Roku 2 HD Streaming Player

• 300+ channels with movies, TV shows, music, sports & more
• High-definition streaming up to 720p HD
• Works with virtually any TV
• Built-in wireless (Wi-Fi b/g/n)
• Smaller and more energy-efficient than any other streaming device

Why Roku:

I have been looking at getting a Roku for a few months now and when I saw that the Roku 2 had just been released, I figured it was time to take action. I've never owned a streaming video box like the Roku before, but I have a Wii I use to watch Netflix and my parents have an Apple TV that I've watched Netflix and other video on. I was originally planing to get an Apple TV, but decided on the Roku for a few reasons. First, the Apple TV requires a HD TV, which I don't have, whereas the Roku can handle both a regular TV and HD (nice if I upgrade :). Second, as much as I love Apple products, I wanted a device that had more streaming selection. Specifically, a device that had a Crunchyroll channel. And finally, the Roku is just the least expensive device of this kind.

Setup:

So I got my Roku yesterday and had it set up in about 10 minutes. It would have been quicker if I had been using a computer instead of an iPad. The Roku itself is TINY. A little taller than the Apple TV, but much smaller around (it fits in the palm of my hand). It comes with an A/V cable, the power cord, a remote, 2 AAA batteries (for the remote), and a very short manual (it doesn't need a long one). To set it up, you plug in the cable and cord, hook it up to the TV and power, then turn on TV and set to the correct input. Like the Apple TV, the Roku doesn't need to be turned on and off, it take so little power in its standby state that you just leave it running. Once the Roku is connected to the TV you have to set up the network connection, which is super easy. Then you have to create an account on Roku.com (this requires a computer), which is where you are required to enter a credit card for any purchases you might make on the device. Once this step is done you pick out some channels to install on your home screen, wait a minute for a software update, and then voila! your Roku is ready for use. (It took me additional 10 minutes to sign in to all of my various accounts for the different channels (3 total), two required a computer, one (Netflix) did not)

Interface:

The interface for the Roku is very simple and easy to use. The channels, channel store, and settings are all presented in a single line across the screen (settings to the very left). It is super easy to install new channels and just as easy to remove them! To remove, go to the channel store and the "Your Channels" row and select the channel you want to remove and go into it. There is a description of the channel and an option to remove. It just takes a second, and you can always reinstall it if you change your mind. Browsing the channels store is a decent experience, but it lacks a search option. It sorts the channels into categories, i.e. Most Popular, Highest Rated, Sports, etc. Each category gets a row you can scroll through. It reminds me of the Wii Netflix interface.

The Roku's interface is much simpler and easier to navigate than both the Wii and the Apple TV. Of course, if you get a ton of channels it might make it a little more difficult to find things.

Watching:

I watched a few episodes of Anime using the Crunchyroll channel (I have a Premium account, so no ads!) and the viewing experience was as good as a DVD, though naturally the scanning isn't as smooth. Scanning brings up a timeline bar which you can track as you go forward or backward, but it doesn't have any video attached to this scan. This means that you have to know exactly how far you want to go. I think this is standard for streaming media, so not a mark against the Roku. UPDATE 10/5/11: Scanning improved! Now, instead of a black screen with no indication of where you are in the video, it has a line of little pictures representing X seconds of video (5 seconds maybe?), so you can see approximately where you are, where you are going, and where you have been! Very handy!

I also tested an episode on Crackle, a free channel that has free movies and TV shows (albeit with lots of ads). Again, the video and audio were great, no glitches or problems, just lots of ads. For a 20 minute episode I saw no less then 4 ads.

I also tried the Pandora channel. I normally use Pandora on my iPad and I like the iPad interface. The Roku Pandora channel was nicely designed and easy to use and the audio was good.

Finally:

I've read reviews on the original Roku about how bad the customer service is, which is part of the reason I bought it from Amazon and not directly from Roku (HD is $10 cheaper on Roku.com, but shipping is around that same amount, so not much savings).

For $70, I think this device is an excellent deal. Admittedly I've only used it for a few hours so far, but those few hours were smooth as silk. It is easy to set up and use and if you buy from Amazon you have at least 30 days to discover problems, which is normally plenty of time for electronics.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

UPDATE 8/15/12:

I've had the Roku for a year now and watched over 125 hours of video on it. Have had a couple of minor issues with lines through the video (this has happened maybe 3 or 4 times), but not really bothersome and probably a problem with the video stream rather than the device. Anyway, I still love my Roku!

Buy Roku 2 HD Streaming Player Now

Bye Bye Cable! Just got my first Roku Box today, although we have been streaming TV (PS3 and Wii) for awhile now. I linked my Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu Plus accounts to the box in a matter of minutes. Set up was easy and the free content is excellent! The box itself is tiny you dont even notice it next to the TV. We dumped our cable provider a few months ago and got by with just streaming through the Wii and PS3, but with the Roku Boxes there is a TON more content and I dont really care for the Wii platform/dashboard. The box is about 25 feet away from my wireless router and signal is full. Im very happy with this purchase and will be ordering 2-3 more for the rest of the TVs in the house.

*******UPDATE*******

12-31-2011

I now have 2 of these little boxes one connected to a HD TV and one connected to my old 27 inch CRT TV. I'm just as impressed today as I was when I got my first one back in August. They at Roku have continued to add content both free and paid. I only have one complaint and its not all due to the Roku itself, the live content just isnt there yet, I have NBA Broadband and I gotta tell ya if ya wanna stream on ROKU WAIT!! The NBA has it all messed up and I have yet to be able to watch anything (even tho I'm paying for it.

Please make sure before you buy that you have a good internet service provider (ISP) and a decent wireless router. If you don't have enough bandwidth Roku cannot perform correctly, and there is nothing worse that choppy movies that need to keep reloading!! Rule of thumb 5Mbps absolute minimum some will tell you it will work with as little as 1Mbps, it'll work but barley! Be sure to test your speed at a site like speedtest net to get you download speeds.

Read Best Reviews of Roku 2 HD Streaming Player Here

I have an original Roku Netflix player. I swapped it out for this new Roku2 HD, and was sorely disappointed!

Pros:

It's small. Like really small. About half the size of the original, and a bit bigger than a couple decks of cards.

Comes with HDMI. Not a bunch of inputs/outputs to confuse unsophisticated users.

Extremely easy to set up. Head to the website, and 2 minutes later, you're ready to go.

Sets up via wireless.

Cons:

No indicator showing the current picture quality level

The picture quality was very, very, very poor. I swapped the old and new ones a few times, and consistently got a much, much lower quality and lower bandwidth picture from the new one.

Overall, I can't recommend this due to the picture quality issues. This unit uses dynamic bandwidth, so I couldn't determine if it was messed up due to this unit's design, or if it was just drawing poor bandwidth. An item like this is pointless if every picture looks like circa 1987 picture quality on an old, beaten up VHS.

Update: 12/3/2011 in response to several comments, I've used this back to back with the original Roku Netflix player. The original has the bandwidth for the highest quality every single time. This one, as stated, doesn't show the current picture quality level with an indicator, and consistently looks much more pixellated, artifact filled, and lower quality than my original box from ~2-3 years ago. I still can't recommend this new version.

Want Roku 2 HD Streaming Player Discount?

Having tried a few makeshift el-cheapo methods of watching streaming TV, we finally got tired of the patchwork of cables and remotes.

We considered the Logitech Revue (Google TV), AppleTV, and Roku. Roku not only seemed to have the widest selection (although Logitech Revue theoretically has the whole web, Hulu and the major TV networks have blocked their access on it), but Roku is also the simplest. I love simple.

The Roku arrived a day and a half after I ordered it and once I opened the box, it took about fifteen minutes to have it up and running. If you are going to connect it to an HDTV, you have to buy the HDMI cable separately. Fortunately, I already had a cable, but they really ought to include one. The old-fashioned red, yellow, white audio/video cable is included.

The Roku box is really light and small, about an inch tall and three or so inches square. The remote is about half the size of a standard remote and only has a few buttons. Batteries are included.

So far we've watched Amazon prime videos without any problem at all, as well as the BBC news. Looked just like watching TV.

On the downside YouTube is not available as a Roku channel. It seems like that should be a basic option, but it isn't.

It's possible to get a lot of content that is not available via the Roku Channel Store. Just go online and search for Roku and Private Channels. Most of the private channels are the equivalent of video podcasts, such as Washington Week on PBS and the TED talks. I would like to see more streaming content, and it's likely that channels will come and go, just like real TV.

Most of the content is free, some costs a token amount like $2 a year, and some, like Netflix and HuluPlus are around $8 a month.

We're happy with Roku so far and glad we didn't opt for the more complicated devices.

I've enjoyed Netflix's streaming service for a while and it's really my only paid entertainment service these days. Even with a zillion channels I can rarely find anything worth watching on cable TV...Kardashians, Jersey Shore, God help us. Even after Netflix upped it's price and separated it's services, I think $8/mo for just streaming is a great value. The other TV shows I do like can otherwise be found on the internet if I look hard enough. So, I bought the same Netflix service for my 86 year-old mom and the Roku2 to provide access. What I liked most about the Roku is that the remote is as simple and basic as possible, which means my mom can actually learn to use it unlike other tech devices which are too confusing for her. (She's not senile, she's just like a lot of older folks who are overwhelmed by the number of tiny buttons it takes to do anything. My lucid 86 year-old dad is a retired rocket scientist and I still haven't been able to teach him to cut and paste!). As it is, my mom's TV has 4 remotesTV, cable box, dvd player and now the Roku. The Roku remote has a 4-arrow navigation and 'select' button, 'back, 'home', 'play-pause', 'forward', 'reverse' ...that's it...simple. If you already have a wireless router then hooking up the Roku to your TV is as simple as it claims. It'll find your network and after you enter your router password you are about done. But you have to go back to your computer and create an account with Roku, which is totally understandable. What I didn't like is that even though the account is free, they require you to provide credit card info 'just in case' you want to purchase some other product (pay-per-view, merchandise, etc.) and there doesn't seem to be a way to opt out of this. Not really a biggee, but I don't think it should be required. Once installed it's easy to access Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Pandora, Crackle and other online services. For Netflix, my advice is to select movies to place in your queue on the computer as it easier to navigate, so selecting them from your TV is faster.