I have wanted a Roku every since I learned about them over a year ago, but since 2010 was a year of very little discretionary spending-we hadn’t purchased one. I was thinking of getting one as a family Christmas gift when I was given the opportunity to review one through Buzz Cooperative. Our Roku XD arrived a few days before Christmas and we have been enjoying it ever since.
In case you don’t know what a Roku is…Roku is a little box that allows you to instantly stream tons of entertainment on your TV. Watch movies and TV shows from Netflix, Hulu Plus or Amazon VOD, listen to music on Pandora, catch the latest ballgame, and more — it’s all available whenever you want it.
When our Roku arrived my 17yr son quickly hooked the tiny box up to our TV and wireless internet and withing a few minutes we were registering for a Netflix account, linking my Vimeo account and finding great music on Pandora. We have watched movies instantly from Amazon Video on Demand (fee per video) and Netflix (subscription). The video quality is amazing with both services. My 17yo son has spent a lot of time listening to Misty Edwards and Sanctus Real on Pandora. For only $79.99 the Roku XD brings hours and hours of entertainment right into your home.
The Roku XD works with any TV-standard or HD, plays 1080p HD video, has Built-in wireless (Wi-Fi), plus wired (Ethernet) connector, HDMI video output for HDTVs, Enhanced remote with Instant Replay, and Extended-range Wireless-N (b/g/n compatible) . The services that work with the Roku are continually expanding-I am secretly hoping that they will soon work with Live365.com VIP and then I could listen to all of my favorite Disney Internet Radio stations through my home system.
If you follow me on Twitter you may have read me tweeting about my disappointment with Netflix. You need to know, if you don’t already stream Netflix to your computer, that their library of instant streaming movies is rather small. This past weekend we made a list of 25 popular movies from the past 10 years that we wanted to see and searched Netflix to put them in our instant queue…NONE of them were available. I would need to upgrade my Netflix subscription to get the DVDs in the mail-which is something I am not going to do at this time. This issue is with Netflix and not with Roku, but I thought you should be warned…since I wasn’t.
I do recommend the Roku XD for you and your family. It would make a great gift, maybe for Valentine’s Day–something everyone can enjoy.
Disclaimer: I received the Roku XD for the purpose of this review. All service subscriptions are paid for by me. All opinions are 100% mine.
Love ours to pieces and the Netflix too.
I like that Netflix has the old Dick Van Dyke shows on there.
I think Mary Tyler Moore and him made a great on screen couple, plus cute Richie to make it a cute family.
I also like watching some of the movies.
Then there was a British Show I watched it was All Creatures Great and Small about a Vet and His Family set close to the World War II time frame. I watched all the seasons of that they had available, which I think was 7 seasons.
Quite a few kids movies are available too.
Sure beats spending money on going out to the movies.