Roku Streaming Media Player

My first blog post with be about one of my all time favorite electronic gadgets the Roku media streaming set top box. I love the product so much you might even call me a Roku evangelist.  I first learned about the Roku back in 2010 from my boss who showed me a newspaper article about a new cord cutting device to replace cable TV.  He asked me what I knew about it and did I think it was any good. So I started looking on the web about it. The first place I check was Amazon to see what kind of reviews people were giving it. Turns out the reviews were good so I decided to take a shot and buy one. It was just under a hundred dollars at $99.99 for there then flagship model the XD/S. 802.11g Wi-Fi reception (as well as an Ethernet connection), and an HDMI output. 1080p resolution (if channel programmers provide it), an enhanced remote with replay capabilities, and single-band wireless N Wi-Fi. Also adds component video and optical audio outputs, dual-band wireless N, and a USB port for playing videos, photos, and music. It could play Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora and much more.

I was so amazed at how small the box was when I received it and at how well it streamed the video content which was provided thought what they call the channel store. Most of the channels were free but there were a few paid services like Netflix and Hulu to name a few that charge a monthly subscription to use.

At the time I was considering building a HTPC for the living room after I had just built my own custom desktop PC. But the cost of building another PC and the maintenance required to up keep a home theater PC was expensive and time consuming  neither which I had to spare. Plus it would not be very user friendly from my wife and kids who by the way use our Roku player everyday with no issues and also love it. I had the XD/S model for about a year and loved it and used it every day. When Roku announced a new improved line of boxes I could not wait to buy the next flagship model which was the Roku 2 XS Roku 2 XS 1080p Streaming Player . The new model was smaller faster and now had a Wii type remote which could also be used to play what they called casual games offered on the box like Angry Birds. What’s great about  all the Roku 2 models is they will connect to any TV from Old school Picture Tube TV to today’s current HDTV using an HDMI connection.

Here is a brief history of the device from the Wikipedia website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roku