On Tuesday, someone on IRC showed me the Netflix Player by Roku. It’s similar to the Apple TV, or Amazon’s Unbox, but obviously works with Netflix instead of iTunes. This benefits me because I have a Netflix subscription, and the Netflix Player, once purchased for $99.99, incurs no additional fees for streaming movies or television series. My package arrived today.
What’s in the box.
- Netflix Player
- Remote control
- Power supply
- Composite A/V cable
- 2 AAA batteries
- License Agreement and Warranty Statement
- 7 step Getting Started manual
Reading through the simple Getting Started manual, I noticed that Roku has only rated a single star for the quality of my video and three for the quality of my audio. I know, I know, I have a 10 year old 27 inch CRT and I really haven’t kept up-to-date in the A/V arena.
Connections on the back of the box include power, S-video, composite, component, and RJ-45. It supports wireless networking, but since I have a network switch next to the TV for the TiVo anyway, I went ahead and plugged it into the network.
Once hooked up and turned on, the system automatically downloaded an update, restarted, and connected to the Netflix service. Activating the box on my account was as simple as logging into my Netflix account and entering an activation code.
As quickly as that, I was able to start browsing what Netflix calls my Instant Queue. Since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released today, I searched for Raiders of the Lost Ark for my first Roku movie. Unfortunately, that title was not available for instant viewing.
In fact, I found very little selection in the Instant Viewing area. For the moment, I’m willing to write this off to the recent introduction of the service. As more people adopt it, I expect more DVDs will be available for streaming.
My mom has been watching the British series MI-5 on BBC America. I don’t receive that channel, so I went ahead and added MI-5: Volume 1 to my Instant Queue. As advertised, it was immediately available on my Netflix Player.
The Netflix Player appears to buffer individual DVD chapters at a time to the player. The buffering went quickly, and the quality of the video was okay. No better or worse than what I usually record on my TiVo. I expect that if Cox was actually delivering Internet to me at the speeds they advertise, I would receive higher quality video. Either that, or the player detects which video cable is plugged in and downloads the appropriate quality stream.
Overall, I really like the Netflix Player and would recommend it to anyone with a Netflix account. However, it may be an impatient wait until more DVD selections are available. I would love to use the Netflix Player as an excuse to cancel my cable television service. Everything I watch is eventually released on DVD, so I’d be able to watch it when I want and without commercials. The one-time purchase price is just right, too, since I already have a Netflix account. Not paying for individual programs is a definite plus.
My entire Netflix Player Set on Flickr.