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Best options for netflix streaming to TV?

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OzzieGT

Senior member
We are getting another TV for the playroom and I was wondering what are the cheapest / best options for getting Netflix onto the TV. The two I know of right now are Roku or maybe a Blu-Ray player. How does Netflix on a Blu-Ray player or Roku compare to Netflix on my PS3?

Will a Blu-Ray player always have the latest Netflix UI or is it stuck with whatever is in the firmware?

Are there any other good options? Which would you recommend?
 
Hmm, also came across Boxee. I like that it can play local content too...is there any disadvantage vs the Roku (besides price)?
 
Roku is the best option. Unless something has changed recently, most Blu-Ray player implementations of Netflix are pretty stripped down and only give you the bare essentials. Roku, on the other hand, has the full interface with all the categories and allows you to search for movies too. Additionally, it gives you access to a ton of other streaming services.
 
If network media streaming is any interest, pick the Boxee Box. The interface is way sexier and it plays just about every damn thing natively. Includes full Webkit browser with flash and included remote has a qwerty keyboard.

I tried the ATV 2, Revue, Roku 2 XS and Boxee Box all in the last month trying to decide what would be the best. The Boxee Box was heads above everything else in terms of flexibility and media playback. I'd always avoided it because of the $200 price and that was the worst mistake I could have probably ever made.

Boxee Box just played my 47GB BR iso of Phantom Menace over the network. I love this thing!
 
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bearxor said:
If network media streaming is any interest, pick the Boxee Box. The interface is way sexier and it plays just about every damn thing natively. Includes full Webkit browser with flash and included remote has a qwerty keyboard.

I tried the ATV 2, Revue, Roku 2 XS and Boxee Box all in the last month trying to decide what would be the best. The Boxee Box was heads above everything else in terms of flexibility and media playback. I'd always avoided it because of the $200 price and that was the worst mistake I could have probably ever made.

Boxee Box just played my 47GB BR iso of Phantom Menace over the network. I love this thing!
Click to expand...

Interesting -- so you can point it to a file share with ISO files and it can mount and play them?
 
IndyColtsFan said:
Roku is the best option. Unless something has changed recently, most Blu-Ray player implementations of Netflix are pretty stripped down and only give you the bare essentials.
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Yeah, a lot has changed recently. Samsung and Sony give full interfaces and a TON of other stream options. Pretty sure Panasonic has full interface as well, plus that is (or was) the only non-PS3 device to have a real surround audio track from Netflix.

Roku is solid, but the lack of DLNA (again, last I checked) also hurts it as a main streaming box.

If you're looking at just a box, consider the WDTV Plus. Best DLNA target, especially for music... And if you're considering $200, just buy a Playstation.
 
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TBH, it sounds like the Boxee is more flexible than a PS3. I have a PS3 already and getting video to work over DLNA has been a tiresome affair and I've pretty much given up on it.

I don't really have a desire to stream files over the network right now, but maybe in the future. But honestly, I can probably resell a Roku for minimal losses when that time comes. And who knows what will be out by then.

The WD TV looks pretty sweet too...how does it compare to the Roku?
 
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IndyColtsFan said:
Interesting -- so you can point it to a file share with ISO files and it can mount and play them?
Click to expand...

Yes. One catch: it only plays the movie. No menus or extras or anything.

If I had to choose between the Roku and the WDTV Live, I'd pick the WDTV simply because it's a better local streamer. The interface on both are terrible.

I can't stand DLNA servers or transcoding or anything like that. Give me a file server and something that will play the files natively on a sweet interface and Boxee Box definitely filled that when I finally decided to ditch the whole HTPC thing.
 
I really like the WD TV. I might build a HTPC with a CableCARD tuner in it so I can record shows and hopefully stream them out via DLNA. I think with Netflix + DLNA I should be covered for the near future.
 
nothing buts a cheap used win7 box with xbmc/etc. nobody wants the old core2quad any more 🙂 leaving tons of cheap boxes with dedicated video,8gb of ram, 1tb hard drive for $100-150 used these days. old q6600 still has alot of leg left (especially if you bump it to 3.2 easy). asus essentio are nice because the motherboard comes with slic licensing don't have to deal with re-arming if you change out alot of equipment.
 
OzzieGT said:
I might build a HTPC with a CableCARD tuner in it
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Nothing but heartache awaits you in the future. Windows MCE is so much promise with so little delivery. Been using it up until three weeks ago for about 6 years. Finally decided to abandon ship and switch to DirecTV.
 
WDTV Live Plus is what you want if you want netflix and local media playback. If you just want streaming like netflix, amazon, hulu plus then roku is the best option.
 
Just got off chat with Roku support. FWIW, their devices will not connect to the 5 Ghz band of a dual band router, which kinda sucks. Otherwise, it looks to be a nice, affordable streaming solution. I just returned a Sony blu-ray player bought mainly for streaming that had a pretty weak interface for Netflix, and a awful one for Amazon.

EDIT: Got the Roku and really liking it. Only SD for now, but still an easy use, affordable streaming solution.
 
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PS3 is $250 but works great for Netflix and there is no annual fee like xbox requires. Worth considering if you want blu-ray & DVD playback, Hulu Plus, or perhaps a bit of gaming. No Amazon support though.
 
bearxor said:
Nothing but heartache awaits you in the future.
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Heh. The real problem is that anything encrypted (= most stuff on cable that you can't also get OTA) can't be streamed with anything standard like DLNA, but has to go to a clunky outdated POS extender that can't do anything else. (Or an X360, but that's way over the top.)
 
Unless something has changed with the Boxee Box recently, the Box will not decode HD audio properly. So basically DTS-MA or Dolby TrueHD will not work. Its a documented bug: http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=37535&highlight=audio

So if your like me and dropped big bucks on your home theater sound system than this would be a major problem for you. Go with a Roku and you will never look back. One hell of a device...

Of course if you are just streaming video from the net you won't get HD audio anyway but if you plan on streaming blurays from your HTPC you will want HD audio.
 
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frowertr said:
Unless something has changed with the Boxee Box recently, the Box will not decode HD audio properly. So basically DTS-MA or Dolby TrueHD will not work. Its a documented bug: http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.php?t=37535&highlight=audio

So if your like me and dropped big bucks on your home theater sound system than this would be a major problem for you. Go with a Roku and you will never look back. One hell of a device...
Click to expand...

I keep hearing about this problem but haven't experienced it. I've watched a handful of x264 rips with DTS-MA and a lot of x264 TV shows and even watched the BR ISO of Phantom Menace. My receiver says it's playings DTS-MA but I've not had the audio drop out. Every so often, I'll hear my receiver click like it's changing audio sources but it doesn't stop the audio and it did that pre-Boxee Box.

The main problem I'm having audio-wise is that it doesn't start playing audio until about 5 seconds in. Not a huge deal, but can be annoying, especially for TV shows where audio might start immediately.

I'm genuinely interested in the bug but haven't been able to recreate it. Is there a file you can point me to that has audio drop outs for you that I can try?
 
bearxor said:
I keep hearing about this problem but haven't experienced it. I've watched a handful of x264 rips with DTS-MA and a lot of x264 TV shows and even watched the BR ISO of Phantom Menace. My receiver says it's playings DTS-MA but I've not had the audio drop out. Every so often, I'll hear my receiver click like it's changing audio sources but it doesn't stop the audio and it did that pre-Boxee Box.

The main problem I'm having audio-wise is that it doesn't start playing audio until about 5 seconds in. Not a huge deal, but can be annoying, especially for TV shows where audio might start immediately.

I'm genuinely interested in the bug but haven't been able to recreate it. Is there a file you can point me to that has audio drop outs for you that I can try?
Click to expand...

I don't have a boxee box because of this (reported) bug so I can't offer you anything unfortunately. If you ask over on the official forum though I'm sure you will get tons of examples. Those people are hopping mad over there about it...
 
OzzieGT said:
TBH, it sounds like the Boxee is more flexible than a PS3. I have a PS3 already and getting video to work over DLNA has been a tiresome affair and I've pretty much given up on it.

I don't really have a desire to stream files over the network right now, but maybe in the future. But honestly, I can probably resell a Roku for minimal losses when that time comes. And who knows what will be out by then.

The WD TV looks pretty sweet too...how does it compare to the Roku?
Click to expand...

DLNA with my PS3 was cake. The problem with the PS3 is its lack of support for .mkv files and .mp4 files created with Quicktime, so you have to either remux to .m2ts (what I do) or use something like PS3 Media Server or TVersity and transcode on the fly. Pretty seamless and easy once you get used to it. Outside of the .mkv issues, the PS3 supports multi-channel .aac and multi-channel NetFlix and it won't cough if you mix up standardized codecs like putting an .ac3 audio track into an .mp4 container. Other media boxes will trip all over themselves in most of these cases. Its support for locally streamed media with subtitles is poor, though.

But, unless you need a Blu-Ray player, a Boxee Box or WD Live is probably gonna be the better choice.
 
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