frequently. Do you get a lot of "official responses" to your Java questions on other forums?

--Mark

RokuMarkn wrote:

RobSMS wrote:

That's why there is 2 different developer kits and why you seldom get an official response here.

Good thing I started to learn Java because it's a level playing field on the other platforms currently.

Is that really a fair statement? According to the forum logs, I have personally posted 1246 times in this forum, and other Roku employees also post frequently. Do you get a lot of "official responses" to your Java questions on other forums?

--Mark

I don't think it's a fair statement. But that doesn't explain why Roku has two brand new boxes already being sold on the market and I seemingly am not allowed to know what the specs of those boxes are. What was the point of RokuShawnS collecting active developer names - secret de-coder rings?

EnTerr wrote:

MatroxRT wrote:

What is new from the developers perspective?

I spent this morning researching the subject (FCC, meditation, tarot etc) and my conclusion is that hardware-wise, there is no difference between the boxes.
I.e. 2013 Roku 3 (#4200) = 2015 Roku 2 (#4210) = 2015 Roku 3 (#4230)

That doesn't mean they will always behave identically - RokuCo may put software handicaps per model (e.g. like limiting Roku LT to 720p). The good news is that the new Roku 2 has OpenGL now - so games that require that (but no motion remote) will work there too.

Thanks for digging into this EnTerr. I agree they may act different, so more little boxes on our desks to replace some of the classic models, as expected.

RokuMarkn wrote:

RobSMS wrote:

That's why there is 2 different developer kits and why you seldom get an official response here.

Good thing I started to learn Java because it's a level playing field on the other platforms currently.

Is that really a fair statement? According to the forum logs, I have personally posted 1246 times in this forum, and other Roku employees also post frequently. Do you get a lot of "official responses" to your Java questions on other forums?

--Mark

Mark, you and Joel are rock stars. There may be some business rule or otherwise around you answering certain questions like this, and I can absolutely respect that.

squirreltown wrote:

I don't think it's a fair statement. But that doesn't explain why Roku has two brand new boxes already being sold on the market and I seemingly am not allowed to know what the specs of those boxes are.

Let me speculate a little, as an independent* persona i can do that. Imagine for a moment, if you will, that the announced this week refresh did not bring anything new to the platform, as far as channel development/SDK is concerned. Given this, now ponder over these two questions:

1. Knowing that any channel working on a 2013 Roku3 will work identically well on the refresh models, would you think it's worth mentioning them?
2. Considering the birds of ill omen flying around, would you dare admit you haven't added at least a quad-core CPU, 4x the RAM and 32x the flash?

Some discussion on (2): there are these people with "size matters" obsession. You'll see them constantly comparing each other's specs. Like whose phone has more megapixels or cores or memory (while unable explaining the difference between MB and GB). To them, if Amazon has released a box with X amount of storage and Y amount of MHz - you better match and raise one that or else "doom and gloom". To me though, Roku has been known for "doing more, with less". Google TV comes to mind: they had 2x the memory, 16x the storage and 33% "more MHz" than the future Roku3. That was in 2012 and by end of 2013 the GTV initiative was pretty much a walking dead. This said, marketeers wouldn't like promoting "less is more"

(*) i.e. someone that nothing depends on

With all due respect EnTerr, neither one of those arguments hold enough water to brush a squirrels teeth with.
I'm writing software for a box, i should have an official statement about it's capabilities. Your tarot cards can't tell me if openGL is installed or not, no matter how much I wish they would.

squirreltown wrote:

Your tarot cards can't tell me if openGL is installed or not, no matter how much I wish they would.

No, but a simple test will.. So go buy one of each and let us know..

I'm inclined to think the first digit of the model number is a good indication of what features are available on the device, as that has held true over previous generations. Since the new Roku 2 and Roku 3 both start with a 4, I'd be willing to bet they have near identical hardware/feature set to the previous Roku 3, which also started with 4. Hopefully Roku will update the specs here soon-ish... http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/ ... ndFeatures