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Roku Now Licensing Its Media Player Design
DeviceGuru writes "Roku has begun licensing its A/V media streaming set-top-box hardware and software technology to third-party device makers. Netgear, Roku's first licensee, will soon offer a Netgear-branded version of the recently size- and cost-reduced Roku XDS box through Best Buy, Fry's, and Radio Shack stores. Although Roku's licensing move follows closely on the heels Google's October rollout of the Google TV platform, the $60 to $100 Roku XD player design's low-cost, low-power, compact design, and sheer ease-of-use make it a compelling alternative to Google TV, assuming Google's platform results in prices like Logitech's $300 Revue. As a small example, the Roku player most likely uses an inexpensive, power-stingy MIPS-based NXP processor in contrast to the Revue's more power-thirsty, expensive, and spacious Atom processor."
HDMI can carry 8 channels of audio and considering that's the direction everyone is heading, I doubt you'll see your fiber optic connection.
But more to the point, most of Netflix's selection is only in stereo. If you're serious about quality, you should be renting Blu-rays and not streaming.
Standard USB doesn't provide enough power for a device like this, especially if the device itself is a USB host. And Power over Ethernet is not a standard for consumer electronics.
The XD|S model has optical audio, as well as component video for those of us that bought high quality systems before HDMI was widely available. Unfortunately there aren't enough of us around to justify putting those on the base model where saving cost is high priority, so we have to fork out for the high-end model.
Take a look at the HDFury3. You get hdmi in and component/digital audio out. If also handles the hdcp.
from Wikipedia:
In order not to have to ship an AC adapter, the manufacturer would have to be certain that a nearby device has a Dedicated Charging Port. Which device might this be?