My Roku was delivered while I was out of town over the weekend. It is always iffy when I have anything delivered to our house in DC, because the mailman or UPS guy or whoever is delivering it hides it beside the planter on our stairs. As we live in DC, there has been the occasion when things left at our door are not there by the time we get home. Luckily, the Roku was still there after spending several days out in the elements. Since it rained heavily while we were gone, the box was soaking wet, but luckily the Roku was not damaged.
You may be asking, what the heck is this Roku? It is an electronic device that uses the wireless Internet connection to connect my Netflix "Watch Instantly Queue" to my television. There are literally thousands of movies, old television shows, and other programming available through the Netflix subscription.
My only problem is that my television only has two inputs for an HDMI cable -- one goes to the cable box and one goes to the blu-ray DVD player. I had to unplug the cable from the blu-ray and stick it in the Roku. That means I have to switch them up whenever I want to use the one that isn't plugged in. That is a bit cumbersome, but manageable. I have seen an HDMI switcher I can buy to solve the problem, but I wanted to wait and see if I liked the Roku before I purchased the switcher.
Also, in addition to Netflix, there are other channels you can get with the Roku. The device synchs with various web sites to make it easier to play music and view photos and video from the computer. One channel I started using right away is Pandora Radio, which plays music based on a favorite singer, composer, or song. It generates playlists of similar music for free.
I really do like the Roku. I already have about 40 items in my "Instant Queue." The main problem is that there is not enough time in the day to watch all the stuff I have to watch. With the hours of programming I have stored on the DVR and the countless hours of movies and other programs available on Netflix, there is always lots of stuff to watch. How am I going to find time to blog, read, and run? Oh My!
4 comments:
That sounds pretty good! How much does one of those things cost?
They vary in cost, depending on the features. The one I got was HD, so it was a little more... $100. You can get info at www.netflix.com. Go the "Watch Instantly" section.
Congrat! on the Roku!
I love mine and am looking to add the Boxee Box when it is released in the Q2.
You mentioned an HDMI switcher. Monoprice also has a few for a good price at the following link:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=4088&seq=1&format=2
Sounds pretty cool!
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