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: Amazing product and brilliant bang-for-your-buck
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this in January, 2009 to add some additional value to my Netflix subscription. It has far surpassed my expectations, and has proven to be one of the best $100 I have spent in a long time. This is true especially in a down economy.
Here are the pluses, and the minuses, I have seen in the product after 2 months of daily use
Pluses:
1) Huge money saver: Having this box has allowed me to drop from 3 disks unlimited to 1 disk unlimited as well as drop cable entirely. The addition of Amazon on Demand is an even bigger value in that newly released movies will also be in abundant supply.
2) Ease of Set-up and use: I am a die hard apple fan because of their ease of use, and the set-up process was the easiest I have ever experienced. In less than 4 minutes I was watching a Netflix stream on my Sony HD TV. Also, the user interface is as straightforward as possible. A lot of thought went into it, and it shows. Bravo for one of the simplest interfaces I have ever utilized.
3) Clarity of picture: Unsrupassed and almost full HD. Often forget we are streaming over the internet.
4) It just works as advertised!
5) Customer Service: Video was skipping and contacted the customer service. You would never believe that a real live person answered the phone within 5 minutes on a Sunday night. Turns out it was a nework problem (see below). Amazing customer service!
Minuses:
1) The quality of your picture is tied to your internet speed. This has only been an issue once. My Charter Cable modem service averages above 4 meg downstream, but every once in a while the network performance drops. A call to charter fixed it. This is in no way an issue with the device, just something to be aware of. Check with your service provider on your speed before buying.
2) Direct Ethernet connection recommended for best picture: This is a limitation of my wireless network, but you may also have a similar set-up. My laptop has a G wireless card, and when it gets online the whole network slows down, and wireless video quality suffered. Solved it by using a direct ethernet connection, and recommend for everyone who is able to. Much more stable and very limited intereference.
That is my review to date. If you have Netflix and want to get Amazon on Demand there are few things that will be a pleasure to use and that will provide as much bang for your limited dollars. Thank you Roku, Netflix, and Amazon for such a wonderful product.
Customer Review: Best entertainment investment you can make
Summary: 5 Stars
My family gave up cable almost two years ago -- we didn't want my daughter growing up in a house where the TV was always on. Our only TV is in the basement, where I work. My daughter, who is three, watches an episode or two of Dora or Yo Gabba Gabba once every two or three days. My wife and I watch movies and a few shows, but we're much more selective now that we don't have cable -- we actually READ BOOKS, exercise, etc. Canceling cable was the best decision we've ever made.
But for shows, we were stuck with watching Hulu (if possible) or Amazon downloads on our PC. I could never enjoy an entire movie on the PC, so we'd watch DVDs only, through Netflix. Now, for just ONE PAYMENT of $99, we've opened up a whole world of entertainment. There are tons of good movies available on Netflix, streamable, and a lot of good shows, too. Watching them on an actual TV is so much more enjoyable. And while Roku doesn't carry Hulu programming, that's going to be Hulu's loss as far as we're concerned: We're going to return to buying the downloads on Amazon, which can be streamed through Roku, too. We watch four shows a week, which will be less than $8/week, or around $35/month, but ONLY for the duration of the season (instead of $60/month year-round for cable). And on top of that, you keep the shows forever -- it's like buying the DVD of the whole season as it comes out.
I was worried about set-up: It seems that anything that can ever go wrong with tech stuff goes wrong for me. But, amazingly, I plugged in the Roku and it worked. The only moment of concern was trying to hunt down my WiFi network password, so have that handy. Linking up my Netflix and Amazon accounts was also a breeze, and now my entire Netflix Instant Cue and Amazon video libraries are available right through my Roku. It only takes maybe 10 seconds for a show (or movie) to load up, and then it plays in perfect picture quality and sound with no interruptions or screw-ups yet. Plus, you can rent or buy new programs from Amazon right through your Roku. I can't say enough about how much I love this tiny little box.
Oh, and like others have said, this $99 investment is going to pay dividends: We're switching to the one DVD at a time plan with Netflix since you can't EVER get any new releases through them any way. With all the content available instantly, it doesn't make sense to have three DVDs out at a time when you still need to go rent the hot new releases anyway.
Customer Review: First step in the future of home entertainment.
Summary: 5 Stars
I had Netflix for a couple of years, and I really liked the versatility of it. I could get movies and tv shows and really enjoy it. However, I did not really use their streaming online on computer. It was not that good, and it kept crashing on me.
I decided to give the Roku box a try. Considering the price, I had not much to lose. And I must admit, I am really glad I did. I have saved the initial price a couple time over already.
I use the box wired, so my opinion is linked to that.
Plus
- Really easy to setup. Plug the ethernet cable.. Plug to TV... Plug to Power... Get code... Put code in your netflix/Amazon account.. Voila!
- Access to Netflix works great. Netflix can be pretty cheap per month for a bunch of movies and tv series. The HD quality is really impressive for a stream. With the addition of Starz, this service is definitely worth it. Just cancelled Starz from my cable distributor. Some TV shows (like Heroes) are available on there just a couple of days after airing on TV. If you already have a netflix subscription, browse around and see what is available in the Play Now section, then imagine having access to that anytime you'd like... I definitely believe it is worth the 100$...
- Having access to Amazon unbox is really a plus too. Gives me a chance to get a missed tv show and stream it. Quality is great there too
- Roku adds new channel and updates all the time. I am really glad to have pandora now offered. I use it really often and the sound quality is great.
- No need of extra subscriptions (For the Xbox 360, need a gold account).
- Box is really small. I just put it sideways by the PS3 and it definitely does not mess up the whole setup.
- This box works pretty well with my harmony one remote.
- The quality of the image is really impressive from streaming... Actually, you forget almost immediatly that it is coming directly from the internet...
Minus
- The box does not turn off. Unless you unplug it from the wall.
- As expected, the quality of the signal you get is proportional to the quality and stability of your internet connection/Network. Especially if you want to watch HD streaming.
- A computer is mandatory to edit Netflix Playlist. I wish I could just do a direct search on the box and get right away what I want to watch, instead of putting it in my que and have to scroll and get it.
Customer Review: Superb - though a little WPA2 wireless gotcha you should watch for
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been a Netflix streaming customer for a while through my XBox 360, and love it. I wanted to do the same for our bedroom so picked the Roku as being the cheapest player rather than buying another console. I'm fussy about security, so I use WPA2 and only allow specified MAC addresseses to connect ( i.e. the Xbox 360 and the Roku ). My Xbox never had any problem, but the Roku completely failed to connect, even when 2 feet away from the router. It could see the network, but was denied. I called Roku's tech support ( long wait on hold, but at least they were eventually available ), and after 20+ minutes we finally figured out that even though my router allows 8-63 char passwords, the 9-char one I was using ( which was fine for the Xbox360 ) made the Roku sulk. I added another digit on to make it 10-chars, changed the Xbox and Roku to also be 10 chars, then it suddenly worked perfectly. Go figure. I'm guessing a firmware bug at the Roku end, but an easy one to bypass.
Roku wireless reception is superb - Apple should ask their engineers to fix the iPhone 4. Example: My wireless router is now (still) on the basement floor, my Xbox is 1 floor up in the lounge, and the Roku is up another floor from that, in our bedroom, yet reception is perfect. I generally get 3/4 dots on the Roku strength meter, and that shows up pretty much perfectly. No hitches/blockiness/whatever. I'll probably pick up another couple of these boxes for the other TVs in the house - they're only 1.5x our monthly cable bill after all, and I'll be ditching that anyway. For comparison, my connection is an ADSL line, "up to" 3mbps, but usually around 2mbps ( thx, AT&T ). I'll probably also use another Roku box instead of the Xbox for the lounge, since a) you can seek forwards/backwards on the Roku without the movie resetting to the start ( which the Xbox Netflix app *always* does ), and the playback quality from the same signal is far better - maybe being dedicated helps with signal processing? I just know I've never seen any blockiness from it even at times when the xbox gets a bit pixelly.
Can't recommend this thing high enough, it's also silent due to no fan. That's the one issue, I'd like to have an on/off switch just for my own piece of mind when out of the house, for reasons of fire/electricity bill etc. But leaving it on means you don't have to wait for couple of minutes for the boot sequence. It's only about 6w consumption anyway.
Customer Review: Neat device, worth the raves
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a huge TV watcher, and have never had cable or Dish because I couldn't justify the expense. However, I do like renting movies or checking out TV shows from library. The only problem there is that we end up paying late fees more often than not - blah! Out of desperation I turned to Netflix and so discovered the Roku through them. It sounded too good to be true but it's not! My connection is not fast - DSL, with max 1.5 Mbs download, and I have it hooked up with an HDMI to a 1080p set. The quality is fairly good on some shows and quite good on others.
***Edited - I wanted to add a little more on the quality. When you select the show you want, it buffers it all beforehand, and gives you a "quality" meter (up to four dots) of what quality you'll be getting. Again, with the basic DSL package, we've been able to get 3 out of 4 dots almost 98% of the time, which is very good, standard (not HD) quality. On the few occasions when the quality has dropped to 2 dots, the picture becomes noticeably pixelated, although the frame rate looks about the same. ***
I'm not a "videophile" and don't sit and count the number of pixels I may or may not be missing out on...as long as the quality works for my eyes (smooth framerate, no frames freezing, or other obvious glitches) then I'm satisfied. And knowing that if I were to upgrade my DSL speed the quality could only get better is impressive to me. But I really don't see the need - the Roku streams the Netflix queue well, quickly, and easily. Great device, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to friends or family.
Now that I've got it up and running, I want to lobby for a better selection of children's shows on Netflix, since that's an area that they could improve in drastically. A broader selection would make it much easier to recommend both Netflix and Roku to families looking for an affordable, easily managed alternative to cable.
***More edits - Netflix adds new "watch instantly" programs pretty much every day (you can keep track of this more easily through [...]) and they've just recently added more children's shows - good ones, like seasons 1 & 2 of Dora the Explorer and Blues Clues for the younger kids, and Danny Phantom for the older kids. So, yes, there is hope if your favorite shows are not on there yet...right now I'm crossing my fingers that more Pokemon and The Backyardigans are not too far behind.***