New $99 Roku player (Plays Netflix WatchNow!)

[meStevo]

No problem,
There is a wealth of great Media center plugins available over at
The Green Button
There are some outstanding plugins available; MyMovies is one of my favorites

If there is a problem with me posting this link then pleaser remove, I know it is off topic....

The biggest problem I see with the Netflix player is that it is, another box in the entertainment center...... however it does get some good reviews.

Ya, there's talk in the reviews about more vendors coming out with boxes with more features as well, so it's probably good to hold off unless you don't mind getting ending up with a box on the lower end of the features list at some point, though sounds like this little box can be upgraded to a degree as well.

Sign a deal with Sony and MS so that we don't need a box please. Will try the plugin in a bit, off to PF Changs and Indy 4 with the wife for now.

 

[shaun-ohio]

mine is supposed to be here by fedex tomorrow will play with it and let you all know what i think of it.

 

[SatinKzo]

cool let us know. Mine won't be here until the 29th.

 

[shaun-ohio]

all i can say is awesome, guys and gals, was a breeze to setup, the hdmi pic quality and sound is real good pic quality for not being hd, there is so many movies and series to send to the box from netflix when you sign up and you get a 2 week trial to cover it, no problems with the streaming part, streams fast, depends on your internet speed, and your provider, not like dod on directv, where the things you download has an expiration date, it is there until you delete it yourself, if more movies show up to send to the box, i will def cancel dtv premium movie channels, well worth the $99 investment.

 

[SatinKzo]

How does it let you select movies? Do you have to add them to your queue first? Do you get menus/categories?

Please elaborate more.

 

[meStevo]

Based on reviews, you can add them to your instant queue via PC to make them easier to get to on the STB, or you can browse from the STB, no PC required.

 

[shaun-ohio]

yes once you sign up for the netflix service, there is a menu that says browse instant, and then another menu for all the geners, they have, there are lots of old series, movies, etc. you will find under the drop down menu catagory, even the old series, like tv weekly classics, they have a complete season on there of a certain series, and even the old black and white movies and series, has excellent pic quality, they have alot to choose from. and if you hook it up with a hdmi plug, like i did, the sound is great. you just pick something out to send to your queue, and select play and another thing will drop down to send it to you queue, and it is there ony your player before you know it, as soon as it says adding to your queue it is there on your player, dont make the mistake like i did, went thru adding movies and etc. if you click on add all that does is create a list of dvds to be sent to your mailing address, you want the ones that says play, and it will be added to your player, i love it!!! if anyone needs any help with there dont be afraid to ask me anything about it, will be more then glad to help anyone.

 

[SatinKzo]

Thanks, My unit will be here tomorrow, luckily on an off day for the Stanley Cup Finals... can't wait to play with it.

 

[SatinKzo]

Got my Roku today. My Wife hooked it up to our Onkyo 606 using HDMI, hooked up the ethernet and started playing. She had a movie playing in just a few minutes.

Unit is really small and takes up almost no footprint, so it can easily fit in to any setup. Remote is kind of small for my hands, but I'll try getting it setup on my harmony later.

Picture quality is very good, not DVD good, but better than most SD stuff you are used to. It's really right on par with the SD picture I get from Uverse (which is the best SD I have seen that is non-OTA) I'm not sure if my 606 is improving the video or not a bit, but the quality does seem better than I remember when I had a PC hooked up to the home theater for the watch instantly stuff. (I had an onkyo 604 at that time)

Audio is plain old stereo, but that is all I expected.

Performance on the first movie is exactly like I remember on the PC, we have a 10meg HSI connection, so we didn't run into any lags or pauses etc.

Menus:
To watch movies, you cycle through your instant queue and it shows you the DVD art or theater poster art of the movie. Like shaun-ohio said, you navigate around the categories and genre's, add them to the queue and enjoy. It's really very easy for the novice or the technology challenged.
You can then view the movie information like any netflix movie synopsis and then begin watching the movie.
Took only a few seconds to start the movie buffer and start playing the feature.
FF/REW worked pretty much as one would expect, Still screens were pretty clean, not that I expect to capture screen shots from this service so that is really not a big deal.

One thing missing that I really like with BD/HD-DVD's and even the PC client for netflix is the timeline bar, that is not a feature on this Roku unit, so I would hope that since this is so new, things like that get added. The bar is there if you pause, but not while you are watching the movie.

Had to come back to work but in the 30 minutes or so I have had to play with the Roku box, it seems pretty intuitive. We watched 30 minutes of "Worlds Fastest Indian" and it was perfect in playback (btw, it's a great movie IMO, well worth watching).

My wife is already excited that while coupling this with our Netflix discs, our VOD from ATT Uverse, and the nice selection of kid friendly stuff on netflix instant view that we'll always have something new to watch with the kids and we'll also watch movies that we will probably find teriffic (there are some gems on netflix watch instantly) movies that we otherwise would not have wasted a DVD rental on.

Also, the box doesn't seem to heat up in the time we played with it. Not that I really expect it to.

 

[Ramy]

I am going to have to try the Xbox 360 version.

 

[SatinKzo]

I just realized I was not clear on the initial stuff I posted. Sorry, that happens when I post from my mogul.

The Roku player does not allow you to browse around the netflix site or any of the available movies. You still must go to the website and add movies to your instant queue. You instant queue updates almost appear immediately on the Roku however. The Roku does have the option to remove movies from your list however.

Also, I wanted to add, that on initial setup, there is a 5 digit code that you have to use to tie the box to your account and activate it. So this eliminates some of the fear I had that I would be using this box to transmit my login info each time.

And 1 other thing. Since my wife did the initial setup, I didn't realize that the box does have a wireless connectivity option.

 

[SatinKzo]

Got the Roku working with my harmony 659 remote, but had to adjust the way the remote sends commands. The Roku was responding multiple times to the commands from the harmony, so I had to change that setting to 1 (from the defualt of 3).

Also, here are some screenshots to show the interface. Not trying to show PQ here, flash was on automatic so some pics have flash and some do not.

 

[jgantert]

Nice to see so many good reviews! Sounds like great stuff from such a small box.

 

[shaun-ohio]

i just wish there was an info button on the remote to pull up, at what you are watching, instead of pausing the video, then arrowing up then it will tell you, then you have to click on resume playback, then it starts the buffer over, where you left off, im sure this will be an added feature later with software upgrades, hey if you want to hear good sound, watch dead like me series one and two, i get surround sound on my thru the hdmi, sounds great
am glad to hear that some folks are liking the unit, well worth the $99 price tag they have on it and a 30 day back money guarantee on the box, and a free 2 week trial period from net flix

 

[shaun-ohio]

wow, talk about great pic quality, watch the day the earth stood still, and bridge on the river kwai, the day the earth stood still is b/w and the bridge on the river kwai is in color and letterbox, these are 2 great flix to watch from netflix.

 

[SatinKzo]

Hey shaun, watched a couple episodes of dead like me (Planned on it anyways, I love that series) on your sound recommendation. Gotta say, that is some pretty good sound in general and especially for IPTV.

 

[shaun-ohio]

yes it is, glad to help

 

[cebbigh]

Just ordered one. Biggest hurdle was needing to upgrade from Media Center 2004 (non supported). Wound up adding RAM and going to Vista. Verizon installed Fios (just internet and phone, TV not available yet) to my house a few days ago and I'm hoping the increased speed will give a better PQ.

 

[shaun-ohio]

cebbigh: enjoy it is awesome, yes the increased speed will give you better pic quality, even the old black and white movies, look better

 

[Rlanham]

I have had mine for a week, and I love it.. going to get another one for the bedroom.. Great way to watch the series TV shows like weeds, dexter etc. that I never had time for.

Here is a great Netflix Forum Player forum at Roku
Everything you wanted to know about the Netflix Player, but were afraid to ask.

Roku Forums :: View Forum - Netflix Player by Roku General Discussion