Netflix $99 Set Top Player from Roku

[admin]

Netflix has pulled the ultimate move. They have partnered with Roku to release a $99 set top box, dubbed the Netflix Player, that allows Netflix subscribers access to their entire 'Watch Now' movie database... for free. That's right. Aside from the $99 box there is no additional fees to watch the Netflix movies on your home TV. The PC tether has been released and Netflix has apparently taken the lead in delivering home movies to users in massive quantities without bilking them for more money.

Discuss "Netflix $99 Set Top Player from Roku" here. Read the article.

 

[diffusion]

Should probably clarify that you need to have an unlimited Netflix account to use the service. So it costs at least $9 a month.

Do I have to have a Netflix subscription?
Yes. A Netflix subscription with unlimited DVDs is required. Unlimited refers to the number of DVDs you can receive in a month. Most Netflix plans are unlimited. Unlimited plans start at $8.99 a month.

 

[GlocksRock]

No HD no care... but it is a step in the right direction. So does this stream the content, or download it and let you watch it once the download is complete?

 

[Biggiesized]

You can only see this as a good move. Their challenging CableLabs and their VOD service. They want to unhook you from cable and get you to jump on their rental service. With so little hours in the day it seems, you can only divide your time in so many ways.

 

[Pyrrho]

What kind of picture quality are we talking about with their downloads? How do they compare with DVDs?

From looking at:

http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer/frequently-asked-questions/

They seem to claim that I could have DVD quality, but they are a bit vague about what exactly will get you that. They say:

Video quality depends on your Internet connection speed: The faster your connection, the better the quality. Slower connections are comparable to watching a VHS tape, while faster connections can provide DVD-quality playback.

And:

You need at least 1.5 Mbps to watch movies instantly on The Netflix Player by Roku. The faster your connection, the better the quality. For high quality video and audio, a connection of least 4.0 Mbps is recommended. You can test your bandwidth at one of these sites:

www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
www.speedtest.net

That almost says that 4.0 Mbps will give you DVD quality, but it does not really say that.

This also does not bode well for actual HD downloads in the future; how fast must a connection be for that?

So, are there any on line reviews of actual performance, or is this too new for any hands on reviews?

 

[ChunkyDark]

Personally I'd rather use a hometheater PC. It is certainly more user friendly and will have a much wider appeal than a HTPC.

 

[rgriffin25]

here is a link to their watch instantly titles
http://www.netflix.com/BrowseSelection?sgid=gev

 

[Alamar]

I'm not expecting [but I can hope!] that we'll see DD5.1 or crystal clear HD coming out of the system anytime soon due to both demand and bandwidth issues. Also because the H/W is inexpensive I doubt it could decode highly advanced codecs / store a "lot" of data / etc. Honestly it seems like it might be a stream-only device without tons of uber cool features.

On the other hand I would love to see new features like being able to download a title [or even my entire watch-now queue] so I can watch the content that I pay for when it is convenient for me [and not when my connection speed is having a good day].

As far as the quality goes I suspect it will be EXACTLY like what you get on the PC. Slow connections have VHS quality. Uber connections [consistent high bitrate] will get near DVD quality.

 

[Audioholics]

It is certainly more user friendly and will have a much wider appeal than a HTPC.

I agree that the attraction is that this Roku box will draw people through its simplicity.

 

[Alamar]

I don't know where to begin...

I chose not to even comment on that

 

[emorphien]

Personally I'd rather use a hometheater PC.

That's what I'm already doing. My old desktop is connected to our 1080P lcd through a DVI->HDMI cable and I can watch anything I want and have used the Netflix instant viewer on it many times.

Ironically, the only thing I can't watch are 1080p encoded videos I've download which the 2.8Ghz P4 processor can't smoothly decode. I'm sure there's some format it can handle, but all the ones I've tried are encoded in various formats it stutters on. It's just slightly too slow to handle them

It is certainly more user friendly and will have a much wider appeal than a HTPC.

And that's where things like this Roku device will have the opportunity to succeed. Simple operation will make it appeal to more people.

 

[mnnc]

uuhhhm...? writing 101

Do you even use grammar/spellcheck when writing? I mean...c'mon. I meant...come on.

 

[emorphien]

Do you even use grammar/spellcheck when writing? I mean...c'mon. I meant...come on.

Not the first time I've noticed problems like that in the articles here.

I hope they can move to surround sound audio and higher resolution video. For PC users too, I'd like to be able to access those capabilities from the web player assuming that my connection is fast enough.

 

[10010011]

You can only see this as a good move. Their challenging CableLabs and their VOD service. They want to unhook you from cable and get you to jump on their rental service. With so little hours in the day it seems, you can only divide your time in so many ways.

I said it before and I will say it again:

Cable companies are not going to take losing On-Demand revenue for very long...

Comcast Considering 250GB Cap, Overage Fees

 

[emorphien]

On-Demand is ridiculously expensive, I'd take using Netflix Instant viewer less than using their service.

Of course, the only way I'd accept any sort of transfer limit is if they provide an easy means of checking your usage.

 

[gus6464]

Is this going to be wireless capable or am I going to need to run a long ethernet cable? No matter what I have been waiting for something like this for a while instead of getting a HTPC and will be buying one as soon as they are available.

Edit: It is wireless as well and ordered one so should have it by the end of the week.

 

[hodedofome]

I just purchased Netflix last week once a plugin for Vista Media Center was available (vmcnetflix) that allowed me to stream the Netflix "watch now" content through my xbox 360. It took me the weekend to get it working (all plugins and hacks seem to be the same) but it's working now.

The quality doesn't seem to be quite dvd for me, and I have at least an 8mbps at home and 12mbps at work. Well, dvd's upconverted on my 360 look better than what's on the netflix. It's still totally watchable and forgivable for tv shows and documentaries, however I don't know how many movies I'll be watching at the moment. You can tell it is compressed. Sign up for a free trial and check out for yourself how they look on your computer. Some movies and shows which I think should be in widescreen are in fullscreen fyi. Also, everything is in stereo at the moment, no 5.1. You don't need to download first, it starts streaming after queuing up the movie for about 30 seconds or so. I haven't been able to FF or RW without it locking up.

ALL THAT SAID, I think it's great what Netflix is doing and I know they will continue to get more content and improve on this (so will the plugins for media center). This is more than worth $9 a month to me (you also get 1 dvd at a time with this which pays for itself after the 2nd rental). Right now I have my dvd's ripped to the hard drive of the $500 HP PC I bought on buy.com, and I'm streaming them through my 360 in the living room using My Movies plugin for Vista Media Center. I'm also recording OTA HD using a tuner, I have all my music and pictures as well as now having Netflix on-demand without having to get off the couch. I'm darn close to being in 480P heaven My wife absolutely loves it and she can watch all the chick flicks and musicals and old movies she likes (this alone is worth $9 a month). There is a large library of old movies and romance.

Make it all high-def and uncompressed audio and I need not leave the house except to play golf.

 

[GlocksRock]

I found another article regarding this device, and it says that it will have wireless, and also makes mention that LG will be releasing a blu ray player in the second half of the year with the same capabilities as this unit.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iLOKxx93p5mynVFAWQcX51BWqGGwD90P4S380

 

[BMXTRIX]

I found another article regarding this device, and it says that it will have wireless, and also makes mention that LG will be releasing a blu ray player in the second half of the year with the same capabilities as this unit.

That's what I'm talking about!

I fully see digital downloads integrated side by side with Blu-ray as the ultimate rental ownership method. Kind of like how receivers now often incorporate XM/Sirius into their products, the incorporation of a hard drive for downloadable playback, along with a decent HD player w/video processing on the front end allows for a single device to deliver all the HD content except cable/satellite.

I'm not at all interested in one of these boxes if they can't do HD delivery of content, and HD downloads seem to still mostly be fantasy unless you're willing to pay a serious premium per title to rent (not own).

 

[aberkowitz]

I'm not at all interested in one of these boxes if they can't do HD delivery of content, and HD downloads seem to still mostly be fantasy unless you're willing to pay a serious premium per title to rent (not own).

And I cannot imagine what the sort of consistent download speed you're going to need to handle an HD download w/ Uncompressed audio. If "DVD" quality w/ stereo requires 4 mpbs, I can't imagine HD requiring less than 8.