Tutorial
This is a tutorial explaining how to set up and use Roksbox on the Roku Digital Video Player. This tutorial will be enhanced over time, so check back frequently for updates.
What is Roksbox?
Roksbox gives you the ability to play your own videos and movies, listen to your own music, and show your own photographs on the Roku Digital Video player (from now on referred to as the Roku player). Your media can reside on your computer's hard drive, on an external drive, or on a network attached storage (NAS) device located on your home or local area network. Although Roksbox requires some initial setup work, once you get your network and media files properly configured, you will be able to enjoy all of your media files on the convenience of the Roku player.
Roksbox can use certain third party software to help organize your media files. All software mentioned in this tutorial is free to download and free to use. If you feel compelled to send a donation to the authors of the third party software, then please do so. The owners and developers of Roksbox are in no way associated with any of the third party software mentioned in this tutorial. All third party software mentioned in this tutorial has been chosen to be used with Roksbox because it is reasonably easy to use, and it provides the functionality necessary for Roksbox to work.
By using third-party software to organize your media files, you can use some of the best media organizers available to organize and keep track of your files. Then use Roksbox to play them on your Roku player.
All attempts have been made to make the setup and usage process as simple, easy, and flexible as possible. Because of the nature of the technology in using local media with the Roku player, some technical knowledge is required. However, this tutorial will assume that you have little technical knowledge, and will guide you through the process in a step-by-step fashion. If you already have some of the necessary infrustructure in place, you can skip through those steps that you already have in place. For some people, it will be very easy to get Roksbox running with the technology you already have in place, while for others, it will take some work to get everything you need set up. For those who are starting from scratch, just follow this tutorial step-by-step, and you will be playing your media on your Roku player before you know it.
Although Roksbox can be used with any operating system, this tutorial will show how to get it going using Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. The procedures for Linux and other OSs will be similar, but may use different software which is not covered in this tutorial. Hopefully, we can create Linux and other OS tutorials in the near future. Or, if someone wants to write one, we will be more than happy to include it on this wiki.
Getting Started
Here are the steps required to set up Roksbox. Click on each step to progress through the tutorial.
1. Set up a web server on your local network.
2. Organize your media folders (videos, music, photos).
3. Convert your media files to a format that the Roku player will accept if necessary.
4. Copy your media files to the folders on your web server if necessary.
5. Organize your media files, and prepare them to play on Roksbox.
- Organize and prepare your music.
- Organize and prepare your photos.
- Organize and prepare your videos.
6. Add the Roksbox channel on your Roku player.
7. Start Roksbox, and enter the setup information.
8. Enjoy!!
If you've followed this tutorial, and you can't get Roksbox to work, check the Troubleshooting Guide to diagnose the problem.