Roku firmware update takes HD-XR player from 720p to 1080p

A lot of companies make promises; some they keep, others, well... let's just say they don't always hold fast to the lines they throw consumers.

But Roku, which makes set-top boxes for OTT delivery, just delivered on a promise it made back in August, quietly pushing through a firmware update for its HD-XR players. The result? As promised, a jump from 720p to 1080p fro the $99.99 box.

Roku's forum says that you don't have to initiate an update, it'll happen automatically over the next several days if your Roku box remains on. Along with the upgrade to 1080p, Roku said the release also:

  • Fixed a bug that could result in a crash if an app tried to load an image that was too large (greater than 1280x720);
  • Fixed playback of poorly interleaved video streams which resulted in rebuffers around the 25 minute mark in Roku Newscaster programs.
  • Fixed a remaining case of playback at the incorrect aspect ratio.
  • Changed option menu action name from "change order" to "change position" for re-arranging channels.
  • Fixed a bug in channel re-ordering related to presence of screen savers.
  •  Modified channel store "go to channel" behavior to launch the selected channel instead of only focusing the icon on the Home screen.
  • Added screensaver preview and set options to the channel store springboard.
  • Fixed a subtle audio playback issue in UFC streaming.

Roku has said it expects to have about one million players deployed in the U.S. by the end of the year. The company in August dropped its player prices just prior to Google TV and Apple TV rolling out, helping it to keep its slice of the market with some of the lowest-priced, most complete devices available.

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