@jea48 - I wish I could give you a magic bullet, given how much help you have been to me and others over the years here on things electrical. I had some earlier Roku units, one smelled like burning plastic when I powered it up, a couple others worked fine, but my biggest frustration with the product -now dated- was support at the time, which was virtually non-existent. I hope they have improved. The last one I had worked fine and is buried in a box somewhere.
From your description, the bottleneck is the receiver in the middle. Here’s a thread describing the same problem: [url]
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/39-networking-media-servers-content-streaming/2180233-roku-4-not-worki...[/url]. One solution, it seemed, was the power up sequence and the handshake among the equipment. You might try that. I would think the Marantz automatically senses the bandwidth of the incoming signal and adjusts accordingly. (I know there were some setting issues on audio output on various components, but I you aren’t having an audio only problem).
It also doesn’t sound like you have an internet signal problem if the movie played fine with the Roku straight into the TV. (in the early days, I had all kinds of bandwidth drop out problems with my former internet provider- the techs at Vudu determined that I was getting these very small drop outs which were enough to destabilize the stream and disrupt it).
I went from a big front projector with fancy audiophile grade components to a smaller den sized system that uses an Amazon Fire box, thru a Marantz pre-pro (and McI multichannel power amp) into a Samsung TV. When I moved, I set it up again in Texas with a newer, larger Samsung TV, and it really was plug and play- no issues. I have cable based internet only service thru Spectrum- not considered the best service by any means, but honestly, haven’t had any issues. No drop outs or buffering. And my cost, compared to a "bundle" with cable TV, Internet and phone (who uses a landline any more any way) went from 185 dollars a month in NY to 47 dollars a month in Texas. (I was using Fios in NY which I liked for the Internet, but the ’set top box" was typical ’80s-era cable box with kludged updates).
At one time i had almost all the streaming boxes here, Apple TV, the Fire, a Roku latest model (3 or 4 years ago- i’m sure they’ve changed) and settled on the Amazon. I have been a Prime customer forever, so the free movies aren’t the latest, but neither are those on Netflix. I pay a la carte to get HBO for another 16 bucks, and have a Netflix subscription mainly for stuff they produce- (though I’m watching Peaky Blinders through Netflix which is cool- Amazon only had two of the seasons).
Like I said, I don’t have a magic solution- I worked thru a variety of different devices over the years, and knock wood, I’ve gotten a trouble free set up for the last several years. You might try the power on sequence described in that thread link and see if it helps.
PS: I did not activate any of the apps in the Samsung TV, i use it strictly as a monitor.
best,
bill hart
