Well, would you look at that? After a mildly uncomfortable
wait, the very first Netflix set-top-box has landed (the
Xbox 360 with plug-ins notwithstanding). Thanks to
Roku, users can finally tap into (a portion of) the Netflix library without having to wait for physical discs to arrive -- and for just $99.99, no less (though unlimited access to online films still requires an $8.95 or higher monthly fee for the traditional service). Better still, the HDD-less Netflix Player can even utilize a wireless signal to pull in streams, though your miles may vary on actual performance. As for ports, you'll find HDMI, component, composite, Ethernet, S-Video and a Toslink optical audio jack. Initial reports are looking pretty positive from here (save for the glaring lack of HD support), but feel free to dig into the reviews below to get a better feel of what this box really has to offer.
Read - Roku Netflix Player officially introduced
Read - PCMag review (4 out of 5)
Read - CNET review (7.7 out of 10)
Read - Wired review ("...just shy of totally amazing.")
posted May 20th 2008 at 12:41AM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
RyanTV @ May 20th 2008 12:51AM
so does this mean there is no hope of this service coming to 360?
Jordan @ May 20th 2008 1:03AM
I must be uninformed, I haven't heard anything about Netflix coming to 360. However I would doubt that Microsoft would put Netflix on the 360 because it has it's own movie rental service. Why would it allow competition on it's system? I wish there would be competition for more options, but that's not how corporations work.
Mojo @ May 20th 2008 1:12AM
I thought you could access Netflix through Windows Media Center, which you can connect to with a 360? At least I saw this on a video game forum, maybe it wasn't official.
arkweld @ May 20th 2008 1:52AM
from the Netflix site:
"Future Netflix Ready Devices
* We are working to get TV manufacturers, Blu-ray player manufacturers, and game console manufacturers to make their devices ready for instant streaming from Netflix. The first of these multi-function Netflix ready devices are likely to be available in late 2008.
* The $99.99 single-function Netflix ready device from Roku, which is available now, is likely to be the lowest cost Netflix ready device for the foreseeable future."
Sean O @ May 20th 2008 4:01AM
Two things:
1) You can already view Netflix on a 360. Google "vmcNetflix" - it's a new Vista Media Center plugin that allows you to view Netflix titles and supports MC extenders (such as the 360).
2) For those without MC, there have been strong rumors of 360 and PS3 native support for a while ever since Netflix conducted a survey that asked if people would be interested in it for those two consoles. Netflix recently stated that Instant Viewing would be available from 3 partners besides LG. Two giant companies and one lesser-known company. Roku is obviously the lesser-known one. Microsoft and Sony could very well be the two big ones.
ricardo @ May 20th 2008 12:56AM
reviews are positive, but it's such an uninspired design, bordering on plain old ugly.
Mark @ May 20th 2008 2:15AM
Maybe it doesn't have a lot of flash, but have you seen the size of the thing?
I think it's only so big because they couldn't fit all the jacks on the back if it were any smaller.
rlynd3 @ May 20th 2008 3:58AM
ugly, yes, but if it were sexier it would be more expensive and at only 99 bucks just put it in a closet or behind your receiver.
rlynd3 @ May 20th 2008 3:58AM
ugly, yes, but if it were sexier it would be more expensive and at only 99 bucks just put it in a closet or behind your receiver.
Mickel @ May 20th 2008 8:47AM
Can't really put it in the closet, i'm assuming the remote is IR, so it needs to be visible somewhere.
doniel @ May 20th 2008 12:58AM
too bad this thing does not support HD. I think I'm gonna hold off for the next one that may.
AJ in the East Bay @ May 20th 2008 1:06AM
It probably wouldn't sell for $100 if it supported HD.
Kspraydad @ May 20th 2008 1:25AM
It does.
AJ in the East Bay @ May 20th 2008 1:29AM
I stand corrected. It does support it but Netflix won't stream HD content for the time being. So there you go, Doniel.
doniel @ May 20th 2008 1:44AM
Why couldn't they just make it a upconversion box to turn Netflix's non-HD content HD? I don't see how difficult that could be with all the sub-$60 upconversion dvd players flooding the market to date. I'm willing to pay an extra $50 for that if they did.:)
Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 1:55AM
if you wanna upconvert your SD content, get a DVDO iScan... http://www.anchorbaytech.com/products/systems/vp50.php
doniel @ May 20th 2008 2:08AM
Geez, $2500 for that thing?!
Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 2:14AM
plus about $350 for the de-interlacing chip haha.... it does an amazing job though... i tested it on standard def. satellite compared to Discovery HD (the only channel i know to be consistent HD) and it ALMOST looked better on the upconverted.
Sean O @ May 20th 2008 4:04AM
Upconversion box? Are you serious? Your HDTV already does that. You want a scaler that's better than what you TV can already do? What makes you think a $99 box could provide that?
caspianhiro @ May 28th 2008 5:07PM
Watching content now on the ROKU, it looks just like 480p DVD. The quality actually seems better than on my laptop watching streaming movies from Netflix, but I don't see how that would be possible.
Jordan @ May 20th 2008 1:01AM
Too bad the online Netflix collection sucks. A lot.
Jeremy K. @ May 20th 2008 1:04AM
It's not that bad. At least they have pretty much all of the best classic movies
AJ in the East Bay @ May 20th 2008 1:04AM
The idea is to move their entire library online so they can save money by not shipping you discs.
arkweld @ May 20th 2008 1:39AM
The lack of any current content is what is holding me back from this. The box content is as uninspired as it's design.
HD would be nice, but when they don't offer anything close to recent major titles for streaming then having HD is just pointless.
Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 1:59AM
arkweld
how is having HD of older titles pointless??
arkweld @ May 20th 2008 2:25AM
if you are going to watch something for the first time you should be watching it in the best available version. I've little interest in seeing classics in HD and as the most popular rentals are recent releases that would indicate the majority of Netflix users are not interested either. Since getting hold of recent releases is the most difficult task, then not having them available in streaming HD defeats one of the major advantages of the service to begin with.
If it's 10 years old I've already seen it more times than I can remember in 4:3, OAR, edited on TV, uncut directors extended limited gold banana edition etc. and I'm not going to watch something just to see the film grain in greater detail when there are other movies I haven't seen that could be watching.
Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 2:37AM
many people watch their favorite old movies a lot, so why not get a new experience with a nice HD version, instead of DVD quality that fails to do the betamax copy in your basement justice?
Sean O @ May 20th 2008 4:09AM
People seem to forget that the service is essentially FREE if you are already a customer for their mail service. And nobody knows how to compare apples to apples. Don't compare it to iTunes or Vudu. Instead compare this service to Starz or HBO On-Demand cable. Starz is $15 a month if it's your only premium channel. Yet the selection pales in comparison to what Netflix Instant Viewing offers. And unlike Netflix, Starz doesn't have a complete DVD library of every single title available to you by mail whenever you want - no extra charge.
MisterFuhrman @ May 20th 2008 1:05AM
Roku is by far not a startup. Ever heard of the Soundbridge? Sorta revolutionary. They produce great products and are friendly to the hacking community
SuperQ @ May 20th 2008 2:01AM
The soundbridge is a crap rip-off of Slimdevices Squeezebox.
midiwall @ May 20th 2008 5:33AM
@SuperQ: "The soundbridge is a crap rip-off of Slimdevices Squeezebox."
Ummm, the Soundbridge has been around a LOT longer than the Squeezebox.
ref:
http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html
http://www.roku.com/products_soundbridge.php
Bob S. @ May 20th 2008 10:15AM
Also, Roku was intelligent enough to license iTunes' daap protocol. You have to run a separate server with Slim's stuff, and that alone is enough to make me wish it were as well-designed as the Soundbridge.
Richard Lai @ May 20th 2008 1:05AM
At first I thought I read "Rock", which would be a real shocker.
Eric M. @ May 20th 2008 1:07AM
Hold up, no HD? Then whats the point of HDMI on this thing? Better standard quality?
kevinm @ May 20th 2008 1:10AM
They're going to release HD but it's not ready yet.
cashmonee @ May 20th 2008 1:09AM
I think this is a non-starter. No HD kinda kills it as does Netflix online selection. Also, streaming video over WiFi can be sketchy. I also think the unlimited viewing with a qualifying plan will not last. Eventually, Netflix will charge for streaming/downloading.
Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 1:15AM
when it can deliver BluRay quality streamed in realtime I'll buy it.
AJ in the East Bay @ May 20th 2008 1:17AM
Define "Blu-ray quality".
Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 1:20AM
up to 1920x1080/24p with lossless audio, 36+mbps, cool name
Kspraydad @ May 20th 2008 1:19AM
1. It WILL stream HD (or the net's version of such) when Netflix is ready too...just requires a firmware update.
2. Interesting Xbox 360 fact...the fellow that programmed the MCE plugin to allow for streaming to the Xbox360 just got hired by Netflix on the 18th of May...hmmmm.
3. That thing looks like ass.
genxer36 @ May 20th 2008 7:32AM
Who is your ISP that offers 36+MBps? The only way I can get that is here at work. My home ISP only goes to 6MBps.
LTM @ May 20th 2008 1:30AM
Setting all that aside, my concern is the way ISP's are starting to get pissy about bandwidth and a service like this, although great in concept, would eventually get big cable brother having a hissy fit about my online use. Can't a brother watch a baddass Shirley Temple movie in peace!!
Eric @ May 20th 2008 6:40AM
I think that ISP's cracking down on bandwidth usage is going to be a passing fad. Today, the only real targets they have are P2P and torrent users. Arguably a small minority. As devices like this and AppleTV make it easier for the average consumer to consume mass amounts of bandwidth, the higher the percentage of an ISP's customer base will be affected by bandwidth capping or $-per-byte charges/surcharges.
The more customers you piss off, the more likely you are to avoid pissing off your customers.
chickeneye @ May 20th 2008 1:37AM
I don't get it. With websites like ABC.com streaming HD resolution over the open Internet and TV manufacturers starting to included ethernet ports on TV sets, how long do you think it'll be before your TV set is just a Video over IP device? Boxes like this have a couple year life at best.
Colin Potter @ May 20th 2008 1:49AM
720p at 2mbps is HD? ew no thanks
arkweld @ May 20th 2008 1:50AM
eh, that's the point.
It's a stopgap device for those who don't feel like replacing a perfectly good display just to have built-in Netflix support in a few years.
patsy @ May 20th 2008 8:56AM
Some TVs already incorporate DLNA support, which is essentially UPnP/AV. While in its current incarnation it's not quite perfect yet for TV use (e.g. no profiles for centralized TV tuners and guide data or DVR functionality), it's a start in the right direction. Ideally with an exhaustive DLNA spec the TV becomes nothing more than a remote display, with all the media aggregation gear (tuners, DVRs, DVD/BR players and media jukeboxes) stuffed away in a closet and almost endlessly scalable.
I do very much like the idea of this Roku box and I may very well get it, but I agree that the main problem right now is the lack of content. I've watched a bunch of the Netflix stuff (caught up on all the Heroes episodes that way), but I'm fast running out of watchable material. The vast bulk of the selection is made up by hideous B and C level movies that would probably be too bad even for MST3K.
PT @ May 20th 2008 1:45AM
I only wish streaming Netflix worked at all during prime time. Time Warner in New York seems to be effectively capped at about 500 kps between 5pm and 1am, which Netflix interprets as the slowest speed, producing pretty crummy video quality. Maybe if I watched at 3 am it would be fine, but as it is, the immediacy is totally offset by the quality. Not Netflix's fault, I guess, and perhaps more a sign of the coming broadband crunch, but it kills any excitement I might have about this otherwise cool device.
ZeroCorpse @ May 21st 2008 1:43AM
That's why cable sucks. DSL doesn't have that problem. It's your ISP, not the Internet.
My connection is always around 5.5 Mbps, day or night, primetime or not, and that's sufficient for the highest quality streaming Netflix offers.
It also won't cost me anything extra, as I'm already on a Netflix unlimited plan. I don't see how anyone can resist this device if they're a Netflix customer.
Roye @ May 20th 2008 2:02AM
Wow! This is cool. I have Netflix, but I don't have Windows. I have been contemplating picking up a license to take advantage of the Online content. I know the new release stuff is not on there, but there are enough documentaries and TV shows to last me 2-3 years at the rate I watch. This is cheaper than a Windows license and it eliminates the need for me to dual boot or virtualize. I'm adding this to the wishlist!