Read this review before you buy the Roku Digital Video Player

About the reviewer: Lar Brian is an IT geek (professionally and personally) and occasional reviewer. Lar is also a huge movie buff and cannot handle buffering.

Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p Review
Ease of Setup
Value for Money
Video/Audio Quality

Buy From Amazon Now! Great Prices
- Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p



I was getting tired of having my movies hanging up streaming through my Xbox Media Centre and was ready for some Amazon on Demand. After checking out all the buzz, I decided to buy the Roku XDS 1080p and haven’t looked back (just at the TV – har, har).

It came quickly (about 4 days with Amazon Super Shipping). Love the look – small, unobtrusive, light – the only thing I’m not really excited about is the side-mounted USB port – it’s a little awkward.

Hooking up the Roku up was easy, once I clued in to the obvious (duh) encryption hurdle (support was fast and very helpful, btw). Tip – turn off all the encryption while you’re hooking it up, activate it again later, it will save some hassle. If you’re on a high speed router, you’re going to need to use psk or wpspk2/aes encryption.

With dual band wireless, both wireless and wired work great. Absolutely great picture and voice quality. Tons of channels (looking forward to Hulu + when it comes on board. Just needed to go online to my account to get the codes for the various channels. Works great with standard and high def TV (had to upgrade to HD shortly after this purchase :) ).

Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p from Amazon

Pros

  • It’s amazing with Amazon on Demand, NetFlix
  • Built-in wireless (dual-band Wireless-N) and wired Internet connectivity
  • Great variety of channels – Facebook Photos, Flickr, MLB.com, Hulu + (coming), Flixter, radio/music stations, etc, etc
  • Pays for itself in no time
  • No commercials!!

Cons

  • side mounted USB port – awkward
  • not a lot of sports channels
  • no HDMI cable included

The savings over satellite are incredible. Picture and video quality are fantastic!

Here’s what another current user has to say (paraphrased for space):

Jim B.

Every once in a while, you get your hands on a device that really stands out in terms of ease of use and performance.

I can say in all honesty that the Roku player is everything I hoped and more. When the description says you will be up and running in just a few minutes, you can believe it. I opened the box, plugged in the power cord, attached a cable to my high speed router, and ran audio to my amp. I turned everything on and immediately saw the set-up screen for the Roku player. To run a quick test, I tried streaming a video from Netflix–it worked perfectly.

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