Roku goes even SMALLER

Roku announced a new form factor to their already small HD streaming boxes – a stick (about the size of the a thumb drive).  The current boxes are about the size of the current generation AppleTV though they are a bit cheaper ($50-100 four models vs. Apple’s $99 price point for one unit).  The XD provides 1080p video (the AppleTV maxes out at 720p).  For those interested a high quality HD experience the Roku has Apple beat on this statistic (at this time).

Apple has been improving the offering for their Apple TV (through software updates) with Netflix and some sport channels (MLB and NBA).  It works great with iTunes and streaming libraries from a device on the network but is limited to the Apple ecosystem, Wall Street Journal live, YouTube and Vimeo as well as tight iCloud and AirPlay (which works great with other Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads).  That being said, it is missing things like Hulu,  Pandora, Amazon, and HBO Go (which are all bundled into the Roku).

I’m looking forward to testing a Roku shortly so will see how it works, not just how the ad’s display it.  Apple continues to create and provide an exceptional tight solution but the Roku fills in some gaps the AppleTV is still not getting (though I hope they will soon).  Have any experience with the Roku or AppleTV, share them with us.

UPDATE:  Having played with the Roku a little, this is a nice, powerful LITTLE (and I mean little) device.  The system is robust enough to stream video from the usual places (Hulu, Netflix and Amazon) with little setup (though for the setup there is some running back and forth between Roku and computer to enter codes etc).  Once that is done, the system works smoothly, the video quality is fantastic (especially at 1080p) and solid.  One note (maybe I just have not found this yet) but I do not know the quality I am getting while the system starts streaming something.  The video quality improves over the first 15-30 seconds, but would be nice to know (as with the desktop clients) that you are seeing “one bar to HD” quality.