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First Netflix Streaming Box Review, $100 and Unlimited Downloads!

mr_matalino said:
I'd never get this box. I hate monthly payments to keep a service going. Hate it, hate it, hate it.
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I'm happily paying $8.99 month for Netflix and no longer paying a fortune to Dish. I canceled Dish yesterday after ordering one of these gizmos. I'm in the middle of catching up on The Office and 30 Rock...season 1-current.

It's really great and very inexpensive. I also have the internet and my Kindle to keep me occupied.

Less TV is better for everyone in the house! It's also nice to be able to watch classics and older TV series from the beginning.

Outstanding idea, Netflix. You have a customer for life now.

Feels good to be saving ~$90/month now. I didn't hardly even watch Dish anyhow. Need to trim the fat in this economy!
 
blindzero said:
I'm mid 30's with a kid. I don't have any kids stuff in my queue though. I would probably use this a lot for him.
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Depending on what content is available for kids, I think this could be great because of the online queue system.

I can queue up appropriate shows and movies and the kids can use the remote to choose shows by themselves (which is basically what we do with Tivo right now.)
 
As a Netflix subscriber for quite some time now, I'd like to point out a few details regarding the claims around this box or what it can or CANT do.

* Stereo Only; this is due to the content encoding, not the box capabilities. Ir supports Optical Audio / HDMI out which will have no problem supporting other audio when content is available.

* Quality "Not Great"; The quality at high-speed (2.2Mb) is BETTER then SD, but it is not HD. For example, watch Heroes through NBC.com, then watch it on Netflix, it is noticeably better by a good margin.

Again, this has HDMI (which is DVI video) as well as component, it can output HD content, but there is none available yet.

The selection is true, not a lot of recent movies, although there are recent movies there, such The Contract, Pans Labyrinth, etc.
 
How am I going to connect all this stuff? I already have HDMI from the receiver to the HDTV, and component connections from the Apple TV to the HDTV, because my receiver doesn't have enough inputs. I may have to go direct to a TV input again. I used wired Ethernet to the Apple TV, so I guess I'll need a mini hub too.

Then I've got the audio to take care of!
 
mr.666 said:
r... but NO, it sux limited selection ok for now, no widescreen?, no HD maybe these are ok for some... BUT NO 5.1? what????, and Less than DVD quality?? these are deal breakers. Why even release it? it's obviously not ready and is gonna make them look silly(er).
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No wonder, if you have limited caching capability (ie: no HDD and low memory) then you need to keep the data stream very compact ie: low bandwith ie: low quality video, low quality sound.

At 1.5 Mbit they wont be able to sustain a play without impacting having jerky play (read stop and go movies). And i would not be surprised to see lots of jerkyness at peak hours.

Time will tell, but I don't expect to see a huge long term adoption of this.
 
MacFly123 said:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/05/20/netflix_reveals_100_apple_tv_competitor.html

QUOTE NETFLIX C.E.O.: "Another difference between the two companies' offerings is that the Netflix device still requires users to queue up movies on a computer, which the company touts as an advancement over the direct-from-the-sofa ordering method recently enabled by Apple with the release of Apple TV: Take 2."

"The key breakthroughs of the Netflix Player are simplicity and cost," said Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings. "[It] allows consumers to use the full power of the Netflix Web site to choose movies for their instant Queue, and then automatically displays only those choices on the TV screen. That's a major improvement versus the clutter of trying to choose from 10,000 films on the TV."

The man is a complete idiot if he honestly believes that! And if you don't think that thing is ugly I never wanna see something you think IS ugly lol. That remote looks like it came out of Space Balls.
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LOL... yeah that remote is like something you find in the left over bins for 99 cents at some electronics store in manhattan.

Is the audio at least Dolby Surround DPLII or DPLIIx?
 
Given the huge number of people who are already Netflix subscribers and the fact that this gives them instant movies and TV shows on their TVs for a one-time cost of only $99, I expect this thing could sell a lot more than the AppleTV, which, face it, isn't a roaring success. I'm interested in switching from Blockbuster Online to Netflix for this, but I'm going to hold off until Netflix starts HD streaming and hope for someone comes out with a combo Bluray disc player/Netflix streamer box since I don't already have Bluray. I'd be quite happy to pay $15 a month or so for recent releases on Bluray thru the mail and stream older stuff, hopefully a fair amount in HD, as unlimited on-demand. For me, that would be a MUCH better deal than what Apple TV offers.

On the other hand, if Apple would incorporate free DVR service into the Apple TV, I might be persuaded to go with it...
 
let me tell you sonny, back in aught-eight....

Seriously now, anyone who is poo-pooing this must have had a grandfather/father who dismissed radio AND tv as fads that would never stick! i bet you bought into 8-tracks, or was it BetaMAX? MiniDisc?

This is merely the first wave. The cable companies FEAR this. Take a look here. 250GB may not seem all that bad until you start streaming HD 5.1 content.

Are you ready for overage charges on your internet? And just like the airlines, if one cable company does it they all will.

So move your HD DVD player over and make some room next to the Primestar receiver! :D
 
Anyone got theirs yet? I ordered on the launch day, paid for 2-day delivery, and it is still "processing" as of Thursday. I just called Roku and they said the demand has been overwhelming, and the warehouse is swamped with orders and can't keep up. I told the guy to back my shipping down to ground b/c I wasn't willing to pay for 2-day and wait over a week. They are shipping from CA so even if it left today, I wouldn't receive it here in PA until next week.

It's frustrating but also a good sign this little device is a hot item.
 
QUESTION - Please Help

Caught my eye.

I would like to watch some TV episodes I don't want to invest on DVD.

How do you know a TV show is available from Netflix? When I go to the site, it doesn't say whether or not you can watch instantly.

Is there a minimum speed you need for this thing?

Thanks.
 
gkarris said:
Caught my eye.

I would like to watch some TV episodes I don't want to invest on DVD.

How do you know a TV show is available from Netflix? When I go to the site, it doesn't say whether or not you can watch instantly.

Is there a minimum speed you need for this thing?

Thanks.
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Hello GK,

Well here on my mac I log into netflix (my account) and then I click on the watch now tab. From there IM able to either use a pull down menu to select TV Shows or in the middle of that page it shows a short selection of TV shows available in a cover flow format. Hope that helps. Not sure if one can see that if they don't have an account, but that would be pretty dumb on netflix part if having an account is necessary.
 
coolbreeze said:
Anyone got theirs yet? I ordered on the launch day, paid for 2-day delivery, and it is still "processing" as of Thursday. I just called Roku and they said the demand has been overwhelming, and the warehouse is swamped with orders and can't keep up. I told the guy to back my shipping down to ground b/c I wasn't willing to pay for 2-day and wait over a week. They are shipping from CA so even if it left today, I wouldn't receive it here in PA until next week

It's frustrating but also a good sign this little device is a hot item.
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Cool Breeze, Same here. Are you Eric that made a reply on my thread on their forum? If so please take a look at that thread now as I replied to you asking a few questions.

Bottom line is they sold a ton and are now all out until next boat comes in. They appear to not have been prepared for the demand--))))) :rolleyes:
 
coolbreeze said:
Anyone got theirs yet? I ordered on the launch day, paid for 2-day delivery, and it is still "processing" as of Thursday. I just called Roku and they said the demand has been overwhelming, and the warehouse is swamped with orders and can't keep up. I told the guy to back my shipping down to ground b/c I wasn't willing to pay for 2-day and wait over a week. They are shipping from CA so even if it left today, I wouldn't receive it here in PA until next week.

It's frustrating but also a good sign this little device is a hot item.
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UpDate: CoolBreeze, you may want to check your email and perhaps look at any new junk email. I just got notification that mine finally shipped!--)) Best of luck to ya! ;)
 
gkarris said:
How do you know a TV show is available from Netflix? When I go to the site, it doesn't say whether or not you can watch instantly.
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There is a "Browse Instant" right next to "Browse DVDs" button.

If the show or movie is available for instant viewing, it says so very prominently. Very few shows are available and even fewer of the new shows. I believe "Office" is one of those exceptions. Check out "Office Season 2" or the movie "Trade" to make sure it tells you about instant availability even if you are not a member, yet.
 
I haven't used Netflix for quite some time. But one of the reasons I've switched to Blockbuster is that they seem to have new DVD releases first compared to Netflix. Also Blockbuster has a tab to select New Movies currently playing in theaters. Its easy to select what you want and add to your que. Netflix, you had to search.
 
Jason Edwards said:
This is just the entry level for Netflix. There are more advanced units coming. One step at a time. I would imagine eventually users will be able to view all of Netflix's library and do it from the unit without having to start the stream on the computer. The more options we have, the better things are.
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I agree completely. I've been a Netflix subscriber for two years and have really enjoyed their service. As an Apple user I have felt left out in not being able to watch selected Netflix films online - Apple won't share their DRM with Netflix where Windows does. I love using Apple, but they're not the only game in town. Viva la competition!
 
I ordered my Netflix box yesterday. The response took Roku by surprise and they are waiting for new stock. There's about a 10 day wait for shipping.

I can't wait to try it out. I'm looking forward to on demand movie with no pay-as-you-go.
:)
 
I received mine today, hooked it up via HDMI and set it for 16:9.
I must say that I'm happy with the video quality. It's very simple to use, and very responsive. I was really hoping that the box could browse what was available, but I'm okay with queuing up what I would like available. I hope that a browser will be added to it someday
 
Transeau said:
It's very simple to use, and very responsive. I was really hoping that the box could browse what was available, but I'm okay with queuing up what I would like available. I hope that a browser will be added to it someday
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It's the simplicity you admire that they say was their goal in not providing a browser. They think their users are happy using the web on their computer to fill in their rental and instant-watch queues. Clearly, some users will be happy with that simplicity, but others would like more sophistication, including browsing from either device.
 
blindzero said:
I think Netflix cares more about subscriber amounts than making money at this point. Maybe once they get a sizeable base they plan on delivering commercial content before the movie/show like Hulu?
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You're dead on. Netflix is valued by it's subscription base not it's net profits.
 
theBB said:
There is a "Browse Instant" right next to "Browse DVDs" button.

If the show or movie is available for instant viewing, it says so very prominently. Very few shows are available and even fewer of the new shows. I believe "Office" is one of those exceptions. Check out "Office Season 2" or the movie "Trade" to make sure it tells you about instant availability even if you are not a member, yet.
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Thanks.

I guess I answered my own question by signing up for the 2 week trial.

A lot of the shows for "instant" I see myself watching, I guess I can get sent the DVD's for the rest.

I also ordered that Rokr set top box as there are a lot of shows I'd like to watch that are instant.

I'll get back with my review.

I guess the box has a lot of potential as well, as a simple firmware update will make it DDS and HD capable.
 
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