RSSNetflix box by Roku to get more content providers
By Tim Conneally | Published July 3, 2008, 6:45 PM
Released several months ago as a part of Netflix's increasing emphasis on all-digital content delivery, the Netflix set top box by Roku will soon be streaming content from other providers.
Roku's set-top box definitely hit a sweet spot with consumers, at no additional fee to Netflix Ultimate subscribers other than the $99 cost of the hardware, Roku reportedly sold out of its initial shipment of devices in just three weeks. Though the Roku box delivers sub-DVD picture quality, and only 10% of the Netflix catalog is available for streaming, its popularity appears to follow a common theme in consumer electronics: If a device is cheap enough, people will be willing to sacrifice quality.
However, the low price tag won't be the only thing enticing customers. Vice president of consumer products at Roku Tim Twerdahl recently disclosed that the Roku box will soon support "major content providers" other than Netflix, something none of the other streaming set-top boxes can yet offer. Competing services AppleTV and Vudu still offer content through only a single source.
Forbes cites the size of Netflix's streaming library as "the major hurdle" for the Roku device. Fortunately, this sort of hurdle can be cleared easily with consumer patience, especially with additional content support.
And as far as a shallow pool of content is a problem, it is nothing like the problem D-Link faced with its DivX Connected platform. That particular set top box allows a user to stream full HD DivX and Xvid content from his computer to his TV, and originally offered streaming HD downloads. In its European launch, the device featured a prominent partnership with Stage6, an HD content delivery service which is now heralded as one of the greatest defunct Web sites in recent history. DivX Connected just celebrated its official launch in the US without Stage6, its only content provider. A full BetaNews review of that product will be coming soon.
Though Roku has not yet elucidated who the other providers will be, it is worth noting that certain aspects of the Roku Netflix player's software fall under the open source General Public License (GPL).
Sub-DVD picture quality is not a given; although the content is transcoded from the originals, many of the TV shows come from HD source, and the codec settings for the highest-bandwidth streams yields roughly DVD-equivalent quality. Gizmodo claims that while the Roku's display outputs currently max out at 420p/i, the boxes being sold now need only firmware upgrades to enable HD and 5.1 audio support. The real quality issue is that Netflix, like most streaming video providers, chooses video quality based on bandwidth test and makes the assumption that users would rather have instant access than wait a while to buffer at the highest-quality (or to make the choice on their own, God forbid). It probably doesn't work for Roku (yet, maybe never given it has no hard drive) but there are guides to capturing the link to the highest-bandwidth (presumably highest-quality) video stream available. (you must still watch through WMP as this has nothing to do with stripping the time-limited, individualized DRM keys).
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It's just a shame that more and more ISP's (especially broadband) are capping or throttling speeds. Kinda makes this here pretty useless.
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Products like this and services like Amazon Un-Box are in direct competition with cable and other video service providers on demand services.
They may say things like bit torrent are the reason for throttling speeds and implementing monthly download caps.
But this is the real reason!
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I don't know about this converter box but technical specs aside the video from Netflix's instant play service looks indistinguishable from the video on a DVD when the Netflix streaming video is played on a standard PC.
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I bought one of these, I must say I was expecting a lot more. It really isn't that special. netflix needs to up the codec quality of their vod catalog. I still prefer to rent apple itune movies and watch them.
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Wow.. disappointed in a $99 box for unlimited use? How many movies will you be renting from Itunes before you cross the $99 line? This little box is simple, intuitive and works very well. I cant believe anyone could complain that they expected more.. This little thing is a gem for $99 and eventually it will be delivering HD content via its HDMI out, and from multiple providers.
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