Roku Announces New Boxes, USB Support: Hands-On Review (with video)

Roku just announced three new streaming boxes with a whole host of new features. I've been using one of the new boxes for the past couple of days and love the new functionality that's been added. The company has made some really nice improvements to their lineup, yet isn't raising prices at all.

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Roku's new lineup is called the HD, XD and XDS and still has the pricing tier of $59.99, $79.99 and $99.99. The cheapest model supports 720p while both models in the XD category support 1080p. All three models have HDMI and composite out with the $99 model also offering an optical audio and component port. WiFi is built in on all three units with the more expensive model sporting dual-band support. All three units are available for order today from Roku.com.

  But the biggest upgrade for Roku is that the $99 model now supports the playback of local contact connected via the USB port. Roku supports .mp4 playback today and will be including support for .mov next month. I've been using a flash drive and also an external hard drive via USB and 1080p videos look great.

All three Roku models ship with a new remote and the two XD models support what Roku calls "instant replay". The technology allows you to skip back in 10 second increments while a video is playing without having to re-buffer the stream. I don't know how Roku is doing this and have asked for more details on the technology but the feature is pretty unique for a streaming device. Roku has confirmed that consumers who have older Roku models can take advantage of the instant replay feature simply by purchasing a new remote.

Overall, it's pretty hard to find anything wrong with Roku's new lineup of streaming devices. The new boxes are 40% cheaper than the original model and all three now support HD. If Roku adds support for video formats outside of just .mp4 and .mov, Roku's higher-end box becomes even more valuable. The only thing I'd like to see added in the next revision is a security slot since these devices continue to get smaller and can easily go missing from dorms rooms and other high-traffic areas.

While some people want to compare Roku to all kinds of other stand-alone devices like Boxee, Google TV, Xbox 360 etc., only Apple TV and Western Digital's WD TV Live are really competitive to Roku. But with Roku having support for 1080p, the ability to support playback of video and photos via USB and an open SDK, not to mention 75 channel partners, Roku clearly beats the new Apple TV hands-down.

Keep an eye on my blog next week as I'll be giving away a new Roku XDS unit to one lucky reader.

Comments

[Marty Tennant]

My question is regarding audio playback. Can I hook up my USB drive with 20,000 songs on it and access my collection in an intelligent manner?

[BRYAN HILTON]

Great review! How does the Roku compare with Google TV. I hear with Google TV you can surf the interent. Can you surf the internet with Roku?

[Jeremy]

I currently keep all of my TV shows (.avi's) on one NAS box on my LAN.

Can any of the new models stream video from a network share?

Thanks

[Mike L.]

roku sucks, I have never been able to watch a movie without it stopping several time and display receiving, then loading, and its not like a few seconds, it is several minutes, sometimes it never comes back. If any of you want to purchase a roku xr I have two that are going on ebay this week.

[Gary]

How did you get the USB to stream video (MP4)? I can get jpg and MP3 to play, but the MP4 tries to retrieve and then doesn't work. It will even list the movies with an icon and a name, but no playback. I've talked to customer service, but they don't know how to fix it. I've tried all their solutions as well as a few of mine without success. As it stands now, ROKU USB is a failure.

[David Jones]

The Roku is pretty nice. I bought one a year and a half ago and have been pleased with it. The main reason I bought it was for the watch instantly Netflix. All was fine until yesterday. Then it lost the signal and would not reconnect. I finally called Roku support and OMG, was that ever a joke. The tech was from overseas somewhere and did not speak English worth a darn. I spent 47 minutes trying this and that and having him repeat over and over and over. He finally told me to call Linsky because it must be the router. Not hardly, I have two laptops running on it now with no problem. Finally I told him to forget it I would check out some other options. I finally went with a blu-ray player that had built in wireless that was set up to receive Netflix. I think that is the way to go if you want streaming television. And you will have a new blu-ray for about the same price. You can get a lot of components today all ready to go wireless and it will be the norm by this coming summer. Merry Christmas and best of luck with all the new electronics that will be under the tree Christmas morning. David

[seneca]

Roku Device is far to limited so far the xbox 360 is able to play back fast for the media server compared to that of the roku. And the USB plugin is just a waste of time limiting you to only watch to file settings. While the xbox 360 does not have no where near the limitations. I have gotten the Roku for Xmas and is by far a waste of time and money. Get anything else but this device

[cbc]

how do i view pictures on a thumb drive on the roku xds?

[External Hard Drives]

Roku's USB support is great addition!

[Morgan Desnoyers]

id like to see how this will work out for us canadians.