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- MaxObliteration, on 05/20/2008, -53/+385Almost an instant buy for me... until I found out its only 480p.
- holzp, on 05/20/2008, -16/+221Yeah except of the 10,000 titles about 100 are decent. The rest are basically the 2/$1 DVDs from Wal-mart.
- FirstDigg, on 05/20/2008, -4/+116Yes, its only standard def dvds now, but check out this paragraph. I think this means it will be upgraded via firmware to 720p or 1080p on the same box in the future, yes?
The Future
Netflix is planning HD streaming and this box will support it. When Netflix gets HD streaming content, they'll update the box by firmware to support HD resolutions at higher bitrates of 4-6mbps, including 5.1 surround (everything is stereo now.) The menus will also be upgraded to HD res, too. In the future, the Roku-branded box will be upgraded to accept non-Netflix content, too. - ale0n, on 05/20/2008, -13/+100I'll be in once it goes HD.
- BobMysterioso, on 05/20/2008, -6/+881080p on a box with 64meg cache and no hard drive?
No, that isn't happening anytime soon. A Blu-ray (still adjusting to the stupid name) rip is huge - 10-20GB (check your favorite torrent site). The streaming quality this is offering is little more than xvid (at peak rates). Granted it is using VC1 which gets them better picture/kb than xvid - so thats a bonus.
For full resolution, uncompressed, 1080p with some fancy 7.1 surround, you'd need every bit of Verizon FiOS at 15mb/s - and it would stutter on high motion scenes.
My background is in the ever frustrating world of htpc - and I'd love this to be a solution, but its not better yet.. and not for the foreseeable future. - MScrip, on 05/20/2008, -5/+71It's just what I've always wanted. A box you buy + a subscription fee I'm already used to paying.... and boom, an almost endless supply of content.
Now, if Netflix could get new movie releases and every TV show ever made on this box... say bye bye to every other video service. I'm not too worried about the lack of HD just yet... since the 10,000 titles they will offer aren't in HD anyway. I'd just use this box for TV shows and the occasional "hey, I wanna watch [insert random movie here]." You can use Netflix by mail for new releases and this box for a huge back catalog.
Once this box takes off, and more movies and TV shows are available... suddenly paying $5 to "rent" a movie from the video store or from iTunes is just silly. - Armor1901, on 05/20/2008, -11/+75Nearly unlimited downloads from the Internets to a box I can then use to put movies on my TV? I prefer to call it my computer, except it's free!
- GiggleStick, on 05/20/2008, -3/+67Where did you get a free computer? I want one.
- jspegele, on 05/20/2008, -1/+64Top 50 titles on Netflix "Browse Instant":
1. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
2. The Boondock Saints
3. Day of the Dead
4. Blade Runner: The Director's Cut
5. The Office: Season 1
6. Weeds: Season 1
7. Kama-Sutra
8. The Orphanage
9. The Office: Season 3
10. Carrier
11. Weeds: Season 2
12. Tripping the Rift: Season 1
13. The Amateurs
14. 30 Rock: Season 1
15. Justice League: The New Frontier
16. The Office: Season 2
17. Wedding Daze
18. Dexter: Season 1
19. Spider Lilies
20. Matchstick Men
21. Heroes: Season 2
22. Dilbert: Season 1
23. Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity
24. The Contract
25. Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth
26. Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection
27. The Man from Earth
28. Heroes: Season 1
29. Mean Girls
30. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
31. Superman Doomsday
32. Scooby-Doo: Pirates Ahoy!
33. Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself
34. 100 Girls
35. Mars Attacks!
36. Spider-Man: New Animated Series: Season 1
37. Conspiracy
38. Day Zero
39. Caillou: Caillou's Playschool Adventures
40. King of California
41. National Lampoon's Adam and Eve
42. The King of Kong
43. Gabriel Iglesias: Hot and Fluffy
44. The Business of Being Born
45. Car of the Future
46. Appleseed: Ex Machina
47. Commune
48. The Secret of NIMH
49. Who's Your Daddy
50. Passenger 57 - Malevolant, on 05/20/2008, -2/+56Why is the this comment being dug? What kind of idiot would think they'd be offering anything other than 480p, which is SD DVD. If you think you're getting any 1080p content, on the cheap, you are delusional. Lets also not forget with higher resolution comes much larger downloads, and bandwidth limitations, since not everybody has broadband, or broadband that's fast enough for acceptable streaming.
- Salviati, on 05/20/2008, -3/+51You think $9/month is high for Netflix deliveries to your door and UNLIMITED free streaming video?
- mrgreen4242, on 05/20/2008, -1/+45I don't know why you, and everyone else, is complaining about "only 480p". Netflix watch now content is only 480p anyways, and that's clearly the target source material of this device, and they already said they will upgrade it to support HD once Netflix offers HD material.
- whiskeymb, on 05/20/2008, -1/+41Are these the same movies that are available on the Play Now section of Netflix? Cause I think I've watched all 7 of those movies that look interesting.
- john2kx, on 05/20/2008, -2/+41its' the same resolution as a DVD.. it's not _that_ bad.
- mrmejw, on 05/20/2008, -8/+46Without a doubt, I am ordering this today
- SeaweedWater, on 05/20/2008, -3/+35Wonder if it works overseas.
- chubbymidget, on 05/20/2008, -20/+47Cons:
-That is one ugly box -
-selection is the same as the instant download -that doesn't cost another $100.
-480P - Quaterni0n, on 05/20/2008, -1/+26Sounds like you need a new TV.
What good is increased screen resolution if you're limited by the media's resolution anyway. I'd rather watch stuff on my 65" screen over a computer monitor any day. - chrysrobyn, on 05/20/2008, -0/+25Every 1080p signal most of us has ever seen is compressed. Look at it this way: each 1920x1080 frame is over 2M pixels (2,073,600), and if you assume 24 bit color, that's 3 bytes, so that's 6,220,800 times 30 frames per second and that's higher than my calculator goes (186.624 Mbytes per second) -- and that's ignoring the 8 channels of audio you want (I assume we can AAC those at 192 KBps for another 1.536MB/s?). With sufficiently high bitrates, the compression becomes hard to detect, especially for the layperson, but for people like us who know what video compression looks like, even high bitrates can make action scenes hard to watch (butterflies and whales from Fantasia 2000, the first 15 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, the Serentiy re-entry sequence at the beginning of Serenity). I've decided that a lot of that compression is like tinnitus and as such try to ignore it as much as possible.
Verizon FiOS, according to the numbers above, can't handle anywhere near full uncompressed 1080p and that's before we consider compressed audio.
With one of the recent codecs like H264 or the like, using variable bitrate encoding, you can get a very high quality transcode with a few megabytes per second -- that 64M cache might last 5 - 10 seconds. But, cheap set top boxes usually handle fixed bitrates only, so your action scenes will be very compromised. I would not be surprised if the Netflix $100 box is similarly restricted to fixed bitrates. - FoolishMortal, on 05/20/2008, -0/+23True, but im hoping that as they continue to add to the collection, they might accidentally grab a stack of good movies. :)
- Rocketbird, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1843. Gabriel Iglesias: Hot and Fluffy
o_O;; - JerMe, on 05/20/2008, -1/+19Well I ordered it. Considering that DVDs natively run at 480P (720x480), did you expect Netflix to upscale your movies, too?
The streaming content on Netflix has been steadily increasing and it's apparent that Netflix sees this as a priority to fight against iTunes Movie Rentals and the like.
One good application - as long as you have access to WiFi, you can stream Netflix videos to a TV. Think hotels, vacations, trips back home, etc. - NJank, on 05/20/2008, -0/+17but i find it much more comfortable lounging on a sofa with the family rather than all of us squeezing into the office chair in front of my monitor.
- ElSnuggles, on 05/20/2008, -4/+20I was sold until I heard "no hard drive". I'm ok with 480p, but only a 64M cache? That's a little bit scary, especially once they upgrade to support higher resolutions.
Still, I'll probably buy the second gen of it. We're already a netflix household, this would be an awesome addition. - rizla420, on 05/20/2008, -1/+15Now this is interesting and I like the idea. Now, couple this new service with the current comcast/charter issue with capping people's speed/downloads per month. What happens once they move to streaming HD content. Lets say half of netflix's user base decide to get in on this service and start watching tons of HD movies. wouldn't this start to saturate their pipes, granted its one way traffic, but still they no longer could complain that the people that abuse their service are people downloading illegal material. Now people that "abuse" or use their service the most will be regular joes watching flix.
I bet eventually its going to go with a pay for what you consume service by the isp's. BUT to counter, if the majority of the traffic is now legitimate it would make it so that a competitor could offer unlimited download service since the traffic would now be used by regular joes.
I think this service as 'normal' as it seems could really have an impact on the way ISP's define their SLA's. - saleem, on 05/20/2008, -0/+14I think you guys are missing the point that this service is still not tuned to the HD and audio-philes out there. You're not going to get 1080p uncompressed with 7.1 audio.
it's 480p with stereo output right now. When they say "HD in the future", you have to see if the box is capable of the minimum: 720p, and lets say 5.1 audio. That will satisfy 90% of the market in 2010, and the last 10% would be too costly to pursue in this same box (maybe an upgraded box + requires fios?) - mciampa1214, on 05/20/2008, -1/+14I know their regular streaming service doesn't work outside the States. Leads me to believe this will not either.
- bilbravo, on 05/20/2008, -3/+16How is it like Divx? One had to rent actual physical discs someplace (I don't recall if it was in-store only or if you could eventually get them other places--I'm sure that was the plan) and you could only play them on one player.
This is completely different. First off, if you pay for Netflix's by-mail service then it's no extra cost (aside from a player) and it's all streaming. And you don't even need this box to stream it if you have your PC connected to your TV. - mciampa1214, on 05/20/2008, -0/+13If this does catch on, I bet it won't be too long before they start to make newer content available.
- BobMysterioso, on 05/20/2008, -0/+11and if it takes over all tv viewing / movie watching expect your ISP to throttle it down, and limit usage.
- inactive, on 05/20/2008, -0/+11Yes.
- bigdsinferno, on 05/20/2008, -0/+10you can't stream netflix videos to a mac. there's one reason.
- hodedofome, on 05/20/2008, -5/+14You can already do this with a Media Center Plugin and a 360, I am doing it now. Check out http://myweb.cableone.net/eluttmann04/projects/vmc ... ... for the plugin. The quality of Netflix on-demand isn't quite DVD, you can tell it has been compressed and it is not in 5.1 surround at this time. A lot of stuff is not in widescreen either. However, for tv shows and documentaries it is good. I am watching it on a 50" plasma at home and it is acceptable for me, and I'm a pretty picky video/audiophile. I am sure they will make it better in the future, and they are adding content all the time. Check out this netflix post regarding their content for on-demand http://blog.netflix.com/2007/08/instant-watching-o ...
- holzp, on 05/20/2008, -0/+9You know those movies Gary Busey did to finance his coke habit? Or those National Lampoon movies that don't even make it direct to video?
- Egoist, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8Says the guy who thinks "BenDover" is still clever.
- Vic333, on 05/20/2008, -0/+8Is this just the "Play Now" movies?
- inactive, on 05/20/2008, -1/+8Thanks! I saw Tripping the Rift on there -- that show ***** sucks balls.
- plizard, on 05/20/2008, -4/+11your mom went up on rent?
- mrgreen4242, on 05/20/2008, -3/+10So I have to buy a $200+ OS, a $300+ gaming console, and maybe a $400+ computer? OR a $99 plug and play box. Tough choice.
- john2kx, on 05/20/2008, -2/+9It's black, so it should blend nicely into my TV setup.
- inactive, on 05/20/2008, -2/+9http://www.iwantmyfree-laptop.com/
"In only had to answer a few questions and buy a few things I was going to buy anyway' - DrummerAndrew, on 05/20/2008, -0/+7How in the ***** hell can people misspell the word lose? Seriously. Are you mentally deficient? Lose. Loose. They're two different words with completely different meanings.
- pkulak, on 05/20/2008, -1/+8Eh, that's still better then a standard def TV channel. For the price I wouldn't think of it as more then another HBO non-HD, except you have much more control.
- dOOBiEx213, on 05/20/2008, -0/+6Oh snap!
- mrgreen4242, on 05/20/2008, -0/+6Who in the US has bandwidth limits like that? This box will only work in the US, so that's all that applies.
- bobartig, on 05/20/2008, -0/+664 MB cache at ~.5 - 2 Mbps streams = 4-16 minutes of caching, depending on your stream quality. That is rather slim, but the point is just to avoid skips and bandwidth fluctuations. That could be sufficient if the streaming is done right.
- wendelgee2, on 05/20/2008, -1/+7They'll get better. Cut them some slack.
- smergs, on 05/20/2008, -6/+12I really wish Netflix would partner with Microsoft and release an optional download (extra link on the media blade) that would allow netflix subscribers to watch the instant movies on their tv's.
However, at $100, I might be willing to get one of these once they release the HD firmware upgrade. - Ericular, on 05/20/2008, -0/+6I agree. Comcast caps my traffic to Netflix to 1mbps or less on my 8mbps service (all other sites run 8mbps, day or night). This leaves me with streaming poor quality, or waiting an hour for the movie to buffer enough. I thought with a Netflix-endorsed box, they would at least allow you to download a movie or two to save for later viewing. :(
I hate Comcast. - Mizzike, on 05/20/2008, -0/+5...but I'm somebody, and I only watch movies on my paltry 19" flat panel LCD. *sniff* ... so 480 pee on you.
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