How would you change Roku's Netflix Player?
By Darren Murph 
posted July 4th 2008 6:30PM
posted July 4th 2008 6:30PM
posted July 4th 2008 6:30PM
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I've had my Roku box for a few weeks now and I love it. I am connected via wireless and get a perfect 4 dots every time. I'm not sure why so many people can't seem to figure out how to browse for instant content only. It is painfully simple, click the watch instantly tab, select your genre, done. It will only show you content available to watch instantly. My only problem with the box is the 4:3/16:9 thing. I personally hate watching 4:3 content in wide screen format with the black bars on either side. I do however enjoy watching the 16:9 content in proper wide screen. I hate switching back and forth depending on which movie I am watching. I would really love an option similar to what I have on my DVR, which allows me to select 16:9 as the default, but to stretch 4:3 content to fill up the screen. I personally don't mind the vague image distortion. Other than that, I love the box.
I would buy it if it:
- Allowed me to watch other content like youtube, all piclens content & shows on abc.com.
- allowed me to search though all watch instantly content.
I am mostly quite satisfied with the Roku player. The wireless connection is great, it's just like watching DVD's except without the hassle of changing discs etc. I love how fast forward/rewind & scene selection by thumbnail are One & the Same.
The things I would change are really simple:
A) I agree, you should be able to turn it off.
B) When I choose to disable wireless on my router so that certain members of my household will actually get some sleep at night, I think one should not have to go through the entire setup process again once it is re-enabled. It's nice that it at least stores your WEP id in the entry field, but it would be nicer if having entered that once & gotten it stored, it would just look for that & for the wireless hub last used, and implement them automatically once you have the hub available again.
C) I wish you could use the Roku to browse all of Netflix and add movies to your queue, instead of having to do all the queue setup on your computer, then going to the Roku to watch them, then go back to the computer if you change your mind about something.
The more comfortable I get with just hooking my laptop up to the VCR to watch internet video content on TV (worked great with Netflix, but was also part of insipiration for getting the Roku), the more dubious I am about having gotten it in the first place.
However, I still like its unique conveniences well enough to feel it was worth it.
They need to add some chapter search technology and a power button.
They also need to work on the navigation aspects of their website, which
are kludgy at best.
Wow... maybe I haven't used it enough to have a wish list of improvements yet, but so far, I love our Roku. As a mother of a toddler, I have an extremely long list of movies and TV shows I haven't seen. I resisted Netflix for years because we have a wonderful video store in our neighborhood, but the streaming content has been the thing that tipped the balance for me.
Sure, I'd love it if they have everything that Netflix has on CD available instantly too, but I've already got dozens of things I CAN watch now, and I'm impressed with the depth of the offerings. (We're Sondheim fans, and they had the 2007 production of Company, a fantastic musical for those who enjoy such things)
Now if Roku and Netflix could find me more free time to watch...
biggest problem I have with Netflix instant viewer is the lack of close caption. I'm hearing impaired and the rest my family has gotten used to watching films (on DVD) with captions or subtitles.
I've emailed Netflix a dozen times complaining about the lack of CC support on their instant viewer. Their response is for me to rent their DVDs. They have even gone as far to say the technology isn't feasible right now, which of course is bullshit because sites like Hulu.com have a few films that have CC support. So the technology does exist.
Netflix is being cheap and ignoring what they see as small minority. I was so pissed by their lack of support that I dropped my payment package down from 8 DVD plan to the 1 DVD a month plan. If they don't fix this problem within a year I'll be dropping their service altogether.
Someone told me briefly that there's a class-action lawsuit against the major websites like AOL, MSN, and Yahoo for not complying with the Disability Act.
Roku Issues:
Need direct command to switch between 4:3/16:9 display instead of having to stop, go to settings, rebuffer.
Need 'Info' command to see how much viewing time is left without stopping stream.
Netflix Issues:
Add Instant Queue to additional profiles.
Add options to organize Instant queue by Genre, alphabetical, year, etc.
Stream all movies in original widescreen format.
Add 5.1 sound to stream. It really doesn't take that much more bandwidth than stereo.
Other than that I like the NP and have cut back my Netflix account from 3 to 1 unlimited. Image quality is perfectly acceptable on my 50". I've never had to reset my box and it's only lost connection to Netflix server a couple of times via wired network connection. Always get 4 dots. Would love to stream other PC content to it but now that source code has been released, it will come. So will more titles. As for HD, by that time, ISPs will start charging ala carte for download limit. Better watch what you wish for.
My player works awesome. It plays via an hdmi cable and looks as good as any dvd. I have had not one snag or hic up in playback. Now I would still prefer to playback via my tivo or ps3, but until then this is an excellent box. The one negative is that the instant play selection sucks.
I really enjoy the Netflix Player and actually used it as an excuse to rid myself of cable. I really hope the Hulu streaming rumors are true, because then this device would be can't miss.
Sometimes I have found the audio/video to not match, but it really isn't too bad. HD capability will also be great to have.
I wrote a review of the player:
http://mikehernalsteen.com/blog/frugality/roku-netflix-player-review-a-savvy-investment-for-frugal-techies/
I'd say by the holidays, this will be one highly sought after product.
So far I have really enjoyed the ROKU. It has worked great. I only have a few suggestions on how it could be better. I'm surprised not many people are asking for my number 1. it's my biggest gripe.
1. Be able to categorize whats in my queue. it's terrible trying to find a movie when there are several hundered in your queue.
2. be able to add titles from box itself
This thing has absolutely pissed me off. I tried to watch movies on it, I have a fast internet connection and the movies stop in the middle of playing and say loading~~~!!! I thought the problem was my router, so i bought a new router, now its the same ol' shi#. I'm not happy. Ive tried to return the dam thing via the roku phone number (you need an rma first) and they say to try it again, have a good day. goodbye! Wow, unfudgin believable this expensive piece of crap does not work remotely well at all!
Component output does not work correctly. Get a double image from my projector. All other sources such as sat receiver and dvd players work fine in component output. Talked to Roku engineneering but they were not very helpfull. S video is ok so will use that output.