CrunchGear

almost on par with the cnet review. guess the nda/embargo must’ve dropped at midnight since cnet/crunchgear/nytimes all pumping this one from netflix..

What really gets me is that the line between NetFlix and your cable provider is getting all the more blurred. In my opinion, this is bad for NetFlix. If they prove this model works, what’s to stop a cable company from simply offering a service add-on which is unlimited in demand movies? No need for another box, and NetFlix no longer has a product? (I mean seriously, who need ANOTHER box in their living room with MORE HDMI cables running around? Not me…)

Is there some limitation to this? Is there something I’m missing?

I just don’t see the innovation here. Unlimited DVDs in the mail? Ground breaking. Delivering on demand movies to my TV via a set top box? Uh, 10 years ago?

I understand what your sayinig Mike, but I like the simplicity and portability of it. I’m not having to purchase/lease a set-top box for the multitude of PCs in my house. And, this is small enough I can take on the road with me and my family. I’m going to wait about a week to see more reviews and then buy one - for $99 it gives me the catalyst I’ve been looking for to drop the premium channels from Com[edy]cast. Now, I can use just the premium HD channels (with my DVR), Hulu and Netflix to pretty much keep me happy.

“Delivering on demand movies to my TV via a set top box? Uh, 10 years ago?”
The idea may have been 10 years ago, but in practice it has only worked in the past year or so.

The threat of Netflix sitting back and not offering it is eventually a cable company will figure this out, with the slow success of AppleTV and Xbox 360 media center. Then part of Netflix’s service will become redundant anyway. They’d rather get out in front of the coming storm. Additionally while cable could leverage its TV stations to get TV shows fairly easily, it would be harder for them to set up the agreements to offer movies. Cable cos are used to dealing with networks, but few networks own the studios of movies they show. It will also piss off stations when cable companies start providing a similar service because it cuts them out of audience for ad revenue. This may not be great for Netflix, but it’s better than not doing it, and it may reduce their expenses (they are the largest customer to the post office) but their bandwidth costs will go up.

The great thing about this box compared to your cable box is that this is portable! When I can take my cable box on vacation with me and plug it in at my grandmas or in the hotel if it has wi-fi, then I will be really impressed with my cable box!

I’ve already got a set-top box with HDMI that’s connected to the Internet. I call it my X-Box 360. I bet it would buffer more than 4 minutes. And it plays Pac-Man. I bet the Roku won’t play Pac-Man.

So where’s the Netflix XBL integration that was rumored in April?

old busniess models die hard and slow - even when the technology is there just waiting to be put to good use. i see this as a nice little baby step towards the promise of “any movie ever made hd on demand” i saw on tv commercials 10 years ago. now excuse me while i power up my flying car (where are our flying cars! it’s 2008!!!!)

re: Flying Car

Uh, it’s HERE and I want one! (Pilot /Drive)

Terrafugia Redefines the Flying Car—Make That Drivable Airplane
http://www.xconomy.com/2008/05/08/from-the-runway-to-the-road-terrafugia-redefines-the-flying-car-make-that-drivable-airplane/

Guarenteed to make it? No, but it’s the best shot I’ve seen in a long time!

But I really want that ROBOT MAID!

Not everything will fit everyone’s needs, but for people like me, this works just the way it is. I don’t have an X-Box, or a digital cable box. I’m only getting very basic cable as I get most of my entertainment from my Netflix subscription and this is just another added bonus. The biggest issue I’ve had with Netflix lately is that the Instant movie was not available for Mac, so there was no easy way for me to get this service until now. This device is worth the $ just for the access to the kids movies without adjusting my DVD queue.

$99 just by itself is a good selling point. Look at how expensive other services have become (uVerse,DirecTV,DishNetwork, etc…) and the idea of unlimited at a flat fee seems pretty cool…and on demand to boot!

Traditional video services have basically pushed you 500 channels all at once down a proprietary pipe even though you may watch at most a dozen shows a day, and the hardware and subscription costs end up rivaling your monthly food bill.

I expect this to have a lot of rough edges, and it would be nice to see that box have a HD inside to it could “stream to disc” full quality movies and shows, but that seems unlikely at a $99 price point.

Your cable company will hate you for being a bandwidth hog the moment you plug this puppy in. DSL seems to be a better match for such a device because speeds don’t drop like a rock from 5pm-3am.

I love the roku box, but lately the video quality has dropped from four dots to two. Quest says my line is fine, and my ISP says they don’t know what the problem is.
I’ve tried everything. I’m already at a platinum package for quest, do I have to upgrade even more? And if I do, will the video quality still jump around?

Bad idea.

Not all of us can afford high speed internet. This is obviously targeted at the rich brats of the world. What else is new?

What is most nauseating, is seeing one of these elitists claim that $99 isn’t an unreasonable amount of money to spend for this contraption. It is to me! That would soak up two weeks worth of my grocery funds.

DIE RICH ASSHOLES!

WOW! High speed internet is cheap (Verizon DSL for $20/mo). And high speed internet will rule the world in the next 5 years, if it hasn’t already.

Trot, sorry to hear your troubles, but pls refrain from name calling and personal attacks.

Update:

I switched over to comcast and got a better deal, and so far my movies have been in four dot quality!! I hope it maintains, cause I’m still paranoid waiting for things to go wrong.
I think a coaxial cable just does a better job than a little phone line. Now (for the time being) I can go back to singing the praises of this wonderful little box!! I love it, and I know the future will bring even more features, better quality and perhaps new release movies.

Update:

I switched over to comcast and got a better deal, and so far my movies have been in four dot quality!! I hope it maintains, cause I’m still paranoid waiting for things to go wrong.
I think a coaxial cable just does a better job than a little phone line. Now (for the time being) I can go back to singing the praises of this wonderful little box!! I love it, and I know the future will bring even more features, better quality and perhaps new release movies.

In reality DSL goes faster than cable because it is not shared with 100+ people and has much less latency (cable has over double than DSL). Also coaxial cable is virtually the same “size” as a phone line, it’s deceiving being wrapped up in all that insulation.

John,
In reality DSL goes faster than cable because it is not shared with 100+ people and has much less latency (cable has over double than DSL). Also coaxial cable is virtually the same “size” as a phone line, it’s deceiving being wrapped up in all that insulation.

“Also coaxial cable is virtually the same “size” as a phone line, it’s deceiving being wrapped up in all that insulation.”

While you are right that in practice DSL is usually faster than cable (mostly due to cable oversubscription), and has lower latency, I’m not sure where you were going on this last statement.

First, cable has 1-18 gauge conductor, a phone line has 2-24 gauge conductors, so they are not the same size. But conductor size has absolutely nothing to do with signal capacity (which is really what the parent is speaking about.) Telephone lines use electrical signaling, currently it maxes out in most US residential applications at one 24kbit/sec connection. Cable uses RF signaling and shares that bandwidth with TV. If you were to use it only for internet, you can get I believe 40-38mbit/sec connections. Cable therefore has about 63 times the data carrying capacity of a single telephone connection.