Roku HD Player
by Roku, Inc.
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Our Price: $69.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Roku HD Player
Customer Review: Used to think it was great
Summary: 2 Stars
When we first got the Roku in September of 2010 we thought it was the greatest. It was easy to set up, easy to use and worked flawlessly. I was even thinking of buying each of our 3 grown children a Roku for Christmas. I'm am glad I didn't. In the past two weeks it has been nothing but trouble. It all started with it having to reload a movie or program after just 15 minutes of watching. Then it started saying cannot connect to the internet. We would have to shut off the modem and then try again. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. It has gotten worse as time goes on. Now it will only play for a few minutes and then either have to reload or won't connect to the internet. We had our phone company out here every day for a week trying to figure out why out internet wasn't working. After using the Roku our computers would not connect. We have 2 desktop computers and one laptop. All three would be screwed up and not want to work. It really messed up the laptop wireless connection and I had to go in quite a few times and redo all the wireless settings. Called Roku customer service.... 4 times! Every time they have me go through the same steps. Over and over again! and it never works. I even asked this person "what if it doesn't work this time?, what are we going to do?" She had me go through all the same crap! Then they put me on hold for a long time. I get a person that has such an accent that I have trouble understanding them. It has been so frustrating that I am just fed up with the whole process.
The customer service person finally came back on the line and said that a tech person would call me back in one or two business days.
Ok I just got a call from Roku customer service. They want me to send them proof of purchase and they say they will send a unit to see if that is the problem. We'll see. If I could do it over again I would have researched other ways of playing Netflix movies. We'll see what happens.
Well, a few days later I got a call from Roku customer support saying that I have to send in the unit before they will send out a new one. (not what they first told me.) So I have packed up the unit and sent it ups on the 21st of Feb. I came home Tuesday to a message on the answering machine asking me to call Roku customer service. So I did.... and he said that the tech that called me didn't know what had transpired earlier and that he should not have called me. So that makes call number 6. He also said that they would contact me when they received the unit in California. Nothing yet.
Customer Review: Love my Roku!
Summary: 5 Stars
My family loves the ROKU!
The money spent was well worth what we are getting.
I think it depends on what you are wanting - a lot of the movies from Netflix are older. We don't mind that...we are always playing catch up because of our crazy schedules. I love that there is always something waiting for us to watch. Usually the biggest concern is choosing from our 300+ saved options.
Plus, if we HAVE to see something new, we can go to Amazon and rent it there, and not have to leave our house --or wait for the next time for it to start on PayPerView OR choose through the limited Video on Demand that dish has. And the prices are comparable to driving to the local video store to find something to watch.
Set up was a breeze...took maybe 10 minutes, tops.
I do wish that you could set up two lists ---like I said, we have 300+ options...many for our young son. I love horror movies, and sometimes the covers are sometimes inappropriate for his age (at least I think- I only watch them when he's at granny's). But, we solved that by always moving his selections to the top of the que, so that we can stop him before he gets to them.
Another note: for those of you who have "old" tv's - don't worry! I purchased the HD because *hopefully* we will be upgrading to a big screen HD soon, but until then, it is hooked up to our small (19inch? maybe a little bigger) bedroom tv--(no hd--sd all the way)...where we do most of movie watching, anyway. The picture is the same as with my dvd player or dish. No different. That may be because we are viewing it on a small screen. But, these day/times...I prefer to be frugal...if it isn't broke, we don't buy a new one. :-)
That being said, it is a pain that I am using an RF Modulator/4 way switcher, and I am lazy (hehe) and have to get up to push the button on my switcher to change from one to the other, but then again...frugal! and since everyday, the TV's get bigger, with more options, and seem to be coming down in price, I'll save until I'm ready to purchase just the *right* one. Can't wait to see my ROKU perform on one of those!!
I think the quality has to do a lot with the internet connection you have. We have a pretty fast one, since we are always on the computer. Now, I have noticed that we can't pull up something on the ROKU and watch something on the Computer at the same time. It stalls out...but that's not unreasonable.
We have gotten our $$'s worth and if it wasn't for True Blood on HBO, I'd drop my movie channels for sure! :-)
Customer Review: Amazing product and brilliant bang-for-your-buck
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this in January, 2009 to add some additional value to my Netflix subscription. It has far surpassed my expectations, and has proven to be one of the best $100 I have spent in a long time. This is true especially in a down economy.
Here are the pluses, and the minuses, I have seen in the product after 2 months of daily use
Pluses:
1) Huge money saver: Having this box has allowed me to drop from 3 disks unlimited to 1 disk unlimited as well as drop cable entirely. The addition of Amazon on Demand is an even bigger value in that newly released movies will also be in abundant supply.
2) Ease of Set-up and use: I am a die hard apple fan because of their ease of use, and the set-up process was the easiest I have ever experienced. In less than 4 minutes I was watching a Netflix stream on my Sony HD TV. Also, the user interface is as straightforward as possible. A lot of thought went into it, and it shows. Bravo for one of the simplest interfaces I have ever utilized.
3) Clarity of picture: Unsrupassed and almost full HD. Often forget we are streaming over the internet.
4) It just works as advertised!
5) Customer Service: Video was skipping and contacted the customer service. You would never believe that a real live person answered the phone within 5 minutes on a Sunday night. Turns out it was a nework problem (see below). Amazing customer service!
Minuses:
1) The quality of your picture is tied to your internet speed. This has only been an issue once. My Charter Cable modem service averages above 4 meg downstream, but every once in a while the network performance drops. A call to charter fixed it. This is in no way an issue with the device, just something to be aware of. Check with your service provider on your speed before buying.
2) Direct Ethernet connection recommended for best picture: This is a limitation of my wireless network, but you may also have a similar set-up. My laptop has a G wireless card, and when it gets online the whole network slows down, and wireless video quality suffered. Solved it by using a direct ethernet connection, and recommend for everyone who is able to. Much more stable and very limited intereference.
That is my review to date. If you have Netflix and want to get Amazon on Demand there are few things that will be a pleasure to use and that will provide as much bang for your limited dollars. Thank you Roku, Netflix, and Amazon for such a wonderful product.
Customer Review: Small Player with Big Functionality
Summary: 4 Stars
Roku is an amazing addition to your gamut of audio-video instruments. Let me review each aspect individually.
Footprint: Its exceptionally small for all the things that it can do. A small black box, it can fit easily in your existing arrangement. You don't need to create space for it, as you would with a DVD player, for example.
Connectivity (Audio-Video): For its small size, it packs a punch, audio punch that is. Nice outputs, HDMI, Optical Audio. Also has Component video option if your TV-HDMI is already taken.
Picture Quality (On a 42" HDTV): Superb. Amazon HD is truly HD quality. Amazon SD is about DVD quality. Netflix HD is about a good DVD quality. Netflix SD is just about average, but still easily watchable. I watched MAD-MEN on Amazon HD and the colors and sharpness was excellent. Netflix HD is also very sharp. (Of course it all depends on your connection speed, but good picture quality was seen even at 2 of 4 dots at 10 Mpbs).
Connectivity (Wireless): Patchy at best. Its not all bad. To start, it would not connect to wireless network even after entering the WPA-key. I had to input the Roku MAC address into my wireless (which also meant that I had to input MAC's for all other machines that connect to my wireless. No big hassle, as only needed to do it once). After MAC-ification, it connected fast to the internet. No issues synching with Netflix and Amazon accounts.
The main problem I have is that once in 2 weeks, it stops a movie I am playing, and tries to readjust the connection speed (Jupms from 4 to 2 to 3 to 2 dots). It could be my wireless router, because one remedy I have is to disconnect power for router and connect in 15 seconds. Roku instantaneously connected at 4 dots and no interruptions were seen. (Until 2-3 weeks later, repeated process).
Remote: Very handy, small and has all the buttons you need. Easy to use and works just great.
Interface: Netflix interface is very simple as it is limited to your Queue. Amazon interface is a little complex, but easy to use once you have browsed around. Good feature is that you can search titles, which is useful.
Customer Service: Haven't had a chance to experience it. So, No comments.
In summary, if you can get it to bridge with your wireless continuously, you will have no complaints. Great little (literally) addition. Enables optimal use of Netflix online library, which though limited is still enough to find some good selections.
Customer Review: Very good: Ease of use, intuitive, but tied to the content providers...
Summary: 4 Stars
This review is +30 days after purchase. The little box works and setup is a breeze as others state. I only use for Netflix so my review is based there.
TECHNICAL
The wireless connectivity is not great (read: unusable but YMMV). This is not an issue with my ISP alone because I have a laptop in the same room and connectivity is solid but on the Roku it constantly drops out -- prior to a show starting. So much so I added a wired connection and everything was great from there but I really wanted to use wireless.
There really isn't much more in terms of technical -- the HDMI, component and digital audio connections work great. Great flexibility in terms of cable connectivity. Thumbs up here.
CONTENT / USAGE
Here's where I differ a bit from other reviewers. I have not gotten rid of my cable provider. There just is not enough "Instant Play" content. I mean watching old versions of The Office, Heroes and the like is not going to save on my cable bill. If they streamed USA, TNT, History Channel, HGTV and HBO content then maybe I could get rid of my cable provider.
Also there is no Instant Play sports shows. // But I knew that going in so this is not Roku's nor Netflix's issue.
But the point being there still is not enough content available. Over time though I have high hopes as the library will grow.
Quality
I could reduce from (2) unlimited DVDs given the Roku but I receive Blu-ray DVDs and you just cannot get the resolution quality via Netflix/Roku. The quality is actually a tad below DVD quality but watchable none the less. I have seen a few HD quality shows from Netflix and they were good.
Other Things I Like
1. Price point - at $99 USD it's worth a shot.
2. Ease of use - one simple remote and you're watching movies / TV.
3. No where else can I access A. Hitchcock, Columbo and other oldies in good quality.
4. Connectivity options - component and HDMI.
5. Speed via wired-- wireless again is no good.
Things to be Improved
1. Really need to add content to my Instant Queue within Roku
- including browsing for content
- it's silly to run to a computer, login and select a movie and then run back to the HDTV and refresh to see the content I just added via computer
2. Library volume
3. More HD content-- most stuff (even new stuff) is SD quality.
4. Wireless 'nuff said
Enjoy!