Roku HD Player
by Roku, Inc.
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Our Price: $75.50 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Roku HD Player
Customer Review: 10 Stars for Roku (1 Star for Amazon VOD)
Summary: 5 Stars
This little sweetheart represents the best $100 I have spent in years. I love it so much that if my house were on fire I'd be hard pressed to choose between saving my kindle, my Roku, or my husband. ;-)
In all seriousness, this is a fabulous device. It's incredibly easy to set up - someone obviously put a lot of thought into that and it proves that interfaces CAN be intuitive and user-friendly. (Take heed, manufacturers of other electronic toys!) It's even easier to use, with a small simple remote and, again, a very user-friendly interface. My 70 yo mother can figure out how to play a movie - even though she still doesn't understand how the movies come out of the little box.
But best of all is what it does-- streams movies (and other things) directly to your TV. Once you have it set up - about 4 minutes from when you've opened the box - it prompts you to activate your netflix and/or amazon account. It will stream anything from your netflix Instant Queue, and anything from your amazon Video on Demand Library. Between the 2 sources, you barely need to pay for cable TV any more... I have canceled all my premium movie channels. It's a wonderful way to watch movies, and an even better way to watch TV series you've never seen (or would like to see again)... all in a row and without changing DVDs. We have discovered several great series (eg Leverage) like this.
A word about netflix vs amazon VOD: Netflix is virtually free; instant streaming is included in your netflix membership. Amazon VOD charges for TV shows (usually $2.99 an episode), movie purchases (usually $9.99 and up), and movie rentals (usually $2.99). Netflix Instant choices are varied. You can get some shows the day after they air, some the season after, some never. You can get some movies very soon after they've been released on DVD, and some years later, and some never. This is occasionally frustrating but still - there are enough good choices that I currently have over 70 movies, workouts, and TV series in my Instant Queue. And the netflix streaming NEVER fails. Sometimes I want a show or movie that isn't available on netflix badly enough that I cave and buy it from amazon - amazon has more recently produced choices. But amazon VOD, though it costs money, does NOT have failsafe streaming. It constantly stops and reloads while you are trying to watch. It's maddening - especially since they charge per movie/show (unlike netflix). I have called about this many times and they always try to claim that it's my Internet connection (even though netflix is streaming just fine) and not their own glitch. I do still occasionally buy or rent from them, when I really 'need' to see a show... but honestly it's less and less often. They poor streaming quality usually just makes watching their stuff an exercise in frustration.
That's not my sweet Roku's fault though! It still has my eternal love. HIGHLY recommend!
Customer Review: This little box is worth the money!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this player to be very good addition to a home theater system and Netflix account. Set-up only took about 5 minutes and it is very easy with HDMI cable, connection to my secured wireless network and internet access to Netflix for your account verification code. The Roku box is small enough to sit inside my stereo cabinet without being noticed.
I found downloads of watch instantly shows on Netflix from my Comcast cable and Belkin wireless G router to be very fast. I don't have my wireless laptop up when I'm watching the Roku. I can see how having other 2.4 GHz wireless devices up could slow down the download speeds and degrade picture quality. I'm watching a movie a lot sooner compared to loading a DVD/Blueray on my PS3. Netflix is easy to navigate and add movies/TV shows and the updated list is downloaded to the Roku player. I haven't timed how long it takes to update; but, the movies were available when I wanted to watch them the same day.
I have the player set for the highest wide screen quality and I find the picture quality on my Panasonic 58" 1080p TV to be similar to using an S-video connection (a little below DVD quality or very good 480i look). I also found the sound quality to be very good with my TV speakers or with my Denon S-301 home theater system. Waiting 30 seconds to watch a movie with Roku is a lot more desirable compared to waiting 24-48hrs from the US postal service. I decided to purchase another Roku for my Mom's house and her Netflix account.
I signed up for the Amazon on demand video, which is also offered through Roku. Amazon has a very good selection and much newer videos available for download. Unfortunately, you have to pay for everything you download and it would be too expensive in a short amount of time. Amazon's free selection of shows to download with the Roku is not worth signing up for by itself. Stick with Netflix and you will have everything you need. Amazon, why would I want to pay $1.99 for watching a free TV show that came on last night?
Roku Pros:
- easy to set up and use
- quick access to thousands of titles (with Netflix)
- very good sound/picture quality
- affordable price
Roku Cons:
- cannot (yet) program all Roku remote buttons on my Logitech Harmony One remote to work correctly (more of a Logitech problem)
- the newer titles not available on Netflix watch instantly (yet)
- not all shows in the widescreen format (with Netflix)
- Would like to see higher quality (480p/720p/1080i) option
- Would like to see more options on the Roku remote (power on/off on remote, BD-Live content/special features, search/add instant content from Roku box)
Customer Review: Impressed by the Performance
Summary: 5 Stars
My experience with electronics began in the "Sixties" and there have been many advances in applying this technology to products that enhance our lives, but few have been as impressive as the ROKU HD Player.
Out of the box, it appears well designed and well built, offers enough connection options to adapt to a variety of television displays, is a complete outfit ready to use, and the good news does not stop there.
Once I connected the ROKU HD to my HDTV the on screen installation process was easy to follow and actually worked on my first attempt; adding it to my home network was easier than any device I have ever added. I really wonder how the firmware designer(s) accomplished this: my complements to all who were involved. (I feel like an "Ad man" in a infomercial) But wait the best part is yet to be explained: The connection to the internet via my 3 megabit/sec DSL service has been the most consistent and reliable that I have ever experienced.
I have the Netflix one DVD out at a time and unlimited on-demand video account: I activated the ROKU HD following the instructions provided by Netflix and the ROKU on-screen menus and was enjoying programs in just a few minutes. The streams have exhibited virtually no drop-out and I often forget that I am watching programs from the internet and not from cable or my satellite feed. The biggest surprise was that I read that the recommended internet connection speed was 5 megabit/sec in order to see HD quality but I obtained this with my current bandwidth referenced above. I have a 720P Samsung 46" DLP set so I can not comment on higher resolutions, but as a matter of practicality (economy and general use), I am very happy with the system I am using now and consider it the most economical way to expand entertainment options. The ROKU box is even more versatile than that because you can access several other sources of material beside Netflix: Amazon On Demand has a vast catalog program material and ROKU has even some free providers the best for me being the Pandora internet radio service.
Oh I almost forgot: the sound provided by the ROKU HD box is excellent. I feed my TV with the HDMI cable and in turn an optical feed from my TV to my discrete surround sound receiver and have experienced rich multi-channel audio similar to what I experience when I play DVDs.
The bottom line in my opinion: You would be hard pressed to find an easier and more economical way to greatly enhance your in home entertainment options that the ROKU HD box provides.
Jim HalifkoRoku HD Player
Customer Review: Well worth the money. You should have one.
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually bought my Roku HD Player the first week that they were made available, but I just bought a second unit, so I thought I'd go ahead and jot down a few comments.
1. The reason I bought a second unit was that my first one stopped working after the one-year warranty expired. I did not contact Roku...I simply ordered another unit. (I like mine so much I would have done this if they cost four times as much.) When the new unit arrived, I figured out that only the power supply on the old unit was bad. I sent an e-mail to Roku support and now they are sending me a new power supply at their expense, even though it was at least three months out of warranty. Nice product support, guys!!
2. When I ordered my first unit directly from Roku, it arrived in only a couple days. If you order a unit through this site with "Free Shipping," expect it to take 10 - 14 days.
3. Do not expect to use this unit on a shared wireless system and get consistent, high-quality images. Just suck it up and hard-wire the unit to your switch or router. Broadband service is wobbly enough without introducing the additional uncertainty of your wireless network.
4. I've used all of the output types the unit provides, including HDMI, optical audio, component video, and S-video. They all work flawlessly. The unit configures very easily and should set up in minutes.
5. You can use several of these units on the same Net**** account, usually simultaneously. Check their site to see about limitations. This is VERY handy to know.
6. This unit is very small and does not produce much heat. The IR remote seems to work over a very wide angle throughout the room. However, I have two issues with the remote: First, the darn thing can be very tricky to open. (The instructions with the unit are NO help.) Second, both my remote and a friend's remote have had problems with battery leakage. We used different types of batteries, but both units began to corrode at the battery contacts after about six months.
7. This site's VOD service should really work on their interface for users. Looking up a specific film can be VERY time-consuming. Imagine stepping through EVERY film that begins with the letter "M" (in alphabetical order) to find out if they have the movie you want to watch. You can do a search, too, but some of the results are really unpredictable and I have missed movies that I later found out were available. It would help if you could do just a text-only list of titles.
In summary, if you have a Net**** account (or even if you don't), you really owe it to yourself to get one of these.
Customer Review: We are very satisified
Summary: 5 Stars
We are a typical Netflix customer with a subscription that includes the (pretty much) unlimited play-now service. Comcast broadband. Home wifi.
The Roku box was a snap to set up. We use it on a 27" CRT TV with video-in / audio-in jacks. Completely compatible with one of the several options that Roku provides for connecting a TV.
The Roku found our wifi no problem and offered it as first choice above the weaker access points of our 3 neighbors also wifi-visible from our premises. We use WEP encryption and the Roku knew this and had us enter a key. Instant connection.
Then we were told by our Roku-TV that we needed to go online and register the box with our Netflix account. This was a brief nuisance but went absolutely smoothly.
So all of setup was a snap. The actual usage of the device is a pleasure. We had previously been using a notebook computer to which I had connected one of these PC-to-TV converters, which takes the notebook's RGB out and coverts it to NTSC video. Playback was via using the Netflix-Windows Media Player. This worked but was nerdy tedious, and video quality was acceptable but definitely below the Roku.
Our likes about the Roku:
1) It is easy easy easy to use and always instantly available.
2) Picture quality is excellent. We almost always get 4-of-4 dots of video quality thanks to a decent Wifi implementation and a reliable Comcast connection (a broadband oxymoron for many, I know).
3) Can stop any movie whenever you want (more than one at a time) and it remembers where you were.
Caveats:
1) For Netflix, it only sees items in your play-now queue. No browsing of inventory. That has to be done online, adding desired items to the queue.
2) Sometimes it loses network connection after sitting idle for a few days. But it will step you through a reconnect procedure that takes about 20 seconds once you realize all you basically need to do is click "next".
3) It's SO easy to use that your kids will take it over if they also have access to your Netflix account as ours do. Turns out that the kludgly notebook computer approach we had been using (that only I could set up) was was kind of an unappreciated advantage in that context.
4) Seems no way to random-access to a point in a movie as we could using the Netflix Media Player on the notebook computer. The Roku remote control is very simple to use and has no click-drag equivalent to move a slider onscreen the way you can with Media Player in Windows.
We have not used the Amazon features yet.