Roku Drops Player Prices & Promises 1080p Streaming This Year

Citing upcoming competition from Google TV and other streaming devices, Roku today dropped prices on all three Roku Player models:

 

Roku also announced that they will offer 1080p streaming later this year, but it will be limited to local USB storage since most Roku partners are only offering 720p.

Thanks to Jay for sending this in.

Comments

[Gil]

The device specs for the HD and HD-XR say that they only output up to 720p. So will 1080p require a new device, or is the spec listed on their site wrong?

[Candle23]

My Roku player's (of 1 year) wireless signal died. I'm getting a replacement but I'm not the only one:

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=31285&sid=bd32cd4d30a2e0643105d3be8afd4cff

Coincidence?

[Thomas Carlton]

@Gil the device is hardware-capable of 1080p, but no channels currently use it. There will be a firmware update before anything starts showing up in 1080p.

That is, if it ever does. NF has said they were working on 1080p forever ago, though it's not their higest priority, and we still haven't seen anything. The vast majority of consumers are perfectly ok with 720p, because it's simply labeled as "HD."

[BoloMKXXVIII]

Most Americans still don't have enough bandwidth to stream quality 1080p content. It is nice that Roku is offering it but I would be interested in seeing what percentage of customers can actually use it.

[nijaju]

If 1080p is limited to local USB storage, I'm hoping that they'll support more than .mp4 files. I'd like to get rid of my WD TV HD and all of the problems it has but I have many .ISO and .avi and .mkv and things like that which the Roku just won't play.

[PatB]

The vast majority of consumers are perfectly ok with 720p, because it's simply labeled as "HD."

No the vast majority are OK with 720p because it looks so good. Remember a standard DVD is only 480i. Broadcast cable presents HD in two varieties - 720p and 1080i. Most gurus think these two formats are roughly the same in moving image quality.

To get full 1080p you typically need a Blu-ray disk. So the current Roku streamed HD content is as good as anything you can get over the air or the Internet and second only to Blu-ray.

I watch movies on an eight foot wide screen projected from newish HD projector. It's easy to see that Blu-ray 1080p is the best source for high quality images but it's not a tremendous difference. Roku 720p iamges are already very, very good. The difference beween Blu-ray HD(1080p) and Roku HD(720p) is less than that beween Roku and DVD.

Roku 1080p isn't a real big step up. Sound is probably more important. Last night I watched the terriffic French triller The Ultimate Heist in HD. It looked spectaular. It was presented with subtitles. The last great French action movie I remember was The Brotherhood of the Wolf. It was released on DVD with a subtitled version and also an English dubbed version. The hearing impaired also want CC versions. Dolby 5.1 sound would also be welcome.

I can think of several more enhancements to Roku-NetFlix but 1080 is among the least important.

[byteme]

I love my Roku. Had it for about 6 months now. I wouldn't mind having a 2nd to place in another room. At this price, it's tempting.

[dee]

u can get the Roku on Amazon with free shipping. With all the Epix movies coming tomorrow(Sep 1) it's totally worth it!

[things]

I have had a Roku now for about a year and a half. At first I thought it was a bit of a waste of money due to the content but now it is almost used more than my cable box DVR. Amazing.

When we put a HDTV in the bedroom we’ll be getting another ROKU box and not a Cable box.

[BP]

@ PatB

Do you ever fucking get tired of being wrong? MOST DVDs are 480p - P. P. P. As in, "piss off". You need a progressive scan player and a TV that supports 480p (ie, ANY ONE MADE IN THE LAST EIGHTY GAJILLION YEARS), but DVDs are 480ppppppppppp.

As far as your bad maths goes...

480i = 720x480 (345,600 pixels)
480p = 854x480 (409,920 pixels)
720p = 1280x720 (921,600 pixels)
1080p = 1080x1920 (2,073,600 pixels)

The jump from 480p to 720p is of a factor of two (times 2.248 to be exact; 2.66 for 480i) while the jump from 720p to 1080p is 2.25. THEREFORE, your argument that the difference between 720p and 1080p is not as large as that as the one between DVD and 720p is wrong, wrong, wrong. Further, considering the rapidly closing cost disparity between 720p and 1080p televisions, consumers are getting LESS for their money by buying a 720p set than they are a 1080p one.

While the jump from 720p to 1080p might be of "least importance," it is probably also the easiest to implement. I'm talking barely having to revise the code levels of easy. As is 5.1 sound. Is there a need for 1080p until high speed (12Mbps+) consumer broadband penetration levels are higher? Probably not, so bring on 5.1 sound (once the licensing issues are sorted out). That said, I'd wager that anybody streaming 720p from Netflix all ready has every capability of streaming 1080p - which only requires 8-10Mbps to stream - an addition of only another 3-5Mbps depending on top of the 720p bandwidth requirement.

As far as your completely ridiculous claims that 1080p doesn't exist in terrestrial broadcasting because it's not any better or that there are limitations preventing it... FUCKING PLEASE. The REASON few (and no major) stations broadcast in 1080p is because of STANDARDS, _NOT_ because there is any real technological limitation. Until July of 2008 there didn't exist a standard by which to transmit 1080p(60), so most receivers aren't/weren't made to receive 1080p OTA. Not only that, but the bandwidth limitation (thanks ATSC!) prevents you from broadcasting 1080p alongside ANYTHING else.

THERE ARE NO TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS TO WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF 1080P - ONLY ARTIFICIAL LIMITATIONS DUE TO POORLY CRAFTED STANDARDS, GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND BIG BUSINESS.

Take off your fez hat and smoking jacket and research things before you put fingers to keyboard. Can you do that for once, please?

[BP]

PS... can you PLEASE mention - ONE MORE TIME - that you watch movies on an EIGHT FOOT SCREEN?

I'm not sure you bring that up enough. Some of us may have forgotten (not really).

[Brian]

I signed up for MP3Tunes to use with a net radio device and they sent me an email with a link and coupon code for $20.00 off a Roku player (for a limited time). The email arrived last week. Just tried it and it works on the lower prices, too.

$79.99 for an XR!

Seeing as how the MP3Tunes account was free...

[pdq]

@BP - Why is it that every forum on the net has at least one total douche bag who just won't go away? Do you guys have organizational meetings?

[things]

@BP

calm down...we can have good discussions here without your temper tantrums.

[Shawn]

The SD model is discontinued, you can still find them at Amazon.

I personally would get a HD or XR because they are backward compatible.

[scJohn]

If they could only get Vudu. OF course Vudu is the one streamer that does have 1080P and DD+ (Vudu HDX). Maybe with the upgrade to 1080P Vudu will decide to write an app for Ruko.

[Lemont "Barfcake" Twizzler III]

To all of the disturbed including the roku zealots that believe that nothing better will ever be on the market.....Get a life

[BP]

I love the internet. Idiots get away with spouting off complete and total nonsense and yet I'm in the wrong for pointing out their mistakes. Sure, I do it in a mean way, but I'm not the one dishing out misinformation like it was iced tea on a hot summer day.

Gain some perspective, crybabies.

[Mithrandir]

@BP:

720p is actually 1366x768 not 1280x720. I don't know why they don't call it 768p instead.

This means that 1080p has 98% more pixels than 720p not 125%. Significant difference still but an adjustment nonetheless.

[BP]

@ Mithrandir

Uh... no. Wrong.

That's just as incorrect as saying up is down, black is white, modern art is legitimate, Lady GaGa is a woman, etc.

[alan]

just ordered a second roku hd through amazon.
69.99 free shipping .

[redmarmaduke]

@Mithrandir
"720p displays" are manufactured with a physical resolution of 1366x768. You are correct. 720p content can be displayed on this physical display without loss of detail. Add some upscaling or underscan and voila, a 1366x768 panel will display 1280x720 content. As a guess I would say that the initial 720p displays were made leveraging VGA LCD manufacturing processes. I don't think it's much of a stretch to add some columns of pixels to a 1024x768 LCD panel to make a 1366x768 panel. Just a guess.

[alan]

well that sucked ordered a second roku from amazon 69.99 free shipping 6 in stock.
then they emailed me and said it will take around 30 days + to ship ..had to cancel

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[Bloggie Camera]

1080P streaming media has become the main stream in the media players. Will 1080p require a new device, or is the spec listed on their site wrong?