Roku HD Streaming Player
Roku HD Streaming Player Reviews
With cable and satellite bills rising, most people - including myself - don't want to shell out X dollars per month just to watch five shows on a regular basis. Although there are numerous choices out there, the two most popular are Apple TV and Roku. Although I have an iPhone and an iPad, in addition to a MacBook, I didn't want to pay $100 for something that I had no experience with (streaming at-home devices). Plus, Wal-Mart had the Roku HD on sale for $50, and CNET had given the HD - and it's twin, the LT - an Editor's Choice Award, so I took the plunge. Here's my review after almost 2 months of using the box on a regular basis. Before I begin, though, a word of warning: no, you will not get HuluPlus or Netflix free just because you paid for the Roku box. I seriously doubt anyone thought this was the case, but just in case I'm wrong you still have to pay for those subscriptions if you want to use those channels. Also, you still have to have a cable subscription that includes HBO to access HBO Go - and just because your cable or satellite provider allows you to watch the HBO Go app on your mobile device doesn't mean they'll allow you to access HBO Go on the Roku. Through DirectTV, I can watch HBO Go on my aforementioned mobile devices, but (as of this writing) I can't watch HBO Go on the Roku. I maintain this is more the fault of HBO than Roku or the providers (this fact apparently holds true on the Apple TV as well), but regardless this is something you need to remember if HBO Go is a make-or-break factor in whether to buy one of these devices. Setup is easy. You plug in an HDMI cable (or a component cable, if you have a non-HDMI TV; another advantage all the Rokus have over the Apple TV), plug in the power supply, and you begin setup. All you have to do is create an account on Roku.com and enter your credit card info (don't worry, you're not going to have to buy most of the channels or shows, you just have to have your info stored in case you buy one of the paid channels or you download something off of Amazon OnDemand. I personally didn't find it a big deal, but I can understand why people would be annoyed by this). Once you're done with the initial setup (which takes about 10 minutes, give or take), the box will automatically download several channels for you: Amazon OnDemand, Crackle, Netflix, HuluPlus, and Pandora. Also, on the Roku HD remote - in contrast to the LT - there are three shortcut buttons for Netflix, Crackle, and Pandora, which is very nice to have. Content: you go into the Channel Store (on the home screen) and from there download any channel you want that's available. There are dozens upon dozens of channels, ranging from popular ones to obscure. You can get sports, tech, news, obviously movies and TV, and many more channels. Plus, Roku is good about updating new channels on a regular basis (although right now most of the added channels are religious stations). Unfortunately, the Roku HD doesn't have a simple search function, so you're going to have to scroll through these channels manually. Right now, while the number of channels is comparatively small, it's more of an annoyance than a real problem, but as more channels get added in the future, Roku's going to have to add a search function if they want to keep people buying. Once again, remember that some channels do require a monthly subscription or require you to pay to download the channel, so look before you leap. However, the variety is excellent; there's going to be something for everyone. Plus, unlike with cable, if you don't like a channel, you can delete it (although for monthly paid services remember to call them and tell them to cancel your subscription). Quality of picture: as mentioned everywhere, the maximum picture the Roku HD will broadcast in is 720P/1080i. In other words, it's HD, but not full HD. Right now, while virtually all TV shows are still broadcast in 720P, that's not a big deal - even on larger TVs - and if you have a TV under 42 inches you're probably not going to notice a great difference in picture quality between 720P and 1080P anyway, but for recent Amazon OnDemand movies or with a larger TV (i.e. 50 inches) you might want to shell out for the Roku 2 XS (which is around $100) to take full advantage of your TV's picture quality. However, I have to say the picture quality on the box is excellent. I have a PS3 with Hulu Plus as well, and honestly the picture on the Roku HD is much better: much crisper, slightly less "digital-looking", and just plain better (for the record, I have a 32" LED from LG). Internet: because the Roku HD is single-bandwith, and because you just plain need a lot of proverbial horsepower to get the most out of streaming digital video, you're going to need a fairly fast internet connection. I would argue that if you're download speed is 1.5 MBPS, for instance, you're going to have a hard time watching stuff on the Roku HD. I have 30 MBPS, so for me streaming is easy EXCEPT when I want to get on my computer. Then audio problems sometimes arise. It's more pronounced on some channels than others; Netflix never has a problem, but Hulu can become unwatchable at times because the sound quality deteriorates so badly. This is apparently a problem on most Roku devices, so be forewarned. Honestly, it doesn't happen that often, and as of late when it does happen, it's usually only for a few seconds while the video buffers, and then it's fine, so don't worry this isn't a deal-breaker. Other observations/complaints: not every channel you could want is on here. YouTube, Vudu, and Twitter are just some of the channels found on other devices that are not present (as of this review) on any of the Roku boxes. In terms of Facebook, Roku has a channel for your Facebook picture/movie uploads, but it's literally only that; there's no full Facebook integration. A much ballyhooed channel is Plex. Plex allows you to stream movies, videos, and photos off your computer onto your TV. For example, I use iTunes for my music, and what Plex lets me do is stream the music off of iTunes onto my TV. The biggest problem with Plex is you have to have your computer up and running the Plex app in order to do all this. Kind of annoying. So how much do you save? My mom got one of these as well and dumped DirectTV, for which she was paying around $80/month. After factoring in the monthly cost of a Netflix and Hulu subscription (she hasn't downloaded anything off of Amazon, and she doesn't have any of the other subscription channels), she's saving about $60/month. That's a great deal of money. More importantly, she says she's watching her TV more now than she was with satellite. Roku's not perfect - and certainly not being able to watch live TV (for most things) has its disadvantages - but if you need a cheap way to reduce your cable bill while still enjoying your favorite shows, the Roku HD is the best value around.. this is my Roku HD Streaming Player reviews
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