Slashdot Mirror
$100 Roku Netflix Player Targets Apple TV
Binge notes CNet coverage of the Netflix Player by Roku, which it calls "bare-bones." Less than 10% of Netfilx's catalog is available for the Instant Viewing option. Three more Netflix players are said to be due for release by the end of the year. The Roku is "...the first product that allows subscribers to have movies and TV shows from the service's Instant Viewing feature (aka 'Watch Now') to be streamed directly to their TV screen... With the release of the Netflix Player, subscribers need only have a wired or wireless broadband connection to access the entire Instant Viewing catalog through their TV."
Because if Netflix offers more movies maybe you can ditch that evil company called Comcast and save some dough in the progress. The customer service ratings just came out and Comcast and Charter tied for last place by having the most dis-satisfied customers.
I hit the FCC to see if I could get internal shots of this widget, no luck, alas. Interestingly, though, their earlier Soundbridge product appears to be based on a BlackFin DSP core(read, supported by ucLinux). This thing could kick ass as a homebrew STB if the internals are reasonably friendly. That goes double if somebody can get a mythTV frontend running on one.
If anybody knows anthing about the internals, do tell.
I certainly hope for more out of these type devices in the future, but I can certainly say I'm interested. If nothing else it's a cheap piece of hardware that (hopefully!) just works and adds a benefit to my subscription. Plus without the FIOS TV options and lackluster cable options I've loved Netflix or e-hits ever since I started using those types of services. I'm also glad to see that some people at least are trying to move forward with ideas like this.
"What do you think: is the Netflix Player a game-changing product that bests Apple TV?"
Even foaming at the mouth Apple fanboys are embarrassed by Apple TV and its failure in the marketplace due to the usual reasons - overpriced, under-featured.
Actually, this is the exact product I've been looking for! We have a satellite dish, but prefer to rent movies from Netflix or from the local video store (much cheaper and convenient). But to watch the streaming Netflix option, the only choice is the computer and that only works really for 1 person (as we don't have a couch in the office). Someday I imagine we'll kick the satellite dish out completely, and just rely on streaming movies, Netflix, and over-the-air television.
The $100 price tag is a little high, especially to watch a limited selection of streaming movies with bad resolution and poor sound (at least on my relatively slow DSL line). It is certainly a niche market, but will help some Netflix customers (like me).
The 'small selection' available from netflix is around 8000 movies, how many are available through itunes? They were set to have over 1000 available by the end of february, have they surpassed 8000 titles available yet?
-
http://vancouvercondo.info
-
An interesting little box. I wouldn't mind having one. I have Netflix (which I love) but don't use their streaming service since I'm a Mac guy. I like that they have it all ready for HD.
If I had no decent boxes, I'd buy one.
But I have a TiVo Series 3. It's a fantastic box. It can handle this kind of stuff. I really don't want another box at this point that can do this kind of stuff, that I have to switch between. I've already got my TiVo, my DVD player, and my 360. I don't need another single use box.
Netflix said they were in chats with other people to make more boxes. Having this integrated into a DVD/Blu-Ray player would be nice. I think they were thinking of letting the PS3 or 360 do this.
I'll gladly use it should it become available for my TiVo.
But again kudos to them for getting it out so fast after the announcement, charging so little ($100? No monthly fee above my current 3 disc subscription level?), and having it all ready for when they have an HD catalog.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
How about because if you already pay for netflix, this service is entirely free.
meaning i can watch any of the "Watch it Now" movies (and TV shows) they offer simply by using this device.
And the sheer number (and its been increasing rather dramatically lately) of titles available simply dwarfs the offerings from any on demand service available.
Can you watch Dexter Season 1? Tripping the Rift Season 1, Heroes Season 1 and 2, A Fairly large number of Anime titles, a fairly large number of older movies from the 80's and 90's?
you may not want to, but some people do, and now they can without t he need to have a cable or even a satellite connection in their home.
I actually use my Vista MC with a netflix plug-in to do this all the time.
I already purchased and have been using the D-Link DGP1200 bought at walmart for $180 to do the exact same thing.
Unlike the Roku, you can watch any content on your PC, and even get to the Netflix site to choose the movie you want to watch (if you have a bookmark to get their) It is even technically HD quality (though the stream from netflix isn't.)
With a pile built of a DVD/VCR Combo, stereo system, vinyl player, over-the-air digital converter, and some old Nintendoes, I don't need another box to wire up.
I wouldn't mind hearing about Netflix escaping the Windows/IE trap. I would approve of streaming Netflix to my laptop that's running Ubuntu. Well, if the wireless card would work on it...
Though the Netflix OnDemand selection is weak and old, it's a lot larger than the free Comcast OnDemand selection. While Comcast's selection grows if you have premium channels it's still smaller than Netflix's selection.
If you already have Netflix, then once you have the device there's no extra cost. While most of Comcast's OnDemand library is free, not everything is and not everyone has Starz/HBO/Showtime. Meanwhile some of those shows are (or at least were) offered via NetFlix OnDemand.
I'ts not a must-by, but if you're a Netflix customer with a high speed connection then it's a tempting self-birthday gift.
Like game consoles and DVRs and such. Of course, this is hindered by these companies having their own video download service. I'd imagine a Wii Netflix channel could work (none of the videos are in HD, right?), but apparently they use WMV. That would work well with 360, but Microsoft has their own video download service.
How about... because you dont want to give a single dollar more to Comcast for their abysmal handling of their own internet traffic, and traffic shaping of selective protocols?
Anything that drives comcast out of business and destroys their line of thinking that they are 'so big that nobody will challenge us' is a positive for the rest of the internet community.
Screw You Comcast!
Check out Popcornhour.com. They have a streaming media box for US$179 which plays almost everything: xvid, x264 (.mkv), dvd ISO images, etc. at up to 1080p.
I'm not related to the company, just a very happy owner of 2 of these devices.
Trolling is a art,
Let's see... Comcast is $85 per month (Minneapolis area). Netflix is $5 per month. That is why you might need/want this.
So when do we get a MythTV plugin? That would be the best solution so we don't need extra hardware around the living room.
Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
What do you think: is the Netflix Player a game-changing product that bests Apple TV? Or is the selection too lackluster to be worth even its $100 asking price?
Selection will improve. It may a commercial mistake to release without the full library behind it, but I think it will still find some measure of success. Either way, this is a win for customers. Something this cheap is really going to threaten the other players. For starters, the streaming quality is a non-issue for most, which makes the price difference look all the more appealing. The scant library is a downer, but again that will be fixed. The only problem I see in the system is ISP's mucking things up. They scream about taking down net neutrality to augment this sort of thing, but in the end people actually using the bandwidth they payed for will make them much angrier.
I like that netflix is jumping into the mix. Still, I would prefer the Internet not to be hijacked by video on demand when we have such an expensive cable system already available. However, I've come to the realization that video on demand is already moving forward on the net, and the best I can hope for is video on demand platform be the most customer friendly one as possible.
I got a catholic block.
I now see they meant "first standalone netflix device". This doesn't require another PC to be actively turned on (though you still must have a PC or network appliance to use netflix, to select the movies.)
...but if this thing is as slick as the roku soundbridge, methinks I'll finally get a netflix subscription. I love my soundbridge (well, not this weekend while rokuradio was having mysql backend issues...is that fixed yet?).
I just looked over the info at Roku's site and I think I'm finally prepared to say... This is the one we've all been waiting for.
While Roku's refreshingly good industrial and UI design looks like it should help, though, here's the real reason this is going to be huge:
I don't think I can overstate the importance of having a single monthly payment to rent a good number of movies and TV shows versus the failed model of "buying" movies that will never leave your set-top box or even the yet unproven model of renting them at $4 a pop with the remote. This is why Netflix beat Blockbuster and it's why they'll beat Apple TV.
This is the thing that will kill the DVD and cable at the same time.
What it comes down to, for now, is Netflix's significantly preferable all-you-can-eat model versus Apple TV's significantly greater selection. But the Netflix selection is only getting bigger.
Your mind is clear / The things that you fear / Will fade with how much you / Believe what you hear
This is about $9/month after an initial $100 investment. That's less than $18/month if you only use it for a year, and gives you access to 10,000 programs (including TV shows).
If Comcast even offers $18/month service, it's because your municipality wrote it into the contract and it's going to be local channels in analog only.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
1) Roll out an on-demand video service so crippled by DRM restrictions that it can work in only ONE browser (IE), and on only ONE platform (Windows) - and those only if you have the tip-top absolute latest releases and updates.
/tsg/
2) Find that half your customers can't (or won't) use your service as a result.
3) License others to make special-purpose hardware just to get around the restrictions in (1) and take a big cut of that.
4) Profit!!!!!
Only $8.99 and higher plans get the streaming service. Your intended point is valid though.
But, regular Netflix apparently has MANY more times the titles on dvd than on this unit they're selling.
Besides, if you get this unit, how will you ever "back up" a copy of the movie like you can with the physical dvd.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I thought Roku got killed by the Fire Lord over 100 years ago!
My other sig is extremely clever...
No onboard disk cache, an absolute max bitrate of 2Mb/s, and max resolution of 480p make this box basically the worst streaming solution for early adopters. Netflix needs to resolve some more basic issue with their service before they try and make a serious run at hardware streaming end points. For instance their service autodetects your bandwidth and selects what it feels is an appropriate bitrate for your viewing w/o giving you any option cache a larger portion of the video in advance and allow a higher overall bitrate/quality. Who is the target audience for this? People with a hankering for poor quality SD movies from a large back catalog whom also own a set with HDMI inputs and a highspeed data connection? Seriously guys, try a bit harder on the RD side next time.
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
I have not tried this, or Apple TV, or anything similar - but I'm not sure I'd enjoy the experience anyway.
I have enough trouble trying to stream a crappy video off of Youtube via a cable connection. I have to worry about the bandwidth being used by the rest of the family, I have to worry about the amount of traffic at the other end, i have to worry about not getting screwed by the cable company who is trying to cram my whole neighbourhood into a tightly controlled unit.
It just doesn't seem like I'd be able to get a pleasant experience out of this -- and if I have to keep waiting while it buffers, I may as well just go rent a scratched DVD from the Blockbuster.
Awesome price.
Awesome interface.
Awesome hardware.
Sucky video quality.
Sucky audio.
"Quality is not great, even at 2.2 Mbps"
"everything is stereo now"
I'll plunk down my $100 and switch to Netflix instantly when HD comes out, Bluray's win didn't last long...
"Netflix is planning HD streaming, and this box will support it. When Netflix gets HD streaming content, they'll update the box by firmware to support HD resolutions at higher bitrates of 4-6mbps, including 5.1 surround."
I'm hoping it's just licensing issues that's causing them to not be able to offer the "many more titles".
And backing up a copy of the movie would be irrelevant with this service, as you could watch it at any time, as many times as you want.
That is, if they continue to stay in business (and they likely will).
Roku had a really cool HD Media Player box, which was Linux based and extensible. If this thing is derived from that same platform (with hardware accelerated HD MPEG2 playback) this is a huge bargain.
If it is a closed box, which only does Netflix, it is not so interesting.
Well, starting at $8.95 per month, I think you could still afford to go & purchase a few DVD's a month. Alternatly hook up your VCR (Or DVD recorder) and record it just like you would from Cable TV :D
I get mine via DSL on the copper wires they used to refer to as phone lines :)
The rumor floating around earlier was that software would be available to PS3 and 360 owners so that they could watch these movies on their consoles. I've got a 360 and I already use it as my DVD player. I'd love to watch the streaming movies on the TV easily rather than use my computer either with its monitor or some complicated streaming setup (which is especially difficult since I use Linux and "Watch now" doesn't support Linux).
Until comcast yanks your internet connection. I dunno why all you poor saps can't just wait a couple months for movies to come out.
Problem is netflix's streaming offering is really low quality video. My AppleTV has a HD rental function that looks as good as my BluRay player does.
This is NOT competition for the Apple Tv. it's an offering for the poor that want a halfed assed option for cheaper.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
And I'd LOVE to use their instant viewing feature but I don't have a Windows machine. I have a Mac Mini and a PS3 for all movie viewing via their respective media GUIs. Why Netflix doesn't have streaming on platforms other than Windows and these new dedicated devices is beyond me. It would certainly be cheap enough to do and provide instant market share for them.
I'm a mac guy too and I am somewhat ticked off by this announcment. For a year or so now they have had a web page saying they are "working hard" to get netflix ondemand service for their mac customers but Apple is preventing them.
How could apple possibly be standing in there way. If they can implement it on a PC or if Amazon NBC and SCIfi channel can get Flash streaming to work why do they have to ask for Apple's permission?
Bah. It was this box they were developing. They had zero interest in making onDemand available to their apple customers.
I hate liars.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Does netflix pay for the usage over your 250gb a month cap when Comcast cuts to that? If not, you might want to add 1.50 per gig to the monthly cost.
I think most of us do it as a free service for Netflix, in thanks for all their convenience and great business model. If they ever lose their copies....we're there for them!!
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
My personal opinion it looks ugly! Looks like a cable box from the 80's.
Heh. It's funny. In the UK, ADSL is all there is, Cable is damn rare. (Yes, I know if you are in the right area it's available.)
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
I prefer iTunes, but I hope that competition from Netflix forces that idiot at the helm of Apple, what's his name - to realize that people actually like and want subscription based content.
"Quality is not great, even at 2.2 Mbps"
Yeah, no kidding. I've watched instant Netflix movies through their Internet Explorer client, and even with 1.5 Mbps DSL, the quality is at their lowest "Basic" level, which I consider worse that TV quality.
Their selection of titles is also pretty miserable. I could flip through 100 cable channels and be more likely to find something I like than browsing through their "Instant" films.
If they could improve both quality and selection, then they would definitely have a cool product. As it is, I find myself more likely to watch content from Hulu.com than from Netflix.
Depends on your viewing habits. Personally, we had Netflix and Comcast. We ditched the $70+/month Comcast TV and kept the $15/month Netflix. The 3 DVD's at a time and the watch instantly easily fill up our month. now, fair enough I don't get to watch everything I want instantly, but that's not important to me and quick math tells me that I'm saving >$840 over the year. I'm streaming Netflix into my 42" TV with coaxial audio and it looks as good as a standard DVD, but then I get damn good download speed at my house. I can see the utility of a stand alone box - as long as it's reasonably responsive.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
its funny.
they have these things called DSLAMS.
They put them up in neighborhoods.
Where people live.
And then run a connection back to the central office.
funny how i can live a LONG way from my local CO, yet have a remote DSLAM just down the street.....
all the phone lines go right to it.
hmmmmmmmmm
What I would love to see is the ability to stream Netflix vids to my PS3....screw having to buy all these separate gadgets, let alone the space they take up.
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
See, I have the Apple TV, and I've loved it since day one. I double love it since the "2.0" major firmware updates and feature additions. But the wife, you see, has had netflix for years. And since they added the streaming movie feature, she watches maybe 4 or 5 flix that way a month. Thing is though, the selection pool is by and large old B movies nobody would've watched on purpose if they weren't really in the mood for something cheesy.
So basically, the Apple TV and the Roku are rather complementary in my opinion. The Roku is the source for cheap totally random movie watching and the Apple TV gives me my higher end rentable new releases, my podcasts and music directly from my media housing computer, and lots of other nice aspects. So yeah, I don't see this really being any kind of direct competition unless you have absolutely no taste or preference of your movies, then I guess the cheapest crap in the barrel would please you as much as the top of it.
I read the script, and I think it would help my character's motivation if he was on fire. -Bender
Wow, I see the 'conceited fuck' knob goes up to 11.
Try rephrasing that with a little less vitriol next time. Sometimes we poor unwashed masses like a little entertainment as well. I suppose my used Corolla is just a half-assed option for the poor who can't afford a Mercedes.
Am I really the only person who is insulted by this? Or am I just biased by being 'poor?'
The cnet article missed the interesting bit - that Roku's founder (and Replay TV's as well), Anthony Wood, worked at Neflix for a while on this and then returned to Roku, and Neflix bought a stake in Roku, as reported here.
Hmm... I've had the opposite experience; Netflix's streaming video has been nearly DVD quality most of the time for me. My broadband is usually ~4.5Mbps down.
With no monthly limit plans starting @ $8.99 a month, that ain't a bad deal IMO. Watch as many DVDs as you can mail back in a month, plus unlimited titles from their streaming catalog.
I wish their streaming catalog was a bit more robust, but I expect that will only improve over time.
Pi Ran Out
Or, it's an option for those of us who already have BluRay, already have Netflix and don't mind throwing a $100 one time fee to be able to watch the limited offering whenever we want to.
I placed an order already. I wouldn't buy it for $5 a month, but for a one time fee this is a gadget I'm more than willing to tinker with and if I don't like it so be it.
Plus, if you search around a bit you'll see that the box itself is HD capable and they'll upgrade it if the netflix offering ever gets upgraded. I don't want the apple because it's a bunch of stuff and a per viewing fee. I mostly watch movies while I'm falling asleep so I hate paying $5-$15 a piece for a one time viewing. Now, I can just load up some TV episode or bad 80s movie I've watched a million times and have it stream.
I am a little worried that the quality won't look great on a 60inch TV... but if I'm wrong, I've got a $99 box with HD outputs that I can take apart and tinker with.
You're not the target audience, so don't buy one and enjoy the higher priced, higher quality cost per-use player you did purchase.
They put them up in neighborhoods.
Where people live.
And then run a connection back to the central office. I wouldn't get that impression from Slashdot stories about network neutrality or about ISPs acting evil and/or rude. I seem to read a lot of comments from Slashdot users who female-dog that they're too far from the closest DSLAM to get decent service.
May I point you to the Roku Photobridge forums, where a bunch of abandoned users hang out.
Oh, the Roku Photobridge was a great machine back in 2005. It's main purpose was to view pictures from you digital camera at HD resolutions and to play MP3's, but it didn't take long for people to realize that everything you needed to upconvert DVD-quality movies (stored on your network) to HD was there. Or even to play HD video pulled from your TiVo or MythTV. Almost.
They promised a better video player... But never delivered...
They promised a faster connection for HD... But never delivered...
They promised to open up the firmware... But never delivered...
They promised an update to make subtitles and DTS possible (they weren't even going to do it, just stop the accidental prevention of these things by the third-party developers)... They never delivered.
People waited years for these features, which were always "just around the corner".
Basically, once the SoundBridge took off, they just completely abandoned their small but faithful user group. The group wasn't even asking for much, just the source code so they could figure out how to make their own updates and how to interface with the hardware themselves.
But, I got tired of the lack of DTS support, the sound stuttering which got progressively worse, etc. My DirecTV DVR and PS3 now cover all the features that it did and do it much better.
I would be very hesitant to buy things from Roku with the track record they have established. If the "Netflix player" doesn't take off, you might be the next owner of an abandoned product.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
You're insulted by being called poor? You should probably try to make more money then.
Umm, unless something has changed Netflix computer-based online streaming service doesn't work with OS X. If they want to compete with Apple for the Apple TV perhaps make the software so that Apple people can use their computer with it as well?
Tibbon
tibbon.com
This. I could basically avoid paying for TV shows on AppleTV at $2 each and just use this since I already have Netflix. In fact, I could even lower my subscription plan since I wouldn't have to wait anymore, except for new releases.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
it's an offering for the poor that want a halfed assed option for cheaper.
Perhaps he should consider the half-assed option and use the savings to pay for spelling lessons - either that or Mr rich should have ordered his PA to type his comment - or was he/she busy trying to find his "fuck knob" at the time?
BM3
No, I am not insulted by being called poor. I am insulted by being referred to contemptuously, as though people without large excesses of money to blow on entertainment are below consideration.
I watch a lot of stuff from NetFlix using my laptop. I totally expected the video quality would be too poor to watch, but was quite surprised that it's good enough (but just barely). It's about the same as a beat up old VHS tape, if you're old enough to remember that.
You don't have to "search around a bit", you can see lots of info at roku.com. (No, I don't work there, I just found it after realizing that none of the various news articles had much info.)
No, they're required to broadcast the locals in digital too, unencrypted.
Is netflix now responsible for Comcast's business practices?
I didnt know Netflix had a minority stake owned by Comcast.
If such a scenario is something you are worried about, and you are STILL using comcast, then it is up to YOU to find the time to find yourself at your local municipalities monthly public hearings about their cable provider status.
However, if the most a comcast subscriber is going to do is just complain about it, yet still pay the monthly bill, well then I guess they have you right where they need you.
You have a Corolla? My mule died today, I guess I'll be walking from now on.
Will this things support closed captioning? Our (wife and I) biggest complaint about Netflix's streaming movies is the lack of captioning, since neither one of us can hear worth a damn.
They've been "working on" captioning as long as the Mac version...
So you hate the video quality, but expect the HD version which requires even MORE bandwidth to look magically better.
Yep, sure is a Blu-Ray killer.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Don't count on any company to "continue to stay in business", especially if this implies "forever".
The selection's better. Comcast just gives you a sliding window into the library, Netflix gives you all their Instant content on any given day.
How about... because you dont want to give a single dollar more to Comcast for their abysmal handling of their own internet traffic, and traffic shaping of selective protocols?
How long until they start traffic-shaping the Netflix streams? Sounds to me like large amounts of data.Isn't ABC.com already streaming HD? Or is that fake HD?
I'd like to know if the Netflix streaming service is coming to game consoles. They're powerful enough and connected enough to do this. Even the Wii, with its mere 730 MHz CPU, does near DVD quality internet streaming video through its "Nintendo Channel" (ads for games viewable on the console).
2.2 Mbps? No thanks...
That's not even good enough for my 32" tv, let alone my 77" front projector screen on which I watch all my movies.
So, if the Roku set-top box runs Linux as shown here then why don't they support Linux with their regular desktop instant viewing service?
They already have a planned firmware upgrade which will take it to 1080i. Better than anything else currently out there.
it has a max of 720p (possibly I) Nowhere near as good as Blu-Ray. Let's check our fanboy-ism at the door.
I really wish that these types of devices would get away from the obsession with streaming.
I say this because to accomplish "start playing the movie in two minutes" streaming you have to degrade the picture quality to a point that I find very noticeable (by both reducing the resolution and increasing the compression).
I've had my bluray player and 46" 1080p TV for six months now and I've really gotten used to that quality level. Highly compressed 720p (or, oh god, 480p) looks like a big step backwards.
So please, please, big companies, offer an option for local storage, bluray quality, and overnight downloads for people like me. Please.
Also, if Cable TV, gets killed, the "triple play" pricing scheme goes away, and so does the cheap cable modem. I could see it working if Netflix cut a deal with comcast, or comcast improves on demand substantially... but i'm not holding my breath on that one.
Can we take this little box with us, and hook it up to the TV in our hotel room? Most hotel TV's do provide easy access to the external inputs (mostly for video games etc.), and many hotels provide ethernet/wifi. Seems like we could avoid the high cost of PPV etc.. Not sure what the average hotel internet bandwidth is though...seems like this still might be a useful option, and still better than watching movies on a laptop. Anyone tried this yet?
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
netflix's video quality depends entirely on your connection speed. Obviously your connection is crap.
But is that "Ready for HD" as in
"Near future as we begin to add HD titles" ?
or as in
"If someday you get an ISP that offers more bandwidth than all of the ones currently available to you"
On the other hand, a TiVo or XBox360 has the buffering capacity to present HD without ultrahigh bandwidth. I don't really mind waiting a few hours, or even until the next day--that's still a lot faster than waiting for the disk to come in the mail.
The killer here will be if they can get newer movies. Of course it'll never happen. $8.95 for unlimited new movie watching? HBO/starz/etc all go under. This is the box we've all been waiting for, just needs a little more content to be worth it, of the 60 movies in my netflix queue, only 4 are ok for instant viewing. Looking around there is stuff I may watch, but nothing super great. Now what I rally want is the rumored $5 disc you can pop into your Xbox to do this.
Yeah, damn Scientologists:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elron
I don't think you're the only one. I mean really, even those who do have more money would probably be better off with the netflix option. You pay the $100 for the box and the subscription and you get both movies through the mail and ones directly to the TV.
The quality settings are based upon the connection speed. And if you just want to watch a movie, the quality is just fine. Not Film buff fine, but it's definitely watchable and less expensive.