One day after Netflix made its debut in the UK and Ireland, Roku has announced that two of its streaming players, the Roku LT and the Roku 2 XS, are heading to Britain too and are already available for pre-order on Amazon.
The Roku LT, which is billed as the lowest-cost option for streaming video and music directly to a TV, over Wi-Fi and without a PC, retails at £49.99. The Roku 2 XS, which adds casual games like Angry Birds to the offering and also sports an Ethernet, a MicroSD and a USB port, costs £99.99. Read more at TechCrunch Europe. → Read More
Smart TVs are great and all — who doesn’t want a dash of WiFi with their daily dose of reality television? — but the segment will face challenges in the market. For one, a $49 Roku LT is a much better value proposition than a $1,000+ smart TV. Secondly, the hardware moves at such a rapid pace that even with solid software updates, your smart TV will likely be outdated much sooner than you’re ready to buy a new one.
But even with the hardships to be faced by the smart TV segment, Roku still wants a piece of the pie. Enter: the Roku Streaming Stick. It’s a little USB drive-sized stick that packs a processor, memory, software and WiFi to virtually transform your regular old television into a Smart TV, with access to all of Roku’s 400+ channels. → Read More
Roku is back with yet another update for the company’s tiny media streamers. This update adds a bunch of welcomed features to the Roku 2 and Roku LT including games and system enhancements.
Roku introduced games to its platform with its latest generation of streamers. But so far the only official game has been Angry Birds, which, you know, is also playable on your smartphone, browser, tablet, and probably some refrigerators. However, this update brings Downhill Bowling 2, Castle Warriors and Frisebee Forever and are all designed to work with the motion control Game Remote. → Read More
TechCrunch TV is now really TechCrunch TV. When TCTV launched last year, the focus was on viewing our videos on the computer. Not on TV. Ok, we called it “TechCrunch TV” because it sounded a lot better than “TechCrunch Video”. But today, we are launching on the AOL HD platform and you can find us on your connected TV set.
Our videos are live on Roku, Boxee, Divx and Yahoo Connected TV platforms. Together, these platforms reach over 12 million devices. And that number is growing. Don’t be surprised if more platforms get added as well. (AOL, the owner of TechCrunch, didn’t want me to say anything about that. Oh well.) → Read More
Back in 2008, the Roku media player was simply a way to watch Netflix streaming video on your TV. Now just a few years later, the service offers over 300 different media channels and a bevy of various models, the latest of which is the Roku LT.
The Roku LT is for the budget-minded consumer, priced at just $49.99. With built-in wireless, the Roku LT streams video in 720p and has access to all of Roku’s 300+ channels including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Pandora, EPIX, Crackle, and Disney.
Even better, Roku has added a new channel to its service and I think it’s one you’ll enjoy: HBO GO. → Read More
This is Roku’s third media streamer lineup. The UI isn’t that much different from past models nor are the capabilities. We’ve used and reviewed almost all of the Roku products, from their first Netflix box, so we’ll keep this short and sweet. This Roku series ushers the media streamer into casual gaming thanks to motion controls and Angry Birds. Yep, yet another Angry Birds incarnation. → Read More
Roku just announced its fourth generation of media streamers and they’re unsurprisingly the best yet. They sport more features, an even smaller physical footprint, and the same Apple TV-killing price points as before.
These new models, the Roku 2 HD, Roku 2 XD, and the Roku 2 XS, have even more media streaming capabilities as the previous models. All the major streaming sources are present: Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus. Plus, Roku has live sports from the NHL, NBA, and Major League soccer along with on-demand radio with rdio, Pandora and MOG. There simply isn’t a more complete streaming offering from any other device. But clearly Roku wanted to build a platform not limited to just streaming. The new models feature built-in motion gaming capabilities with 2011′s hottest game. Yep, Angry Birds. → Read More
These photos from the FCC show us a few of the new Roku devices coming out in 2011 including the 3000X, 3050X, and 3100X. These guys will have 1080p HDMI, USB support, a microSD slot, and surround sound support. The HD model features an RF remote control. → Read More
Roku is slowly entering the wide world of retail. The middle tier XD model hit Best Buy retail stores a few months back and now the same model is available in Walmart stores. Roku just made it official with a press release although the streamer has been available from Walmart.com for over a month now. Pricing is slightly lower with the XD model going for $78 rather than the $79 on Roku.com. A buck is a buck, right?
Now that Roku and Walmart are playing ball, it’s probably only a matter of time until Walmart’s own VUDU service launches on the media streamer. VUDU made a name for itself a few years back to being committed to the highest quality HD streams possible — first run movies helped too. This wasn’t mentioned in the press release, but the service would certainly be a welcomed addition to Roku’s offering. *fingers crossed* → Read More
Streaming video player developer Roku has partnered with video advertising company YuMe to allow content owners to provide video advertising for media. DreamTV and Blastro Networks are among the first Roku content providers to start using YuMe’s video advertising platform.
Roku has sold more than 1 million of its streaming entertainment devices for the TV. The company, who has not offered video advertising to publishers until now, will be integrating YuMe’s ACE technology platform, which serves more than 1 billion ad impressions per month. → Read More
There are well over a hundred channels on Roku, but YouTube is officially not one of them. There was, however, a homebrewed YouTube channel until a takedown notice was nailed to Roku’s front door. This station was posted by a developer later hired by Roku, which might have lead partially to the legal notice. Roku now says that they’re in talks with Google, which will hopefully result in an official YouTube Roku channel. Until then services like PlayOn can serve up YouTube content. [Zatz Not Funny via EngadgetHD] → Read More
Friend: So I’m thinking about cutting the cord.
Me: Oh yeah? You should buy a Roku then.
Friend: I don’t know what that is. I only buy my gadgets from big box stores.
Me: Well good news. Best Buy, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Fry’s Electronics and RadioShack now carry it.
Friend: How much?
Me: About $80 for the XD.
Friend: Oh great, glad to hear Best Buy is going to carry it. I wouldn’t have known what a Roku was if not.
Me: Yeah, I don’t shop at Best Buy. Make sure you turn down their $99 Geek Squad in-home setup.
Press Release after the break. → Read More
I hit a nerve. I seriously believe cord cutting is all about alternative services and not the hardware. Clearly others think different. My last post concerning the movement focused on three main areas with hardware only one small portion of the overall post. Why? All roads lead to Netflix and DLNA servers anyway. Nearly every box can run Netflix along with at least a dozen of other streaming services. I featured my favorites — the do-it-all Boxee Box and the dead-simple Roku — in the last post, but as so many commentors pointed out, there are a lots of other options.
I agree! There’s more than a few ways to cut the cord. So here we go, the six best devices listed in order of relevance that will help cut your household’s dependence on pay TV. → Read More
The Roku XDS is a fine streamer, but like all the rest of the company’s offering, lacked official USB playback support. Sure, there’s been unofficial channels for sometime now, but it’s refreshing to see Roku finally cleared the air and released one themselves. This is big. → Read More
Here’s more evidence that regular people have zero time for things like Google TV, Boxee, and Roku, if only because they’re too complicated for their own good. Hill Holiday, a “caffeine-fueled ad agency,” asked five Boston-area families to participate in a cord-cutting experiment. For one week each family was asked to forgo traditional cable TV in favor of one of the following devices: Apple TV, Google TV, Boxee Box, Xbox 360, and Roku. These devices, of course, are the premier devices for people looking to break free of their cable company while still being able to enjoy television. And how did it turn out for these five families? → Read More
Well, it looks like Roku has had a good year. They just announced that they’ve hit a pretty significant milestone; over 1 billion streams served. This means that they’re competing with the cable companies, and gaining quite a bit of viewing time. → Read More
Say you’re buying a TV – any TV, really – and you’re not quite sure what you’re doing. Say you’re in a store and the sales guy says “Well, you want this to be a Smart TV, right?” and you, not knowing any better, agree. Then he upsells this dumb LG box that simply adds LG’s Smart TV offerings including LG’s apps and some DLNA support. And you go home and realize that it’s just a dumbed-down Roku, Western Digital, or Seagate box. Heck, it’s even worse than Apple TV and the new one, barring the obvious hacked value, is pretty boring and is still better than this. You’ve been played. → Read More
I wonder if we might be getting a little causation mixed in with our correlation here. Roku’s CEO has noted that when the Apple TV launched at the beginning of September, Roku sales saw a jump. I mean, not like day-of (though maybe a little, since we gave the little box a big plug at the time), but since that time, sales have actually doubled. → Read More
Roku has released firmware update 2.9 which includes 1080p support in their XR devices. There are a few other bug fixes in the release including Hulu optimization for all devices. You can download it manually (“To do so please select “Settings” option from the homepage, then navigate to “Player Info” and finally choose “Check For Updates”. Your box will then prompt you with the latest version install. “) or let your box grab it automatically next time you turn it on. → Read More
Get a jump of Cyber Monday kids, the Roku XD is going on sale today for a quite reasonable $79.99 $63.99. The sale started this morning as 12:00am, and is good though the end of Cyber Monday (11:59 on 11/29). Go pick one up now from the Roku website, and keep in mind that the XD is the model that offers 1080p streaming, enhanced remote, and the addition of WiFi N. Oh, and you can stream content from Netflix, Hulu Plus, NHL, MLB, Pandora, and all of the other custom channels you can get through Roku XD. Note: Due to an overload of cranberry sauce, my math was a bit off of on exactly what the deal was. This has been corrected. Apologies to those who were confused. → Read More
