AllThingsD:
Today, the company is unveiling plans for its Roku Streaming Stick, a flash-drive-sized dongle that plugs into the back of television sets to enable the same streaming capabilities as a Roku box.
Roku is leapfrogging Apple by offering a new device that’s little bigger than the average thumb drive, but packs all the features of set-top digital video streaming devices like Roku’s other offerings and the Apple TV. It’s pretty remarkable, and a smart idea.
Roku’s new stick features an HDMI port and works with TVs compatible with Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL). It’s expected to be released in the second half of 2012 at a price that’s yet to be determined.
If you’ve ever used a Roku for any period of time you’d realize it’s not really leapfrogging. It performs terribly and locks up constantly, often rebooting.
I recommended a Roku box to my parents a year ago, since they don’t have an HDMI-equipped television and thus couldn’t use an Apple TV. They couldn’t be happier. So as in all things, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary).
I own multiple Rokus. I have 4 co-workers who own Rokus. Not one complaint.
I may end up getting an AppleTV at some point, but that’s only because I’ve got tons of Apple gear and want to try out the device mirroring. Content-wise I have no need for one because my Rokus do everything I’m looking to do.
Roku deserves more credit than they are being given. Such good boxes.
As Peter says above YMMV. Since they moved beyond simply Netflix streaming boxes they have become terribly unstable in my experience. I used to recommend them all the time, but I can’t anymore, especially not to my non-techie parents who would complain the first time it stops responding to the remote.
If you only use it for Netflix streaming it’s probably relatively stable (though I have a lot of sound skipping issues with the latest firmware, a new known issue). But if you just do Netflix, Apple TV is a better experience IMHO.
Once you venture outside Netflix, such as Hulu or Crackle, it’s a mess. Hulu regularly locks up or introduces remote lag, sometimes even causing the entite box to reboot itself. Many people have reported these types of issues on their forums.
I own two different models, the original N1000 and an XD. Both experience the same bugs.
Roku is trying to make them as cheap as possible, and that’s the type of product it’s becoming, cheap. Rather, I think they should focus on creating an awesome, bug-free experience. I think they’d sell more. I think Apple TV 2 has already outsold Roku.
Feh. How can they ever hope to disrupt the content monopolies without an attached screen. Plus, didn’t they get the memo? Jobs already “cracked” this.
Apple outsells the Roku because of name recognition alone, not because it’s a superior product. I’m sure the original AppleTV outsold the Roku as well, even though the it was based on the archaic system of downloading movies to a HD.
I use my Rokus for Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu+, Pandora, and streaming movies from my Mac via Plex. While some of the channels are buggier than others, they are constantly being updated and refined. Hulu+ is less responsive to the remote than other channels, but it’s a hell of a lot more complex. I’d love to see it simplified and work more like netflix or Amazon, but I’ve never really had much trouble with it (outside of betas). It’s laggy, but it works.
Here are my Rokus …although I now also have a RokuLT, and I have since sold my N1000 to my co-worker who had an old TV.
I don’t want to spoil your fun but from an engineering perspective this can not be more than a glorified mpg player:
-> That Thing is tiny, where is the processing power coming from?
-> That Thing seems to have no external power Adapter so it has to rely on the power it can take from the HDMI-Port (and get the generated heat away)
->I think that stick is filled to the brim with custom silicone for wifi-connection, mpg decoding and some UI processing.
Ergo I think it is a nifty tool to stream video but nothing more while I think that Apple is moving towards to some kind of much more App-based system.
If their services were available over here, I’d probably buy one for my parents to try. Interesting stuff.