Roku 2 HD Streaming Player
Roku 2 HD Streaming Player
- 300+ channels with movies, TV shows, music, sports & more
- High-definition streaming up to 720p HD
- Works with virtually any TV
- Built-in wireless (Wi-Fi b/g/n)
- Smaller and more energy-efficient than any other streaming device
The best value in high-definition streaming to your TV with more than 300 channels of movies, TV shows, live sports, and more. Enjoy Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Crackle, Pandora, and much more. Includes built-in wireless, and works with virtually any TV.
List Price: $ 69.99
Price: [wpramaprice asin="B005DOUJL8"]
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Roku XD 1080p Streaming Player
- Start watching movies on your TV in seconds using your high-speed Internet connection
- Featuring the largest collection of instant streaming movies and TV shows, from Netflix, Amazon VOD, and more
- Built-in wireless (extended-range Wireless-N) and wired Internet connectivity.
- Plays up to 1080p High Definition video. Works with any TV.
- Simply connect to your TV and to your high-speed Internet service. Does not require PC for streaming.
Roku is a little box that allows you to instantly stream tons of entertainment on your TV. Watch over 100,000 movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and more. Listen to music on Pandora, or listen to your own iTunes playlists. Even watch major sports, news, or original Internet programming. It’s all available whenever you want it. The all-new Roku XD delivers the highest quality HD video, in the smallest box, at the lowest price. No wonder Roku is the best selling streaming play
List Price: $ 79.99
Price: [wpramaprice asin="B00426C56U"]
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So tiny, so simple,
Why Roku:
. Second, as much as I love Apple products, I wanted a device that had more streaming selection. Specifically, a device that had a Crunchyroll channel. And finally, the Roku is just the least expensive device of this kind.
I have been looking at getting a Roku for a few months now and when I saw that the Roku 2 had just been released, I figured it was time to take action. I’ve never owned a streaming video box like the Roku before, but I have a Wii I use to watch Netflix and my parents have an Apple TV that I’ve watched Netflix and other video on. I was originally planing to get an Apple TV, but decided on the Roku for a few reasons. First, the Apple TV requires a HD TV, which I don’t have, whereas the Roku can handle both a regular TV and HD (nice if I upgrade
Setup:
So I got my Roku yesterday and had it set up in about 10 minutes. It would have been quicker if I had been using a computer instead of an iPad. The Roku itself is TINY. A little taller than the Apple TV, but much smaller around (it fits in the palm of my hand). It comes with an A/V cable, the power cord, a remote, 2 AAA batteries (for the remote), and a very short manual (it doesn’t need a long one). To set it up, you plug in the cable and cord, hook it up to the TV and power, then turn on TV and set to the correct input. Like the Apple TV, the Roku doesn’t need to be turned on and off, it take so little power in its standby state that you just leave it running. Once the Roku is connected to the TV you have to set up the network connection, which is super easy. Then you have to create an account on Roku.com (this requires a computer), which is where you are required to enter a credit card for any purchases you might make on the device. Once this step is done you pick out some channels to install on your home screen, wait a minute for a software update, and then voila! your Roku is ready for use. (It took me additional 10 minutes to sign in to all of my various accounts for the different channels (3 total), two required a computer, one (Netflix) did not)
Interface:
The interface for the Roku is very simple and easy to use. The channels, channel store, and settings are all presented in a single line across the screen (settings to the very left). It is super easy to install new channels and just as easy to remove them! To remove, go to the channel store and the “Your Channels” row and select the channel you want to remove and go into it. There is a description of the channel and an option to remove. It just takes a second, and you can always reinstall it if you change your mind. Browsing the channels store is a decent experience, but it lacks a search option. It sorts the channels into categories, i.e. Most Popular, Highest Rated, Sports, etc. Each category gets a row you can scroll through. It reminds me of the Wii Netflix interface.
The Roku’s interface is much simpler and easier to navigate than both the Wii and the Apple TV. Of course, if you get a ton of channels it might make it a little more difficult to find things.
Watching:
I watched a few episodes of Anime using the Crunchyroll channel (I have a Premium account, so no ads!) and the viewing experience was as good as a DVD, though naturally the scanning isn’t as smooth. Scanning brings up a timeline bar which you can track as you go forward or backward, but it doesn’t have any video attached to this scan. This means that you have to know exactly how far you want to go. I think this is standard for streaming media, so not a mark against the Roku. UPDATE 10/5/11: Scanning improved! Now, instead of a black screen with no indication of where you are in the video, it has a line of little pictures representing X seconds of video (5 seconds maybe?), so you can see approximately where you are, where you are going, and where you have been! Very handy!
I also tested an episode on Crackle, a free channel that has free movies and TV shows (albeit with lots of ads). Again, the video and audio were great, no glitches or problems, just lots of ads. For a 20 minute episode I saw no less then 4 ads.
I also tried the Pandora channel. I normally use Pandora on my iPad and I like the iPad interface. The Roku Pandora channel was nicely designed and easy to use and the audio was good.
Finally:
I’ve read reviews on the original Roku about how bad the customer service is, which is part of the reason I bought it from Amazon and not directly from Roku (HD is $10 cheaper on Roku.com, but shipping is around that same amount, so not much savings).
For $70, I think this device is an excellent deal. Admittedly I’ve only used it for a few hours so far, but those few hours were smooth as silk. It is easy to set up and use and if you buy from Amazon you have at least 30 days to discover problems, which is normally plenty of time for electronics.
Do I recommend it? Absolutely.
UPDATE 1/5/12:
I’ve…
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|Roku Rocks! And still Does!!!! 12-31-2011 Update,
Bye Bye Cable! Just got my first Roku Box today, although we have been streaming TV (PS3 and Wii) for awhile now. I linked my Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus accounts to the box in a matter of minutes. Set up was easy and the free content is excellent! The box itself is tiny you dont even notice it next to the TV. We dumped our cable provider a few months ago and got by with just streaming through the Wii and PS3, but with the Roku Boxes there is a TON more content and I dont really care for the Wii platform/dashboard. The box is about 25 feet away from my wireless router and signal is full. Im very happy with this purchase and will be ordering 2-3 more for the rest of the TVs in the house.
*******UPDATE*******
12-31-2011
I now have 2 of these little boxes one connected to a HD TV and one connected to my old 27 inch CRT TV. I’m just as impressed today as I was when I got my first one back in August. They at Roku have continued to add content both free and paid. I only have one complaint and its not all due to the Roku itself, the live content just isnt there yet, I have NBA Broadband and I gotta tell ya if ya wanna stream on ROKU WAIT!! The NBA has it all messed up and I have yet to be able to watch anything (even tho I’m paying for it.
Please make sure before you buy that you have a good internet service provider (ISP) and a decent wireless router. If you don’t have enough bandwidth Roku cannot perform correctly, and there is nothing worse that choppy movies that need to keep reloading!! Rule of thumb 5Mbps absolute minimum some will tell you it will work with as little as 1Mbps, it’ll work but barley! Be sure to test your speed at a site like speedtest net to get you download speeds.
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|Simple to use, but doesn’t live up to the original,
I have an original Roku Netflix player. I swapped it out for this new Roku2 HD, and was sorely disappointed!
Pros:
- It’s small. Like really small. About half the size of the original, and a bit bigger than a couple decks of cards.
- Comes with HDMI. Not a bunch of inputs/outputs to confuse unsophisticated users.
- Extremely easy to set up. Head to the website, and 2 minutes later, you’re ready to go.
- Sets up via wireless.
Cons:
- No indicator showing the current picture quality level
- The picture quality was very, very, very poor. I swapped the old and new ones a few times, and consistently got a much, much lower quality and lower bandwidth picture from the new one.
Overall, I can’t recommend this due to the picture quality issues. This unit uses dynamic bandwidth, so I couldn’t determine if it was messed up due to this unit’s design, or if it was just drawing poor bandwidth. An item like this is pointless if every picture looks like circa 1987 picture quality on an old, beaten up VHS.
Update: 12/3/2011 – in response to several comments, I’ve used this back to back with the original Roku Netflix player. The original has the bandwidth for the highest quality every single time. This one, as stated, doesn’t show the current picture quality level with an indicator, and consistently looks much more pixellated, artifact filled, and lower quality than my original box from ~2-3 years ago. I still can’t recommend this new version.
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|Roku Rocks with NetFlix and Playon,
We were a longtime Dish Network customer paying $80 a month for video service. While we had no complaints about Dish, we decided this past summer to take the plunge into internet video to see if we could save some dollars. My family was shocked the day I unplugged all of the Dish receivers and sent them back to Dish Network. “What are we going to watch?” “What about my favorite shows?”
As a 3 HDTV family and not knowing the best hardware option to use, we decided to try a selection of devices. For our main living room TV, we purchased a Roku device. For the den, we used our Wii and for the master bedroom a Sony Blu Ray Internet DVD player.
For content, we have moved our NetFlix usage from DVDs in the mail to internet streaming. We also installed playon.tv on our PC for access to Hulu (primarily), CBS (Survivor and Amazing Race) and Comedy Channel. Both NetFlix and Playon streaming to all of the devices we use work fine. This includes the Roku via playon, despite reports that Roku pulled the plug on playon (continues to work fine to this day).
We also purchased Comcast Basic (Limited) Cable ($14) for local news and sports. This is the plan that just uses the cable, no digital cable boxes required, allowing us to wire cable to all of our TV’s. What Comcast will not tell you is with HDTV’s we get full HD channels for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, CBS, etc. without having to purchase a digital plan or rent their digital boxes.
Comparing the Roku, Wii and Sony Internet DVD devices, we like the Roku the best of the three. In fact, we just installed a second Roku, moving the Wii back to a game system. The reason was primarily ease of use. Some of the reasons include the following:
– Roku Remote is the simplest to use than the Wii and Sony remotes with fewer and easier to understand buttons
– Roku provides access to NetFlix suggested titles and search. This is also available for the Wii but not the Sony Internet DVD player
– The Roku seems to do a better job at buffering the streaming content resulting in less video interuptions
In conclusion, we have a better video experience today than when we were paying $80 for Dish. Netflix gives us access to movies and past seasons of TV shows. Playon with Hulu gives us DVR access to all of the latest TV shows, we love the Hulu favorites Queue and the emails letting us know the latest episodes are in the queue.
Outside of our internet connection (need 2MBPS or more) which we already had in place, our total internet video monthly fees are $12.95 for NetFlix and $14 for Basic (Limited) Comcast Cable. A great savings with a better video experience.
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|Apple TV vs. Roku XD. Fight!,
I recently bought the new Apple TV, but was curious how the Roku XD compared. After all, while I like the Apple TV, it’s tied to the Apple ecosystem, for better or worse. Meanwhile the Roku offered a broader feature set, but not as much of an established brand as Apple.
Luckily, I was able to satisfy my curiosity by getting a Roku XD, and I thought my experiences and opinions might be useful for those shopping for such internet-streaming set top boxes.
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Quality/Content
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My first and biggest question was, “How does the quality compare?”. 1080p capability is one of Roku’s biggest selling points against Apple, because the Apple TV “only” streams 720p. What I found was that it was a mixed bag. Roku has the capability to stream 1080p, but something surprising is that a huge portion of available content isn’t HD to start with and doesn’t take full advantage of Roku’s hardware. Some content you can stream from Amazon and Netflix looks little better than VHS quality, while some looked somewhere between DVD and HD broadcast quality.
The vast majority of Netflix, for example, is SD content including most bigger-name movies that make their way to the library. Thus, the HD capability of Roku is MOST noticeable in Amazon Video On-Demand’s vast library of HD TV shows and movies.
Amazon Video On-Demand offers everything you could find through Apple TV’s store and then some, but it has a superior pricing model. You can PURCHASE TV shows for .99c vs. .99c rentals on Apple TV, and you may save a buck or two renting older movies, especially if they’re SD.
A drawback (maybe an advantage to some) to the Amazon’s On-Demand store is its availability of soft-core porn, so parents be ready to tweak parental controls a little more than you’d have to with Apple TV, which limits its offerings to R-rated major studio movies.
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Flexibility
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The biggest selling point of the Roku in my opinion is the flexibility already established with its “channels” store, which is basically like an app store for your Roku. The big-three apps are “Amazon Video On-Demand”, “Netflix” and “Hulu+ (coming soon)”, but you can also choose channels from “Pandora” (if you like listening to music on your TV), or “UFC” (though the UFC channel is a bit of disappointment since they want to charge you $45 a pop to view past UFC events!).
Apple TV doesn’t currently have an app store, though one is probably coming, and it will soon pick up the ability to stream a variety of content from an iOS device via something called “AirPlay”, but Roku is clearly a bit more flexible at this point.
That said, a big feature I like about Apple TV that isn’t available in Roku is the ability to view iTunes content. I like being able to watch movies on my TV then take them with me on my iPhone for my kids to watch on car trips or plane rides, and Apple has a better, more integrated ecosystem to support such capability.
I also like watching YouTube, which I can do on my Apple TV, but not straightforwardly on the Roku as far as I can tell (EDIT: apparently there’s a secret beta YouTube channel if you Google for it, but it’s not highlighted in the channel store).
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User Experience/Interface
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I think the biggest disadvantage of Roku vs. Apple TV is in its user experience. The Roku is slightly more complicated to set up (for instance, you need to find the TV settings menu then designate that you have a 1080p TV before you can watch HD content), and the user interfaces for many features, while good, just don’t match the smooth feel and responsiveness of the Apple TV. With Roku, you tend to get longish, frequent load animations when navigating between channels. Plus Roku’s content suggestion features don’t work quite as well as Apple TV, and with Roku you don’t have an “Apple Remote”-quality iPhone app to let you control the device.
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Conclusion
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While Roku markets its device as higher quality than devices like the Apple TV because of “1080p”, limited content and bitrate minimize any noticeable advantage. The fact is that if you REALLY care about quality, you get a Blu Ray player, not a media streamer from any manufacturer. Nevertheless, the Roku is at least as good, if not better than competing…
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|Excellent product,
One can make a good case that with Roku you really don’t need cable or satellite TV. With a $10 monthly subscription to Netflix you can get more movies than you have time for over the internet at the time that you want to see them. I doubt that one movie that TCM shows is not available this way.
You can listen to almost any radio station in the country free, meeting your needs if you like any particular kind of music or listen to talk radio, sports, etc.
You can watch Youtube clips on your big TV as well and can send the sound to your stereo system, home theater nowadays.
There are lots of other specialized sites, both free and by subscription, that are available. I like Pub-D-Hub which has movies in the public domain for free, many are poor but others can be quite good, I had never seen a picture with legendary Lillian Gish before.
Roku is a winner.
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