Roku Media Player

Not necessarily anything to do with data centers, but we need cool things outside the data center to keep us running. My new favorite gizmo is the Roku Digital Media player. Small, fast, works with 1080p, and pretty inexpensive. It has both wired and Wifi + HDMP and regular 480p composite video/audio. No PC or anything else is needed. So it is very compact and easy to use. Can hook up to most TV’s. Both new and old.

PROS

Small, lightweight, and compact
Wired and Wifi
HDMI
Works with Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, MP3Tunes, and Amazon Video. Nice combination if sites to play/rent video and music from.
Inexpensive. $59-$99. Got a Roku XD for $69 and free shipping from Amazon. Plus it includes 10Gb of music storage from MP3Tunes.

CONS

Missing Component Video + Audio. (Actually only on the $99 unit)
Missing ability to easily stream music from local network or local PC. You can use a USB port on the $99 unit.

Overall I like it a lot. The remote is basic and works fine. I can browse and search for TV shows on Hulu and rent movies and shows on Amazon and Netflix. It runs 1080p and look good on my TV’s.

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