Boxee Box vs. Roku

[PhoneMatt]

I am would like to cut out cable and get either of these two. Both have Netflix, so my movies are covered. I am lucky enough to get all of the locals OTA, with no problems. Whichever one I pick will be wired into my router. The main 2 cable channels that we watch are USA and TNT. USA is covered by both. TNT seems to be another story.
Any comments about either? Any experiences streaming from websites with either? ( This looks like the only way I'm going to get to see "The Closer".)
I've googled both and read up on them, but most product forums are either populated by fanboys or haters. Interestingly, neither forum has had many messages with operational problems.
So, anyone had any experiences with these two products? How did you like them?
Matt

[yoda313]

Why aren't you including wdtv live in your research? I would add that to your list of products to look up (there is also a live plus model but I'm not sure of all the distinctions between them).

One thing you could do if you have a pc in the same room is to buy the playon media server. The file streaming is free but you need to pay to get the online access to other websites. It has plugins for lots and lots of websites to access there streaming video. It works pretty well too.

[jagabo]

Why aren't you including wdtv live in your research? I would add that to your list of products to look up (there is also a live plus model but I'm not sure of all the distinctions between them).

The WDTV Live does not have native support for Netflix. You need the Live+ for Netflix support.

One thing you could do if you have a pc in the same room is to buy the playon media server. The file streaming is free but you need to pay to get the online access to other websites. It has plugins for lots and lots of websites to access there streaming video. It works pretty well too.

I use Playon with my WDTV Live to get NetFlix (and Comedy Central, free Hulu, etc.) streaming. But the Netflix streaming isn't as good as having native support. The UI is inferior, navigation while playing is limited, it only supports standard definition, and all video is transcoded to MPEG 2 by the computer running Playon. On another TV I have an LG Blu-ray player with Native Netflix support and it's far better.

[yoda313]

@jagabo - that might be true but it could also be the only option for the poster aside from using a htpc. As long as there is a playon plugin for the website the poster wants it is at least on option.

I do agree that native streaming programs are best. I've seen it myself on the ps3. the vudu service looks great with its own application. It can now do crackle streaming through its own web portal. It doesn't look anywhere nears as clear or sharp (of course thats source material I'm sure but the principle remains the same.

[PhoneMatt]

I was under the impression, maybe a mistaken impression, that WD Live was just for transferring from a hard drive, except for a few built-in web apps. I was leaning towards Boxee because it does come with a built in browser, making it easier to stream from most sites. (Yes, I know that the browser is really clunky and awkward to use.) Roku also has a lot of different channels that can be added to the box, and seems to be getting more each day. I've gotten the idea that WD is great as a machine to use for files on a hard drive, but not so good at importing files on the fly. And, once again, I could be mistaken. If nothing else, I have no problem grabbing a feed off of a website, copying it to a DVD-rw and playing the file off of that on my TV.(I should mention that we rarely watch TV directly. Right now, the DVR gets a good workout.)

[yoda313]

Well jagabo corrected me its the wdtv live plus model that has online support for netflix. I guess the regular live just has basic internet support the plus version does netflix.

I believe starting with the live model is when the ethernet port was added. The plus can do the dedicated streaming PLUS the regular file playing off harddrives.

Check out wdtvs website for more information. It should be added to your research list regardless

Edit - the very first wdtv models had no internet connection ability. That is the model I have. That is probably what you are remembering.