HD Homerun freezes (nearby lightning) - MikeySoft

[MikeySoft]

HD Homerun sometimes freezes the tv display when nearby (less than 15 miles) lightning occurs. Changing the channel unfreezes the tv. Using the HD HomeRun app on a Roku TV. Any opinions/comments?

[jasonl]

Lightning generates a lot of noise across a wide range of frequencies. TV broadcast signals handle this better than AM radio, where you can hear every lightning strike within like 100 miles, but if the noise is strong enough, it may briefly interfere with reception of the broadcast signals, resulting in data being missing or corrupted. Roku's video player does not handle missing/corrupt data very well and may exhibit a variety of symptoms when this happens, including crashing out of the app, reporting a malformed data error, or just stopping playback. Other devices tend to be much more resilient and will just have brief corruption before returning to normal.

[Cabal]

OT: This reminds me of the story of email that can't be sent more than 500 miles.

https://www.ibiblio.org/harris/500milemail.html

[gtb]

Lightning generates a lot of noise across a wide range of frequencies. TV broadcast signals handle this better than AM radio, where you can hear every lightning strike within like 100 miles, but if the noise is strong enough, it may briefly interfere with reception of the broadcast signals, resulting in data being missing or corrupted. Roku's video player does not handle missing/corrupt data very well and may exhibit a variety of symptoms when this happens, including crashing out of the app, reporting a malformed data error, or just stopping playback. Other devices tend to be much more resilient and will just have brief corruption before returning to normal.

I understand the "politics" of wanting to support ROKU, but can an *engineering* company (which SD has historically claimed it is) justify saying ROKU is anything more than a "tolerated" player, and not a "recommended" player?

[Cabal]

Lightning generates a lot of noise across a wide range of frequencies. TV broadcast signals handle this better than AM radio, where you can hear every lightning strike within like 100 miles, but if the noise is strong enough, it may briefly interfere with reception of the broadcast signals, resulting in data being missing or corrupted. Roku's video player does not handle missing/corrupt data very well and may exhibit a variety of symptoms when this happens, including crashing out of the app, reporting a malformed data error, or just stopping playback. Other devices tend to be much more resilient and will just have brief corruption before returning to normal.

I understand the "politics" of wanting to support ROKU, but can an *engineering* company (which SD has historically claimed it is) justify saying ROKU is anything more than a "tolerated" player, and not a "recommended" player?

You've been here long enough (4225 posts, it seems) that I'm surprised to see you making a comment like this. In the same way that Apple only allows Webkit-based browsers on iOS (EU politics notwithstanding), Roku only allows the use of its player on its platform. SD has spoken to this effect on numerous occasions.

Although recent posts did indicate there may be some improvement on the horizon, but I don't recall the details.

[jasonl]

I understand the "politics" of wanting to support ROKU, but can an *engineering* company (which SD has historically claimed it is) justify saying ROKU is anything more than a "tolerated" player, and not a "recommended" player?

I certainly don't consider Roku a recommended player. I would assume it does a good job at the things it is designed to do, but it isn't designed to play broadcast TV.