Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #71

Hi, everyone !!



I'm not sure if it was due to the World Cup 2014 finally (excuse the pun) coming to an end in Brazil last Sunday but we've had yet more input from readers of this blog with regard to the recent system update by Roku to 'Version 5.5' of their streaming player software. Following on from the contribution made by Dave/Dim [Twitter Feed: @dimspace] in my 'Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #70' last week, where we learned that 'Roku 1' models have now been updated to 'Version 5.5 - Build 321', there have been further comments from 'MarkyMark551' and 'Sands End Community Centre Action Group (SECCAG)' confirming that their 'Roku 2' players had also been updated to the same software as is now featured on UK 'Roku 1' models (i.e. 'Version 5.5 - Build 321', as mentioned previously). We also received a comment from 'Radioforts' that their 'Roku LT' player was still running 'Version 5.4' of the Roku software, although I've since heard from 'Mike Horgan' via the comments section (towards the end of this post) that UK 'Roku LT' models should now be running 'Version 5.5 - Build 320' so, if that is indeed the case, UK owners of 'Roku LT' players may want to perform a 'System update' via the "Settings" menu on their streaming media players, selecting 'Check now' to "force" the latest version to be added - if the update has not already been applied, that is.

Having already learned, from my 'Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #69' two weeks ago (where I first made mention of updates to the software version(s) on various UK Roku player models), that UK 'Roku 3' players have been updated to the newer 'Version 5.5 - Build 319' software and that UK 'Roku 2 XS' models have since been updated to 'Version 5.5 - Build 320', we are now close to having the full picture as to what the current software should be for each of the UK Roku models. Here is a breakdown of the information which has been gathered thus far:-


ROKU 3...................................................................Version 5.5 - Build 319

ROKU 2 XS.............................................................Version 5.5 - Build 320

ROKU LT.................................................................Version 5.5 - Build 320

ROKU 1....................................................................Version 5.5 - Build 321

ROKU 2....................................................................Version 5.5 - Build 321

ROKU STREAMING STICK..................................Version 5.5 - Build ??? (TBC)


 If anyone owns a new 'Roku Streaming Stick (HDMI Version), which has been updated to 'Version 5.5' software, and can contact me with the relevant build number for that streaming media player, I'd really appreciate it. For the benefit of any UK Roku owners that may not know how to check their Software Version and 'Build Number', you simply need to look at the 'About' sub-menu of your Roku 'Settings' menu to find the information for your player model. If you could then leave a comment (below) with the relevant version / build number, or send a tweet to the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels for this blog, I'll mention it in a future post once I've had a chance to confirm it.

Unfortunately, aside from a further batch of new channels being added, there's been very little else in terms of Roku-related news during the past seven days. That said, in addition to new channels and details of new software updates, we have had some more new readers coming to the pages of this blog. Once again, there were many repeat visits from various countries that I've mentioned in previous posts but on this occasion, as with a couple of months ago, there was one country that had not featured previously. So, before we go any further with the current 'Weekly RoundUp', I'd first like to extend a warm welcome to those new readers from Sudan, who each took the time to pay a maiden visit to these pages at some point during the past seven days, or so.

To those new readers, and to everyone else who continues to read my Roku-related ramblings here on this blog, I'd just like to say... "Thanks for stopping by" & long may you continue to do so.

Anyway, let's now press on with the details for the current 'Weekly RoundUp' of NEW ADDITIONS to the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store. This time, there are NINE NEW CHANNELS which have been added during the past seven days. These latest additions to the channel line-up have provided us with FRESH CONTENT in the Film & TV, Games, News, Weather, Sport, Food plus Special Interest genres (i.e. categories).

In keeping with previous installments from the 'Weekly RoundUp' series, details of these new channels have all been listed below, together with links to obtain further information {by clicking on the channel name(s) beneath the respective channel icon(s) as pictured} and to read a 'Roku Guide' review with an independent (slightly more expansive) assessment of each one:-

ARTISAN WINE CHANNEL................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

HEALTHY LIVING [by Fawesome.TV]...............................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

KUNG FU FLIX.....................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

PRO TIPS 4U..........................................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

MORE CLASSIC KIDS TV.........COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

STARS AND STRIPES TV...................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

MUEVI...........................................................COST: £1.49 (MONTHLY) [Roku Guide Review]

2048 TV.........................................COST: £0.69 (ONE-OFF PAYMENT) [Roku Guide Review]

GRINDHOUSE CHANNEL................................................COST: FREE [Roku Guide Review]

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Anyway, like it or not, that is your lot for this week and, whilst it doesn't quite the match-up to the thirteen channels which made it into the "Official" Roku USA Channel Store during the same time-frame, I always think it's better to have SOME NEW CHOICES than none at all, don't you ?!!

Still, hopefully everyone in the UK with a Roku player managed to find something they like within the nine channels outlined above. If not, then you'll just have to pay us a visit another time when, with any luck, there will be something more to your liking. Afterall, there's no point installing every channel because, as I've said before, when it comes to adding new channels to your Roku player, IT'S YOUR CHOICE and, as with all things Roku... THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS YOURS !!

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In the meantime, for my last forty-nine 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, I have been suggesting we spare a thought for all the poor folk who handed over their hard-earned cash for one of those NowTV Boxes [Powered by Sky] which, as I keep saying, have (so far) totally failed to live up to their full potential. Likewise, the original promise from NowTV of "more apps being continually added", is yet to be adhered to, since there have been ONLY THREE NEW CHANNELS ADDED to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box SINCE THE PRODUCT LAUNCHED and two of those first appeared just one month ago !!  Of course, getting two new channels from the so-called "developers" at NowTV in one go was always likely to be no more than a "flash in the pan" and (perhaps) unsurprisingly, since then, it's been back to "business as usual" as far as (not) adding any new channels to the (already severely reduced) Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box is concerned. Meanwhile, as well as the soaring temperatures around the UK this week, it looks like things are also hotting-up at NowTV HQ, with the "cowboy" channel developers taking a radical new approach in their attempts to overcome the lack of new channel additions on NowTV Boxes:-

HINT: Click on the above image to ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

PHOTO SOURCE: pntonline.com

Rumours that the above scenario came about as a direct result of a misunderstanding (by the Roku channel development team), when the big-wigs at NowTV mentioned that they were "not exactly setting the place alight with their efforts", have yet to be substantiated. We need only take a look at their track record (week-on-week) over the last eleven months to know that they're not exactly going to make sparks fly, let alone set the world on fire, with the (absence of) friction caused by their (lack of any) frenetic activity in the channel development stakes. Then again, maybe it was a reaction to my recent comments about their efforts being no more than a "flash in the pan" that ignited their fury?! Or, perhaps talk of the NowTV developers "getting fired" if things didn't improve were also misconstrued and it was that which led to the situation we see depicted in the above photograph?!

Whatever the reason, it's likely to be of no surprise to any of you that (as with EVERY WEEK BAR TWO since launch) there has (yet again) been literally NO ACTION in terms of NEW ADDITIONS to the Roku Channel Store selection on the NowTV Box. What this means is that, over the course of the past week, NowTV have (again) produced a (NOT SO) GRAND TOTAL of ZERO NEW CHANNELS to add to their (already SEVERELY REDUCED) version of the Roku Channel Store as included on their NowTV Box. Meanwhile, the "Official" Roku Channel Store that features on all UK Roku players has added a further NINE EXTRA CHANNELS during that same period of time. To keep things firmly in perspective, in the fifty-one weeks since the launch of the NowTV Box, there has been a total of SIX HUNDRED AND SEVEN EXTRA CHANNELS added to the Roku Channel Store on UK Roku players, as compared with THREE EXTRA CHANNELS being added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. That, surely, must tell you something ?!!!

Like I've said in previous weeks, it seems to be a case of one step forward and two steps back when it comes to the meagre selection of channels available in the Roku Channel Store which features on the streaming media player from NowTV. To illustrate my point... from the moment that the NowTV Box was launched, they have managed to completely lose 'WatchIndia' and 'USTV Now', with '4oD', 'ITV Player' and 'BBC Sport' being the only channels added to the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box since it launched !! Then, a few months back, came the turn for '4oD' to up-sticks and leave it's original home in the "Film & TV" category to hide-out in the "Most Popular" channels, presumably (like 'Flixster' before it) preferring the (relative) obscurity of a twenty-five channel lineup to the company of just six other channels with which it had shared the genre since 'Flixster' went into hiding. Perhaps worse still was the loss of 'MLB.TV' from the "News, Weather, Sport" category which, unless you added it previously (in which case you'll find it under 'My Channels' in the menu), you will not (currently) be able to add to the channel selection on your NowTV Box. In fact, as far as the channel selection on the NowTV Box goes, the best I can say is that at least the 'Havoc Television' and 'VEVO' channels (which had both been missing an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for quite some time) have now managed to stay put for the past few months, having found their way back into the 'Music' genre (i.e. category) of the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. Likewise... the other channel lacking an "official" Roku Channel Store category on the NowTV Box for a long while, namely 'HooplaKidz Rhymes', remains part of "Internet TV".

Even with the two recent channel additions, there are still just 48 CHANNELS to be found in the NowTV Box version of the Roku Channel Store PLUS the 'NOW TV', 'Sky News' and 'Sky Store' channels which (unfortunately) means the overall total remains at only fifty-one channels (just one more than there was when the product was launched towards the end of July 2013). Plus, let's not forget, those last three are only there by default and not included with the apps (i.e. channels) in the Roku Channel Store on the NowTV Box. If we then leave aside the "Most Popular" channels and any additional ones listed in "My Channels" (as I do with my channel count for the Roku player), when it comes to the actual Roku Channel Store categories on the NowTV Box, there remains no more than a paltry 46 channels in total compared with 1,100+ in the channel store on UK Roku players !!!

Bearing this in mind... whilst the NowTV Box won't exactly leave you out-of-pocket, if you are after a streaming media player which can genuinely boast of "more apps being continually added" and is a lot less likely to leave you wanting by the time the summer holiday period ends, then I strongly advise you to do yourselves a BIG FAVOUR and spend the extra twenty quid or so to get a genuine original Roku LT streaming media player that will allow you to ACCESS NETFLIX plus many other film & tv channels (incl. NowTV) as well as having both the 'Plex' and 'YouTube' channels readily available via the channel store and will give you more than 1,050 EXTRA CHANNELS TO CHOOSE FROM when compared with the selection (currently) found on a NowTV Box.

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Still, whether you happen to own a Roku player, a NowTV Box, OR BOTH, as I do... be sure to come back in seven days' time for my next 'Weekly RoundUp' and, if you can't wait that long, remember you can always keep up with all the UK Roku action (as it happens) throughout the coming week, by following the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels where up-to-the-minute info on all things Roku-related (here in the UK) is posted on a daily basis (well, almost).

Until the next time, then...

That's all folks !!