Ask Engadget HD: Which movie set-top-box is best?
"I pretty much stick with OTA reception when I watch TV, and while Netflix / Blockbuster is fine, I've recently been considering a standalone movie set-top-box for instant gratification purposes. With the Apple TV, VUDU and Roku Netflix Player already out, which one would be best to pick up? I realize more units are expected, but I'm particularly fond of models that support HD films. Really, I'm just looking for user opinions on each, especially if they already own one or have used one."
We'd also like to point out that Netflix's "Watch Now" feature can be piped to your TV fairly easily if you have a nearby HTPC or Xbox 360, but alas, you won't be seeing any material in high-def from there. Here's your shot at defending (or lambasting) your own movie STB -- and... go!
Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pezman726 @ Jun 4th 2008 12:07PM
Not really a STB like those, but how about an Xbox 360. You'd have the streaming capabilities from your computer, there's a TON of HD content on the marketplace (though I think it's overpriced), and you get to have a game console as well.
Big Wizz @ Jun 4th 2008 1:36PM
Ya, I don't know why Darren sez the Xbox360 doesn't have HD content.
Granted, it's compressed all to hell, but what STB doesn't have that problem?
Xbox360 is how I'm getting my HD content until I purchase a Blu-Ray player.
J.Goodwin @ Jun 4th 2008 3:58PM
I think it's reasonable compression, given the scenario. The content is 720p, not 1080p, which is probably the bigger difference for those with much larger TVs than me.
My other favorite movie STB is my FIOS Motorola box :D In Demand, On Demand, Premium Movie Channels, and HDNet Movies and Universal HD all in one place. What's not to like?
Raptor007 @ Jun 4th 2008 6:39PM
How about a modded original Xbox with XBMC? Sure it can't handle 1080i/1080p, but you can't really find that on the others either. And it can do high-quality 720p like a champ.
Ordeith @ Jun 6th 2008 2:20PM
even skipping the marketplace.
The 360 can stream HD video from a PC.
And as an extender, it can receive live HD tv, pause and record, and interact with a guide.
Carlosd @ Jun 4th 2008 12:24PM
VUDU all the WAY!
-Good picture quality
-descent selection
-Instant gratification!
MadMike @ Jun 4th 2008 12:27PM
Playstation 3 connected to ethernet + Windows XP PC connected to ethernet + Miro + PirateBay/TVRSS.net + TVersity software.
HD Movies, HD TV, no cost no stupid ads and on demand.
Yes, illegal but the movie studios, TV stations and the Cable companies are a bunch of F-ing morons that tell us what we can have and what we can't. And when they do something that allows us some iota of freedom it has 600,000,000 commercials and usually they have no clue who watches what. Like they have tampon commercials during Future Weapons. I mean, WTF?!?!?!
They have no clue. They really have no clue at all.
Carney @ Jun 4th 2008 1:37PM
Inept marketing justifies theft?
You're ignoring that it's not just a CEO or inept marketers or a faceless corporation producing the content you're stealing, thief.
Lots of people and families work to produce it and depend on that income.
If it's worth watching, listening to, or playing, it's worth paying for properly.
MadMike @ Jun 4th 2008 2:24PM
Oh wow, so the studios can only afford 50Kg of cocaine for Paris Hilton's parties. Oh, I'm so f*cking heartbroken. Cry me a river.
A friend of mine is a teamster working on Law & Order. He drives the actors and actresses around. He pulls in well over $100,000 a year driving a van.
Cry me a F*cking river. Do you know what a city Police Officer or Fire fighter makes? $38,000 if they are lucky in the first 5 years. Maxing out, with maxed out overtime? $65,000 Maybe.
Kiss my ass.
wolvie75 @ Jun 4th 2008 2:58PM
So you don't like it when people make money to make more entertainment?
they do have a clue when it comes to the business of making a show (the content, not so much). Commercials = money, money = development costs, whatever money is left over = profit.
commercials are a nuisance, but it allows me to watch most of my shows for free.
MadMike @ Jun 4th 2008 3:14PM
Wolvie,
Its not really the money. I could care less about what anyone makes. I make quite a decent living and my wife makes a lot more than I do.
Actually its getting what I want. For instance FiOS doesn't offer FX in HD. The pay-per internet doesn't have FX in HD. So I need to use the "stealing" front to get my FX shows in HD. They don't offer it, I'm not paying for it.
What about getting the shows on my iPhone or my laptop when I'm flying somewhere. Again, I either need to pay an arm and a leg and have limited options or I can steal it and use it with everything with 0 technical problems. And don't say iTunes, because they don't offer HD. I have 17" WUXGA screen, better than 1080p. I should at least be able to save a 720p video on it.
Listen, if I could get what I want at a reasonable price and have targeted advertising without all the screaming and loud noises and flashy crap that wasn't full of false or near false information on their products, I wouldn't mind. I would pay, GLADLY.
But they don't get that. So I get it my way, on my terms and use it they way I want. I'm not selling it.
They can keep making money on their Jerry Springer and Survivor and American Idol crap. I don't watch it. They can put as many commercials they want in that. Heck its all one big commercial too.
So are Movies. Look at Transformers. And entire 2 hour long Chevy commercial. Look at the second and third Matrix movies. 2 hour long commercials. We are ALL paying for it, and then paying again and again and again.
Tony Rayo @ Jul 1st 2008 6:44AM
I think most people pirate media because they can. If there wasn't an option to, then I doubt they would. Personally I've downloaded my share of TV/Music/Movies. Sometimes I later go out and buy the product, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I download something I heard on the radio or watched on TV or in a theater and play it back on my HTPC because I want to enjoy it with family and friends.
Is what I am doing illegal? Yes. Do I sometimes download a PDF of a hardcopy book I own so I can easily keep it with me on a device like my PSP (homebrew only, just for anyone who thought PSP firmware added PDF support)? Yes, and this would also be considered illegal but I highly doubt many people would decry for me to be put in jail for 5 years.
Piracy is a complex issue and I think would be better left out of this thread. What I do like seeing is some countries with legalization for taxing the consumer for unlimited access. I remember something years back about a 2$ tax that citizens in Canada (or those who bought CD-Rs at least) would pay that would go to their version of the RIAA and in turn music could be legally shared in any form or context. It's already been proven (yes, real research and findings have been done) that piracy is not robbing the music and movie industry of billions of dollars, but instead music is suffering because people have more of a choice than ever on how they will legally get and just what they want without the filler and with movies hitting cable boxes and stores 3 - 4 months after release, it's going to affect box office draws somewhat, sure (but there have also been record grosses on movies that have been of quality, so MPAA's whole theory is rubbish).
Oh and to the answer the question, if you have the knowledge and ~600$, I would say an HTPC is definitely the way to go. I haven't had any experience with these devices but if I had to choose, I definitely wouldn't pick one that would lock me into only one provider unless they offered near everything I enjoyed. My personal opinion other than a HTPC would be a DVR box with Sat/Cable/FIOS. Comcast already provided HDTV DVR boxes in our area standard (you used to have to pay more for an HDTV box). Although the Motorola unit can be sluggish at times, they are transitioning (aka forced by the FCC) to open up their system and soon you will be able to get cablecards that offer onDemand and PPV events (current cards do not last time I checked) for your TiVO or any other of the new breed of open standard cable boxes that will appear.
Tony Rayo @ Jul 1st 2008 6:46AM
A quick fix to my first sentence, I mean to say if there was no way to pirate media then the only thing that would change is the MPAA and RIAA would stfu =p.
steedums @ Jun 4th 2008 12:31PM
vudu
Rob @ Jun 4th 2008 12:40PM
Vudu and iTV are too expensive. Roku is the best choice, for me at least, because for $99 for the unit, plus $9 Netflix price, you get access to a building library of titles, plus receive additional movies in the mail
MadMike @ Jun 4th 2008 3:43PM
Hopefully they will have HD. They probably won't do 1080p - but even with 720p or 1080i I would be happy. Then of course the selection would need to be better.
Galley @ Jun 4th 2008 1:19PM
Apple TV does it all, and does it well.
NodNarb012 @ Jun 4th 2008 2:53PM
...except 1080p.
Nick V @ Jun 4th 2008 8:12PM
I have an AppleTV and love it. 1080p is unnecessary now as the only 1080p content you can get is Blu/HD-DVD (for which you look into a a proper player). But the AppleTV is really at its best if you're willing to hack it (which is quite easy to do these days, even without a Mac). Then you can play all your torrents as well as your legit iTunes content side by side.
otaking241 @ Jun 4th 2008 2:05PM
Skip the standalone boxes and build (or buy) an HTPC. You can access any of the above services plus anything else you can imagine. The initial outlay will be more expensive but in the long run it's a better investment.
Katherine Ryan @ Jun 4th 2008 2:15PM
I would be inclined to wait and purchase one of the many new media servers currently landing on the market. They offer a complete entertainment solution without having to purchase yet another set-top and inevitabley more storage. More importantly, the can handle and deliver true HD movies. The majority of them are in the proceess of integrating the VideoGiants HD Media Store which will allow me to download the highest quality content available directly into my living room. www.VideoGiants.com is full 1080p movies and the quality is excpetional.
Guyute @ Jun 4th 2008 2:21PM
I don't know if the inquirer is "techie" enough to just say build an HTPC or to set up your 360 or PS3 to stream content. For average folks, doing things like this is time consuming, confusing and for the most part out of the question.
I personally own an ATV, 360, PS3 and HTPC all streaming and syncing with bells and whistles. In my opinion, the ATV is the easiest and most efficient means of accessing movies in both standard format and HD for the typical user. It's interface is easy to use and as with all apple products, networking is a piece of cake. I haven't demoed VUDU or ROKU so I can't say if they are equal to or better than the ATV. However, simply for easy of setup and use I would recommend the ATV (even if its in stage 2 of its development)
aaron @ Jun 4th 2008 2:26PM
i use the 360 myself... because it can do so much more than just movies.
dvr through vista media center (with hd programming and auto commercial skip), home automation, and with media center you can have some very nice interfaces for archived movies/tv shows (and all of that using one interface on every tv in your house).
and then you get the gaming aspects of the 360. the only real flaw it has is the heat/noise a console makes but its pretty quiet with the newer iterations.
thomas @ Jun 4th 2008 2:34PM
Since this kind of service isnt available here in EU I went for a TViX 6500A. When the movie then finally becomes available I buy it on BD.
Robert @ Jun 4th 2008 2:35PM
I got the Roku the other day. I've not used any other set top box (or similar) mentioned above. What I like about the Roku is that it's small enough that I can take it over to a friends house and use their WiFi (or even leach WiFi if it comes down to it). The selection isn't the best, and I've never seen video in full quality on the device, but I got $99 worth of use out of it in about 48 hours.
Carney @ Jun 4th 2008 2:46PM
So it's OK to steal from people who are richer or supposedly dumber than you.
Property rights, owning things, none of that matters. Having invested time and effort into making or producing something, who cares.
If you're annoyed at the salaries unionized entertainment industry employees and contractors make, you're free to give money to anti-union groups, or not buy the stuff they make, or buy non-union produced content.
Instead you steal. Contemptible.
Carney @ Jun 4th 2008 2:46PM
That was a reply to MadMike. What a lame comment system BlogSmith uses.
MadMike @ Jun 4th 2008 3:02PM
I agree on the Blogsmith front. The comment system is having some massive issues.
Anyway, They aren't going to make money off of me anyway. I don't buy stuff I see in commercials. My wife buys all the everyday items and she doesn't watch TV ever really. As for big ticket items like my TV, my cars, my lawn mower, heck even my electric razor I do research for, because you can never believe advertising.
Now don't get me wrong, I have a 4 at-a-time Netflix account for Blu-Rays. That's paying. I have Verizon FiOS TV, that's paying.
I also use Adblock Plus on Firefox. So I guess I'm stealing the internet content also, right?
I also use a Mac, so am I stealing from Microsoft too?
I just hate advertising, its annoying and worthless. Advertising drives Malware, Spyware and Spam. Advertisers are evil and they should be punished. Just like my liver.
:-)
MadMike @ Jun 4th 2008 3:28PM
Carney,
Look. I would gladly pay if they weren't so insatiably greedy and would allow us fair use.
It's really sad that I can't get a decent 720p rip of New Amsterdam or Law & Order or Rescue Me on my PC to watch when I have to fly or I'm on a 6 hour stand-by at another fire station or baby-sitting downed wires for hours because PECO takes FOREVER to do ANYTHING.
I also take my Wife to the movies. That's paying. I've paid.I also buy Blu-Rays, thats paying.
What about when I miss a show and the stupid golf tournament or some stupid basketball game or Surivior runs overtime and I only get half a show or none of the show at all? On Demand, yeah $1.99 and NOT HD!!! or if it is, not in 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound. Screw that! 5 minutes on Miro and I have it in a perfect H.264 720p res, with 0 commercials for free that I can watch on my phone, on my computer and my TV. I would pay $5.00 for that! Gladly! VERY GLADLY! But guess what, THEY WON'T LET US HAVE IT. And if they did give it to us, they would charge us $10.00 and have 50 minutes of commercials on it to boot.
So to hell with them. When they learn, they learn. If they don't, they lose the .00000000000000000002% of the yearly revenue I would generate if I paid.
Alex @ Jun 4th 2008 3:00PM
Netflix's Watch Now isn't that easy with Xbox. The Xbox 360 doesn't work with Netflix if you have regular Windows XP (no media center software)
andy @ Jun 4th 2008 3:25PM
As someone with a dual boot of Vista home premium with media center, I can say that it isn't that easy with Vista either. The VMC client is FAR from bug free. I've got about 15 hours in it, and it still hasn't worked once.
Turki @ Jun 4th 2008 3:35PM
So I own an AppleTV as so I will only give my opinion in that regard.
I think its a great system overall but with many draw backs some legal and some illigal. Its simple and nice. Suprisselingly for me the video quality is very good, I tryed both SD and HD on my 32" HD 720p TV and even though you could see a difference over all I decided to stick to SD as its cheaper and for my eyes it looked very good as good as any DVD out there thats more than I need. However I believe the pricing is rediculase, also the 24hour thing is stupid even though I dont need more I know those with kids do need more time. The Roku has for it that its subscription based but not enough selections or new releases.
Another flow for the AppleTV is its closed system, I can only watch what they allow and I cant add to it without hacking. I download a lot of anime which i would be happy to buy if its avalable and the pricing is exazorated. So I had to hack my system to watch them.
Movie rental should be decressed by at least one dollar, open up the system for devlopers and add ons, increas the time limit to 48 or 72 hours and this will be the perfect system.
However I love my AppleTV and would rate it 4 out of 5
Bennie @ Jun 4th 2008 3:37PM
I am not an Apple fan, but I would go with the box that can do more than one thing. I don't know if I would use a precious hdmi port for a single purpose box. Even though the Apple TV is locked down, it does play more than just movies.
Harley3k @ Jun 4th 2008 3:46PM
Love my AppleTV. I haven't bought a blu-ray player because of it.
I also have TivoHD, but I haven't rented through the unbox more than twice. I don't believe they have HD content yet, and I had to enter a pin number every time and or something like that. The experience wasn't at all seemless like AppleTV. It's easier than renting PayPerView, and the quality rocks. And the box is conveniently small and slick.
YodaMac @ Jun 4th 2008 4:47PM
I don't know anything about the VUDU or Roku, but I don't beleive they are able to play back my entire iTunes library wirelessly as simply as an AppleTV does. Music, photos, podcasts, YouTube, TV, Movies- rentals, as well as purchases that can be used on your computer and ipod.
Do those other systems do all that?.... if not, then the decision is easy.
Tom @ Jun 4th 2008 10:14PM
Apple TV all the way. Wireless sync photos, Itunes music and TV shows, and now movies? All with high quality graphics? It's no contest.
Ultiman @ Jun 4th 2008 11:25PM
Roku Netflix player!
Ishimaru @ Jun 5th 2008 12:21AM
I'm surprised no one has said the Popcorn Hour...
Eric @ Jun 5th 2008 11:41AM
Mad Mike,
Please stop telling people you use Macs.
Peter F @ Jun 5th 2008 4:50PM
My vote is for a Vista Media center. Throw on VMCNetflix and it's awesome right off the bat.
doubeleive @ Jun 11th 2008 2:53AM
I just built my own basically it's a mini hp with vista, wireless, bluetooth, added a hdmi video card, extra memory, bigger hard drive, does everything these machines will do plus much more and it's easily upgradeable, I can easily change over to linux if needed or ubuntu no problem.
myk @ Jun 11th 2008 6:45AM
I've found the Mac Mini to be almost perfect as a HTPC, works very well with streams and downloads - the only things it lacks are a blu ray drive and HDMI 1.3. I'm not convinced by the set top box units, I think they limit the consumer far too heavily to a specific service.
Brian C @ Jun 15th 2008 9:46PM
Tivo isn't a bad option either. I didn't like these other options because they didn't provide DVR. HTPC would be a better but more costly and time consuming option in most cases. Unbox isn't the premier rental outlet yet but its getting a better by the day. I like the Tivo because it has a great DVR, HD, dual tuner, streams most types of content, can be easily hacked (see the last item:), PC connectivity and transfers, and provides movie rentals. The only other compeitor I have found for all these features is a HTPC but the Tivo is only about $200 which directly comptes with these other little boxes. Plus you own the dvr as compared to all the content providers options.
Rob @ Jun 4th 2008 2:08PM
Yeah, you're right too. I forgot to mention TiVo. The trick with TiVo though is that you'd need to pay for it on a monthly basis in order for it to work properly. Also, you'd have to pay for cable tv service. I have my TiVo HD recording off my outdoor antenna and the quality is beautiful.