Brian's Brain

A while back, while reviewing Netflix's Watch Now! feature for the second time, I publicly pondered when the company would broaden the service's reach beyond the PC, perhaps to UI integration within a game console. I've also previously informed you about a former Netflix executive (specifically the manager of the company's Internet TV business) who recently moved to Roku Labs...and wondered (in combination with founder and CEO Anthony Wood's employment back-and-forth between the two companies) if there might be some bigger-picture significance. As of last Tuesday, I have my answer to all these questions; the svelte $99 Netflix Player by Roku. And as of last Thursday, I have one of my own to evaluate. I took it for a short test-drive before heading over the Pacific Sunday evening, and so far I'm quite impressed.

The Netflix Player initial-setup screen claims that configuration will take less than 3 minutes, and my experience bears out that boast. Since my self-powered Belkin HDMI switch only offers two inputs, I disconnected the HDMI cable from the back of my VUDU unit and plugged it into Roku's box instead. And, since my Pioneer sound system only has two optical S/PDIF inputs, both currently in use (by my Xbox 360 and, ironically, a Roku SoundBridge), I (temporarily...I've just ordered another optical S/PDIF mechanical switch) relied on the wimpy speakers built into my 28" widescreen LCD...thereby also proving that the Belkin switch correctly passes not only video but also audio information over HDMI.

Since my router doesn't broadcast its SSID, the Netflix Player (correctly) wasn't able to discern its signal, but manually adding both SSID and WEP key information got me connected in short order. Roku's box then prompted me to log onto my Netflix account (I used my Nokia N800, versus firing up a computer) and enter an authorization code, and that was all it took. The two movies already in my Instant Queue were visible and ready to watch, and additional movies I subsequently added to the queue immediately appeared in the Netflix Player UI as well...thereby leading to my only notable 'beef' with the unit's current implementation. As with Apple TV Take 2, I'd prefer to be able to browse and queue-append movies in Netflix's library directly from the Roku unit, versus needing to use a separate computer's browser as an intermediary. I suspect that this feature augmentation is on the coming-soon list.

VUDU is $295, and a refurbished low-end Apple TV is still $199; how did Roku get its box price tag so low? In part, I suspect, the unit's MSRP is Netflix-subsidized, just as cellular phone prices are artificially lower than their bill-of-materials cost would suggest...although, unlike with a cellular service provider, Netflix membership is month-to-month and there's no early termination fee. The other notable difference between the Netfix Player and its competitors is the lack of a hard drive; this is a streaming-only service. But, unlike VUDU, Roku has included an Atheros-supplied WiFi transceiver to supplement the unit's CAT5 port.

I tested the service over both 802.11g and wired Ethernet (the latter via a HomePlug AV spur intermediary), and in both cases I achieved a 'three dots' (out of four max) quality measurement on my ~2.4 Mbps downstream DSL connection, thereby suggesting that LAN bandwidth isn't the bottleneck. Given that the VC-1 video bitrates corresponding to the various 'dots' are 500 kbps, 1 Mbps, 1.6 Mbps and 2.2 Mbps, and that I had my VUDU box LAN-disconnected and wasn't doing anything else bandwidth-intensive at the time, I'm not sure why I didn't get the full four-dot experience.

The Netflix Player outputs 480i video over its composite and S-Video connections, and 480p video over component video and HDMI. Again at my three-out-of-four dot quality capability, I found the resulting picture slightly softer than DVD, but not disturbingly so. I didn't encounter a single playback glitch during my entire viewing of Helvetica. And like Apple TV (and unlike VUDU), the Netflix Player is fanless, therefore completely, blessedly silent.

Continue reading with 'Nails in Optical Disc's Coffin: The Latest In A Flurry Of Recent Datapoints'...