Apple TV or Roku?

[Laurencia7]

So I am trying to decide what to ask for, for my one xmas present...which is better Apple tv http://www.apple.com/appletv/
or Roku http://shop.roku.com/Roku-Digital-Video-Player-Options-W5.aspx

The main reason I want one or the other is to stream my Netflix stuff on my tv. But the apple tv stated it can do Network TV shows, does this mean it can go onto abc.com and play their episodes there? Or is it something you have to buy from itunes?

I just want to know what you guys think if one is better than the other, thanks
L

 

[sp1keNARF]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

Consider the WD TV Live Plus... It will play and browse netflix, and play/view nearly any media file format you have on your home network.

 

[SuperBrown]

All depends on what content you want to put on your TV. TV is the best solution for those with tons of tv shows and movies purchased via iTunes Store, or personal content brought into iTunes. Not sure about the new TV and if it will at some point run some sort of iOS ABC.com app. That'd be really cool if that was the case. TV also does Netflix now, as we all now.

The Roku XD-S has much more "channels" such as Hulu Plus, Pandora, etc. I'm sure you know. It also has the usb port which supposedly will be able to read some media off a hard drive. For that, however, I also recommend the WD TV Live Plus. I have one of those and connected it to a drive with all my favorite movies. Plus it also has Netflix, Pandora, Flickr.

You might also consider the Boxee Box. If anything they might have an abc.com channel, which seems is what you're looking for. But don't take my word for it. Anyone that can verify that, please chime in.

Good luck and Happy Holidays!

 

[pscraig]

Roku, hands down. I have one and love it. The new Apple TV suffers from too much Steve Jobs ego, and not enough real capability.

and BTW Hulu+ is coming to the Roku box. Hulu+ is $7.99/month.

 

[Laurencia7]

Thanks, you really helped me out. I think I was going with roku, cause a) it has wireless, but also it hooks to older tvs, like my other one downstairs. And b) it seems to offer more off itunes content. I never really buy from itunes, they are too expensive.

Thanks again,
L