Roku introduces two new set-top boxes
By Sean P. Aune
The popular Roku brand of streaming devices has only had one unit up until now, but all of that changes today with the announcement of two new models.
Roku announced today that it is releasing two new models of its popular set-top boxes. For those unfamiliar with the brand, Roku is a device that allows you to easily stream Netflix, Amazon Video-on-Demand and MLB TV from the Internet directly to your TV either via Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable.
The first of the two new sets is the Roku SD which will retail for $79.99, but will only offer the most basic features, and does not include an HDMI output for High Definition viewing of content.
The Roku HD-XR is the new top of the line box that ups the Wi-Fi to 802.11n for the best Wi-Fi reception, has all of the HD output you could want and also includes a mysterious USB port that is currently disabled, but will apparently be used in some sort of future plans. Maybe DivX support for streaming AVIs? The HD-XR will retail for $129.99.
The current, and once lone model, has been renamed as the Roku HD and does not have any changes made to it, but will keep its current price of $99.99.
According to CNET, there will also be an announcement some time next month of new content channels being added to the devices, with the current rumors focusing on Blip.TV, Flickr, Mediafly and Pandora.
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October 28th, 2009
Oh Roku, please bring back streaming playback from local SMB and NFS shared drives like you had in the Photobridge! I and a lot of others would buy a box for every TV in the house. Don’t force us down the UPnP transcoding route for local media playback.