I've been wanting to stream Netflix to one of my televisions for a while now & after looking at all the different options (our DVD player didn't need replacing & it's not a room we wanted any gaming in), I decided to try out Roku, which bills itself as a the "highest quality streaming you can get anywhere..." Ooookay, that's a lot to live up to!
But at $79.00 retail, plus some coupons at my local Best Buy, I decided it was worth it to check it out. I was particularly interested because the Roku doesn't come with any monthly charges other than what I'm already paying to Netflix (or whatever other service you want to stream like Hulu or Amazon Instant Videos which is a big plus in my book. While that's true, I quickly learned however, that Roku has it's only little quirks.
Set-up was a breeze Plug it in, and you're almost instantly ready to go. You can either use your home's wireless network, or a connected ethernet port if one is available. I choose the wireless route as the room I was working with isn't wired in my house & it found my network without any problem (as well as the networks of several of my neighbors). Once it logged into my network, it asked me to "sync" the device onto roku.com which is where I found myself pausing as it asked for a credit card number. Why would service with no monthly charges, need to keep my credit card on file?
Ostensibly this is so that, should I want to download any pay channels, or pay content, it has the ability to charge me. The easier answer however, is simply to block my box from that content if I choose not to leave a credit card on file, isn't it? I read online about the issue, and it seems to be a new one. Apparently earlier versions of the Roku didn't made the credit card entry mandatory, but the newer ones require it. Having no intention of ordering any of the pay channels or content, I would have liked the ability to opt out of giving one more company access to my credit card. I understand several people have returned their Roku boxes for this very reason. That said, I was able to use a credit card that expires next month, so I met the requirement but no one will get very far with the card. Should it become an issue in a month when the card expires and no one has had any reason to use it, I might rethink the service & take the Roku back to the store.
All that aside, having used the box a few times now, it really is wonderful. The quality of the streaming is as if I were watching a DVD or streaming on my computer- which is a wired connection. I was able to pause a movie, go fold laundry & return to start the movie again without any pause for rebuffering even, which I expected to happen. It's great to have access to my entire Instant Queue and not take up a huge amount of space with yet another component sitting on the shelf.
So, while I can't give it a HUGE thumbs up because of the credit card information debacle, I can say that it's a great device that does what it says it will do & does it well. If you're looking to be able to stream movies without a PC or additional expensive component to your television for very little cost, the Roku will definitely get the job done.
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