Topic: Awaiting the Roku NetFlix Player

[Michael Vandeven]

$300 PS3 Slim = PS3 Games (For those so inclined), Blu-Ray Player, and netflix streaming, not to mention all around awesome media player.


 

Also, I've got Netflix streaming on my iphone 4, gorgeous picture, and have downloaded Pandora, Paranormal radio and... wait for it...


SHoutcast! Coastgab's stream anytime I want! 

from what i hear, tho, the roku has the best netflix interface of all other netflix devices since you can load movies from the device rather than having to add them to your instant queue from a PC first.  however, i might be wrong about this being the only device capable of that.


netflix streaming is SUPPOSED to be coming to android soon.  i sure wish they'd get it moving.  i'm jonesing.  on my droid x, i use a really sweet shoutcast app called xiialive.  it rocks.

[Stevenqbosell]

$300 PS3 Slim = PS3 Games (For those so inclined), Blu-Ray Player, and netflix streaming, not to mention all around awesome media player.


 

Also, I've got Netflix streaming on my iphone 4, gorgeous picture, and have downloaded Pandora, Paranormal radio and... wait for it...


SHoutcast! Coastgab's stream anytime I want! 

from what i hear, tho, the roku has the best netflix interface of all other netflix devices since you can load movies from the device rather than having to add them to your instant queue from a PC first.  however, i might be wrong about this being the only device capable of that.


netflix streaming is SUPPOSED to be coming to android soon.  i sure wish they'd get it moving.  i'm jonesing.  on my droid x, i use a really sweet shoutcast app called xiialive.  it rocks.

I am not a Mac guy AT ALL, every time I go to the apple store, I find it a bit cultish with their blind allegiance to anything Apple, and ANYTHING from Microsoft being INHERENTLY inferior.

With that said, the iphone is amazing. I've had blackberries, and an early HTC. When my brother gave me his old 2g Iphone, I was blown out of the water - it was the REAL internet, not some truncated version the other 2 had.

I don't know about BBerries, Windows OS, or the Google phones nowadays, but as far as the iphone goes, they've got me, I couldn't even dream of using another phone.

I bring that up because it seems real asinine that Netflix streaming isn't on Android yet. You'd kinda think that in this day and age that would even be one of their launch applications

[Michael Vandeven]

...the iphone is amazing. I've had blackberries, and an early HTC. When my brother gave me his old 2g Iphone, I was blown out of the water - it was the REAL internet, not some truncated version the other 2 had.

I don't know about BBerries, Windows OS, or the Google phones nowadays, but as far as the iphone goes, they've got me, I couldn't even dream of using another phone.

it's totally understandable how someone could feel that way, particularly after investing in the apple ecosystem by purchasing apps, music, etc.  however, i just have such a bad taste in my mouth after watching the tyrannical methods employed by steve jobs over the course of recent years.  the things he's done could make 1990s microsoft look like the shriners in terms of shady business practices and questionable antitrust compliance.  on an android phone, you can do what you want to do, how you want to do it.  i can download bittorrents on my phone.  i can change the icons in any way i like.  i can change the phone's entire theme in any way i like.  i can root and then install custom roms, i can access FREE gps that beats any proprietary gps system i've seen (like garmin, delorme, etc.), and most importantly, my device is tightly integrated with all of the google services i already use.  only two years ago, android was a joke.  today, it's outselling iphones.  in five years, it will rule the world (unless something TOTALLY unforeseen happens).  again, i do understand why people feel how they feel about their iphones, but i've heard of/from plenty of people who moved from iphone to android and have no desire or plans to go back.  android has totally disrupted steve jobs' plans for the world, and he's very angry about it.  he should be.

I bring that up because it seems real asinine that Netflix streaming isn't on Android yet. You'd kinda think that in this day and age that would even be one of their launch applications

problem is, it's all up to netflix.  iphone was so big for so long that nobody was really paying attention to the android platform.  now that it's exploded, developers (netflix included) are SCRAMBLING to port their wares over.  we will reach total app parity (in terms of apps you really need and/or want) within six months.

[Stevenqbosell]

it's totally understandable how someone could feel that way, particularly after investing in the apple ecosystem by purchasing apps, music, etc.  however, i just have such a bad taste in my mouth after watching the tyrannical methods employed by steve jobs over the course of recent years.  the things he's done could make 1990s microsoft look like the shriners in terms of shady business practices and questionable antitrust compliance.  on an android phone, you can do what you want to do, how you want to do it.

Very well said. I will bring that up next time I'm speaking with the next "Microsoft is the antichrist" person, at the mac store lol

[Michael Vandeven]

it's totally understandable how someone could feel that way, particularly after investing in the apple ecosystem by purchasing apps, music, etc.  however, i just have such a bad taste in my mouth after watching the tyrannical methods employed by steve jobs over the course of recent years.  the things he's done could make 1990s microsoft look like the shriners in terms of shady business practices and questionable antitrust compliance.  on an android phone, you can do what you want to do, how you want to do it.

Very well said. I will bring that up next time I'm speaking with the next "Microsoft is the antichrist" person, at the mac store lol

i think most savvy apple fanboys have moved on to hating google these days rather than microsoft.  in some ways, apple fanboys are today looking at microsoft as some cute, cuddly little down syndrome boy who is unduly hassled by ruffians and roustabouts.

[b_dubb]

i'm a Mac user but i wouldn't necessarily put myself in the Fan Boy category.  i recently bought a laptop and seriously considered going Ubuntu.  i bought a Mac Book Pro simply because i've had such positive experiences with Apple support and products in the past

i see Microsoft as a bunch of greedy little Yes Men who were too concerned about making $$$$$$$$$$ when they should've been focused on writing good software. 

[Michael Vandeven]

oh, and by the way... regarding my earlier recommendation of a site where you can watch fox news channel streaming, here's another fox news channel stream:
http://www.tvpc.com/Channel.php?ChannelID=1520
i find this to be of better audio/video quality than my earlier recommendation, and far more reliable.
let's see how long THIS lasts.  rupert murdoch would shit himself if he were to read this thread.

and since all of the aforementioned online streams of fox news channel have been killed by... drumroll... fox news... i suggest you click here instead.

while the video quality on this new stream stinks and requires the realaudio plugin (hello, 1997), it's at least there.  i never watch fox news channel for the video, anyway.  audio is all that's of any real importance, and the audio on this stream is fine.

if you don't have the realaudio plugin (about 99% of you) and you don't want to have to install the realaudio player to get it, you can install realalternative player by clicking here.

for anyone interested, i've finally found another live stream of the fox news channel online.  click here.  there's a 1 minute ad preroll, but after that, it works fine.  there was a real drought of fox news streams online recently, as the fox legal team stomped about the internet shutting them all down.  we'll see how long this one lasts.

aaaaaaaaaaand... now this one is dead.  thanks, newscorp.

[b_dubb]

the Shoutcast channel seems to always be buffering

[Michael Vandeven]

the Shoutcast channel seems to always be buffering

it's been down.

[b_dubb]

Hulu Plus on Roku is live now and its awesome.  goodbye cable company!

[slipstream]

Hulu Plus on Roku is live now and its awesome.  goodbye cable company!

Join the club pal.

[b_dubb]

i still have broadcast cable.  its less than $10/month

[Michael Vandeven]

i still have broadcast cable.  its less than $10/month

i still have basic cable, but that's only because in my cable company's convoluted mathematical world, it costs LESS for me to have it than not.  very odd.  i sometimes feel like dropping it anyway just to make a point.

[slipstream]

Both Western digital and Roku released new editions of the products discussed in this thread.
Info on the Roku 2 can be found here. The design is more compact.  One thing I did find interesting is, only the RokuXS has an ethernet port.  I prefer to stream my content from an wired connection, so I would probably get the highest price model.  For those on a budget the RokuLT is a nice alternative.

The WD TV Live info can be found here.  WD has a new form factor for this product. This version comes with Netflix, as well as other online services.  New with this edition is built in WIFI.


           I think I'll stick to my older editions of these products.  They still haven't broken (knock on wood), and they still suit my needs at this time.

[Michael Vandeven]

fox news channel streaming here.