Roku Player for Netflix

[Darq]

Originally Posted by jeffdrafttech

Says on the Netflix site that it's already-ready for HD. I'm not convinced that the episode of Heroes I watched yesterday wasn't better than 480p already. It looked as good as 720p does on HD APSC television. Perhaps some of the content is very high res, and it delivers based on pipe size?

Correct, the Higher your connection speed the greater quality you will get for the video. I believe there are at least two version of every movie/show.

[juliofromny]

so this doesn't have a hard drive like tivo or apple tv so it's like watching it online only on your tv with this box? Does it skip every so often like it currently does online (i have a cable modem but it still skips every now and then). Is it like flash video? Would really like to know b/c i'm curious.

[EastTexas]

I never had a skip. Was stuck at home for work this weekend, so I watched about 12 hours of stuff on it. No skips.

[jeffdrafttech]

I've never had a skip either online or with the Roku. I watched about 5 hours of Roku myself this weekend.

The fast forward/rewind function is well though out considering that the media is streaming and needs a buffer, but it's still a pain in the ass waiting 30 seconds for the film to restart if you move forward or back at all. This is a very minor gripe, but you should be aware of it if you're considering buying one.

Regarding my earlier statement about video quality:
All of this analysis was done using a 32" LCD HDTV connected with an HDMI cable. I watched "Escape From New York" (fucking worst movie ever BTW) and it appeared to be less than DVD quality, while the Heroes episode looked like it was better than DVD quality, possibly 720p. Law and Order episodes from 1999 looked like an ordinary television DVD. 5th element looked like a very sharp DVD transfer. It seems quality has more to do with how the source was encoded than anything else, if you have a fast connection.

I still haven't watched anything on my home theatre to see how they hold up on a big screen and whether the audio is 2.0, 2.1, or 5.1 using the optical audio cable. I'll check that tonight and edit this

[juliofromny]

so have they added more content for the Roku or is basically the same content that's available through the webviewer? The collection is still a bit limited. Also does this work w/regular tv/s via rca cables or do u need an lcd/plasma tv?

[Darq]

Originally Posted by juliofromny

so have they added more content for the Roku or is basically the same content that's available through the webviewer? The collection is still a bit limited. Also does this work w/regular tv/s via rca cables or do u need an lcd/plasma tv?

Same content as the web player. And you can hook it up to a regular Tv.

[jeffdrafttech]

Originally Posted by juliofromny

so have they added more content for the Roku or is basically the same content that's available through the webviewer? The collection is still a bit limited. Also does this work w/regular tv/s via rca cables or do u need an lcd/plasma tv?

Exactly the same catalog as the online viewer using IE. You have to go online and build an "instant cue". Only movies that are in yur instant cue are available on the roku player. You can have up to 500 movies in the instant cue at once. There aren't any folders in the instant cue to organize your available titles, so keeping it down to 50-100 is more reasonable and gives you a great selection.

The selection is pretty good depending on what you like. Lots of classic movies. Lots of foreign movies. Lots of 5 year old current movies that you may have missed. Lots of great scripted television from network, cable, and BBC. Tons and tons of great documentaries; both feature docs and television docs such as History channel, Discovery, PBS, BBC, A&E.

It could easily replace cable for most people, unless your a big cable-sports watcher. Better choice, better quality, and enough content to make sure you never leave the sofa.

[juliofromny]

Yeah I stopped being lazy and went to the site to check out what tv it can work with. the browse instant collection is pretty extensive its just that some shows, like Babylon 5 or Rescue Me, are still not in it and I wish I could watch it on my computer instead of adding the whole DVD collection to my cue. But you're right there are a lot of classic movies and documentaries that'll still be viewable that way. I may order one in a few weeks

[jeffdrafttech]

I decided to switch-on the projector tonight.

I watched 'Heavy Metal' and now I'm on a Heroes episode. I've connected video to the PJ through component, and audio through optical cable.

I'm only getting two channels of audio. Video input is defined by the PJ as 480p and I'm streaming the highest video (4 of 4 dots). The best looking video I've seen on my HD monitor is NBCtelevision, and thats only 480p too

Image looks great on the projector. My projector is only capable of displaying 480p, although it will scale and define resolutions higher than that from video players, digital tuners/cable, and high def players.

Right now it looks like max res on netflix 'watch now' through roku is 480p. In defense of the unit, unless you have a 720p or 1080p/i display over 50 inches, I doubt you could tell the difference between 480p and 720p. My PJ at 480p looks amazing at 108" if you sit back over 8ft from the screen.

I'm a bit disappointed that the audio is only two channel, even at max resolution. I haven't tried a lot of sources, but I haven't found any 5.1 audio on anything yet. I am using the digital out into a 5.1 sony home theatre amp with both dolby and DTS decoding, so if there were more than two channels, I'd know.

It's streaming, and it seems that over 480p with 2ch audio is as good as it gets in 2008. I'm still using my neighbor's wi-fi for the roku and I tested the connecton at 4MB/sec (which is faster than my DSL by 50%, which usually runs 1.5-2). If the roku quality meter scale is correct, I'm getting it as good as it gets, 4 of 4 dots.

It's still a great service, but don't expect video over a very-sharp 480p, or audio over 2 channels for now.

[_Sean_]

We do Netfllix; still waiting for them to get Mac compliant as for streaming movies though!