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Has the battle to create a dream product to link online digital media to the TV quietly been won? Despite competition from just about everyone—Vudu, Apple, TiVo, Xbox, and more—humble Roku, which released its Netflix Player set-top box barely over a month ago (making it a distant latecomer to the game), sold out of its first shipment in three weeks. Demand is so strong that the company is air-freighting new units to the U.S. in order to keep up.
Almost thrown off as an aside in a Forbes story about Netflix's online ambitions, Roku VP Tim Twerdahl mentions that later this year the $99 box will be upgraded to stream content from other providers aside from Netflix. (The upgrade will be a simple software download that will enhance existing boxes.) That would make it the first major set-top box to hook into multiple services and could turn what is already a very good product into a category killer.
Even without the extra features, the Roku box is already a hit, and I think it's because it's embraced the idea of simplicity. There's nothing complicated or even sophisticated about the Netflix Player. There's no display on the box, and the remote control is reminiscent of the original Zenith "clicker." Next to famously "simple" products like TiVo and the Apple TV, the Roku player makes them look like baffling mainframe computers in comparison. Anyone who can plug in their television should have no problem setting up the device.
Naturally, the price is another huge boon for the product. At $99, it's cheaper than dinner and a movie. Since the service is free if you already have a Netflix account, what possible objections could anyone have to hooking one up?
There is more to the article if you click the link.
I am not a member of Netflix or Blockbuster so I don't have general understanding of how it works. I rent the old fashioned way.
Anybody using this?
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I'm a little hesistant to spend the dough on this, so I'll be waiting to see if devil is satisfied with it.
I got it.
I hooked it up to my Aquos LCD. Took about 5 minutes. I also ordered an hdmi cable from buy.com for $5. The Roku only comes with RCA cables. It works exactly as advertised. The thing that was most surprising to me is that it is really small, about the size of an alarm clock. I already added a bunch of old movies to my instant que before it came so I have lots of movies to chose from.
The picture quality is as advertised. It seems to be dvd quality or 480. Very old tv shows aren't as good as movies.
The only negative is that there really aren't too many A list movies available through the instant view. There are however tons of A list tv shows. You can check before ordering and see if there are enough that you like to make it worthwhile. Also all the movies show up in one straight line. This means I can't leave my kids alone with the thing or they can easily pick the R rated movies. Would be nice if there was an easy way to have 2 separate play lists.
Overall I think it will be one more viewing option. It costs $100 but its a one time purchase, no extra fees and unlimited viewing of the instant view library.
Simon Champion!
Linear Mode
