Dude Review: Roku XD Streaming Player (From Guest Blogger Ethan Fox)

Even though I very badly want a decent 32" LCD for our bedroom that has the Netflix app built in, Larissa and I just don't have the funds and I'm not sure when we will. Did I mention it's dangerous to have a Best Buy credit card?? Well, it is! Anyway, we've been watching a lot of Netflix in our bedroom before we go to sleep, King of the Hill to be exact, and the way I was doing that is I brought my Blu-ray player into the bedroom (because it has the Netflix app) from the living room and I'd temporarily leave it there until we wanna watch a DVD or Blu-ray in the living room again. This got frustrating really fast because the way I have my gear setup, it's not easy to disconnect the Blu-ray player and hook it back up again.

You'd think since I work in the Audio Video industry, I would have thought of this sooner but I totally forgot about the Roku box. You can get them at Best Buy for $79.99 and it plays Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, and a bunch of "internet channels." Since Larissa and I have a Hulu Plus account now (our Dish Network got shut off because we can't afford the bill), the Roku box made perfect sense. Of course I did the dumb thing and put it on my Best Buy credit card, but I had no other choice because I'm brokety broke.

They also sell a $59.99 version on Amazon but I don't think it has Hulu Plus. If you want something very small that streams all the good internet based apps, the Roku box is the way to go! This is of course if you haven't just hooked up your computer to your TV. I did exactly that in my living room. I got a dedicated desktop PC that I use for torrents, Hulu, web surfing etc. I recommend doing that because there is no limit to the content you can watch on your TV. Why buy "Google TV" or "Apple TV" when you can just have a full blown PC or Mac dedicated to your TV!? Think about it.

The Roku box has a really nice interface and remote as well. It even loads quickly and has a fast Netflix interface, which is a big deal! The picture is really good, and I'm not even using HDMI, which it has, I'm just using composite! That's right, our bedroom TV is super old school and doesn't even have inputs. I had to get an RF converter just to hook up ANYTHING to it, haha. The picture is actually better on the Roku than it was on my Blu-ray player, which actually makes sense because the Blu-ray player is meant for watching Blu-rays...

So, do I recommend the Roku box? Absolutely!! If you wanna be able to watch Netflix and Hulu Plus on ANY television in your house, or even take it to a friends house (it's tiny and easy to take anywhere), it's perfect! It can be hooked up WIRELESS OR WIRED!! I ran an ethernet cable to our bedroom for it though because it's definitely faster with it wired, but the wireless option is nice!