The Review:

I had read up on the Roku and knew it worked well, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as small as it is. It’s about 1/4 the size of my Xbox 360, and it makes no noise. There are no moving parts, no hard drive, so it streams everything. I’m assuming it has a flash memory cache for the video, because with the XD you have a “Instant Replay” button that rewinds to the last 7 seconds for those moments when you’re like, “What’d he say?”. It’s very easy to setup and use. I actually like the interface for Netflix better than the Xbox 360 because it shows the star rating on the movies without having to drill down to the next page. The Hulu Plus streaming is very nice, although I think they’re still gaining usage rights, ’cause there are some shows that aren’t available on your TV yet.

I think the channel I’m most impressed with is actually Amazon Video On Demand. I haven’t used their service extensively, so I didn’t realize that if you purchase a movie, you can watch it streaming as many times as you like. You can also rent movies (although with Redbox so close, it’s pretty pricey – about 3.99 or so for new releases).

Bottom Lining it:

Pros:

• Inexpensive when compared to Xbox 360/Playstation
• Streams a wide array of formats, including Amazon On Demand, Netflix, Hulu Plus and Pandora
• Small and noiseless
• Wi-Fi – Connect it anywhere in your house with a wireless network

Cons:

• Requires a Computer – this kind of surprised me, but you need to have a computer connected to the same network and browse to the various sites (Netflix, Pandora, Amazon) to activate the appropriate channels.
• Since it streams everything, it’s a little slow, not quite as quick as the Xbox or a PC, but it’s reliable.
• Remote absolutely required to use the Roku. If you lose the remote, you’re up creek.
• It’s either HDMI or Composite video, there’s no S-Video or Component video output (XD|S model has optical audio and component video)
• No USB port for keyboard. So if you need to search, it’s a pain, but it’s no deal-breaker.

And that’s about it. I’m very happy with it. Apparently the deal with Amazon is if you buy or rent anything in the Video On-Demand section for $5 or more, you qualify for $20 off a Roku Xd.

I’ll give it 5 out of 5 stars. I can’t think of a reason to discredit the Roku. It does everything it claims.

Edit: I misplaced the remote and on a whim searched the iPhone App Store for “Roku Remote” – the DVDPRemote app is an excellent tool for anyone with a Roku. It allows you to use the iPhone keyboard and much more. A good backup as well.

I especially loved the takeaway at the end.

I thought this someecards.com card summed it up nicely. This week we’ve had the following news items overshadowed by the king of pop’s death.

• Fights break out between two ethnic groups in China
• North Korea launches 4 short-range missiles in ‘provocative’ test
• Honduras Stages a Coup?

Ok. I’m done looking up new stories…there’s something else going on in Iran, but I don’t know the details. Look for yourself to find out what happened around the time Michael Jackson died. Probably a lot you missed. Did you know these things happened?

Analog signal huh? Ya don't say.

Just go ahead and switch over to Digital signal 13. There’s no reason to leave that terrible annoyance up there.

I searched “How dangerous is the swine flu”, and stumbled upon this link: Swine Flu Q&A. Since they required me to make a livejournal account just to comment (which is bad form if you are trying to foster discussion. I don’t need another membership, I just want to speak my mind), I decided to respond here.

Back to the article; here’s my response:

I am sick of seeing stuff about the swine flu on the internet and Television and it being Doom and Gloom, to quote the article: “in 1918, when 20 to 40 million people died.” Fleming didn’t even discover Penicillin until 1928. Other inflated language above would be the response regarding Vitamin C: “They are about as useful as a water pistol against a forest fire.” A simple, “No this won’t help much.” would do just fine. This all seems like Hype to me.

Is this really what we want? People being terrified of this thing (that they don’t seem to be able to defend against) and causing an unnecessary state of fear? Don’t we have enough to worry about already? Or is this a good thing to distract us from the fact that our economy is in the tank? One thing is for sure. This inflammatory fear-mongering is for the birds (and not the ones with the flu).

Get serious journalists…do your job. And people, if you don’t get info telling you it’s deadly AND imminent, don’t worry about it. There’s little you can do anyway.

Why does it have to end so soon, I look forward to it every week!

The biggest loser is definitely playing with my emotions, or maybe I’m just emotional. This is the first season I’ve watched, so I don’t know if it’s always this emotional, but it’s almost every week I’m getting choked up, or mad. Last week, when Damien got voted off, I was mad. Joelle deserved to go home, she didn’t want it bad enough.

Overall I’m glad at how this week’s show ended. It was a good thing that Dan and Dave went home. The brown team really wanted to be there, but Dan was the only one on the orange team who did, and he still worked at it, losing 100 lbs. That’s pretty great. I’m sad he left though. I liked that kid.