There are times when it would be very convenient to be able to run the Roku DVP without a live Internet connection.
Case in point:
Proof of concept demonstration.
All data for the demo lives on a virtual machine on a laptop.
Laptop and Roku are connected via LAN.
Roku can get address from LAN via DHCP.
I understand requiring a live Internet connection for normal operation.
It makes sense to have it available most of the time, as a matter of fact.
It’s just that there are times when it would be very convenient to be able run without it.
Naturally, such a configuration would result in some limitations:
Channel Store would be unavailable
All network requests off the LAN would fail
In a development/demo environment this would be acceptable since the developer explicitly enabled it.
Note: Such a mode should require that developer mode be enabled as a prerequisite.
The Roku actually runs fine without an internet connection. It does requite an IP address (can be local) for development work, and possibly for initial setup. I’ve booted my Roku with no network connection and run KidPaint, and I’m fairly certain renojim (and others) have done the same with Video Poker.
You really need something acting as a router. Whether that’s your computer or a dedicated device makes no real difference, and whether the router is actually controlling access to the internet makes no difference. What it’s really used for is to hand out an IP address using DHCP, so the Roku knows how to access whatever network it’s connected to, wireless or ethernet (you probably know all this).
If you are seeing different behavior, possibly you haven’t finished initial setup?
Edit:
From the other thread I think I’m seeing your point now. You need it to get an IP for the demo, but there’s no internet access and the initial DHCP setup fails. I haven’t tested this case so I can’t comment on how I’ve seen it work, but if it indeed will fail getting a DHCP address without internet access, that would be a problem for demo purposes.
That should be pretty easy to do right now. You’d have a generic app installed on the box similar to a USB media channel, except it would work for code. I’m not sure I see the purpose of this, though. As kbenson said, you don’t need an Internet connection once the box finishes its initial setup and you don’t need any connection at all for something like Video Poker. If you want it access something on a LAN without Internet access you will need a DHCP server.
