Review: Roku, Digital Video Player For Netflix and Also Works with Amazon Video

I'm a TV junkie. I know it's quite sad, but I love my TV. I figure I eat, sleep, and watch TV more than I do anything else in life. Now, of course their are times when I am living my life, but nothing can really compare to TV when it comes time for some relaxation. I went out and bought the best HDTV money could buy, I hooked the HD up with a BluRay, an online DVD by mail service, and I even have a DVR Recorder for when I am not home to catch my favorite flicks. Yea, it's a bit obsessive. Don't be jealous though. I can't help it that I'm so damn pathetic. Haha! Anyhow, recently I banned Blockbuster Online from my life for being total (word I cannot use). I went ahead and signed up with Netflix, fell in love with their service, and especially fell in love with the fact that they offer free streaming movies to watch instantly online, on your XBOX360, on TivoHD, PC, a Samsung BluRay player, or on the new widely talked about Roku Digital Video Player.
 
A few months ago I can recall this Roku box getting all this awesome hype. People were going crazy over it, and 'wish they had it' bloggers kept making it sound like the IT electronic.

Me though? I had no clue what these freaks were talking about. It all sounded Greek to me, and like many bloggers who blog about electronics; they NEVER used it, so reading their reviews were nothing but previews of things they did not own. Yay! How helpful.

As time went on of course, actual USER reviews began to hit the web, making the Roku not as Greek (the site of Roku should also update their vague descriptions on it. Especially for newbies, and those who are not so electronic/net savvy.
 
So what the heck is this tiny black box that is getting so much hype?
 
Okay, now imagine you have a Netflix account. You already know how Netflix has a huge library of 'watch now/instant movies' right?

You can watch those movies on your TV using many different electronic devices such as the ones I discussed above. The Roku box is one of those devices; only simplified, and inexpensive.

If you don't want to buy a $400 BluRay player, or if you don't use XBOX Live, or if you just hate watching movies through the computer, you can just buy the Roku!

All of Netflix's instant movies can be seen right through the Roku.

I know, it just sounds delicious doesn't it?!

It does more than that though. Any movies that you order through Amazon Video can also be seen instantly through the Roku and on to your TV set.

I did not even hesitate to order myself a Roku. I personally hate watching movies in front of my PC monitor, and I don't have an XBOX Live account, nor do I have the Samsung BluRay player that is needed to view the movies.

Packaging:
 
I placed an order on the Roku on Amazon.com for $99.99. The box was shipped directly from Roku, and arrived in approximately one week. Luckily for me the Roku was free due to the Amazon E-certificates I got through MyPoints.

I was a little surprised though that the manufacturer sent the box without any packaging box. They literately send the Roku box as is, with a shipping stamp stuck to it. I was a bit uneasy about the shippers knowing what was coming, but alas, it arrived so no further complaints.

Setting Up: 

Setting the Roku up was a cinch. The box itself comes with VGA cables, a small easy to use remote, a power plug, and of course the Roku.

I hooked the Roku up using an HDMI cable I had already to improve the quality. I must say though that the difference between using the HDMI cable, vs the VGA cables were so small that I wouldn't recommend going out to buy an HDMI cable if you don't already have one. Use the VGA cables if you don't have an HDMI cable.

Anyhow, setting the Roku up was easy. All I had to do was plug it into a wall outlet, and plug it into my HDTV.

After it was powered on, all I had to do was connect it to my network, and we were up and running in juts minutes.

Now the thing that bothered me was that I had to go online to my Netflix account to add movies into my instant Que. If you have no movies added to the instant Que, no flicks will show up on the Roku box.
It is sort of annoying, and I would have liked to browse through movies directly on my TV unit, but, no such luck.

Quality:
 
Movie quality depends on 2 things. One being the speed of your network, and the other being whether or not you set up the Roku with an HDMI.

Now only some movies are available in HD quality. All the rest seem to have a 4 star quality to them.

All in all though, even HD quality movies tend to have the same standard DVD quality to them.

All in all though, movies seem to stream flawlessly without any quality issues.

We did run into an issue though that happens randomly. Sometimes a movie will stop and reload. I don't know what causes it, and it happens rarely. It is however an issue I felt necessary to mention.

Overall:
 
Even though you must log on to your Netflix account to add movies, the Roku box seems to be worth the $99.99 I spent on it. I love having it available when nothing else is on TV, and I love the selections of films, and TV shows.

What I especially am excited about though is how Netflix announced that they are working on bringing out an all instant plan. That means every movie on demand... when this happens, I'm glad I'll have the Roku. As of now, the movies available are limited, but plentiful.

Is it worth the buy?
 
I'd say so.