Roku's Netflix Player Backlog Now 6 to 8 Weeks

Thinking about getting Roku's Netflix Player? The Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal reports that "Privately held Roku said its backlog will take six to eight weeks to clear up as more units arrive from Asia."

In less than three weeks, Netflix Inc.'s new set-top boxes have been cleared out, and the Los Gatos company said it is pressing its supplier to speed up production.

Have you purchased a Netflix Player? What do you think?

Comments

[Robert]

I ordered one the first morning they were available and got it within a few days. I give is a resounding A+. The only downside is a lack of content, but that will improve over time. I'm using wifi and it is a thousand times better PQ than I ever got on my fairly expensive computer monitor. (I'm watching it on a 50" plasma.) It looks nearly HD. I could not be more impressed or pleased with this purchase. It is worth many times what they are charging.

[Arcadio]

I order mine a week ago and according to Fedex, I should be getting it in time for the weekend. I already have around 50 items on my Instant Queue and hopefully Netflix starts to add more movies and TV Shows.

[Matt]

I received mine today and so far I love it! I have 46 items in my Watch Instantly queue waiting to be viewed. The quality really does seem like DVD quality, and I love the simple interface. I hope they don't change the way that you add content to the queue because the last thing I want to do is have to search for movies on my TV using a remote. Being able to use Netflix's website to find and pick movies is far superior to any of the other solutions.

[Happy!]

It's awesome. I was order # 3002 (ordered the day it was for sale) and I use it almost everyday. On my 32' tv it looks PERFECT. I do have a cable internet. Wifi connects with no issue. Kinda weird you cant turn it off, I wonder how much current it draws. I'd be willing to tear it down if you guys want photo's. Just e-mail me.

[Linda B]

We got ours last week and we love it! I'd like there to be more movies available, but I'm sure that will increase over time.

I had no idea that it was so SMALL! I was thinking it was the size of a dvd player, or close to it. This thing fits in the palm of your hand.

I'm very happy with it.

[Tim]

Anyone know where I can see screenshots of it. And I'd love to photos of it hooked up.

[Rick]

Got mine in the mail last week. I love it! It is an excellent product at an outstanding price. The interface is clean and easy to use. The picture quality wireless is much better than on my wired computer. Works even better than I had originally hoped when I ordered it!

[Scott Rose]

I LOVE MY ROKU NETFLIX PLAYER!!! It is WONDERFUL! It is true nirvana. Everything I had ever hoped for in my home entertainment.

My only minor complaint is that the delays when rewinding/fast forwarding are kind of a drag.

But besides that, it's PERFECT!

[Galofree]

Scott,

Hey, your rewinding times are probably faster than mine. I'm still spinning this DVD counter-clockwise by hand and haven't gotten to the end yet... Probably why Netflix doesn't have late fees because they know how long it can take.

[Pusta]

Like others have said, this box is just short of amazing. Setup was a breeze, the interface is clean, and the video quality is DVD like. My only complaints match those expressed already, lack of content, no HD, etc. I'd also like to see Hulu added as well. (Youtube I could care less about).

[Jim]

Sounds like a good product overall.... but I am surprised at how much of a free pass Netflix has gotten for having a terrible selection of content. If you want to watch anything that's both decent and new, forget about it. That's a deal breaker to me. If Vudu would come down in price I'd much prefer that... I'd actually get to see decent movies released in the last 6 mos.

Also, the 6-8 wk backlog for Roku units is as much a signal of poor planning as it is of high demand. I am sure they planned very conservatively on manufactured units... backlogs build buzz.

[CJ]

First Roku Player: ordered Tues May 22, Delivered Sat May 31, 9 days order to doorstep.

Second Roku Player: ordered Mon Jun 1, to be delivered today Wed Jun 11, 10 days order to doorstep.

I don't see the 6 to 8 weeks backlog from my experience - unless the initial Chinese production run is exhausted, and Roku has to wait for the next run.

I'm obviously very pleased, having ordered a second unit (after verifying it does work as advertised). My only advice for a hassle free hookup - have a relatively fast internet service, say 5 Mbits/sec or so, and hook up wired (ethernet cable), not wireless (Wi-Fi).

Go to forums.roku.com which is the user forum to discuss this player - Very helpful Roku engineers answer questions posed in that forum.

Go to Rokulabs.com to see pictures, read descriptions, etc. Also at that site you can download the excellently written Users Guide as a PDF file.

[moviejs]

I've had mine a week or so and am amazed by this device! Easy to set up, easy to use, does everything it claims to do better than I thought it would. MOre old TV shows!

[Robert Martin]

"My only advice for a hassle free hookup - have a relatively fast internet service, say 5 Mbits/sec or so, and hook up wired (ethernet cable), not wireless (Wi-Fi)."

Unless you want to browse heavily while you watch, 3Mbits/sec is plenty. And if you already have a reliable Wifi setup, there's no reason to avoid it here.

[Wendy]

I would order one if I could hook it up to my computer and do the "Watch Instantly" that way. My roommate hogs the tv, and I have a Mac, so I'm still screwed with watching things instantly.

[Heidi]

I got mine right away and I love it. I worked for Netflix for 5 years, first as an analyst and then as a product manager and I continue to believe in the company and its products. The player was long awaited and I think they did a great job with the design and interface. I'm excited for newer content.

[JJ]

I just got mine and initially it said there was a three-four week wait however I got it within a week so maybe the wait is not as long as they advertise. In any case
PROS:

Size is awesome - I hated that I was getting yet another box to add to my ps3, applet tv, etc. But this was small enough I could put it in a spot was hidden and didn't really take up any extra room.

Easy setup - I'm on a wireless and no problems - but so far I've only got so-so quality - better than vcr and not quite up to dvd - however I'm only on mid range quality. I think if I switch to a wired connection - and move up from RCA connections to hdmi - it'll be much closer to dvd. Nonetheless it is more than acceptable.

Neutral:
Content - decent enough, leaves a lot to be desired - but that's been the case with the entire "watch instantly" selection from the beginning. Can't really knock the box because the box was never about adding more content - it was using it for the existing content already there but hopefully to be expanded on.

CONS -

Can't power it off.

Cannot search all "watch instantly" from the box - you must add them to your "watch instantly" queue. But I added 250 shows so I'm not dissatisfied. Along those lines - one thing about the mediocre content, if it had a better selection, I probably wouldn't be watching the ones I'm watching now - which some of them aren't that bad and I'm glad I've added them because otherwse I never would've watched them.

Overall - Very Good - probably one of the best first versions of any gadget.

[Pat]

I ordered mine on June 1st and, according to FedEx, it should be here on the 13th. I have been looking forward to this and have about 50 titles in my queue. I have been a member of netflix since 2001 but I am concerned that the number of available titles for us is misleading. Where is this 10,000 number coming from? From what I have noticed, it is more like 4900. I was adding titles and decided to click on "browse by title". That starts you at the beginning alphabetically (actually titles with numbers are first). As you advance pages, the end of the web link says pageNum=2, 3, 4 etc. In all there are 15 titles per page and 326 pages (for me, I did not notice titles I had in my queue showing up here). This is around 4900. Also, when you "jump to" a title letter the end of the link changes to idx=(a number). This will advance by 15 as you move to the next page. When you go to the Z's it is in the 4800's. Anyone else notice this? Am I missing 5000 titles somewhere?

[OE]

Pat. You are not missing any titles. As posted elsewhere on other sites (maybe here to) the 10,000 titles includes "each episode" of a single movie, e.g. an entire season of a tv show. So a single "movie" can count multiples times based on the number of episodes in its season.

[mosdl]

I just ordered one and was told it would take 2 weeks for it to ship.

[Pat]

OE: Thanks for the clarification. I didn't read that the 10,000 titles included single episodes of TV shows. That makes sense now.

[Ted]

"I am surprised at how much of a free pass Netflix has gotten for having a terrible selection of content. If you want to watch anything that's both decent and new, forget about it."

-If you want to watch most new and decent movie, that's what the traditional DVD-by-mail aspect of Netflix is for. Netflix gets a free pass because the service is FREE, beside the $99 box. It's a great supplement to the DVD library.

Also, the six-to-eight week wait was a mistake:

"he company clarified that the Netflix Player, which went on sale on May 20, has a two-week delay to be delivered to customers, according to press rep Amy Bonetti, contrary to a report on Bloomberg yesterday that claimed devices would not be available for six-to-eight weeks."
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2008/06/10/netflix-appliance-backordered-good-strong-demand/

[Im Not A Turnip]

If anyone is having wifi issues, here's my 2 cents - DON'T keep your router on the top of your desk next to your computer.

Instead, put it on top of a bookshelf (or something like that) preferably 5 to 6 feet tall. I keep moving routers in the homes of my friends, family and co-workers and their connection problems instantly disappear.

[jv333]

i ordered the first day the box was announced and got the box within a week or so. i love the content. unlike most everyone else, i love and embrace that there is NOTHING new on the box, that it's all older and harder-to-find content (think old TV shows and independent movies). the quality is fantastic and the box is easy to use. my first movie on it was "Xanadu" while I ate a chunk of cheese. fortunately, the movie was cheesier.

[Billy]

Ordered 21 May, Delivered 5 June (15 days). I've been using it like a fiend. People complain about selection, but if you look outside of new releases there are a ton of great films on there! Quality can vary, but I think it's based more on the original encoding than hardware / internet connection. Episodes of "The Office" look like HD while "Moby Dick" had some severe pixellation (on 42" HDTV). The number and quality of movies available should improve over time, but it's already blowing away my expectations. If I weren't a Mac user, I might not have bought it, but it does look great on the HDTV.

[Tracy]

I got mine last night and it is amazing - I am waiting eagerly for more content to be added but in the meantime, there's plenty to watch, since I enjoy catching up on television shows.

And the picture quality is amazing - I know there have been some naysayers on that, but I'm getting a 4 star connection over wireless and it's absolutely beautiful on 'new' shows, like Weeds.

[Phil]

We've had ours for ten days now. Absolutely love it.

One very slight problem... I've had to unplug the power cord twice to get it to reset. Not sure what that was about.

I like that I'm rediscovering some classic 70's movies through Watch Now that I might not have bothered renting on disc. We've watched Stir Crazy, The Hot Rock, Westworld, Bonnie and Clyde, and Slaughterhouse Five.

On my wish list would be the ability to have more than one Watch Now Queue... One for the kids, and one for the grown-ups.

[Pat]

Mine arrived on the 13th after ordering on the 1st. As many others have stated, set up is about 5-10 minutes. The longest part was entering my security code for wireless. This system is fantastic. The video quality for everything I have watched so far has been great. My roku has a strong wireless connection with the maximum streaming speed on a basic 36" tv. The big selling point for me was the children section. My kids are into the Wiggles and we now have 8 different videos we do not own in my queue. That right there saves us more money than what the player was worth. The only glitch I noticed was at the end of a video (after all credits, etc.). The screen remained black and would not go back to the home page. I had to unplug the system and reboot. Loading of videos takes about 20 seconds for me. I have read that some people have complained about the time this takes but it does take longer to take a DVD out of a case, put it into your DVD player, and then run the menu to play a movie. As already mentioned, the selection does not include blockbuster new releases but some decent older films, including, arguably, one of the top 3 baseballs films of all time (The Natural). Stuff I might not normally rent I may try and just delete if I don't like it. This is a great system and worth the money, especially if you have kids that break DVD's and blame it on the cat.

[Edward R Murrow]

Congrats to all you buyers of the newest Sony Betamax device:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videotape_format_war

[Ishtar]

And exactly what is it that the Roku box is competing with? It's not a Netflix-exclusive box, so if something else ends up dominating the market, Roku can start delivering that content.

Basically, using your analogy, it's a VHS/Betamax combo player with expansion slots for future technology.

[VittyO]

I purchased one online and got it within a week. It works pretty well, except that HDMI only works with sets with HDCP support (I have one TV that doesn't). I have Comcast 8Mbps service and the quality is decent - not DVD - but watchable. No pauses, no pixelation.

[Rob]

Just got mine yesterday. Had a little bit of trouble trying to hook up wireless. Called support, (5 minute wait), they had me turn off my firewall on the router and it connected right away. Pic quality is good. So far I think its great.

[BoB]

Yawn. Don't have one, don't plan to order one..., I have a life! I get outside from time-to-time. With NF DVDs and new programming, I can't see fitting in yet another video stream.

[BoB]

WHY do we have to log in AND STILL have to enter a captcha code?! It should be either - not both!

PITA to log in and STILL have to captcha every post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maeans I don't post near what I what and means I WON'T be coming here as much if it stays a PITA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mike!

[BoB]

Now we have multiple pages to "click"!

What a load of "cr*p" Mike!

[BoB]

Talk about "user UNFRIENDLY"!

My final post I think as this has become a pain in the *ss to read, follow and post!!!

[ZeroCorpse]

I just ordered one on June 13th. They said it would ship in "about a week" and that's good enough for me. It did make me forget about paying for 2nd Day Air shipping, though.

I have 497 movies/shows in my Watch Instantly queue. I think I'll get my money's worth out of this device.

Anybody who thinks the selection is bad is probably a kid who doesn't want to watch older movies. WIth stuff like "Network", "Ghostbusters", "High Plains Drifter", "Dirty Harry" and "Two Mules for Sister Sara", I'm a happy camper.

No cable. No satellite. I cut those off and use HD over-the-air, and Netflix. I might get basic cable again, but I'll never subscribe to movie channels or expanded channel choices again.

Hell, I haven't seen a TV commercial in months!

[Brian Mooney]

FANTASTIC device.... flawless setup; flawless streaming... Content is not 100%, but hundreds of hours worth of content that I'm interested in, so it fits as a perfect backup for the times that you are between Netflix DVD shipments...

Highly Recommend!

[JLo]

I got mine last Thursday and have been totally addicted to it. I only had one brief period where it stopped to download while watching a show, but other than that, the only wait time occurs before the show or movie starts and no more lags after that.

Does anyone know how to move forward or backward any quicker? Right now when I try to do that, it has to rebuffer or whatever for a minute or two. This is even when I am skipping just a few scenes ahead.

[Jeff]

The amount of available content is a licensing issue and I imagine will be improved in the future.

Anyone who bought this item right off the bat should be aware of the content limitiations as well as the limitations of any first gen device. This device does exacty what it say it will do and it does it well. Set up was extremely easy and so far it's worked flawlessly.