Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/4016/roku-xd-streaming-for-the-masses
Netgear Roku XD: Streaming for the Masses
by Alan Lueke on November 12, 2010 12:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- Roku
- NetGear
- Gadgets
The Netgear/Roku Partnership, Bringing the Roku to a Store Near You
Logitech, Netgear, and D-link; these are names that usually conjure images of webcams, routers, network switches, and perhaps a few other peripherals, but that is about to change with product offerings meant not for your PC and the recesses of your basement but for your living room. Netflix was once a company focused on competing with the likes of video rental chains with a disc-in-the-mail movie service. With some of the large video store chains bankrupt, Netflix announced that they have officially become a streaming company, and it is estimated that Netflix accounts for as much as twenty percent of all downstream internet traffic during peak hours here in the United States.
However, there is far more content on the web than what Netflix offers. With the rise of Hulu and other video sites, more and more content becomes available online and it can be consumed for far less—if not completely free—than what is offered by cable and satellite companies. What's more, the user has complete control over what is on. There is one problem with this new glut of content: getting all of it into the living room without having to browse countless webpages.
That was the key to the success of a PC application called Boxee, which compiled many of the different internet streaming media sources into one application with a (reasonably) easy to use UI. The only real hang-up was the PC itself required for such applications. Many consumers balk at the idea of purchasing a computer purely for media streaming/HTPC use, with cost and aesthetics being common complaints.
So, that is where the old network/peripheral companies and their large distribution networks come into play. Boxee chose to partner with D-link in the creation of the stand-alone Boxee Box that should be available any time now. Logitech has paired up with the newly release Google TV to bring you the Logitech Revue experience. The personal computing titans have given us their own takes, Apple with the Apple TV while Microsoft elected to build those features into its Xbox 360 console.
And what of Netgear? They have teamed with Roku, a company that produced media streaming boxes once only available over the internet, but now they're showing up at Best Buy, Fry's, etc. with Netgear rebranding. Today we'll look at the Roku XD, which is the middle tier of the three Roku offerings. Below is a list of the different boxes and their features, straight off the Roku website.
What You Get with the Roku XD
Netgear ships the Roku XD with a small no-frills remote, composite video cables, a brief manual… and that's it. Everything you need to get the device hooked up and running to an SD TV is included. The device can connect to your network via its RJ-45 Ethernet port or via the built-in wireless b/g/n adapter. If you want HD support and multi-channel audio, you will have to bring your own HDMI cable to the party.
The design is all about function rather than form. The remote is simple and black, without so much as text to let you know what the buttons do; instead, white images on black buttons is all you get. The box itself is a mere one inch tall and five inches wide and another six inches deep to make for an extremely unobtrusive footprint. While idling, my Roku XD used 3.8W of power; that "jumped" up to the 5.9W range while streaming an HD movie over Netflix. It's not as good as some other streamers we have looked at such as the Apple TV, but since we're not looking at a battery operated device 6W is hardly worth mentioning—it will raise the yearly electric bill by perhaps $5 if run 24/7.
Looking inside, I discovered the NXP PNX8935 SoC. This chip from NXP handles the latest HD video formats including H.264 and VC1/WM9 at resolutions of up to 1080p. It seems likely that the same chip powers all three Roku offerings, while the peripheral chips attached are likely varied—i.e. the USB controller, network chip, etc. Unfortunately, without the other two models on hand, I cannot comment on the exact differences at the hardware level. The picture below shows the general layout of PNX8935 SoC based systems.
The hardware should be more than sufficient for most streaming services; however, there isn't the sort of container format support you would expected from a local media streamer such as the Patriot Box Office or the WD TV Live. The primary goal of a box like this is streaming support, and while the XD/S adds USB support for local playback, the file and container support isn't anything to write home about compared to other streaming devices focused on local media.
Setup, UI and Content
Having established that this is a device designed primarily for video streaming, I plugged it in to my receiver via HDMI and a power outlet and was immediately greeted by the screen below.
Things are starting off well. After configuring my display settings and my wireless network, the setup tool opens the Roku webpage to create a Roku account and sync my box up with that account. All in all the process was straightforward and went off without a hitch.
Once the syncing with a Roku account finishes, up comes the main menu; this same menu greeted me any time I started the player afterward. It isn't as flashy as many other players, with only a few options including a settings menu for the player, the channel store, and a few default channels the Roku wants to draw your attention too (Netflix, Hulu Plus, and the Amazon VOD store). Hulu Plus shows up as "Coming Soon" at the time of writing and we do not yet have a specific timetable for when that will be available; the website simply says November 2010 so it could be any day now.
Once inside the channel store, you can pick and choose from the Roku's list of supported content and add the channels to your main page. Pandora was one I quickly singled out. There is an extensive list of the publicly available content for the Roku available on their webpage; there are also private channels available through some of the Roku forums, and a quick search of the web will reveal some of the user generated content out there. These are channels not available in the channel store, but you can add them to your Roku player via a code process. If you still can't find your favorite web content, you can try downloading the Roku SDK and developing your own channels.
The implementation of the individual channels really varies. I found the Netflix channel with a search function excellent and easy to use, while a few others like Chow was just an endless series of videos I had to scroll through and back to find what I wanted. The above gallery has images of the store, as well as the Netflix and Amazon VOD interfaces. We'll add images for Hulu Plus when it becomes available.
Performance Breakdown and Final Words
As with most media streamers, there isn't much to say about the performance. The main questions are whether it streams seamlessly, and can it do HD content? In this case, the answer is yes on both counts. The Roku XD delivers a Netflix and Amazon VOD interface I found easy to navigate and responsive, although the remote seemed to delay inputs for me on occasion. I'm not sure if that is because of the positioning of the box, but I experienced issues even when I had a clear line of sight.
The Roku XD lists full 1080p support; most streaming sites limit their offerings to 720p or 1080i so it's tough to see 1080p support as much of an advantage over the $20 cheaper HD model that only supports the lower HD formats. Oddly enough, even the OS menus are at 720p according to my TV. Anyway, while 1080p support is there on the XD, I'm not sure the content is unless you want to venture into the YouTube realm. 1080p streaming support could be coming to Netflix in 2011, so if that's important it may be worth your while to buy the XD to extend the lifespan of the box. Even then, only 1080p24 and 1080p30 are supported by the XD and XD/S; 1080p60 is not supported.
As far as practical testing, I connected wirelessly to my 2.4 GHz band 802.11n network and tried some HD content through Netflix. I was impressed that my quality was set to HD over the wireless connection and connective via Ethernet wasn't necessary; sure, local WiFi ought to run faster than any streaming service but you never know. If your wireless connection speed drops for whatever reason during playback, the Roku Netflix channel will briefly exit the movie and rebuffer. (We confirmed this by starting several other downloads on our PC while the Roku was busy playing a move.) Our experience is that the Roku adjusts your stream quality to a lower setting to ensure stoppage free playback from that point on. However, should the bandwidth increase again the Roku continued to play the lower quality stream unless playback was manually stopped and restarted, so it's not a dynamic adjustment. The image quality was easily a match for what I typically enjoy through windows media center; it lacks some of the features that are typically present with a PC using a decent video card, but the image quality was excellent on my LCD TV. The UI may not be as elegant as some of the other offerings out there, but the box will stream web content in acceptable HD quality over wireless or wired.
While the Roku XD doesn't have some of the great styling of its competition from Logitech and Apple and Boxee, it does have excellent advantages that I think make this box a winner. First and foremost, it has a solid channel selection with an active development community that is bringing more and more content to the box—a must for any device of this type. If there isn't an active development community to bring new media to your box, it won't be long before it is obsolete.
The other thing the Roku brings you is a competitive price. At $80 for the basic Roku XD version we tested, you get a media streaming box with excellent streaming channel support, especially once Hulu is live, with 1080p HD support over HDMI. This puts it slightly below the list price of the Apple TV that lacks 1080p support, and it's in a completely different league from the Revue ($299), Boxee ($199) and Xbox ($199, $299). Those others offer keyboards and elegant UIs but not much additional streaming content over the Roku. At 5.9W of power consumption while streaming video, it also uses quite a bit less power than some of the larger devices, even if it's slightly above the numbers posted by the Apple TV.
Beyond the price, what may give this Box a chance for use in more homes is the inclusion of composite video. There are quite a few consumers who don't have the latest gaming consoles, and many homes don't even have an HDTV. HD content from your cable or satellite provider can likewise be expensive, not to mention adding a Blu-ray player and a receiver that is capable of decoding HD audio codecs. For the home theater enthusiast with all of those items, sure, there are other options for a media streamer. But what about a box that brings you Netflix and Hulu and other streaming options that will connect to your old tube TV?
The Roku is the type of device that can bring the streaming experience to a whole new audience—those without expensive HD equipment who may not have a game console, HTPC, or another device filling that role. Money will still need to be doled out for a broadband internet connection, but if you hook the thing up to an SDTV, you're not going to need a super fast connection either. All in all the Roku is an excellent product for those who want to cut the cable TV cord and the associated costs but don't want to invest heavily in new home theater equipment. For that type of user, I would definitely recommend the Roku as a way to join the streaming TV revolution and start watching what you want when you want, and the $60 price for the HD version is tough to beat.
For users with HD setups, the recommendation is less emphatic. If you're looking for something to provide streaming services on your HDTV with good image quality and a low price, the Roku HD will fit the bill. If you're looking to stream 1080p content as that becomes available, you may want to upgrade to the $80 or $100 model for the better wireless chip inside; the $100 version supports dual-band as well for added throughput. But if you'd like additional bells and whistles, such as excellent support for local media streaming, a futuristic UI, keyboard, ability to play games, etc. you may want to look at some of the more expensive options, or perhaps put together a basic HTPC. But if all you want to do is add streaming media services to any TV in your home, you can't really go wrong with the Roku.