Roku

Streaming-video boxes have been getting tons of press this holiday season, but it's easy to forget that Blu-ray players with streaming-video capabilities are only slightly more expensive, especially with holiday discounts. For example, Amazon is selling the LG BD570 for just $140 right now (and it was as low as $117 earlier this week), a player that includes Netflix, Pandora, and Vudu, plus it has built-in Wi-Fi.

And if you don't need Wi-Fi, there's even less reason to opt for a streaming-video box over a Blu-ray player. In fact, if you're only looking to add basic … Read more

Some things are better the second time around.

We looked at the Roku XDS when it was first released in September 2010. At the time, we liked what we saw, but ultimately it was little different from the previous incarnation of the Roku box. Moreover, we were anticipating the release of several major competitors in the upcoming weeks: the $99 Apple TV, the $129 Sony SMP-N100, the $199 Boxee Box, and a slate of Google TV products ($299 and up).

Now that we've had a chance to test all of those products, we've looped back to the Roku. Yes, it's still largely the same box--albeit with the notable addition of Hulu Plus to its channel list. But Roku is now a better deal than ever, especially when compared with its aforementioned competitors.

In fact, we think it's the best sub-$100 streaming media box you can buy. … Read more

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Google launches Boutiques.com for highfalutin shoppers

Google creates Hotspot to help you discover your friends' favorite haunts

Hulu Plus is now $2 per month cheaper and available on the Roku set-top box

Yahoo launches Amazon Studios goes live in a quest for the next big thing in movies

Yahoo Clues lets you track trending search topics

The Emergency Broadcast System is coming to your cell phone

Intel wants to put computer chips in football helmets to measure head trauma

A New York University professor is going to live-stream his life from a … Read more

National Hockey League fans now have three more ways to watch their favorite teams play live.

The NHL announced today that its game-streaming service, GameCenter Live, has made its way to the PlayStation 3, Boxee, and Roku set-top boxes.

GameCenter Live allows customers to watch 40 out-of-market NHL games live in HD each week. The app offers the ability to watch entire games up to 48 hours after they were played. In addition, GameCenter Live provides access to over 500 classic games from the NHL Vault.

The PlayStation 3 version of GameCenter Live is available for download on the PlayStation … Read more

Editors' note: As of July 2011, this product has been discontinued and replaced by the Roku 2 XD.

A Netgear-branded Roku XD box is making its way to several retailers.

Dubbed Netgear Roku Player NTV250, the device is the Roku XD featuring Netgear branding. It enables users to access several channels from Roku's service, including Amazon Video On Demand, Netflix, Pandora, and others. The offering also includes the ability to view Flickr photos and UFC content. Unlike the competing Apple TV, which boasts 720p video content, the Roku XD supports 1080p content.

Netgear isn't selling branded versions of … Read more

OK, we've got a hot little device to give away this week, the top-of-the-line Roku Player, the XDS.

This is Roku's answer to Apple TV and some might argue that it's currently the superior media player (read CNET editor John Falcone's comparison). If you're willing to give up a few features, you can get the entry-level Roku HD, which retails for only $59.99. And it's worth mentioning that Roku recently announced that Hulu Plus will be coming to its selection of channels, which already includes Netflix streaming. (Read the full review).

Normally, this … Read more

The great Internet TV battle royale of 2010 is officially underway, with new boxes from Roku and Apple TV leading the charge. On paper, it's a very even-handed match-up: both are miniscule $99 streaming-media boxes that promise to offer an expanded slate of TV shows, movies, and music for consumers. Other matching features: both offer Netflix streaming, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking, and HDMI output. So, which is worth your hard-earned Benjamin Franklin?

Unfortunately, it's not a cut-and-dry situation. Both units scored an identical 3.5 stars on our CNET rating scale. But if you look at the sub-ratings (design, features, performance), you'll see that each box has a relative strength and weakness. Right now, it shakes out as follows:… Read more

In our full review, we awarded the Apple TV a rare perfect 10 in the Design category (7.3 overall rating) for its small size and superb interface, but eye candy is no substitute for content. Our major complaint with the Apple TV is the lack of TV content and a look at the most recent ratings for network TV shows shows why it's such as a problem. Apple TV only offers current streaming rentals for 3 of the top 25 TV shows last week, using the all ages demographic, and the competing Amazon Video On Demand (VOD) service … Read more

The first reviews of Apple TV are hitting the Web today, and there are, for the most part, no big surprises. (As for the CNET review: Apple has indicated that our review sample will be arriving on September 30; we'll have a full hands-on review with video soon after.)

As expected, the new Apple TV delivers largely the same experience as the previous model, with the addition of an all-streaming rental service and Netflix compatibility, all crammed into a much smaller design. But it's the $99 price tag that's the real attraction here: at that price, the device is likely to become an impulse buy in a way its $229 predecessor never was.

That's the idea, anyway. Unlike the weak competition the first Apple TV faced in 2007, the new one will be entering a far more mature market for Internet TV, with everything from game consoles to Blu-ray players to TiVo DVRs offering the same sort of video-on-demand functionality. Add to that the forthcoming Logitech and Sony products offering Google TV, and the long-awaited Boxee Box product. Already going head-to-head with the Apple TV, meanwhile, is a refreshed line of Roku boxes, with models available at an even cheaper $59 and $79.

Roku got a big boost earlier today with the news that the Hulu Plus subscription service will soon be available on all of the company's existing and forthcoming models. On the surface, that strengthens Roku's pitch as an Apple TV alternative with far more choices. Roku lacks iTunes, of course, but it matches Apple TV's Netflix and Flickr support, plus adds Hulu, Amazon, Pandora, and MLB.TV--in addition to dozens of other, more niche-y "channels" available on its ever-growing roster.

Hulu Plus promises to deliver all current-season episodes of most ABC, Fox, and NBC shows (and quite a bit of legacy content) for a flat $9.99 monthly fee. That means--assuming you're interested in shows from those networks--that the Roku could save you a bundle versus Apple TV, where your best-case scenario (aside from Netflix) is to buy shows a la carte. Assuming a price of 99 cents, that's just 10 episodes on iTunes (say, two to three a week) versus an unlimited number on Hulu during the same month.

Meanwhile, for shows not available on Hulu Plus, Roku users could rent or buy them on Amazon's service, which has matched Apple's 99-cent pricing on ABC and Fox shows. (We're leaving out a discussion of the Roku versus Apple hardware costs, and Netflix subscription is identical--if not less, if you opt for one of the cheaper Roku boxes. That's at least a wash between these two options.)

So, game, set, match Roku, right? Maybe, maybe not. … Read more