Roku Player: Apple

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Saturday, September 3, 2011

Roku 2 delivers cheap, easy video streaming

The last update to Roku’s line of portable streaming video players came in 2010, right as Apple was announcing the all-new Apple TV (). Roku’s tiny devices were overshadowed by Apple’s even tinier (though heavier) black box. This year Roku has updated its players yet again, adding features while outdoing the Apple TV with boxes that are smaller and lighter than Apple’s $99 player.

It’s clear that the Roku 2 players—there are three models, ranging in price from $60 to $100—are inspired by the new Apple TV design. They’re slightly taller than the Apple TV, but smaller in the other two dimensions, and lighter.

Like the Apple TV, the Roku 2 players are tiny devices without any hard drives, designed specifically to play back streaming video on your TV set. All models support playback of a growing collection of multimedia “channels,” including Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, MLB.TV, Pandora, Hulu Plus, and more.

All Roku 2 models offer standard-definition video output via an included adapter cable, as well as high-definition video output via an HDMI port. All have a microSD card slot as well. They all support 802.11b/g/n networking (though not the 5GHz flavor of 802.11n). The $60 base-model Roku 2 HD supports 720p video (just like the Apple TV). The $80 Roku 2 XD adds support for 1080p video. The $100 Roku 2 XS offers all that, plus a snazzy Bluetooth remote-control that doubles as a game controller called the Roku Game Remote, a free copy of Angry Birds so you’ve got something to use that snazzy remote with, an ethernet port, and a USB port.

The Roku 2 on top of an Apple TV on top of the previous-generation Roku player.

Roku offers the Roku Game Remote as an add-on for the new HD and XD models as well, as part of a $30 bundle that also includes a 2GB MicroSD card.

(And yes, you can copy videos onto a USB hard drive or keychain drive and attach them to the USB port on the Roku 2 XS to watch once you've added the USB-video channel via the Channel Store. You can watch videos stored on a MicroSD card as well. Bad news for fans of esoteric video formats, though: the Roku 2 XS only supports DRM-free H.264 MPEG-4 video.)

On the software side, the Roku 2 is very similar to older Roku video players: the company keeps evolving its interface, but it’s not that different from what’s currently on older Roku players. Roku’s Netflix interface is my favorite of any I’ve tried. The Amazon and MLB interfaces aren’t quite as good, but they’re still easy to use.

What gives Roku a leg up on Apple is its broad support for content sources: Right now Apple TV has access to iTunes, Netflix, MLB, NBA, and a few social-network sites. Roku’s got hundreds of different channels full of content, from video podcasts to live TV streams to Pandora. And Amazon’s library—to buy, rent, and stream for free if you’re an Amazon Prime member—is pretty impressive and getting more impressive by the day, and not available on Apple TV. If Apple opens up the Apple TV to third-party sources, things could get interesting, but right now Roku’s streaming sources outclass Apple’s.

However, Apple’s got Roku when it comes to the audio and video you’ve got in your home. The Apple TV will stream any compatible video from a Mac or PC in the vicinity running iTunes, and you can wirelessly send video from an iOS device to the Apple TV using Apple’s AirPlay technology; with Roku, you need to attach a device to the USB port found only on the high-end, XS model. Roku devices can only stream networked video from within your home through the use of third-party channels. These channels must be added manually, are not supported by Roku, and are hard to use. As long as Roku refuses to build in official home-network streaming support, it’s hard to recommend these devices for that purpose. (And of course, if you’ve got a library of videos you’ve purchased on iTunes, you can’t play them back on any non-Apple device, including these.)

The Bluetooth gaming-controller remote.

One of the interesting quirks of the Roku 2 XS is its gaming-controller remote and included copy of Angry Birds. Roku has already made more games available for purchase in the Roku store, and it’s clear the company thinks these boxes have a future as a casual gaming platform. It remains to be seen what kind of games appear for the platform, but I admit I’m kind of intrigued. (Keep in mind that if you plan to download and play games, you'll almost certainly need to add a microSD card.)

I found Angry Birds to be playable, though tilting the remote to shoot was a lot less precise than using my finger on an iPad screen. I’m bored by Angry Birds at this point, but it’s not a bad proof of concept. The game looked great, and there’s an opportunity for video players like the Roku 2 (and the Apple TV) to appeal to people who wouldn’t buy a dedicated game console. It’s something worth watching, but until there are more games available, it’s hard to say whether this will be a good feature or just a distraction.

Macworld’s buying advice

If you don’t have a large investment in iTunes video content, you’ll find the Roku 2 models to be quite comparable to Apple TV, and at lower prices. At $100, the Roku 2 XS is a good value given its Bluetooth remote and ethernet support; the $60 Roku 2 HD is an even better deal for anyone looking to get Internet video on a TV as simply and cheaply as possible.

If you’re a fan of a content streams not supported by Apple—Amazon Video and Hulu Plus come to mind—you’ll find that Roku’s broader selection of third-party content is a major advantage. Until Apple opens up the Apple TV to a broader range of third-party content, the Roku 2’s flexibility gives Roku a distinct advantage.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Roku 2 Streaming Player

Roku's fourth generation streaming player, the curiously named Roku 2, is the company's best yet, an excellent and inexpensive solution for accessing valuable online services like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and Hulu Plus from the living room. And while it may seem especially interesting for those who understandably wish to avoid the Apple side of the fence, the Roku devices--there are three versions--are so inexpensive that even die-hard Apple fans might want to take a look.

As with last year's redesigned streaming players, which were actually the third generation Roku players, this year's evolutionary update provides three player models, two of which are truly interesting. The entry level Roku 2 HD costs $60 and provides access to all of the online services, built-in Wi-Fi, and 720p HD output. Step up to the Roku 2 XD for $80 and you gain 1080p playback. And if you go for the most "expensive" of the three, the $100 Roku 2 XS, you get a different (and video game-capable) remote, a free copy of the popular Angry Birds game, an Ethernet port (for a more stable wired network connection), and a USB port for local playback of USB-based content.

I received a Roku 2 XS, but since it's a true superset of the other two models, some general comments are in order here. First, the devices are all physically identical, and look very much like Apple's latest Apple TV, sort of a squared off hockey puck design, so that doesn't need to factor into the buying decision. Second, I feel that virtually any reader will want the 1080p playback, so I recommend going with the $80 Roku 2 XD or $100 Roku 2 XS, and not the low-end version. Third, looking at the unique features available on the XS, I'm not sure it's enough of a difference, unless that Ethernet port is truly valuable to you. And as you'll see in a moment, the unique, new XS remote is nice, but has a fatal flaw I find irritating.

Compared to an Apple TV, which limits you to Apple's iTunes-based services and a handful of useful third party services--the only truly universal one being Netflix--the Roku 2 is the model of openness and offers access to a much better and broader variety of services. These include:

Netflix. While the Netflix streaming TV show and movie service is about as ubiquitous as online services can be, the Roku version is better than most because, unlike with the Apple TV, Xbox 360, or most set-top boxes and TVs, it actually offers support for soft captioning (or what Netflix calls subtitles). This is a big deal in my house, where the Roku box is the only devices out of several that actually supports this feature. For us, this is reason enough to own a Roku 2. The Netflix streaming service is $8 a month.

Amazon Instant Video. An interesting combination of Apple's iTunes Store (when used via the Apple TV) and Netflix, Amazon Instant Video is maturing into what I feel will be the go-to online digital video service in the years ahead. Like iTunes, it offers rentable and purchasable TV shows and movies, often with HD options, but unlike iTunes, you also gain forever streaming access to everything you've purchased in the past. And as with Netflix, Amazon offers a free TV show and movie streaming service, called Prime Instant Videos. Currently, this service is not as fully populated with content as is Netflix, but that's changing almost weekly. And as important, the service is free--yes, free--to anyone who is also utilizing Amazon's excellent Prime Shipping option (which I am); this service costs $80 a year and also provides free, two-day shipping on most physical items purchased from Amazon.com.

Hulu Plus. While the free Hulu and paid Hulu Plus services have never taken off as successful as, say, Netflix, this service does offer a better selection of new TV shows than does Netflix and is reasonably priced ($8 a month) assuming that's what you're looking for.

TWiT. Leo Laporte's TWiT network provides the most popular tech and science podcasts on earth, including my own Windows Weekly. (OK, so I'm a bit biased on this one.)

Pandora. The most popular online radio service is available in free and paid ($60 per year) versions, the latter of which provides better quality music streaming, no advertisements, and other features.

You Tube. Google's ubiquitous web-based video streaming services offers millions of clips of varying lengths and quality levels.

Picasa. Google's excellent but underappreciated photo management and cloud storage service is available in free and paid (various yearly prices) versions. I happen to use and recommend this service, though others like Flickr appear to be much more popular with users.

MLB.TV. Major League Baseball's official streaming service provides out of market regular season baseball games live or on-demand. There are two versions of the service, MLB.TV ($60 a year or $20 a month) and MLB.TV Premium ($80 a year or $25 a month), the latter of which adds a choice of home and away broadcasts, live game DVR controls, and simultaneous multi-game viewing.

But wait, there's more. Those are the channels I see on my own Roku 2. Dive into the on-device Channel Store and there are many more, including (but not limited to) Crackle (movies on demand), Facebook Photos & Videos, AOL HD, Revision 3 (podcasts), Flixster (HD movie trailers), CNET (technology shows and podcasts), Livestation (international news), and many, many more.

OK, now all of this stuff is available on any Roku 2 player. And while I've discounted the low-end version, it may be worth further examining the differences between the mid-level Roku 2 XD and the high-end Roku 2 XS.

Aside from the Ethernet port--which may or may not be a must-have, depending on your needs--the XS offers two key differences over the XD. The XS is set up for video gaming. And it includes a USB port for local content playback. And those features break down like so:

Video games. The Roku 2 XS has a GPU for video game functionality a new API for developers that would like to take advantage of this. As a proof of concept, sort of, the XS includes a great version of Angry Birds, which looks awesome in HD and works surprisingly well with the bundled remote.

That said, the remote is otherwise troublesome, because the OK button isn't in the center of the d-pad where it belongs. Instead, it's below the d-pad, which makes entering user names and passwords monotonous and error-prone. Last year's Roku remote was much better in this regard, as is this year's HD and XD remote, both of which put the OK button where it should be.

The Roku 2 HD and XD remote (left) and XS remote (right).

Aside from Angry Birds, Roku offers a decidedly weak selection of card and dice games (yes, really) through its store. Presumably, other, higher quality games will be made available via the Channel Store over time. But I don't see this as a huge selling point.

USB. If you've got a hard drive or USB memory stick full of content you'd like to play back from the Roku 2, the XS includes a USB port for doing just that. As with other set top boxes, the interface is clumsy and slow, but at least it does work with NTFS formatted disks, which has historically been problematic. I think the best I can say here is that, yes, it does work. But it's slow, especially when navigating in folders with tons of files, and there's not a lot in the way of playback controls. It doesn't work with video files that have soft captions (no surprise there) and can't handle other advanced functionality.

What all Roku devices are still missing, incidentally, and I have to say I find this curious, isnetwork-based content playback. All of my digital photos, home movies, DVD rips, and music are on a PC or home server, and what I'd like to be able to do is browse the network, find that content, and play it back on the Roku 2. The WDTV Live does this. The Xbox 360 does too. (Even the Apple TV does this, sort of. But iTunes needs to be running on a logged-in PC for this to work, and both the Apple TV and iTunes instance need to be utilizing the same Apple ID for home network sharing.) But here we are in 2011 and Roku is still ignoring this one need. It's curious, because the devices are otherwise near perfect.

Final thoughts

Even if that latter bit of functionality is crucial to you, you may find yourself wanting a Roku 2. And that's because it handles all of the most popular online services so well. This is the best alternative to the Apple TV I've seen so far and is in fact superior to the Apple TV for most PC users simply because of the breadth and depth of services choices. Also, the Roku 2 is cheap, tiny, silent, and has a wonderfully simple user interface. What's not to like?

Highly recommended.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Apple TV vs. Roku

Anybody who's paid attention to me here or on Twitter knows that I love Roku.

But this past weekend, I had to make some room on my television stand for its bigger-named competitor: Apple TV.

For fathers day this past weekend, my wife gifted me the Apple TV. We already had a Roku player for a couple years, but I have wanted to experience the Apple TV and how it integrates with other Apple devices, such as the iPhone and the iPad.

For people who want to stream such multimedia content as Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Video on Demand, and iTunes, these two devices can individually satisfy some of your needs.

In a video below, I cover some of the main features, similarities and differences between Apple TV ($99) and Roku (starting at $59). There are big pluses for both devices: Apple TV works very well with iDevices, plus offers iTunes, Youtube, Netflix and compatibility with many apps in Apple's App Store. [I've yet to play with the Boxee, another device that brings Internet content to your TV; it costs $199, which puts it in a different price point than Apple TV and Roku. And what about Google TV? -- I've heard so many poor reviews of it that I haven't even had an itch to try it out.]

Roku is an exciting upstart company with a device that's attracting scores of media companies to develop independent multimedia content for its platform. That means more choices for the consumer. If you value independent fare, take a close look at the Roku.

Take a gander at the vid below, then let me know if you have any follow-up questions or points to make.

Roku hits Walmart stores

Start-up connected set-top box (STB) company Roku has announced that its Roku XD player is now available in Walmart retail stores across the US. The set-top box has landed on Walmart shelves under its own Roku brand through a direct relationship with the big box retailer and not under a third-party OEM.

Both the mid-range Roku XD model and the company's top-of-the-line Roku XDS models are retailing at Walmart for $78 and $98, respectively.

All Roku STBs come with Roku's Channel Store of more than 250 channels, allowing access to not only Netflix Watch Instantly, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu Plus, but also a broad range of over-the-top (OTT) content, including Pandora, Major League Baseball's MLB.tv and, UFC.

Roku first ventured into retail stores when it licensed the Roku XD model to Netgear in late 2010. The third-party tech brand introduced the box and began selling it under the NETGEAR brand in retail stores including Best Buy, Fry's and Radio Shack. Phase-out of Netgear-branded Roku boxes has already begun as the partnership between the two companies ended in 2010.

A direct partnership with Walmart will allow Roku to expand beyond the early-adopters that have until recently has largely made up its customer base. Roku, as the original 'Netflix box', is not the only standalone STB seeking to establish itself within an increasingly crowded connected living room. IHS Screen Digest is forecasting connected standalone STBs in the US to reach approximately 5m total active devices in 2011, a remarkable 145 percent year-over-year increase. This will chiefly have been driven by Roku and the Apple TV. Importantly however, Roku and Apple TV do not offer the same proposition. The former is a true cord-cutting 'virtual cable' experience, offering a growing array of over-the-top (OTT) television networks, while the latter is at its core a media extender blending AirPlay and iTunes library streaming, direct iTunes rentals, and a limited number of OTT networks in a single low-cost proposition. Apple TV can be considered an evolution of Apple's Airport Express strategy rather than a direct competitor to Roku, which is selling stronger than ever despite Apple TV's launch. Indeed, Roku's key competition, so far ineffective, has been the Boxee Box, which is seeking to replicate the same model for carriage of OTT television networks.

Roku reached an installed base of 1m devices in the US by end 2010 and is on course to have an installed base of 3m STBs by the end of 2011. Meanwhile, Apple has reported selling over 1m of its $99 new Apple TVs three months after launch. Though Boxee has not yet released figures for its device, it is believed to be trailing Roku and Apple TV, despite 1.8m users of its software and services (including users of the free PC application).

Amazon was Roku's first distribution partner, and remains a chief supplier of programming to Roku's platform - this not only includes Amazon Prime Instant Videos (subscription), but also in its position as exclusive paid-VOD provider. The key question now remains whether this arrangement between Amazon and Roku will be challenged by Walmart, and also Best Buy, seeking to leverage their respective Vudu and Cinemanow paid-VOD services onto the Roku boxes carried in their stores. If Sony's Playstation 3 experience is to be a barometer, where the games console giant was leveraged by the retailers to carry both Vudu and Cinemanow on its device to the detriment of its own Playstation Store VOD services.

The key difference for Roku however, is that it does not push any single content service, and theoretically does not need to be vested in any single VOD platform. This puts it into a win/win situation in relation to the Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy competitive scenario, able to carry all the platforms for the promise of greater hardware distribution. In the end, which paid-VOD services gets carried on the Roku Channel Store may simply come down to a revenue proposition, and the question of which retailer can sell the most boxes for Roku. Ultimately, the choice of which channel or paid VOD app to actually install is the Roku customer's.