Comments on: The Roku Netflix Player

By: clark

clark — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:18:19 +0000

If there was a pricing structure like Netflix combined with the ease and quality of the rentals on the AppleTV then I’d be in heaven. If NBC would be willing to do a deal with Apple so Hulu was on it then that’d be interesting although Hulu’s not HD quality.

By: Wm Morris

Wm Morris — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:55:20 +0000

You know, the Morris family has really taken to Hulu of late. I hope the networks stick with it. I’m more than happy to participate in the ad-supported free TV model.

I refuse to pay for cable and all you Tivo/DVR users are just killing the golden goose for the rest of us.

By: clark

clark — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:29:38 +0000

Just to add - if you don’t care about video quality or the smaller selection then the Roku does seem like a screaming deal.

By: Clark

Clark — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:29:55 +0000

BTW - out of curiosity I tried some movies downloaded with BT. I just did a search for 720p and found a few. Of course it took a week and a half to download. But they look remarkably good. Not quite 1080p HD-DVD good. But pretty close.

If you’re on a Mac you’ll need to purchase Visual Hub to convert from mkv format to the mp4 format the AppleTV uses.

By: clark

clark — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:04:45 +0000

Ah. That makes sense.

I was going to say that if you brave hacking the AppleTV then you could play these anyway by installing Couch Surfer. That lets you play any of the streaming videos if they play on Safari. However Netflix is only compatible with Windows.

It would let you watch Hulu though.

By: Eric Russell

Eric Russell — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:40:23 +0000

Clark, taking a look at the site, a Netflix subscription is still required. If you are subscribed to Netflix then you already have all this available to you on your computer - the device just displays the movies on your TV instead of your computer screen. Netflix isn’t losing or making any money (except by bringing in new subscribers).

By: clark

clark — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:52:51 +0000

There’s some serious cross-licensing though.

Someone is losing lots of money because the royalties for even a modicum of movies is a lot more than $99.

By: Brian G

Brian G — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:05:19 +0000

Is it that Netflix is losing lots of money, or is Apple just overcharging? Keep in mind Netflix didn’t make the device, Roku did.

By: Clark

Clark — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:07:33 +0000

Video quality is a big deal to me. Plus with an Apple TV I can just rip the DVDs Netflix sends me and watch them at my leisure. The only trouble I’ve had thus far are ones with scratches on that I don’t notice. (Mainly with kids movies)

The big advantage of the Roku over the AppleTV is, as you noted, that you only pay the $99 and then everything is free. That’s a huge loss leader and clearly Netflix is losing money on this thing. Lots of money. But they are hoping to get mindshare and then beat the crest as people move from DVDs to downloads.

The biggest problem with the AppleTV is how ridiculously expensive rentals are. DVD quality rentals are $4 and $6 for HD rentals (that are subpar compared with even 720p videos on disk let alone 1080p). I can go down to a Redbox at any McDonalds or grocery store and rent a fair selection of new releases for $1.

But right now the ideal situation is, as I mentioned, Netflix rentals with an AppleTV. Plus the AppleTV plays ripped DVDs even nicer than the Toshiba HD-DVD player which I thought did amazing upscaling.