Inside the Tech of the Roku Netflix Player

MojoKid writes "A little over a week ago Netflix unveiled the Netflix Player, developed by the team at Roku, a set-top box for watching on-demand movies and TV. This interview with Tim Twerdahl, the VP of Consumer Products for Roku, goes into some detail about the guts of the box and the future of the set-top box. Of course the system runs an embedded Linux OS, but interestingly also runs on a Nexperia (Philips) media processor."

Comments

One box

[Enderandrew]

My only complaint is that I don't want tons of different boxes. That is part of the reason I stayed away from Tivo and waited for my cable provider to offer DVR in my cable box. I already have on demand movies and TV through my cable box.

I'm not sure why I should purchase a second box to add functionality I already have, despite the fact that this box would presumably offer a much larger library of content.

Of course the system runs an embedded Linux OS

[frovingslosh]

So the obvious question is, where do I get the source code?

Future capabilities

[proxima]

I'm tempted by one of these, being a Netflix subscriber who doesn't use the streaming service at all (I use Linux and Mac OS X). Since this thing runs Linux, I suspect that Netflix is offering their videos in a different form than the normal desktop version, perhaps even without DRM. It's my understanding that the reason there is no Mac client is because the MS-designed codec/DRM is not available for OS X.

It's also tempting to get one of these for these for what the future might bring. Netflix could up their quality and this device is supposed to theoretically do up to 720p. It doesn't seem unreasonable for them to implement streaming from local sources (especially things like music). Still, I don't want to buy a device and end up disappointed when they don't do anything with the feature set. I've been burned by that before, with an iriver mp3 player a few years back that was supposed to add ID3 database capability to a firmware update. It never came.

The one thing you probably can be guaranteed of is more movies from Netflix. It'd be interesting to know which movies/shows they've tried but have been unable to get the digital rights for. The rate of growth of the movie database will have to slow at some point; let's hope it's not anytime soon.

Before I get this, I need to hook up a Windows computer to my internet connection and see whether I get the "best" video quality from my DSL. The complaints I've seen about Netflix video quality are often due to people not being able to sustain the highest quality download. Since we already seem to be right around the max of DSL/cable modem speeds to get in the realm of DVD 480p quality, any HD movies will likely need some serious caching capability or really nasty compression. I'd rather have low-compression 480p than high-compression 720p, but that's because I don't have an HDTV.

It's too bad the cable and phone companies are competing in the streaming movie segment; it'd be nice to have Netflix mirrors sitting at my ISP, but that doesn't seem too likely. It's also unfortunate that without some sort of net neutrality agreement, my ISP could make Netflix streaming all but useless quite easily.

Still, for $99, it shouldn't be too hard to get your money's worth. They certainly priced it right.

Re:Future capabilities

[tmalone]

My main complaint with Netflix has been quality. I like that shows never seem to studder, but often times my eyes get tired of the blurry video. I hope they plan to add the option to cache more of the movie on this box because there is no way I'm gonna pay $100 for this thing if I'm stuck with blurry video, only now on a larger screen.
The price point is good but I see no compelling reason to buy it unless it offeres more features. They should've added some AppleTV like abilities. Otherwise I'll just plug my laptop into my TV like I do now. I don't need to spend $100 for that.
Really, it is in their best interests to get as many people on this as possible as it will lessen the load on their shipping centers. Right no it just doesn't offer very much. As nice as it sounds to be able to watch Saved By The Bell season 1 on my TV without hooking up my laptop, I'll have to pass for now. Maybe it'll be more exciting when Verizon finally extends FiOs to my area.

Re:Future capabilities

[mounthood]

Alternatives? How about flash, or H.264 over SSL? Why is there DRM at all, considering that they are sending the DVD's to people who can easily rip them if they want?

How about deregulation instead? Grump warning.

[Odder]

I'd rather see real competition in network service than some kind of BS regulation for monopoly service. It's fine to require neutrality out of companies that use public servitude lines but it's not OK to limit access to that servitude. A better solution will be open spectrum.

The details of the box are going to be what you expect. A tivo like mix of free and non free code that GPL 3 is designed to bust. I want one of these things like I want a tivo or a paperweight.

Re:interesting for firefox & linux users

[CastrTroy]

Are the any VM's fast enough to decode video with good sound without skipping?

Re:interesting for firefox & linux users

[Firehed]

Why would you pay software licenses for XP and VMWare or Parallels for the sole purpose of doing what this box does at half the cost?