Extended range wireless (WiFi N) delivers the best quality video virtually anywhere in your home.
My Favorite Thing, EVER! Very Highly Rec
Pros: Compact, Great value, High quality picture, Easy to set up, Video selection, Built in Wi-Fi, Easy to use
Best Uses: Primary TV, Living room, Bedroom
Describe Yourself: Power User, Technophile, Movie buff, Home entertainment enthusiast, Netflix fan
The Roku is almost certainly one of the best purchases I have ever made. If you know what this does and have been on the fence, just buy it now. You will not be disappointed. This is one of the few pieces of technology that worked exactly as advertised, with no issues or problems experienced with installation or use. For those that need more information, read on:
This very small device enables content streaming to your TV from the Internet and works over your home wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection. There are several versions of the Roku devices that all provide the same basic functionality, but I bought the Roku HD-XR because I plan to upgrade to a dual-band "N" wireless router in the near future.
Installation was unbelievably easy: unboxed, connected it to my HDTV HDMI Cable, used the on-screen menus to configure the Wi-Fi (with WEP), the Roku "phoned home" (connected to the Roku site) and updated it's firmware. After it reset itself and came back up, the installation was basically over except for adding the "channels" I wanted (all under 15 minutes).
The image and audio quality of the streamed content is nothing short of amazing, and also plays flawlessly. This was somewhat surprising to me since my unit is installed fairly far from the wireless router and only gets "fair" signal strength.
Adding and configuring the channels involves following the TV on-screen prompts (to generate codes) and using a PC to register at the appropriate website. I was able to quickly add Amazon On-Demand (giving me access to the content I had bought in the past), my Netflix account, my on-line social and photo accounts (including Facebook Photo, Flickr, and Frame Channel which gave me access to my existing photos), and several other very cool channels that provide everything from technical blog casts (Mediafly and Revison3) to streaming music (Pandora). A visit to the Roku Channel page is worthwhile to see exactly what is available. I should mention that all of the TV On-Screen entries were made using the included remote control, which is incredibly simplistic and intuitive. The only problem I encountered during the whole process was on adding the Facebook Photo channel, and that was because the Roku presented a code that was all in uppercase and the Facebook page wanted it in lowercase (a very minor annoyance).
I have already turned off my cable TV (one month's savings more than paid for the Roku) since we get the major broadcast stations. The Roku more than fills in the gap of video on demand type services with it's easy integration to Netflix and Amazon. It is so good and easy to use I am seriously considering getting one for my technically challenged mother.
(legalese)
