Roku

[BigV]

I have two and I love them.

I don't have an HD display so I can't comment on that aspect, but I will say that the quality of the display is a direct function of your download capacity. I have a 1.5 mb download cap and I can get 2 of 4 or 3 of 4 "bars" of "quality". Sometimes the program stops and restarts. I am certain this is due to my DSL connection, particularly if there is other traffic in the house (music, games, the other roku, etc). The restarts are a minor annoyance.

The roku box is pretty bulletproof, but I have to say that the real star of the show is the Netflix streaming function. That is, if you have Netflix, you can "watch instantly" many (many) of the movies in their library. But the roku is not the only device capable of handling this stream. Some of the new HDTVs have this built in, but I don't have one of those. I *do* have a PS3, and I *do* have an Xbox and both of these devices, connected to my tv, of course, are capable of displaying the Netflix stream. The PS3 requires a free special startup disc from Netflix. The Xbox doesn't need a special disc, but it does require a paid Xbox Live account.

Additionally, if you have a computer through which you manage your Netflix account, you probably can watch instantly on that device too. I love my Netflix.