The $99 Roku Player, a tiny WiFi box that hooks to your television and streams videos from Netflix as well as Amazon Video On Demand, just got two new siblings, the Roku SD ($79.99) and the Roku HD-XR ($129.99), says C/Net.
The $80 SD Player retains the WiFi connections, but doesn’t offer the HD output of its siblings. The Roku HD-XR, however, offers 802.11n Wi-Fi compatibility, which should translate into better streaming — if you provide a fast backbone and an 802.11n access point, of course.
Netflix offers thousands of streaming titles over the Internet, when you subscribe to their minimum $9 per month service (one DVD movie by mail at a time). In addition to getting DVD discs by mail, Netflix subscribers also get unlimited access to thousands of hours of on-demand programming at no extra charge.
Streaming HD content is a tough nut to crack, says PC World. They recommend the iTunes method, which downloads movies to a hard drive and plays seamlessly once the minimum buffer is met.
Roku’s $100 box has long been the cheapest and easiest Netflix streaming solution, but recent price drops and newly available Netflix-enabled products are coming out.
- The Xbox 360 is adding NetFlix.
- The $300 PS3 is adding Netflix (and offers a BlueRay disk).
- All 2009 Samsung and LG Blu-ray players, as well as some Sony models are adding Netflix.
- Insignia’s supercheap $99 Blu-ray player, is even adding Netflix.
Not all of these products have the Roku’s built-in Wi-Fi, but they all offer the added features of playing DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and/or games, notes C/Net. Roku’s Netflix interface currently displays only the items that are in your Netflix Watch Instantly queue. There’s no way to browse other content, such as recently added items or top-rated selections, which puts Roku a step behind the Netflix interfaces available on many Blu-ray players, says IDG.
Later this fall, the company will also roll out its Roku Channel Store. This will allow users to add additional “channels” (think sources) of streaming content, some of which may be free, some which may require a subscription or other payment. Leo Laporte (above) believes this will open up podcasting to the general public.
In other news, Motorola today announced its next-generation SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 modems with 802.11n. The new line of standards-based and remotely manageable gateways supports high-bandwidth Gigabit Ethernet (GiGe) home networking and channel bonding of up to eight downstream and four upstream channels. Motorola’s SURFboard all-in-one integrated gateways are equipped with a four-port GiGe switch and integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi access point.
