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Netflix HD Streaming Coming to the Roku Box by Year's End
Posted by John Herrman at 8:22 PM on November 3, 2008
Roku's lovely $US99 Netflix Streaming box, equipped with HDMI and optical outputs from day one, is getting Netflix HD streaming support by "the end of the year," according to the company. With the software update users can expect access to Netflix's entire HD library, an HD-specific, upsampled interface and "another major new feature" (Hulu?) that we'll have to just wait "a bit longer" to find out about.
Dramatic teasing aside, this update isn't all good news. Whether because of the Roku box's limited horsepower or a desire to cater to a wider range of broadband speeds, Roku's version of Netflix HD will be one of a "substantially lower bitrate," which doesn't sound great when considered against the Xbox's higher quality, good-but-not-great HD streaming performance. I'll hold judgment until we can test it for ourselves — a good decoder or postprocessing filter could do wonders for a sludgy picture. Or not. [Roku Forum via Hacking Netflix]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
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unkpku has a really long fucking screenname because i saw some o
Posted 10:51 PM 3/11/08
does Hulu have hd?
unkpku has a really long fucking screenname because i saw some other people do it
NFLBLitze1
Posted 10:30 PM 3/11/08
w000t, i can't find the HD movies on Netflix.com anybody?
NFLBLitze1
glennosmond
Posted 11:22 PM 3/11/08
I hope (wish) verizon would bring this to their FiOS boxes as a free upgrade, or else bluray player + hd netflix streaming, I will NOT buy a standalone netflix player
glennosmond
CaptainSquishy
Posted 11:47 PM 3/11/08
please please, let it be hulu.
CaptainSquishy
jopari
Posted 12:23 AM 4/11/08
@unkpku has a really long fucking screenname because i saw s...: Kinda. You can watch some of their movies in 480i.
jopari
VincentioSnipe
Posted 1:08 AM 4/11/08
"...will be one of a "substantially lower bitrate," which doesn't sound great..." The FULL QUOTE is "Roku will be using Advanced Profile encodes which will deliver HD at substantially lower bit-rates than what Xbox is offering" It sounds like they're using better encoders then what the Xbox will use, which will allow them to offer HD quality without requiring higher bandwith.
VincentioSnipe
FatTony925
Posted 1:57 AM 4/11/08
I received a beta invite to test Netflix on my Tivo last week. Can't wait!
FatTony925
jhcovert
Posted 1:52 AM 4/11/08
@VincentioSnipe: You're exactly right!
The X-Box requires software to rock the HD, while the Roku box has built in hardware that will help with that, while also taking advantage of the superior encodes. The picture quality may not be hugely improved over the X-Box, but I suspect the load times will be.
Time will tell.
jhcovert
jhcovert
Posted 1:49 AM 4/11/08
@glennosmond: Not even one as tiny as the Roku box?
I understand where you're coming from, but that little black box is arguably more agreeable/accommodating than either the blu-ray player or cable box, in that everything coming out of it is a la carte, and there's no switching discs.
I can't argue with the idea of a FiOS/Blu-ray/Netflix combo thing-a-ma-bob though.
jhcovert
EasyGT
Posted 2:27 AM 4/11/08
freakin sweet, i love ma netflix!
EasyGT
Zlevee
Posted 2:51 AM 4/11/08
@glennosmond: Netflix is also coming to the XBOX 360, and the Tivo HD & Series 3. That's several multi-function boxes to choose from.
Zlevee
tech-tard
Posted 6:42 AM 4/11/08
we've been watching Netflix streams through the IE browser on our HTPC (connected to our 42" TV). I can't tell/haven't seen a choice for HD though. Also have a TivoHD and PS3 on the other inputs, so hoping to stream Netflix HD on one of these boxes.
tech-tard
MadCow234
Posted 7:28 AM 4/11/08
@tech-tard: HD isn't available on the website. Only on Xbox and I guess the Roku box coming up. I highly doubt that Sony will stream netflix, but who knows. And as far as I know, the streaming on Tivo is only SD.
MadCow234
MadCow234
Posted 7:25 AM 4/11/08
@unkpku has a really long fucking screenname because i saw s...: You can watch basically every show in 480p. There's even a setting in the options (if you register, which I did back in March when they were beta) that allows you to set everything available in 480p to automatically play in 480p. I don't know about the movies seeing as I use netflix.
MadCow234
prof_crayzee
Posted 8:47 AM 4/11/08
Just got the samsung BD-2500 blu-ray player and updated the firmware to the netflix version (hint if you're trying to do this- use a usb stick and a download, the online firmware check says you have the latest version even when you don't)
Since I had so many problems with the firmware, I spent some time talking to the folks at netflix (good customer support btw)
they told me that the software on the roku/tivo/samsung/lg players is ALL THE SAME (netflix writes it and the manufacturer licenses it).
Therefore, the tech rep posited that if HD is coming to ROKU, then the other players would be able to support the same software.
One interesting question would be if the samsung can use it's superior SD upscaler on the netflix HD stream, perhaps yielding better hd quality than the roku. I will report if/when the firmware updates for HD.
prof_crayzee
Dont Know Me? You Are Me.
Posted 10:13 AM 4/11/08
Got the Roku when it came out and have it connected to my 1080p set, and I used to watch Netflix streaming in my browser before that. If I could only choose one, I'd rather have subtitles than HD. WHERE'S THE DAMN SUBTITLES?!?!?!?!
Dont Know Me? You Are Me.