Thomas Rogers
Well-Known Member
Well, my son is about to go off to college and we are poised with converting his room to a guest room. I just hung a nice, brand new, 1080p HD LED-lit, LCD television on the wall. Nothing too huge, just a 24". I didn't want to pay for another digital set-top box from Comcast to the tune of $9/mo, and the basic digital tier left a lot to be desired. So, I have been looking at on-demand streaming alternatives.
So, enter the Roku XD box. This allows all the Netflix "watch now" content to be accessed, and it is a lot. Also, Roku has a ton of other channels with a lot of content.
Here is my review of the box:
The price is right. At $79.99 for a 1080p capable box, it has an ROI of less than 9 months when compared to an additional Comcast outlet.
Installation was easy, even given the fact that I set it up for wireless usage and the unit is on the top floor of our house, the furthest point from our wireless router which is in the basement, on the other side of the house. If you don't want to go wireless, the unit has an ethernet jack.
The Roku box has channels, of a sort. Each channel has a list of on-demand titles, or on-demand games to choose from. Most channels, and most content on the channels are free, but there are some pay channels, and some channels that exclusively have pay content. Configuring the various channels (Amazon video, Netflix, etc) is typically a two-step process. You first have to add the channel via the Roku device and its remote and during that step you are presented with a code that you take to an internet-connected computer where you enter said code on the activation page of the corresponding website (Netflix, Amazon). These steps add the channel, and link your Roku device and account to the channel's content provider.
The device itself is TINY. About 1" tall, and less than 5" square. I mounted it to the back of the TV using black Velcro (heavy duty type by 3M), but since the unit is so light it really should hold with just about anything. Heck, while setting it up it was "held in mid-air" by its power and video cables only. I opted to mount the Roku unit to the back of the TV because the TV is mounted to the wall on a tilt/swivel arm. Given this mounting, the Roku unit is hidden. Cords to the TV are behind a painted cord cover...all pretty good and clean looking. There is no table, or rack holding devices. None are needed. The remote works just fine in this manner, even though line-of-sight to the unit is blocked. The remote is very strong and its pickup very sensitive.
When playing a program it is very impressive. It only takes a few moments to buffer a bit of the program selected, even across our wifi network, before starting to play the program. The limited testing has shown very good network wifi strength (highest quality), and no breakup or rebuffering when playing movies.
So far, I am very pleased. I have a 1.5' HDMI cable on order (wanted it short, and its hard to find short cables at the local retailers), At this time I am using the composite video cable (included) and 720p, but still, the image is really, really good. Can't wait to see it on HDMI.
So, if you have Netflix and you want to get the most of that service on a TV in your house that is not served by a game console, then consider this box. For those that have a Wii, an Xbox, or a PS3, you can already get Netflix streaming. But as I said, for those rooms not served by a game console, the Roku is pretty slick.
TJR
So, enter the Roku XD box. This allows all the Netflix "watch now" content to be accessed, and it is a lot. Also, Roku has a ton of other channels with a lot of content.
Here is my review of the box:
The price is right. At $79.99 for a 1080p capable box, it has an ROI of less than 9 months when compared to an additional Comcast outlet.
Installation was easy, even given the fact that I set it up for wireless usage and the unit is on the top floor of our house, the furthest point from our wireless router which is in the basement, on the other side of the house. If you don't want to go wireless, the unit has an ethernet jack.
The Roku box has channels, of a sort. Each channel has a list of on-demand titles, or on-demand games to choose from. Most channels, and most content on the channels are free, but there are some pay channels, and some channels that exclusively have pay content. Configuring the various channels (Amazon video, Netflix, etc) is typically a two-step process. You first have to add the channel via the Roku device and its remote and during that step you are presented with a code that you take to an internet-connected computer where you enter said code on the activation page of the corresponding website (Netflix, Amazon). These steps add the channel, and link your Roku device and account to the channel's content provider.
The device itself is TINY. About 1" tall, and less than 5" square. I mounted it to the back of the TV using black Velcro (heavy duty type by 3M), but since the unit is so light it really should hold with just about anything. Heck, while setting it up it was "held in mid-air" by its power and video cables only. I opted to mount the Roku unit to the back of the TV because the TV is mounted to the wall on a tilt/swivel arm. Given this mounting, the Roku unit is hidden. Cords to the TV are behind a painted cord cover...all pretty good and clean looking. There is no table, or rack holding devices. None are needed. The remote works just fine in this manner, even though line-of-sight to the unit is blocked. The remote is very strong and its pickup very sensitive.
When playing a program it is very impressive. It only takes a few moments to buffer a bit of the program selected, even across our wifi network, before starting to play the program. The limited testing has shown very good network wifi strength (highest quality), and no breakup or rebuffering when playing movies.
So far, I am very pleased. I have a 1.5' HDMI cable on order (wanted it short, and its hard to find short cables at the local retailers), At this time I am using the composite video cable (included) and 720p, but still, the image is really, really good. Can't wait to see it on HDMI.
So, if you have Netflix and you want to get the most of that service on a TV in your house that is not served by a game console, then consider this box. For those that have a Wii, an Xbox, or a PS3, you can already get Netflix streaming. But as I said, for those rooms not served by a game console, the Roku is pretty slick.
TJR
