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In the wake of the Xbox 360 receiving Netflix streaming High Definition, Roku has announced, on their own forums, that they will have HD streaming on Roku boxes before the end of the year.  Roku boxes were, in fact, the first devices to offer the Netflix “Watch Now” functionality, straight to your TV. 

On the Roku Labs Forums, “RokuTim” (Tim Twerdahl, VP of Consumer Products at Roku) told the masses that “Roku will be delivering Netflix in HD by the end of the year.“  This is great news for everybody who hopped on the Roku bandwagon early, however he also mentioned that “Roku will be using Advanced Profile encodes which will deliver HD at substantially lower bit-rates than what Xbox is offering.“  Uh oh.  Looks like the Xbox 360 has the upper hand here, and that your Roku HD movies may be a tad on the choppy side. 

More after the break.

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Sections: Video, Content, HDTV, Web, Websites

Netflix and Starz have just announced a new partnership that will bring some additional quality content to the “Watch Instantly” category.  The Starz partnership will add a total of 2,500 movies and television shows, about 1,000 titles will be made available immediately with the remainder coming over the next few weeks.

This new content from Starz will be made available to all Netflix subscribers under the terms of the “Watch Instantly” category, meaning that your subscription level will determine how many hours of streaming you receive each month.  In addition they will also be offering a Starz only package for $7.99 a month that will allow subscribers to only view content from the Starz Play package.

See what content to expect after the break.

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The new BD300 Blu-ray Player from LG is more than just a device to play Blu-ray format discs, as it can do a whole lot more.  The BD300 allows for the streaming of movies, and can support many audio formats and has refresh rates of both 24Hz and 60Hz.  Additionally, the BD300 does not have to be updated manually at any time, because an on-board Ethernet connection insures regular online updates.

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According to recent reports it looks like the Netflix player from Roku has almost hit the 100,000 unit sold milestone. The Netflix player was originally launched back in May of 2008 and was quickly sold out. Overall not a bad set of numbers, especially considering that Apple has sold just 400,000 AppleTV units in two full years.

My question is, assuming that Roku did in fact hit 100,000 units sold, how many of them are actually being used? Personally mine collects dust most of the time, because the current availability of movies is just not where it should be.

Of course, that just brings me to a good point, assuming Netflix had a much larger and more desirable movie selection, can you imagine how many units Roku could have sold.

Via [paidContent]

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The Netflix player from Roku seems like it could be in store for some potentially great changes in the future, some of which would force us to remove the “Netflix” from the name. We have already discussed the possibility of other services such as Hulu and YouTube becoming available on the player, however Roku has just posted the source code for the set top box, which makes this possibility a little more of a reality.

In the past VP of Consumer Products for Roku, Tim Twerdahl had already stated that even though they had a deal with Netflix, it was not exclusive and they were still able “to seek out other content providers to put their content on the Roku box.”

That statement lead to the speculation of Roku adding other services to the player, but nothing had been confirmed, and as of now we are still awaiting (and hoping) form something official. While some of the web based video services seem like an obvious choice, there is also some recent speculation that an announcement may be coming from Microsoft or Sony as well.

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Sections: Video, Content, HDTV, Video Providers, Web, Online Music/Video

This is where we call out by names the actions and companies that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin crack.  Technology is an odd realm where PR speak doesn’t hold a lot of water if the 1s and 0s don’t line up.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity.  Here is what caught my eye this week:

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Roku officially rolled out their Netflix set-top box back on May 20 and it went from available to unavailable very quickly. Within just three days there were already reports of 10 day delays, now with a few weeks we are learning that they are running in the ballpark of 6 to 8 weeks behind.

“Privately held Roku said its backlog will take six to eight weeks to clear up as more units arrive from Asia.“

Of course the Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings was not able to comment on just how many players have actually been sold, which to me means that this comes down to whether the player was actually a big seller or if the inventory was just low to begin with.

Having a Roku player myself, it makes me wonder who is still attempting to purchase one, and is in-turn helping to keep these delays growing. While the player itself is great and it does exactly what it claims to do very well, the available content is so limited I have hardly been able to use mine. Personally had I been a little more thorough in checking the current titles that were available before my purchase I most likely would have held off a while.

Read [Business Journal] Via [Hacking Netflix]

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While nothing has been confirmed, there is a possibility that the Roku Netflix Player could be offering content from additional providers in the future. A recent interview conducted by Hot Hardware with the VP of Consumer Products for Roku, Tim Twerdahl gave some interesting clues, but sadly did not go into specifics.

It was however confirmed that their deal with Netflix will allow them “to seek out other content providers to put their content on the Roku box.“ While the previously mentioned Hulu and YouTube are just speculation, Tim Twerdahl, the VP of Consumer Products for Roku did state that they are “talking to all big web video providers right now” and they are considering a number of options.

This would be excellent news, well maybe not YouTube as much as Hulu. I have said it before, the Roku Netflix Player is a great device, but is severely limited by the lack of current content available through Netflix. Of course, assuming other content providers were added, does that mean it will then become the Roku Web Video Player?

Via [HackingNetflix]

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Sections: Video, Content, HDTV, Video Providers, Web, Online Music/Video

A recent interview with Tim Twerdahl, the VP of Consumer Products for Roku shed some more, and slightly interesting details on the recently released, and still hard to get Netflix Player.

The player is powered by an NXP processor, and is running a customized (although unstated) version of Linux. The Roku development team also choose to use flash memory as opposed to a hard drive for a few reasons. The flash memory will have less failure issues, it was more cost effective and they also wanted to avoid putting in a fan, quite simply because feedback from home theater enthusiasts stated “they don’t want to hear fan noise.“

The fan noise is very understandable, however the interesting (at least to me) part is that the device is running Linux. I am sure there is a logical reason, but how come I cannot stream the movies at my house on a Linux or Mac computer because of compatibility issues, but they can with this device. While I imagine it has something to do with that previously mentioned customized version of Linux, but this also tells me that there should be a work around for home Linux users.

In the meantime, my Roku Netflix Player has been collecting dust, mostly due to the lack of available content. There are an estimated 10,000 movies currently available, which is low considering the total Netflix has to offer, but high compared to the less than 3,000 they were offering a year ago. I am still holding out hope for more to come soon, because the player is actually a nice box that does work well. Sadly, for those who are still looking to make a purchase there is still about a two week wait for any new Roku Netflix Player orders.

Via [Hot Hardware]

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Well, by now I hope you have already seen our unboxing set that we posted yesterday, but now its time for a quick hands on review with the Roku Netflix Player.

First off the player is small, which may be good or bad depending on your setup. I say this only because it does take up very little space in your entertainment stack, but similar to game consoles and the AppleTV its another odd size device that you will have to make a place for. Lucky for us, we had a nice spot to sneak it in.

The setup was easy an process and the player comes with the remote, a power adapter and a set of cables to hook it up. The setup was simple, find an empty set of plugs on your TV, plug the cables into the TV and into the player, then plug in the power adapter. Just like that its hooked up, and now its time to begin the actual setup, which I am happy to say was just as quick and painless.

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