After reading one press release today off of Techcrunch and checking out the Roku website, I was sold. What is this thing anyway? Well, if you happen to be a member of Netflix, you may be aware that they offer free streaming movies and TV shows to your PC. That is great if you want to watch TV at your computer. What this little device does is connect to your TV and internet connection (wired or wireless!) and stream that Netflix video to your Television.

The best part, in my opinion, is the price point. Really, can you go wrong for $99 one time charge and no other fees other than your usual Netflix montly fee? Plus, they are offering a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee in case you hate the thing. One could say that this is a response to AppleTV or an AppleTV Killer if you want to go crazy. Could that be true? That is yet to be proved.

So, I placed my order around 10am ET this morning and got my order confirmation 15 minutes later. Total charge to my credit card was $109.98. It was $99.99 plus $9.99 standard shipping. There is a 2 day shipping for $19.99.

What’s great about it?

• Small footprint, includes remote control
• Supports ethernet, wireless (802.11b/g, WPA, WPA2 and WEP)
• Integration with the Netflix website. According to their website, “Use the Netflix website to browse a growing library of over 10,000 instant movies and TV episodes. Add as many as you like to your Netflix Instant Queue, and add more whenever you want.”
• Autoupdates its firmware/software over the internet

What could be the downside?

• Doesnt support HD
• There is a limited library of streaming media from Netflix. They cite 10,000 movies and shows available. This is roughly 10% of their entire library and the streaming choices are mostly older movies and lack new releases. This is a problem but hopefully will get better as time goes on
• You need a fast connection. I hope that wireless will be fine as I don’t want to run cat-5 to the TV.

To learn more check out their website
http://www.roku.com/netflixplayer

For the Gizmodo review which includes plenty of screenshots and pictures
http://gizmodo.com/389698/first-netflix-streaming-box-review-100-and-unlimited-downloads

Whats next? Well, I guess I will sit around and wait for it to show up. Once I get my hands on it I will give a proper review. Stay tuned for more!

Tags: netflix,roku
Categories: Tech