Can anything Out-Roku the Roku?

Why not get something that can do both that way you only have 1 box instead of 2 on your tv stand? And personally I would wait. The newer technologies will probably be out soon.

After what I saw at CES 2011... Internet TV seems like it can out-ROku the Roku... and some new RealTek chipset media players with NetFlix and VOD...

LG SmartTv upgrader ST600

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/l...yes-on-at-ces/

It has premium content (netflix, vudu, Amazon, cinemanow, mlb, nhl), an apps store, dlna with rumored Plex support, and a web browser (no mention of flash support). yeah, that pretty much kills the roku.

No component connections.

That is an impressive line-up of offerings, but I think I'll wait to see the price before I agree on it killing the Roku. For what you get, the price-point of the Roku boxes is pretty tough to beat.

The short answer to your question - No. Get a Roku, be happy.

Does anyone know if the new LG box will do Netflix "search" --or will it only play from a preexisting Netflix queue?

Thanks

Certainly sounds interesting, but won't be available for months. Moreover, prices haven't been determined. Having Plex in it really does add something special.

philip

I'm not sure but if the current apps on LG TVs can search then I'm sure that the box can search as well.

I got to say though. Roku is the best in pure streamer. But the thing I didn't like about it was that the USB doesn't work without some hack (found on the Roku forums) and it's just there are way too many apps. It seems that Roku just tried to put as much as they can in there just so that they can say they're the best.
Yes they do have some good ones that not many does. Like Hulu+ and Crunchyroll (for anime) which I found both of these good additions. But there are some that are just out there.

By "hack" do you mean private channel? If so, I certainly wouldn't consider private channels to be a hack by any means. They are a valuable and supported part of the Roku SDK. At any rate, Roku will be releasing an official (i.e., available in the Channel Store) USB channel in the very near future.

Too many apps? I think you're about the first person I've ever seen complain that there are too many choices out there! lol! Would you prefer they only had a couple channels? Just because a channel is available doesn't mean you have to install it. If you think Roku has a lot of "apps", then you must absolutely hate Apple's App Store or the Android Market. lol!!!

I was under the impression (possibly mistakenly) that LG's Netflix-enabled BD Players did not support search like Roku. Frankly, I'd buy a Roku -- except for the fact that I've been told (again, possibly mistakenly) that the image quality and scaling are not as good as some Netflix-enabled BD Players. I don't know if that is true.

Network streaming is also a big goal of mine -- and I understand that Roku just released firmware that supports MP4 streaming from its USB port, which is not really what I'm looking for -- as I need network streaming. But I suppose I could make it work.
http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=34817

Lastly, Roku seems to be promoting (on their home page) a new box called the 1080P-ER -- but I'll be damned if I can actually find anything on their site that actually describes the product -- or how its featureset compares to their other existing products.

Actually, I don't think the official USB channel has been released yet. It's supposed to be coming any time now. There is a private USB channel currently available though.

There are also private channels available that enable local network streaming. Of course, you're still limited to the few file containers and codecs that are supported by the box. Also keep in mind that the Roku will require you to run an http server to serve up your local content, as the box doesn't support uPnP/DLNA, SMB, NFS, etc.


Uh...I hope you're joking. But in case you aren't, that's not a Roku model. It's their clever way of saying their boxes support 1080p content (smaller, cheaper, 1080P-ER...get it?).

The older XR model is capable of 1080p as well.

I believe the only 1080p content that is available for the Roku is from YouTube (private channel) and Vimeo. Not exactly a great selection at the moment.

Boy ... do I feel stupid! I had quickly read the words "The All New Roku" -- and was in the mindset of looking for a possibly new model that might have just been released at CES. The rest is history.

Interesting about the private network channel and HTTP. Thanks for that info. The HTTP requirement along with the Roku container limitations may represent just a little more of a kludge than I am looking for.

That's why I was potentially interested in the ST600. It kind of sounded like a LG BD390 -- minus the BD drive -- which I have anecdotally heard is less than stellar in terms of compatibility with certain BD titles.

What I don't know if if the ST600 really offers Netflix "Search" -- and whether of not it truly offers PQ that is noticeably better than a Roku box -- with 20Mb/s download bandwidth .

No setup boxes can access reg HULU, its only available on pc. Unless you can find a hack you'll be stuck with hulu plus, wich is cool besides the fact you have to pay for it.

Can I please have a quick summary here? I understand that Netflix is "promised" for the Boxee, but at the present time, is there any box that does the three services that I am most interested in: Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu? Or maybe just Vudu and Netflix (like the Magnavox BD player that Wal-Mart sells.)
Thanks.

Upper model, like c6900 Samsung BLURAY players do Netflix, VUDU and hulu plus, plus a lot more. They have internet@tv and Samsung apps. No offense to anyone but you should really think twice about getting the cheap magnavox from walmart. I bought one last year and it it was a nightmare. I could barely get any blurays to play on it, even old ones. When I could get one to play ,the picture wasn't good. Also finding a firmware upgrade was pretty much non exsistant. It's not really magnavox anymore, its some Japanese named website they send you to to get the update and then said they weren't upgrading anymore for any models. But I guess it could have changed since then.

Suntan, have you looked at the Western Digital Media players? The WD TV Live Plus has component connections and I am thinking about getting one for my old Mitsubishi DLP that does not have HDMI. Here is the chart for the three WD models. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/homee.../mediaplayers/

It's very frustrating that there is no perfect device for me in the Roku/WD price range.
On Black Friday I bought a Magnavox 5130 BluRay player for $68 at WalMart that has Netflix, Vudu and Blockbuster (no Hulu or Amazon.) The BluRay quality is fine and I wanted the pairing of Vudu and Netflix. Previously I had a WD Live player (not a Plus) that gave me a player for local media, including .avi which my camera takes. All set for the living room. Now in my downstairs theater I had a Panasonic Blu-ray without streaming. As I wanted streaming of Netflix and Vudu down there as well (I prefer separate installations) and the ability to play local media (.avi) as well, I considered both a Roku and a WD Media Live Plus. The former would give me the Netflix but not the Vudu or the ability to play .avi files. The latter would let me play my files and give me Netflix, but not Vudu. I got the WD, but I still can't do Vudu. I could have gotten another Magnavox but that would have not solved the local media issue. I guess I will have to just wait and see if the Plus firmware updates will eventually include Vudu. (Not holding my breath.)

Can't find how to start a new thread for this forum so perhaps you can help?
Want to access roku site/forums they screwed something up and i can't get sent emails and tech support requests to all the locations i can find and the only thing i got back was they assigned a case number and that was 4 days ago. Do you have any ideas?
If you can tell me how to start a new thread i will start a new thread

With the free channels and content available for Roku, the ease of use by anyone in your family and price point, the Roku is hard to beat. When you get bored watching online content, why not develop your own private Roku channel and stream home movies, music and photos to friends and family.