Anyone use those Netflix-ready wireless devices ?

[youdontwannaknow]

Does anyone have and use one of those Netflix ready devices (players, tvs, roku, xbox) to watch streaming movies ?

I want to get an idea about the picture quality ? As compared to playing a DVD disc(if not bluray) in your player. Is it worse ? or not much difference ?

I have netflix and have used their "instant play" on my pc but what seems 'acceptable' on a 19" screen might look ugly on a 40" screen.
While I am not too picky, I am concious about audio/video quality. Low bandwidth highly compressed audio and video is not my thing.

So can anyone give me an idea what to expect ?

 

[bepperb]

I have a 50" HD DLP. I've watched a few netflix movies. The wireless isn't too bad, but it takes longer to start and fast forward because it buffers, and the quality is dependent on connection speed. So, you might prefer a wired connection to your router.

It looks about dvd quality. Possibly a bit worse, but certainly better than SD tv or a vhs tape and most would consider it dvd quality.

 

[Nitrox]

Brother got one, small black box, name starts with an "R", don't remember the full name. Hooked into the HDMI connection on the TV, and connects to the wireless router. You then go on netflix and select movies for instant viewing, those are what you can watch on your television. You can also view movies through Amazon movies online, and a couple other places. I think they were charging $2.99 per movie. If you've got a nice enough television and sound system, there'd be no point to spending $10 at a movie theater, plus the accompanying $12 for popcorn and soda.

 

[CivicFan]

I think the resolution is 480i and the compression depends on the bandwidth.

 

[youdontwannaknow]

another thing I have been trying to figure out is - whats different about this than hooking up a laptop to the TV via HDMI and using the internet connection of the laptop to watch the Instant Play/View movies from Netflix ?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: youdontwannaknow

I have netflix and have used their "instant play" on my pc but what seems 'acceptable' on a 19" screen might look ugly on a 40" screen.
While I am not too picky, I am concious about audio/video quality. Low bandwidth highly compressed audio and video is not my thing.


Nevermind.

 

[bepperb]

"another thing I have been trying to figure out is - whats different about this than hooking up a laptop to the TV via HDMI and using the internet connection of the laptop to watch the Instant Play/View movies from Netflix ?"

The laptop might be a better, but less elegant solution. Via the box you select movies from the instant play queue. From the laptop you can do everything you normally do. But, you'll have to hook up the cables every time, go through windows bootup, browse out... etc.

 

[digitaldrifter91]

Originally Posted By: youdontwannaknow
another thing I have been trying to figure out is - whats different about this than hooking up a laptop to the TV via HDMI and using the internet connection of the laptop to watch the Instant Play/View movies from Netflix ?


laptop and hdmi is a very clean signal, i hear that the dvd player with netflix sucks. My friends tv is a 46 samsung 1080 and it looks perfect with the laptop.

I do it with a 32 but only though vga 480i and its perfect as well. iTS also cheaper =)

 

[kb01]

I have a Roku that I bought about a year and half ago; I think it's equivalent to the middle tier model that they sell now.

I'm very happy with it. It is a bandwidth hog, so the picture quality is dependent on that. On my (albeit older) TV, it's equivalent to DVD quality. My wife claims it isn't as nice as DVD but I really can't tell the difference.

It's really no different than hooking your laptop to the TV. It's just an easier process, as the box is very small and has a remote. There are other channels available but outside of Netflix, Amazon, and Pandora I don't use any of them.

 

[ksJoe]

We also have a roku box, and are very happy with it. It can do HD, but we only have standard def tv, and 3 mbit dsl. When it connects it usually says the quality is 3 out of 4 bars. Occasionally we notice pixilation, but that could be when it connects at a lower bit rate. Even when it occurs, it isn't too bad. If we had a HD TV, we might look into faster internet service.

We got this, and ditched cable over a year ago, and are very pleased. We consider their on demand library to be our "basic cable." Except its commercial free, and available at any time, and there are 12,000 choices instead of 60.

For us, the on on demand is the primary product, and the DVD's they mail us are the secondary product, even though that's the opposite of how they market it.