The two roku boxes we have at home work great. They support 720p for most streamed
television. 1080p support is available but only for a handful of video feeds,
and not for major services like Netflix or Hulu. There are now a handful of devices that
support 1080p for Netflix.
According to this page on the roku website, the Roku 2
supports 1080p for Netflix. However the roku 2 has changed their lineup. Only the top two models the XD and XS support
1080p. All units support wireless, but
only the XS has an Ethernet port, which is ideal if you have access to an Ethernet
port.
I also learned about a new Vizio streaming box for about the
same price as the roku that supposedly supports 1080p. It doesn’t seem to have better services available,
but it does have Ethernet and WiFi connectivity, two HDMI ports and DLNA support.
Finally roku has announced a new device for TVs with a
high-definition port, a new port available on a growing number of new TVs. It’s about the size of a flash drive and fits
into a computers USB outlet. The finger
size device fill function like a roku box, but will be much smaller and won’t
require an independent power source.
Sounds exciting!
Now if I could only get ESPN and the Big 10 network on my
roku, I’d cut the cord from cable. Lack
of sports, football specifically, remains the missing link for me.
