Roku Netflix Player

From the company that brought you the SoundBridge networked audio device, Roku just introduced their Netflix Player. The player is $100 and roughly the size five stacked CD jewel cases. It has plenty of connections in back including HDMI, component, RJ45 and legacy ports. Anyone with a Netflix account over $9 can stream the entire online catalog. Interestingly, the navigation is done via Netflix’s browser interface. After you choose your movie, you hit play and it starts streaming. Movies start playing almost immediately and the quality level depends on your connection speed. There is no downloading here, only streaming (with a tiny buffer), so seeking is slow. For a one time investment and a Netflix account that most of us already have, the entry price for having unlimited access to a library of 10,000 titles is definitely enticing.