Roku HD Player (Netflix Player)

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Video streaming to the Roku box is available on an unlimited basis to any Netflix subscriber on plans of $9 per month (one-disc-at-a-time) or greater. (Netflix says it's examining streaming-only pricing plans that would presumably be a bit cheaper.) And remember, of course, that anything you can't stream is still available to be mailed to you on DVD or Blu-ray within a day or two.

Also of note: a few dozen of the movie/TV selections on Netflix are now available in HD. In reality, it looks closer to the quality of a DVD, but it's a notable improvement on the other standard-def content, especially on larger TVs.

Amazon Video on Demand
Unlike Netflix's subscription model, Amazon's video service is strictly pay-per-view: choose the movies or TV episodes you'd like to watch, and rent or buy them as you see fit. There are more than 40,000 titles currently available, and that includes newer and current releases that aren't yet available on Netflix (such as "The Dark Knight," "Eagle Eye," and "Tropic Thunder.") In other words, those with mainstream tastes will probably find a lot more to their liking from Amazon rather than Netflix.

Amazon content can be purchased and/or rented. A new-to-DVD movie such as "Body of Lies," for instance, is $15 to own or $4 to rent. However, Amazon's got a decent selection of movies on sale for $6, including (currently) such titles as "Terminator 2," "Hellboy," "Spider-Man," "Black Hawk Down," and "Close Encounters." As with all such online rentals, the rental period is for only 24 hours. But what's cool about the purchases is that they're not limited to the Roku box: buy a movie and it's stored in your Amazon account, able to be viewed on demand on the Roku, your PC/Mac, and other Amazon-compatible hardware products available now and in the future--that includes downloable versions that are compatible with some portable devices as well (sadly, not the iPod).

While Netflix viewing queues must be assigned by a PC, Amazon goes both ways: you can buy or rent videos through your computer's web browser that will then be available on your Roku, or you can use the best seller lists on the Roku's on-screen interface to pick titles of interest. Because the Roku lacks any sort of directory or search function (beyond paging through boxshots and title screens of top sellers), you'll probably want to use your PC for renting or buying anything that's off the beaten path.

Performance
Whether you're viewing video from Netflix or Amazon, the experience is basically identical. The load time for videos isn't exactly "instant," but depending on the speed of your Internet connection, they buffer and launch in less than a minute. What adds a little time is the innovative way Roku is enabling fast-forwarding (and rewinding). Since there are no chapter breaks, you're forced to zip forward and back through the video using the corresponding keys on the remote. What's cool is that you navigate the video through a series of hundreds of snapshots of frames in the film (the thumbnails correspond to 10 second-intervals in the video). The system works well and you get used to it fairly quickly. We also appreciated that if you stop a film midway, the server remembers where you were, so you resume watching where you left off. You can start watching the film on your computer, then resume on the Roku--or vice versa. Likewise, if you're enjoying Netflix or Amazon content on multiple devices, you could pause a movie in the living room, and then pick up where you left off in the bedroom. (Currently, Netflix lets you have four boxes plus four computers linked to each account; Amazon lets you link accounts to multiple devices and computers as well.)

Depending on your connection speed, video is currently streamed at one of four bit rates, rated on your screen as one to four dots when starting a viewing. We got an occasional dropout from one wireless connection we were using, but overall the connections--and video--remained mostly solid. That said, a fourth test using a low-grade DSL connection resulted in the lowest-resolution (one dot) stream.

If the Roku Player's got a weakness, it's that it doesn't have considerable onboard storage capacity for buffering video beyond a few seconds. So if your broadband stream can't maintain speeds between 1Mbps or (ideally) 2.2Mbps, you should instead consider one of the many competitors that offer "queue-and-view" buffering functionality (Xbox 360, PS3, Vudu, Apple TV, and the 2Wire Blockbuster box).

On component or HDMI, the output resolution can be set up to 720p high-def. But it's the native video bit rate that really matters. At the maximum standard-def quality (four dots), you get what looks like a really good YouTube stream. Not surprisingly, things look best on TVs of smaller screen sizes (say, below 25 inches or so). As the screen sizes increase, video flaws--pixelation, solarization, softness--will be much more evident. Videophiles will balk, and even less critical viewers may frown at anything below the top bit rate. On our 52-inch flat-panel, anything below four dots was basically unwatchable--the backgrounds of the beacon-lighting sequence in "Return of the King" were a muddy mess at three-dot quality. The other problems that occasionally cropped up were some picture stuttering (dropped frames on panning shots) and some lip-synch issues on the audio track.

Netflix has a handful of movies in "high-def." In reality, these look closer to DVD quality (rather than Blu-ray), but we were quite satisfied with the image quality of the snowy vistas and bloody mayhem of John Carpenter's "The Thing" while watching on our 52-inch LCD TV. The hope, obviously, is that Netflix (and eventually Amazon) will upgrade its library to include more such HD offerings, instead of having them be the exception to the rule. (Note: anyone who's looking for optimal video quality should consider the Vudu BX100 video-on-demand box instead--its HDX movies rival Blu-ray quality.)

The only other problem: many of the movies that we know are available as wide-screen DVDs are only available in their cropped 4:3 proportions--which is really irritating if you have a wide-screen TV. And at least two of the TV selections we chose--Season 2 of "Miami Vice" on Netflix and the sole season of the old "Jonny Quest" cartoon--included episodes that weren't available on the Roku. That's almost certainly the result of some arcane music clearance issues--beyond the control of Netflix or Amazon--but it's a frustration nonetheless.

The final word
It's worth noting that the Roku Player is far from the only product that plays streaming videos from Netflix or Amazon. Netflix is currently available on a decent range of devices including the Xbox 360 and Blu-ray players from LG and Samsung, and it will be built into many new LG TVs releasing in 2009 (along with YouTube and CinemaNow). Amazon, meanwhile, will be built into many new Panasonic TVs. And TiVo HD DVRs already offer both services, plus several more.

Still, all of those products require you to invest in expensive new hardware (or--in the case of Xbox 360 or TiVo--additional subscription fees). By contrast, the Roku Player costs a mere $99. Yes, it'd be nice if the unit offered more HD content or if it didn't require you to queue up your videos from a Web browser. And, no--the video quality isn't as good as Vudu, nor is the interface as slick as Apple TV. But the fact that the Roku Player now offers a pay-per-view option on top of its subscription content gives viewers the best of both worlds. Budget-minded viewers can get an unlimited selection of decent videos for under $10 a month (Netflix), but keep the option to splurge for an occasional new release as well (Amazon). Sounds like a perfect compromise to us.

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Roku HD Player (Netflix Player): $99.99

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