Roku Box

Skeptical.  What is one word that describes how you see a box the size of a hockey puck?  Skeptical.  After much hesitation I finally decided to pull the trigger on the Roku2 xd.   I knew from the pictures it was small but seeing it in person is still shocking.  We have an old tube TV leftover from a simpler time that requires the once standard red, white, and yellow rca connections.  I power on and hope for the best.

The box has a simple setup which requires me to be near a computer to sign up and enter in my credit card info.

I was not expecting this and to be honest I'm a little hesitant to relinquish this information.  Roku I expected better.  However, I quickly see the need for this info.  Once the box is installed you can quickly purchase new channels and therefore new content with the click of a button.  It also has a safetly four digit pin which will protect against unwanted purchases by unknowing parties.  If your niece or nephew come over and want to buy the latest Disney flick they will need the code to do so.

So account is setup, whats next?  Channels.  Roku operates much like your cable box in that it requires you to add channels.  Some channels are free to use and operate on an ad based system.  Other channels like Hulu Plus require a subscription.

For my use I installed, Netflix, Plex, Crunchyroll, and Crackle.  Everyone should be familiar with Netflix.  It works amazing on the Roku box.  Crunchyroll and Crackle are ad based channels.  Plex is where this box really delivers for me.

Plex is a media server application that really works.  I can now any media from my computer on my TV.  It transcodes on the fly .avi and .mkv to work with the Roku Box.  Suddenly that five year old film of the nieces and nephews singing at school is relevant again and watchable.  Let the good times roll.

Amazon Roku Box 2