Neuros, who built their reputation with weird, chunky (but wonderful) modular MP3 players, has long since moved exclusively to the home entertainment field. Their latest attempt at eroding the Apple TV's market share is the Link, a set-top streaming box that will pull video from a wide range of online TV sources — Hulu, NBC, ABC, etc. — as well as stream local audio and video content from any USB hard drive. As is always the case with Neuros set-tops, the Link's software is open source and ready for modification. This time, mercifully, that might not be the box's biggest draw.

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Rumours like this have been wrong in the past, but word is that CEO Jim Keyes told investors that Blockbuster will be delivering Movielink downloads via their own set-top-box by the holidays. No details have been announced, but Blockbuster got burned badly on this one already, so they are going to need to bring something new and exciting to the table to stand any chance of competing with Netflix. [Home Media Magazine]

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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.

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The already impressive Roku streaming box will expand its services beyond Netflix's VOD adding new "big name" content providers in the near future. While the existing Netflix offerings are pretty impressive, the addition of some of the free on-demand... Read More »

One year ago, we predicted that the infinite format war would rise from the ashes of the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war--that a million online services and set-top boxes would suddenly promise to deliver movies and video to your computer or TV. And that each one would essentially be their own format, since none of them are compatible, and each would promise only a fraction of available movies. We were right about our fears, but we also have a solution to a decent download collection.

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At Netflix Investor Day, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings revealed their timeline for the end of the rental-by-mail biz, and why they're digging so hard into digital distribution: It "will probably peak in the next five years." Taken more broadly, it's more or less predicting that the real end of physical media is in T minus five years—'cause presumably, as long there are discs, Netflix's model assumes you'll get 'em from Netflix. While the end of physical media has been predicted lotsa times, it's rare that a company puts a death sentence on its core business, so this isn't the cheap willy-nilly futurism we're used to gagging on. [Reuters via Alley Insider]

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Netflix's first streaming box is finally here and it's pretty damn brilliant of a set up. First of all, the box is 99 US bucks, and designed by Roku. It's fanless and quiet; has HDMI and optical outputs; and is about the size of 5 CD cases stacked together. Any Netflix disc mailing plan over US$9 gets you unlimited streaming of almost 10,000 titles. Unlimited! 10K titles! Take that Apple TV and VuDu!

Install
You boot up the box, set the network to wireless or ethernet connectivity. You get a 5 digit code, head over to netflix.com/activate using a browser on a PC or other device, log into your Netflix account and enter the code. The Roku box gets your queue and the movie/show cover art. There are HDMI and optical connections on top of the standard video outs, but those cables are not included.

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