Product Description
With Wi-Fi and High Definition playback capability built-in, Roku HD Player is the easiest way to stream top-quality instant movies and shows directly to your TV - over 50,000 and counting, from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more. The best-selling HD Player has everything you need to start enjoying endless entertainment from the comfort of your couch. No wonder it's Netflix members' top rated streaming player.
Product Details
- Brand: Roku
- Model: N1100
- Dimensions: 1.75" h x 5.00" w x 5.00" l, 1.00 pounds
Features
- Start watching movies on your TV in seconds using your high-speed Internet connection
- Instantly plays the entire Netflix Instant Watch library with your Netflix membership - no additional subscription required, viewing is unlimited
- Instantly plays over 45,000 movies and shows from Amazon Video On Demand
- Built-in wireless (Wi-Fi) and wired internet connectivity
- Plays High Definition as well as DVD-quality video; works with any TV
Editorial Reviews
Manufacturer's Description -- April 21, 2009
Manufacturer's Description -- The Roku player instantly delivers HD-quality movies and TV shows directly to your TV over the Internet. The affordable Roku player is compact, easy to set up and intuitive to use.
 The Roku comes with everything you need to start watching within minutes of opening the box - the standard yellow, white and red cables, both Wi-Fi and Ethernet are built in, wireless remote and batteries. Start watching instantly anywhere you have a TV and a high-speed Internet connection.
- More than 50,000 titles are currently available from Amazon Video On Demand and Netflix, with many available in HD.
- The Wall Street Journal, CNET, WIRED, and other publications have given the Roku player overwhelmingly positive reviews.
- For even better audio and video using the Roku player with your HDTV, home theater or A/V receiver, look for the Roku digital video player plus premium cable pack.
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As Easy As 1 - 2 - 3
 | 1. Wired or Wireless, The Choice is Yours
You can connect the Roku player to the Internet using most broadband providers (such as a cable modem or DSL connection.) You need at least 1.2 Mbps to watch movies instantly on the Roku digital video player with decent quality. The faster your connection, the better the quality (although this rule-of-thumb peaks out at about 5mbps). Use the built-in Wi-Fi capabilities to connect to your wireless network, or use the Ethernet port for a wired connection. It's easy either way. |
 | 2. Connect to Virtually Any TV, New or OldThe player comes complete with everything you need to get connected right away. It even includes the standard yellow, white and red cables. Or use the HDMI or component connections with your new HDTV. |
 | 3. Control is at your Fingertips and Easy to Understand
The Roku player is easily controlled using the handy included remote. Choose the item you want to watch, play, fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume play later, just like watching a DVD. |
Rent or Buy more than 50,000 Titles from Amazon Video On Demand
With Amazon Video On Demand Roku customers can now instantly watch more than 50,000 commercial-free movies and television shows, including hit new releases and the latest episodes available in HD.
 | Using an intuitive interface, customers can order movies right from their couch and enjoy instant playback without waiting for lengthy downloads or annoying commercials. Prices start as low as $.99 and no subscription fee is required |
 | Find
Choose from thousands of movies and TV shows by browsing in the Amazon Video On Demand section on your Roku. Access and add to your virtual library of purchases via Amazon Video On Demand’s Your Video Library and re-watch anytime on the Roku Player, your PC or Mac and other compatible devices. |
 | Rent or Buy
Renting and purchasing titles is a snap with the power of Amazon’s 1-click purchasing. Order new release movies and the latest TV shows right from your couch and you’re watching within seconds. Prices start as low as $.99. |
 | Watch
Using your Roku Player, enjoy Amazon Video On Demand’s high quality video on any TV. Videos playback instantly, without waiting for a download. Purchases and rentals are added to Your Video Library and stored online by Amazon so you can conveniently watch them on your Roku Player, PC or Mac, and other compatible devices. |
Customer Reviews
Amazing product and brilliant bang-for-your-buck
I purchased this in January, 2009 to add some additional value to my Netflix subscription. It has far surpassed my expectations, and has proven to be one of the best $100 I have spent in a long time. This is true especially in a down economy.
Here are the pluses, and the minuses, I have seen in the product after 2 months of daily use
Pluses:
1) Huge money saver: Having this box has allowed me to drop from 3 disks unlimited to 1 disk unlimited as well as drop cable entirely. The addition of Amazon on Demand is an even bigger value in that newly released movies will also be in abundant supply.
2) Ease of Set-up and use: I am a die hard apple fan because of their ease of use, and the set-up process was the easiest I have ever experienced. In less than 4 minutes I was watching a Netflix stream on my Sony HD TV. Also, the user interface is as straightforward as possible. A lot of thought went into it, and it shows. Bravo for one of the simplest interfaces I have ever utilized.
3) Clarity of picture: Unsrupassed and almost full HD. Often forget we are streaming over the internet.
4) It just works as advertised!
5) Customer Service: Video was skipping and contacted the customer service. You would never believe that a real live person answered the phone within 5 minutes on a Sunday night. Turns out it was a nework problem (see below). Amazing customer service!
Minuses:
1) The quality of your picture is tied to your internet speed. This has only been an issue once. My Charter Cable modem service averages above 4 meg downstream, but every once in a while the network performance drops. A call to charter fixed it. This is in no way an issue with the device, just something to be aware of. Check with your service provider on your speed before buying.
2) Direct Ethernet connection recommended for best picture: This is a limitation of my wireless network, but you may also have a similar set-up. My laptop has a G wireless card, and when it gets online the whole network slows down, and wireless video quality suffered. Solved it by using a direct ethernet connection, and recommend for everyone who is able to. Much more stable and very limited intereference.
That is my review to date. If you have Netflix and want to get Amazon on Demand there are few things that will be a pleasure to use and that will provide as much bang for your limited dollars. Thank you Roku, Netflix, and Amazon for such a wonderful product.
My best-spent entertainment dollar ever!
I was already a rent-by-mail convert -- switching between Blockbuster and Netflix for a couple of years. For an extra $99, this box has already piped in hundreds of hours of tv shows and movies, filling in the wait times between disks. The Netflix instant movie selection started out not great, but recently they have rotated in some big films like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, pop hits like Superbad, the original "Grindhouse" double feature package, as well as lots of older and more obscure releases for adventurous cineastes like me, with NO extra charge to a regular Netflix membership. The addition of Amazon streams will soon make a good thing even better, and more providers should be coming into the mix soon (Netflix has mentioned adding an HBO-on-demand service soon). I've had the player since its introduction in summer 2008, and I've gotten enough milrage out of it that if it blew up today, I'd have gotten way more than my money's worth. I've heard a fair number of technical complaints from other owners, but mine hasn't even had a single glitch since purchase. With the exception of occasional problems at the Netflix servers, and rare errors in Netflix video encodes (for instance, they sometimes accidentally put the director's commentary track onto a video intead of the theatrical soundtrack, but I think they've tightened up the quality control recently in this respect), it JUST WORKS! In these economic times, there's a lotta bang for the buck in this tiny box!
Kill the cable
This little box rocks. I have killed of all but my local channels on cable. This may have been the best $99. I have spent in years. My sons and I use it everyday. At first I was concerned about content, but there are like 12000 things to choose from...We have watched season 1,2 and in the process of season 3 of Heroes. You have no idea how cool it is to see shows like this with no commercials. Tons of movies to choose from. I really like the fact that the company has more than delivered on what they promised. I bought the box to add to my Netflix and now I can get amazon video on demand as well, and it didn't cost anything for the upgrade. How often has that happened...I am getting a ton more than I paid for. LOVE IT.
Blu-Ray technology is the next generation of optical disc format developed by the Blu-Ray Disc Association(BDA) and major developers of consumer electronics, computers, and media manufacturers around the globe. The technology will enable consumers to store large amount of data (5 to 6 times more than DVD), record/rewrite digital content, and watch high definition videos via Blu-Ray devices. The Blu-Ray disc comes in two types: Single layer disc which will be introduced first in the market and dual layer disc which will follow near future. The single layer can hold up to 25 GB of data which equates to about 2 hours of recording/playing time of digital content on HDTV and 13 hours of non-digital content from a regular television. The dual layer disc will hold data up to 50 GB and it will be mainly utilized for gaming (PS3) and entertainment purpose.
The current optical disc technology such as DVD utilizes red laser to read and write data. However, the Blu-Ray technology uses blue- violet laser to read and write. There are several differences between the red laser and blue laser. First, the wavelength of a blue-violet laser is shorter (405nm) than the red laser (650nm). Second, the numerical aperture has been improved to 0.85 from .60. The shorter wavelength of a blue-violet laser leads to more accurate focus on the laser spot, which makes it possible to pack more data onto a DVD sized disc. The numerical aperture measures the ability of a lens to gather and focus light. The aperture number 1 represents the greatest focusing power and smallest laser spot. The DVD?s numerical aperture ranges from .50 to .65 compared to the Blu-Ray?s numerical aperture of .85, making it a big improvement over the existing optical disc technology.
The technology industry has seen an explosive demand for the HDTV and consumer’s desire to record high definition content. Fueling the demand is the U.S government’s mandate to shut off analog broadcast by February 17th of 2009 and replace it with digital broadcast. The Blu-Ray technology was created out of necessity to meet the new demand and to set a new standard in the field of optical disc. This technology supports direct recording of the MPEG-2 TS (Transport Stream) which is used by many digital broadcasters globally. In other words, digital content from HDTV can be recorded directly to the disc without compromising quality and extraneous processing power. Also, Blu-ray will support MPEG-4 in H.264, and SMPTE, Microsoft’s Windows Media Video. The Blu-Ray’s 1x speed is rated at 36Mbps which is less than the required 54Mbps for movies and games. Movies and game discs will utilize at least 2x speed, which is 72Mbps data transfer rate, to complement the large amount of data required for high definition content. This fast rate is more than sufficient to record and playback HDTV while maintaining the original picture quality. It is very possible to watch playback video and record HD video at the same time through the use of random access feature offered by the Blu-ray technology.