The Netflix Player by Roku is the first in what portends to be a long line of devices designed to download and stream movies from Netflix. While in its current incarnation the device is fairly limited, I can firmly recommend it with the expectation that the movie selection will improve.
How does it work? You buy the box for $99 and connect it to your TV via HDMI, composite, or component. You connect the stereo outs to your receiver or run out digital optical. You must have a Netflix account to make it work, but then you simply connect the box to the Internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, send a request to Netflix, and then type in a code in your Netflix account. The box is paired and you’re ready to add digital movies to the box.
The movies are mostly oldies but goodies. There were very few first-run titles in the mix but there were older seasons of some popular television shows like Weeds and The Office. Right now there are about 10,000 titles in the mix, enough to keep most die-hard movie fans occupied. The only problem is that some of the movies I really wanted to watch from Netflix — which are already available on DVD — weren’t available for streaming. This is not Netflix’s fault, obviously, but if you’re a first-run movie fan I’d stay away from the box until you’re sure the service is for you. At $99, the box isn’t prohibitively expensive and the technology may end up in televisions soon so questions about an external box might be moot.
Full story at CrunchGear.
No more boxes.
this had to have been an embargoed/nda story till now. cnet and crunchgear with reviews at midnight at the same time? funny how the tech journalism works sometimes.
You should be able to manage your Watch-Now queue directly from the device. Once the quality of the video improves, I can see this competing with the Apple TV.
Please someone build a LCD TV with Firefox built in - I think FF 3 now has intuitive zooming capabilities.
I dont want just NetFlix built in… I want the Internet built in!
LCD TVs with all sorts of things built directly into them are coming - set-top boxes, streaming hardware, CPU/OS/web browsers, gaming chips/media sockets, you name it. We’ve been shown some very interesting things in the past few months which we’ve been told will be hitting US markets starting early 2009.
Yet Another Set-top Box.
I think ZillionTV might be the LCD TV of the future. Any thoughts?
Just got one yesterday and will be sending it back on Monday. Took about 30 tries to connect. Never changed any settings, it just finally connected. I have a good wi-fi signal. The device sits right next to my computer with an 8 year old wireless card. My computer shows a full signal, but Roku cannot stay connected.
The idea is great, but let’s get this thing working properly before we start selling it.
Piece of junk. It is not worth the $15 dollars in shipping you lose to try it out.
AND THE TECH SUPPORT is only available Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm. How the hell are they supposed to help me when I am at work? The internet support is also a waste of time.
Netflix needs to get with Apple. The product may be more expensive, but at least it will work as described.
to the guy who is having problems with the wireless… might be worth trying to connect/configure the thing while connected before trying the wireless. sure, you can do it directly using wireless. mine setup right away using my wireless… so it does work.. just because yours did not does not mean its not worth it..
oh, wait, did i tell you my neighbor had a bad apple tv? oh yeah, maybe they should work that out..
hah…