Now featuring extended-range wireless, Roku is the easiest way to stream instant movies and shows directly to your TV - over 50,000 and counting, from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more. The top-of-the-line HD-XR model uses the latest wireless standard (Wi-Fi "N") to deliver the best quality video virtually anywhere in your home. It's so easy and powerful; no wonder Roku is Netflix members' top rated streaming player.
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I originally was not going to own one of these, because I have an xbox 360 and I figured that it did the exact same thing. This was given to me as a gift by a friend, and I am so impressed that I am considering a second unit for another room. The box is very small, takes up very little room and is very easy to move around. Unlike the Xbox, I noticed this does not stop and buffer constantly. The picture quality is much better than the streaming to the xbox, and I have yet to have any problem with this. I find that my kids fight over who gets to watch something. The only downside that I see to this box is that the remote is small and easy to lose. Although it is not one of the thin remotes, so that helps. I definitely recommend this box, whether you just need an additional, or whether you are looking for a first time streaming box. It is fantastic!
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I was never sold on the idea of the Roku box. Now that I own one, I love it and want more for other rooms in our house. For us, setup was extremely simple. Plug in, find wireless network, load up. Nothing more. If you have a netflix account, there is no reason why you shouldnt own a Roku box.
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I am really enjoying my new Roku XR. The setup was extremely easy and intuitive. I am running the ROKU XR wirelessly off of an N-Router (Trendnet 633) located on the other side of the house. I am getting “4 dots and HD” (best quality) with no interuptions in play.
My only complaint is that I have to go to Netflix and enter movies I want to watch on the Netflix Instant Queue before the Roku XR will play the movie. So basically, I have to go to my computer, find my TV shows or movies, enter them into the Instant Queue on the computer then goto the ROKU and my selections will be available to watch. I really wish I could scan for movies and shows thru the ROKU.
Other than that, the setup and playback quality is excellent using HDMI. Recommended 🙂
UPDATE 6/10/10 : ROKU and Netflix have fixed the annoying need to select your movies on your computer and then go to the ROKU to see your queue. Now you can search for movies on Netflix from inside the ROKU. BRAVO!!!
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Great, user friendly product. Small, lightweight, easy to connect and setup. I recently installed wireless N Xtreem network, but due to configuration of my house it doesn’t work that well, not only with Roku, but any other wireless device I tried. Wherever I set my router, one quarter of the house gets poor signal. I solved the problem with netgear powerline AV that hooks to your network and internet through power outlet. Another $100, but well worth it. This works perfect. No time delays and picture/sound quality is excellent. Thus, cheaper version Roku HD would have done the job for me. Before ordering Roku HD-XR check your wireless signal. Signal must be very good to excellent. Wireless N does have extender range as compared to G, but do not expect miracles. If the signal you get with wireless G is less than good (less than 3 bars), than it’s not worth upgrading to wireless N. Powerline AV will do better job.
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Being someone whom is picky about my audio and video quality, I have to say, I am more impressed with my Roku than I thought I would be.
First and foremost, if your cable modem does not have an extra available Ethernet port, you will need to purchase a router in order to connect this device.
In my case having a Motorola modem from Comcast, there is only one Ethernet port so I used a Linksys BEFSR41 cable/DSL router which has an internet “in” port and then 4 additional Ethernet ports. That’s 3 more ports than what I needed but it was the least I could find. BTW it works flawlessly for 49.99 + tax. The picture streams smoothly, in fact better than when viewing on my computer…another thing that surprised me. I was a little concerned how smooth it would stream with a 50 dollar router but works fine. Oh, I forgot to mention, I prefer to be hard wired to my computer so this was not a “wireless” install. That’s just my choice.
So in a nut shell connection wise, Ethernet out of comcast modem to internet Ethernet port “in” of Linksys with the supplied blue Ethernet wire that came with the router. Then ethernet from computer into port 1 of Linksys then Roku Ethernet into port 2 of Linksys. To know if you were successful, if your computer is able to access the internet after this set up, your fine! Done. Then in my application I connected the Roku via component(red, blue, green) to my TV
My television only has two HDMI ports but one is being used by my Comcast modem and the other by my DVD player.
If your TV has an available HDMI then the Roku DOES have an HDMI port. Then I took the Roku audio left and right and connected to an available audio on my receiver (in my case I used the tape audio out). Bingo, fantastic audio out via my receiver; I just hit the Tape input on my receiver remote when using Roku for my audio.
Depending on the movie you stream from Netflix, the picture quality for most movies is very good. Some of the movies are streamed in a HD format for example The Story of Weeping Camel. The overall picture quality very acceptable where I have no buyers remorse whatsoever. And believe me, I am one to have tendency for “buyers remorse”. Not this time. I suppose if one was forced to shut down their cable/satellite service with the bad economy, this is one alternative to have a fairly good selection of stuff to watch via your computer streamed to your TV and simply pull in your locals OTA until things improve.
Once your Roku is connected, you follow the prompts on your Roku which will appear nice and crystal clear on your TV screen and it will also allow you to set up for your applications that apply to your TV such as 16:9 format and so forth. It will then display a code number that you will use at your Netflix member website to authenticate you as a Netflix member and activate your device. You go to netflix, sign in, go to your member acct and you will see an option to activate your device. Once that is done, (it takes two seconds) any movies you have in your watch instantly queue, will be accessible on the screen of your TV with your Roku; BTW Roku has a nice interface to it.
With your Roku remote you can navigate through your queue using the left and right arrow buttons and when you see the movie of your choice just hit your select key and there you go. I have a high resolution screen computer and one big surprise to me was the picture quality on my TV is actually better than what I would see on my computer screen. Go figure! Now keep in mind, I have a 65 in TV and even on such a large screen it is superior than it is on my 17 inch wide screen computer. That was the thing that impressed me the most. It really did exceed my expectations. I give it a two thumbs up!
As I said in the subject line…VERY CLEVER DEVICE!
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My kids and I love this Roku N1101 HD-XR Media Player. It takes less than 5 minutes to install and get it running. The WiFi feature works very well. We have the Roku attached to a tv at the limit of our in-house WiFi N system and it picks up the signal flawlessly.
The movie and television features available almost limitless. If you can’t find anything to watch, order a couple of DVDs through the mail. New channels are scheduled for release shortly to supplement Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand and MLB. The new free channels include: Pandora Internet Radio, Twit.tv, facebook photos, blip.tv, mediafly, revisions3, and flickr.
This is a good Christmas present for the whole family. Packages allow you to watch netflix on 1, 2, or 3 televisions or computers simultaneously. (Computers do not need the Media Player.) Control access for your kids through a parent controlled master password.
Rating
The Roku HD-XR is fantastic. Even if you only have Wirless-G, what you see on screen still looks like a million bucks, and is truly HD, even if you have na HD TV or not. It’s only actually 720P, and not 1080p, but unless you’re using a large TV over 32″, you’d never even notice anyway. Regardless, it still looks fantastic.
Before I gush over the features, however, I MUST tell you about the experience I had with getting it connected:
First, it took less than 5 minutes to pull it out of the box to watching movies on NetFlix. It’s astonishingly no-brainer, and I’m dead serious when I say that. If you also have an internet-connected wireless laptop sitting in your lap during setup, drop the out-of-the-box-to-watching-movies time to 3 minutes.
Now this is where this little device knocked my socks off: I’m a computer network engineer, and I do not have a simple wireless internet setup in my house. I have a very complex enterprise network set up, consisting of servers and workstations, cabled and wireless, and connecting wirelessly to my network insfrastructure is required to make use of my internet proxy server. This is just like the same setup you find in corporate offices.
So to make a long story short, I was worried that the Roku would not be able to make use of my complex internet proxy server for internet access and that I’d have to return it. I thought the box would be to “dumb”, or would not have the required configuration menus to make use of such complex networking architecture. If you know what internet proxy servers are, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Imagine my surprise when I entered my network wireless security information (so it could connect to SOMETHING at least), when it also automatically found my proxy server and AUTOMATICALLY CONFIGURED ITSELF to make use of it. All 3 of the Roku’s on-screen indicators all lit up green and BAM! – I was punching right into our NetFlix queue, our queued movies already waiting to be watched. WOW! And I mean WOW!!! This little gizmo has the ability to hunt down proxy servers on local area networks and make use of them AUTOMATICALLY without further configuration! Did I say WOW!!!!???
Oh, and by the way: My wireless network is pumped through a Wireless-G LinkSys Access Point (WAP), which is what the Roku is talking to for connection t my network. And it works GREAT. So for the reviewer who said that it won’t talk through LinkSys hardware – sorry, not true.
VERY happy with this device. Embarrassingly close to euphoric, in fact, simply because of it’s configuration and connectivity capabilities alone! The fact that it connected so quickly and so incredibly on my network is reason enough for me to own this thing. Let alone how cool it is to actually use, watch and enjoy, the very reason you get one in the first place!
However, I simply must also add these additional review details:
The box itself is very small, the size of a small jewelry box, and blended right in with my home theater system. It’s even pleasing to the eye to some degree, not the typical mess of cables you’d expect. It takes up virtually no shelf space and only has two cables connected to it if you’re using wireless and HDMI: the HDMI cable itself and the power cord. That’s it. The remote control itself is VERY small, be careful, it will slip down between couch cusions VERY easily. But it’s very nice looking and very stupid-simple to operate, having only a few buttons for menu and playback control. The simplicity of the thing is so beautiful compared to the typical “slap a million buttons on it for cool factor” we’re inundated with these days that I’m darned close to taking the thing out to dinner and a movie.
The device is extremely simple to use, no tech savvy-ness required. You will absolutely LOVE the simplicity of it. It is so amazingly simple that I’m going to risk sounding like an idiot by calling it an engineering masterpiece. And trust me when I say that I know technology. As much as I like to go full-blown geek on most things, this device is so refreshingly simple that I’m surprised at such a device can be so simple. I’m also surprised at myself for being so thrilled with it.
The included directions that come with it are incredibly simple. However, the device is so simple to hook up and use, I’d offer that the included quick-start instructions aren’t even necessary.
My Roku is hooked up to a 52″ Samsung HDTV at 1080p. The picture quality of the streamed content over the Roku is very impressive for a 720P device streaming compressed internet media content. Please understand that compression is required for internet streaming, and that you will notice some fuzz in the picture, especially if you have a big HDTV. That’s the nature of internt streaming, and is not because of any shortcoming of the Roku product itself.
Even though the Roku has true HD mode, do not expect crystal clear “HD” content – remember, this device hooks up to ANY TV, not just HD. Imagine slightly better quality regualr TV on a giant screen. That’s how it is watching a Roku on an HDTV, especially a big one, even with the Roku’s HD display feature enabled. The menus are crystal clear in HD – the actual streaming media content you’ll be watching will not be, it’s like watching slightly enhanced regualr TV, at least on large TVs. On smaller TVs, 32″ and smaller, it will look fantastic.
And the question many of you are wodnering: What if you will be using the Roku simultaneously with other computes or devices in your home on the same internet conenction? Simple: use common sense. You’ll have no problems if all you’re doing is email and web browsing while watching thigns on the Roku box. Online gaming and downloading giant files, however, might cause the Roku to kick picture quality down or pause for buffering or even stop it dead in its tracks altogether. I have had no problems whatsoever so far, but I make sure to keep computer use to “light duty” while watching content over the Roku. Use a little common sense and you’ll have no problems. Surprisingly, it does a lot better than I thought it would.
Critical: for wireless use, the Roku needs to be at Wireless-G or higher. If you have a PDA or older laptop that only does Wireless-A or B, and your internet router is in mixed mode (allows A, B, G and N), most wireless routers/access points will kick down in speed to match the slowest device talking to it. This will basically stop the Roku dead in its tracks by pretty much dropping it’s access to the itnernet down to virtually nothing. Don’t use old slow wireless-A/B products if you’re using your Roku wirelessly.
The most economical entertainment under the sun: NetFlix is only $10 a month, but you must understand that the Roku will only play the movies that NetFlix has made available in their “watch now” category, and that category really isn’t all that impressive. Most NetFlix titles are still DVD-by-mail-only, so their entire catolog is not available to the Roku player. However, Amazon’s On-Demand service, though it is pay-per-view and much more expensive at 1-3$ per movie viewing, has over 45,000 titles you can watch immediately on the Roku. Either way you go, this is an incredible entertainment system. As for me personally, we’re subscribed to NetFlix and watch the occasional Amazon On-Demand title when a new release comes out we want to see. All total, we’re probably spending no more than $20 a month to watch what we want to watch and when we want to watch it. This is at about 25-30% of a normal cable bill, and all while providing convenience, content and flexibility that cable or satellite can’t even (currently) dream of. You just can’t beat it.
This is how all cable and satellite service content will eventually be delivered. Until then, you get it all right now with the Roku.
And if you don’t have Wireless-N in your home yet, and you’re thinking about saving $10 and getting the lesser model, just get this one – you’re going to soon have Wireless-N in your home anyway, so get it right the first time. Otherwise you’ll just end up buying this model later anyway.
Also, this Roku box, when first plugged in, will download an update and then reboot itself. Afterwards, you will see the main menu for the first time and be pleasantly surprised to find that not only are NetFlix and Amazon On-Demand available to the Roku, but also several other music and video streaming services, such as Pandora, a NBL (baseball) streaming service, and several other trial services.
All “surprises” with this box were pleasant, no bad experiences, failures or complaints whatsoever.
I want to finish this review with the following statement: This by far – dead serious – the best $130 I have ever spent in my life. Bang for buck, I have never seen anything provide such incredible high-quality entertainment in such a well-engineered way in such an attractive, small, easy-to-use package. If you ever wanted to see magic in a little box, thsi is the product. Not often you get to see cool things like this come along, but here’s a real winner of an example.
“Roku” is misnamed. It should be “Kudos”.
Rating
A few months back when my husband had started talking about the Roku box, I admittedly thought it would be a big waste of money. We aren’t TV watchers and thus have lived on basic cable for years, but we do have our dedicated “movie nights” where we routinely enjoy watching movies together. We’ve had Netflix for about 6 years now and we’ve never gone back to traditional rentals. I thought our unlimited DVD rentals from Netflix was all we needed. It can’t get any easier than picking a movie and having it show up at your door two days later, right?
I was wrong. 😉
Since we have jumped on the Roku bandwagon, I’ve gotten a lot of questions from others around me who are now considering the purchase. I find there is a lot of confusion about what exactly the Roku does, so here we go. The Roku box streams media (movies, TV series, podcasts, music, etc) to your TV in real time. You don’t need a Netflix subscription for it to work, but it hugely enhances the enjoyment of the Roku box as it is undoubtedly the most popular feature of the device. With your basic unlimited Netflix subscription (beginning at $8.99/mo or $7.99/mo if you only want the Starz Play streaming media with no DVD option) you have unlimited access to watching streaming videos on your TV at any time of day or night. All you need is a TV (of any kind, new or old) and an internet connection. Cable or DSL is required for good performance of the streaming media. I wouldn’t try this on dial-up. You can set it up via traditional ethernet cables or set it up on your wireless network in minutes.
One thing I’ve noticed in talking with people is that a lot of people may already have a compatible streaming device in their home and not realize it. If you own a PS3, Xbox 360 or Tivo, you can stream Netflix to your TV and you do not need to buy the Roku. Rumors of it coming to the Wii are on the horizon but are not confirmed, to my knowledge. Also, some select Blu-ray players and internet connected HD TVs are compatible as well. Check with Netflix for more information. Again, you do not need to buy the Roku if you already have one of these devices in your home!
The other main feature of the Roku is the ability to stream Amazon on-demand. If you have ever purchased a movie on Pay-per-view, Amazon on-demand will seem instantly familiar. You can rent movies digitally and stream them to your Roku (or other compatible device) any time for a fraction of the cost of your typical Pay-per-view movie. Amazon’s digital rentals range in price from $0.99 to $3.99 for newer releases. Each rental has a specific rental time. Some you can enjoy and watch as many times as you like for a full 7 days and others for 24 hours. You also have the option to purchase media this way which is usually the same price or less than what you would pay for the DVD. This allows you to stream it any time and as many times as you like until the end of time. Without taking up shelf space! Pretty nice. You are also able to download it to your PC and/or portable media device for enjoyment on the go. You can download it as many times as you like. As long as you have your Amazon account, Amazon will remember what titles you have purchased and you will have access to it forever. It works just like Amazon’s MP3 downloads.
The lesser known features of the Roku include instant access to 12 additional channels which include (in addition to Netflix and Amazon on-demand), MLB.com, MotionBox, MediaFly, Blip.TV, Twit.TV, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Frame Channel, Flickr, Mobile Tribe, and my absolute favorite, Pandora. If you have an account at Pandora.com, it takes seconds to link it to your Roku and start enjoying your music channels instantly. The Roku also supports different Pandora accounts if you have the need. Being able to listen to Pandora on our beautiful surround sound setup any time of the day or night is blissful. My 4-year-old’s favorite feature, aside from the plethora of children’s titles available on Netflix instant play, is the MediaFly channel which streams 5,000+ audio and video podcasts. Among them, two of my son’s favorite video podcasts, Ultra Kawaii and Sesame Street. You have the ability to add your favorites to a list that you can quickly access at any time. My husband is in love with the Twit.TV channel which streams all of their internet shows, including This Week in Tech. The Flickr channel also has a really neat feature that showcases random artistic photos and is actually quite interesting to watch and is never the same. There is really something for everyone in this growing library of channels and it is far more than I expected from the Roku.
Being the new spokesperson for Roku (I kid ;), I also hear a lot of concerns of TVs not being compatible with the Roku. No one should be concerned with this because the Roku ships with all cables needed to hook up to any TV, new or old. If you don’t have an HD TV, you might be purchasing the SD version which will connect to any TV with the standard red, white and yellow cables. If you do own an HD TV, you will receive both an HDMI cable and the standard red, white and yellow, just in case. The same goes for the HD-XR version. As far as compatibility goes, there should be no reason that everyone can’t have a Roku box, regardless of their type of TV.
In the same vein as the prior concern, there seems to be worry from the less than tech savvy movie lovers out there, fearing setup will be complicated and frustrating. Not so. Roku is able to hook up to your router via a standard ethernet cable or link seamlessly with your existing wireless network in a matter of minutes. Anyone can set this up and avoid frustration completely. It’s very straightforward and simple and the onscreen prompts will guide you the entire time.
Now that we know what the Roku can do, I’m sure you want to know, does it actually DO them? Absolutely, YES! Obviously with the SD version, you will be viewing in SD, but the HD and HD-XR Rokus stream HD beautifully. We read some reviews that recommended using the wired ethernet connection to avoid hiccups during viewing, but we have had none whatsoever with our wireless network running on a cable internet connection. I would suggest trying the wireless first as it takes only minutes to do and requires no additional hardware, and if you have problems (which I tend to doubt) you can go the ethernet route. It should not be necessary as long as the Roku is within reasonable range of your router. Keep this in mind when choosing where to set up your Roku.
Navigation of the Roku menus is extremely simple and intuitive. There are your four directional buttons, select, home, and your standard fast forward, rewind and pause/play. I love the simplicity of this remote as our remote collection contains numerous remotes with countless confusing buttons that I have never even used. Don’t be fooled by it’s looks, however, because this remote is all you need to quickly and effectively access all of the Roku’s features. I also wanted to point out that if you lose your remote and you have an iPhone or iPod touch, you can download an app that acts as a remote for your Roku. Sweet!!
Last but not least, you need to carefully consider which Roku you purchase. As nice as it would be to have an all-in-one box which includes all features at one price, currently you have to choose from three versions: the SD, HD and HD-XR. To put it plainly, they ALL have the same exact features. The only difference being the SD is limited to streaming only SD content, the HD can stream all HD and SD content, and the HD-XR can stream all HD and SD content and also includes an as of yet unused USB port (maybe for an external hard drive in the future?) and the ability to link with your “N” network. Given that the price difference is marginal, I would probably grab the next best up from what you are currently needing. If you have any intention at all at any point in the near or distant future to buy an HD TV, get the HD version. It’s $20 more and you will spend much more than that getting a new box if you ever do get a new TV. Also, if you are at all enticed by the possibility of having an external hard drive to play all your own media, get the HD-XR. It’s not been said what they intend to do with this USB port, but I think it seems fairly obvious what their plans are for it. You may not want to invest the money in a feature that is not yet supported, however. I do think it’s a bit cheap to charge $30 more for a feature that should have been standard on all versions, but it is what it is.
In the end, if you love movies and like to save money, you will not be disappointed with the Roku. You will never have to visit a rental store or buy a pay-per-view rental ever again! And you may even save a nice chunk of change from canceling some channels that will now become obsolete with your new toy. If you are at all on the fence, rest assured that you will get your money’s worth from this device. It’s worth every penny.
Rating
Santa brought me a Panasonic Blue Ray from BestBuy. Santa said the guy in blue told her it will stream movies! Santa thought that meant “Netflix”.
WRONG!!! So not being the Christmas Jerk I did a little research and read
about the Samsung’s and LG’s that supported Netflix.It seems the common complaint was the WiFi problems. After factoring the costs to exchange. I settled to purchase the “ROKU” thru Amazon because of the $30.00 credit towards “Amazon on Demand”.
I totally agree with all that has been written before me.
Easiest WiFi setup in the world!!! I’m using a D-Link Extreme N router.
The box is so small it is well hidden out of view.(Don’t lose the the tiny
remote) Speaking of small, you can move it room to room, TV to TV.
The picture quality is better that streaming from my Laptop to the TV.
So, If you you are on the fence and can’t decide between Roku or Samsung or LG? Go with the ROKU!! You will not reget it.
Netflix and Amazon on Demand need to expand their offerings! PLEASE!
Rating
Easy to set up, easy to use and works great! It has a very small footprint and makes watching Netflix and Amazon very easy. For Netflix you do need to set up your que in advance (no searching with Roku), but with Amazon you can search. I was especially happy when I found an iPhone app that allows me to use my iPhone as a remote! Shipping was quick. No problems!