Netflix Fans, You Have To Check Out The Roku

A week ago I decided to drop Blockbuster Online and become a member of Netflix.

My Reasoning?

Blockbuster decided to change their policy without any notice. Seeing that we are in pretty crummy economical times, I figured that businesses should be above and beyond when dealing with their customers. Down with the bizzwizz's who refuse to keep their customers happy.

At any rate, I feel in love pretty quickly with Netflix due to the faster shipping times on their DVD's by mail, and the fact that instant play was available as well.

The instant play basically allows Netflix members to watch movies right on their PC, their XBOX360, a Samsung Blu Ray Player, or a nifty little device called a Roku.

Seeing that I don't have a Samsung Blu Ray player, or an XBOX Live account, and I cannot stand watching movies while sitting at a desk I went ahead and made the purchase for the ROKU.

Now normally it costs $99.99, but I work for a survey site that pays me in Amazon E-Certificates, I had a hefty amount of amazon bucks in my account, so I went ahead and used them to purchase the ROKU.

What it Does:

The ROKU hooks up to just about any television, or HDTV set and streams the instant videos from Netflix straight to your TV.

Appearance:

The ROKU came shipped directly from the manufactuer in it's original ROKU box, which I thought was a little weird, considering most things that are shipped to my house come packaged inside of a shipping box. I was a little uncomfortable with the delivery guy knowing what was inside...but hey...it got to my house, so that's all that really matters.

Out of the box I was pretty surprised at just how small the ROKU was. It was as light as a feather, and smaller than a standard book. I really liked the overall appearance and it's small size because the polished sleek black look it has to it fit well with the rest of my electronics I have in my home.

The small size also made it as easy as pie to place it just about anywhere.

Set Up:

A few years back setting up wireless peripherals to my network was actually a tedious task, however as time has gone on, and technology has grown adding things to my wireless network has never been easier. In fact I seek out wireless technology, and sometimes pass up buying things due to their lack of wireless technology.

Well, the ROKU is in fact wireless. You can however also hook it up using wires (why you'd want to do that though is beyond me?)

The ROKU comes with a nice standard remote with buttons that are easy to understand. You have an enter button, a home button, and browsing arrows. The remote itself needs 2 AAA batteries to work. The batteries are included in the box.

Besides the remote, the ROKU also comes with VGA cables, and a power plug.

I didn't plan on using the VGA cables. But I did hook up using the cables first in order to see if there would be a difference in clarity and quality when using HDMI cables.

Before I get ahead of myself, I will say that hooking the ROKU up was easier than I had anticipated.

As soon as I had the cables hooked up, and the plug into the outlet, the ROKU powered on.

All I had to do was follow the on screen directions, my network name popped right up on the screen, I chose it, and within just a few moments my ROKU was up and running.

Before I could use it though, the on screen menu gave me a code and told me to plug the code in on the Netflix Activation account. This was kind of annoying, but really it only took a few seconds, plus the ROKU needs to know where to get the movies from.

Once my ROKU was connected to my network, all I had to do then was either choose to view video through my Netflix account, or through Amazon Video.

Video Quality:

As far as video quality goes, the ROKU plays video well using the available VGA cables.

After getting a feel for how well the VGA cables made the quality look, I decided to try out my HDMI cables.

The video quality using HDMI cables is such a small difference that honestly I wouldn't recommend going out to buy HDMI cables if you don't have them. If you do, go for it. If not though, the quality barely improves to anything worth a damn. Keep the VGA cables, and don't bother with the HDMI.

Any Issues?

I have a very fast network, so when choosing to view movies they uploaded for viewing in just seconds. On slower networks I have heard that it takes a bit more time.
For me though, no issues to report as far as viewing goes.

I did however encounter one small issue that sort of bothered me.

You cannot choose movies directly from the ROKU box. You must go to your Netflix account using a computer and choose movies to add to your instant Que. I already had a few flicks registered on my instant Que, but it was sort of lame that I had to go online to add more. It would have been nice to browse through all of the movies without having to add them online first.

Besides this issue though, the ROKU is still pretty damn cool, and I have encountered no issues as far as performance goes.

Overall rating:

The ROKU gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.

I Love My TV!!! Review of The Samsung 40" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, Model #LN40A550

If you bothered to view this page likely you're in the market to finally coughing up all that cash and buying yourself a nice big screen. An HDTV to be precise.

The reason I'm writing this here review though is for those who are particularly interested in the Samsung 40" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, Model #LN40A550.

Lemme tell you bout my best friend, this HDTV is my best friend...

I was hesitant on purchasing the HDTV due to the fact that this thing came to a jaw dropping $1,300 at Best Buy.

Every time I went in to the store to pick a set, I was left feeling overwhelmed. There were honestly too many units out on display for me to make a decision.

However on my 3rd trip to the store, a really suave salesman managed to talk me into the unit. To be honest, I have always found salesmen to be pushy, and annoying, and many of them won't help you if you are too indecisive. This one fella though, he was born to be a salesman, because he knew what he was talking about, and he knew how to pressure me without making me feel pressured. I know that sounds crazy, but this guy was amazing.

I was honestly going to go with a smaller set from LG priced at $800. However after seeing this particular model in all it's glory, I felt like Ralphie, the kid on A Christmas Story staring at an official Red Ryder BB Gun.

The picture was stunning, and there is no other way to put it. I highly, highly recommend that if you are getting an HDTV, that you cough up a few hundred more dollars for a Blu Ray player, or a Playstation 3, because HDTV just is not the same unless you are using it to view Blu Ray Discs.

The visuals that this HDTV gives off is seriously enough to bring tears to your eyes (if you're a guy, this HDTV is total boner worthy, so don't feel weird if you start sporting a chubby when you come across this model).

Setting up the HDTV was simple. I thought it would be difficult, but as soon as I got home I began setting it up in my bedroom. The HDTV comes with it's own stand, but you are free to buy the wall stand, or unit to hang this beauty up on the wall if you want.

I simply placed it on a tall unit, and plugged it in. I also bought myself a Monster HDMI cable to get a clearer picture. I tried it with and without the HDMI cable, and I will say that the picture quality was much much higher when you set ANY HDTV up using an HDMI cable. I highly recommend Monster brand, even though speculators will tell you they work as good as $20 HDMI cables.

My brother who bought a cheap HDMI discovered that his were defective. This is only why I recommend you buy Monster Brand. If you want to go ahead any buy cheaper HDMI Cables, by all means go for it. But truly, I had never had an issue with Monster brand.

Anyhow, once the HDTV was all set up, all I had to do now was tinker with the picture colors, and options in order to get the best picture for my room lighting.

There are many sweet options for you to tinker with, from gaming, to movie settings.

If you're not the kind to mess with settings though, you can leave it at the default factory settings if you want. The differences are subtle, so it's not a big problem.

The LN40A550 comes with 3 available ports for HDMI cables. This means you can plug in a playstation 3, an XBOX360, and whatever else your hearts content. There is also an available slot to plug in your PC and use this big bad boy as a monitor!

The sound that the unit gives off is also perfect. I was going to buy a surround sound theatre system to go with the HDTV, but really the sound comes out perfectly, and buying a theatre system would just be a waste. Nice to have yes, but not necessary.

Picture quality as I stated is ice crystal clear. When viewing a regular DVD you get stunning clarity. When viewing a Blu ray, you will be blown away. Regular TV also goes up a notch, but due to Cablevisions lack of bandwidth picture quality is not that sharp. It is however 100 times better than viewing TV on an old boob tube.

Overall I thought I would have buyers remorse when it comes to this HDTV, but I've had it for a good long while now and have had absolutely no issues with the Samsung LN40A550 at all.

If you're in the market for an HDTV, definitely consider the Samsung 40" 1080p Flat-Panel LCD HDTV, Model #LN40A550, because as of now it is priced at around $1,100 at Best Buy. You can probably find it even cheaper if you want to purchase it online.

-My reviews may also be published on HubPages. I own the Content Homies!!!



$520 Off Sony BRAVIA 46" LCD HDTV and PlayStation 3 Package. Valid 4/30-5/2