 Amazing product and brilliant bang-for-your-buck |
| Review Date: March 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: D. J. Hampton, |
| 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. |
My best-spent entertainment dollar ever!
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| Review Date: February 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Musashi, New York, NY USA |
| I was already a rent-by-mail convert — switching between Blockbuster and Netflix for a couple of years. For an extra $99, this box has already piped in hundreds of hours of tv shows and movies, filling in the wait times between disks. The Netflix instant movie selection started out not great, but recently they have rotated in some big films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, pop hits like Superbad, the original “Grindhouse” double feature package, as well as lots of older and more obscure releases for adventurous cineastes like me, with NO extra charge to a regular Netflix membership. The addition of Amazon streams will soon make a good thing even better, and more providers should be coming into the mix soon (Netflix has mentioned adding an HBO-on-demand service soon). I’ve had the player since its introduction in summer 2008, and I’ve gotten enough milrage out of it that if it blew up today, I’d have gotten way more than my money’s worth. I’ve heard a fair number of technical complaints from other owners, but mine hasn’t even had a single glitch since purchase. With the exception of occasional problems at the Netflix servers, and rare errors in Netflix video encodes (for instance, they sometimes accidentally put the director’s commentary track onto a video intead of the theatrical soundtrack, but I think they’ve tightened up the quality control recently in this respect), it JUST WORKS! In these economic times, there’s a lotta bang for the buck in this tiny box! |
Kill the cable
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| Review Date: February 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nomad, Portland OR USA |
| This little box rocks. I have killed of all but my local channels on cable. This may have been the best $99. I have spent in years. My sons and I use it everyday. At first I was concerned about content, but there are like 12000 things to choose from…We have watched season 1,2 and in the process of season 3 of Heroes. You have no idea how cool it is to see shows like this with no commercials. Tons of movies to choose from. I really like the fact that the company has more than delivered on what they promised. I bought the box to add to my Netflix and now I can get amazon video on demand as well, and it didn’t cost anything for the upgrade. How often has that happened…I am getting a ton more than I paid for. LOVE IT. |
A Best Buy for Netflix Users – Rebuffing can be an Issue.
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| Review Date: March 9, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Read Rover, FL |
| As Netflix users, this purchase has offered us an abundance of viewing material for what amounts to a minimal expense. For the $99 (plus shipping) one time investment, we have improved the quality of our viewing selections immeasurably. This review will be oriented from a Netflix perspective.
In the 3 weeks we’ve owned this device, we have watched over 20 programs through the Roku. Every once in a while, the device will pause and “buffer” the download. This has only been a major issue once, while we were watching Humboldt County. The download got “stuck” in a loop and could not get past a certain point 27 minutes from the end of the film. It was a bit exasperating! Eventually, the issue resolved itself and we were able to finish watching the film, though it took a while. This occurred on a Tuesday evening so I wouldn’t think it had anything to do with “prime” usage periods.
Picture quality on our HDTV has been excellent. We are employing a wireless network and have not experienced many issues aside from the one described above. We’ve been extremely impressed with picture quality even when “pausing” a film through the Roku. Digital streaming is an impressive technology!
The only other issue we have had with the Roku is that we often have to unplug it and plug it back in for it to register on our TV. This only happens when we are switching from cable or DVD use back to using the Roku. There is no “on” or “off” button – nor is there even a “reboot” button. It’s little trouble to unplug it, then plug it back in, so long as you have kept the box accessible.
It should be obvious by now that I’m not a technical person. My husband could tell you all about the specs of this device, our TV, our wireless network and how they all work together – but he’s not the one that will sit down and write a review. He is very happy with our set-up, and from my own non-technical perspective I find the “learning curve” of this product to be extremely gentle. Of course, children will find it easy to use, but so would your 70ish parent. If you can use a remote, you can use this device.
It’s a little challenging to untangle our opinion of Netflix from our opinion of Roku. Above, I’ve tried to review the actual device and our experience while using it and have tried to keep specifics that are Netflix related out of the equation. We would have never enjoyed titles like Ratatouille, Mozart and the Whale, or Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives without our Roku – but that content is based on our Netflix subscription. Since this is not a Netflix review, I’ll stop here and let you make your own decisions!
Edited to add:
Since posting this review, we have installed an Amazon Video on Demand account onto our Roku with no problems at all. Set-up and installation took just a few minutes. The Roku navigates Amazon’s menus much the same way it handles a Netflix queue and delivers a consistent experience. We are amazed at the versatility of this player, especially as compared to its price tag! |
good but has occasional issues
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| Review Date: May 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Scott Kendall Mcfadden, oklahoma |
| Just received mine two weeks ago. I like it when it works. Specifically, every once in a while the roku will lock up during play back then reboot. I contacted roku suppor and they had me reset the device to factory defaults and re-activate it. They said to call back for an RMA if the reboot problem continues. Note, my roku also has issues with my Samsung LN40-A550 display. Apparently, the back light setting sometimes interferes with the roku rermote. When this happens you must put the roku remote directly against the roku IR receiver otherwise it won’t recognize the roku remote instructions.
BE SURE to check out the roku forums prior to purchasing this unit. This way you can see what issues others are having and if they are able to be resolved. |
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