My mother-in-law just called, wants to get her husband something that can play netflix and youtube on the TV. Interesting, because I’ve been thinking about the same thing and ditching cable.
There’s the Roku player that does netflix, but looks like that’s about it. But it’s cheap and simple.
There’s the Logitech Review with Google TV, which looks pretty damn slick actually. Anybody know anything about it?
Anything else worth considering?
Roku also does hulu plus, which is awesome.
Boxee box is supposed to be rolling in Netflix and Hulu/Hulu Plus in the near future.
I wouldn’t buy any Google TV stuff right now. I read yesterday that they just went back to all their vendors asking them to hold off on announcing new google tv products because they want to do a major code overhaul.
For me, the roku wins right now. Slickdeals has a link to a sale on the 1080p model for $80, that’s a homerun. If boxee box gets netflix and hulu plus as promised, it’s the clear front-runner for me since it is able to also stream every format under the sun over the network as well as the browser.
fyi,l I’m also considering ditching cable for OTA + hulu plus. I’ll miss NFL Network and ESPN, but I can deal with it especially since I can watch highlights on ESPN3.
Yeah, Roku seems to be the crowd favorite right now. I really haven’t looked to much into these “alternative cable” boxes, but from what I’ve heard (specifically on Tech News Today), roku still seems to have the best features.
Hmm. I think I’m going to tell my mother in law to get Apple TV. It’s apple, so it’ll be easy to use, and it does youtube and netflix which is probably all she would ever use it for.
I on the other hand am going to start talking my wife into the Logitech Review or the Roku or something. 
Then ditch the damn cable bill. Speaking of which, I have to call VZW and bitch at them for charging me $20 dollars for Skinemax that I didn’t order.
I wouldn’t put too much faith in Boxee getting Hulu Plus working. Hulu is in very delicate talks with content providers and the Boxee Box is very open which makes content providers nervous. It may come eventually, but if it’s a major consideration I wouldn’t buy one until it was guaranteed working.
Not sure if they’re also in the market to upgrade their TV, but my new Samsung has netflix, hulu plus, youtube and a bunch of other support built right in. Lots of TV’s are offering that now. Same deal with some upcoming bluray players.
http://www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevices
You want to go as simple as possible unless you like getting support phone calls from inlaws.
EDIT: A good friend of mine got an Apple TV for xmas (that’s he’s already using) and loves it. I guess there is some hack you can do to get it to stream MKV’s but I believe it involves converting the files.
To be honest, I was in the same research you were doing looking for an application box but I found that a PC is the best alternative. There is Hulu Desktop that you can use for the interface for that and most people know how to use a computer so its easier to figure out. Then you are only limited by the application, not the system itself.
If you are looking for space ones, there is a lot of tiny form factor PCs too that fit perfectly under a TV.
yeah I am definitely not getting boxee box until I can see the hulu plus app working on the desktop version.
Also, The Roku is a VERY simple device from what I understand. It is also an officially supported device on both of the links you posted. If the TV they have now is good, there is no reason why they should upgrade when the roku is available at the sub-$100 price range.
I’ll also jump in here and say the same about the Boxee Box, and for that matter, the Popbox. Both have great promise, and both fall woefully short of that promise. Right now, neither have Netflix, and I’d be surprised if that happened any time soon.
Hell, she can always get a PS3
I have been looking at PCs for this, have not done alot of research but might pickup the Dell zino.
my gf got a google tv for her room because she does not have a cable line running up stairs so she uses the internet to watch everything pretty much. We constantly use it and have no problems with it, interface is easy to use but you do have to get use to the remote/keyboard and where everything is though.
using it to surf the web is can be a little slow at times and watching flash video’s on it is pretty much impossible because i dont think the cpu is fast enough to handle it. you have to pause the video for a while to get a good buffer and then you can play it.
Do you have the logitech thing?
A lot of content providers are blocking these boxes so until they get that figured out it might be best just to setup a cheap small form factor PC with some HTPC software on it. If you picked one up with a tv tuner you could even use it as a DVR.
Netflix on demand is not as good as I thought it would be. Mostly old shows. Tons of content, but I usually end up watching B movies, and crime documentaries.
I don’t see how anyone could get rid of cable or satellite living here in Buffalo. You might be able to reduce down to a 24.99 dishnetwork package or something, but it sure is nice to have CNN and A&E and a few other channels.
netflix on demand blows. I cancelled after the free trial period. I thought the new app for xbox was supposed to be some new and improved interface, but unless you know exactly what you want to watch, you can’t find anything. I just wanted to browse some movies and tv shows, but they only show like 15% of what is available.
Hulu Plus is what I am really looking for. I will continue to pirate movies, and if I don’t get the TV shows, I’ll pirate them as well.
I was hoping to drop cable and go 100% hulu plus and newsgroups. After a week trial of hulu I gave up. The interface sucks, there are still way too many shows/networks it does carry and having to watch commercials when you’re used to dvr and pirated shows was a huge step backwards.
I bought the model of it before they released the Zino off here that has the more round form factor and I love it. Small, easy to transport, and has all the hardware of a normal PC so I can add more RAM, hard drive, etc.
Even control it with my iPhone as a mouse/keyboard so it just sits quietly under my TV downloading shows every day. Only thing is the processors arent super fast so compression if you want to do recording may run into issues but I don’t have cable so I just download everything.
no we got the actually sony tv but its the same thing just different remote and from what i hear the revue is a little easier to use.
I have Roku XD (it’s at 720P right now, will have an update to 1080P supposedly soon)
It’s pretty awesome. I picked it up for 40 bucks, shipped. I don’t have Hulu plus, but streams netflix, amazon on demand, and a bunch of other shit. Pandora too. Me likey.
Incorrect, content providers are blocking somethings on the GoogleTV since google didn’t broker deals with them. But expect that to evenutally get sorted out. Roku had deals with pretty much all the content providers it has access too. Netflix does not block things in general that use its API. Hulu has blocked things that didn’t work out deals with them and well they are owned by NBC Universal so that is to be expected.
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What interface where you using? The one on your Samsung maybe shit but Hulu Desktop is pretty nice and the Roku interface was nice.
Each device can present the interface to you in there own special way. The top two from what I read for Netflix are AppleTV and PS3.
Lastly you call me impatient? 4 25second commericals is very tolerable.
It’s my understanding that the only way to get true 5.1 aduio from netflix is the PS3. So that may be a factor.
I have a panasonic blue-ray thing that has netflix, amazon TV, pandora, VUDU apps. I only use a separate computer to add movies to the instant cue, there is enough content to watch, just not the latest. Amazon TV cost money, so screw that, VUDU cost money too, but does have true 5.1 audio (takes about 10 mbps for their “XHD”). If you want to use the panasonic wirelessly you will have to get their dongle only for an additional $60.
Personally I’d rather have 720 & 5.1 than 1080 & stereo when it comes to netflix.