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Fresh off the official announcement we have some early reviews beginning to show up for the Netflix set-top box player from Roku. The new player will allow Netflix users with the $8.95 monthly plan (or higher) have access to (currently) 10,000 available titles for instant viewing from just about any television. While the player does have some limitations, it seems to have gotten a fairly good set of reviews, which just makes me look forward to mine arriving.

Overall it seems that most of these review were fairly similar. For the most part the comments were positive, referring to an easy initial setup and nice feature which offers automatic upgrades as they come available. The price, at $99.95 was also right on, especially considering those who are already Netflix customers will not have any additional expense, assuming they have an $8.95 a month (or higher) plan. It seems that while this may offer other devices such as they AppleTV or Vudu some competition, the lack of HD quality and current movie selection is going to hold it back. Assuming the movie selection improves over time, it could become more of a power player in the future. Other items that were mentioned was that the movie management is still done on the familiar Netflix website, you add movies to your queue the same way you always have and the box will then add them to your playlist. One potential drawback will be that the movies are streaming and with a slower connection, this could cause some issues, it was also noted in some of the reviews that because the movies were indeed streaming that it made fast-forwarding and rewinding less than ideal.

Let’s see what they had to say:

PCMag.com: Rating was a 4 out of 5, which is “Very Good.”

“For those looking to augment an unlimited Netflix subscription, this set-top box from Roku is affordable and easy to use. Here’s hoping the movie selection becomes broader.”

CNET: Rating was a 7.7 out of 10, which is “Very Good.”

“While it’s still a work in progress--and currently lean on quality content--the Netflix Player’s simple operation, overall convenience, and cheap price makes it a compelling option for Netflix subscribers looking for instant gratification.”

Wired: Rating was a 7 out of 10

“The great thing for current customers is the cost: $100 for the box, and then $0 a month extra. That’s right – if you have an “unlimited” Netflix plan, you can stream as many movies as you like for the same flat fee you’re already paying.”

From what it seems, this will make a great addition for current Netflix subscribers, but I am not sure it would be enough to win over anyone new. However, as a huge Netlix fan, you can count on a hands-on review from us as well, my order was already placed early this morning. Let’s just hope they can ship it out quickly.

Product [Roku] Product [Netflix]

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