Roku 2 XS Streaming Player - Canadian Version

This little player is amazing! Since buying one myself, several members of my family have all bought one. I'm rather new to reviews, so please bear with me.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure to get the "XS" model - it is slightly more expensive, but the controller itself is worth the difference. Reasons why I suggest the XS model:

1) MOST IMPORTANT REASON TO GET "XS" MODEL - The Back 15 seconds Button (It Looks like a backwards version of the "Refresh" button on Firefox); the XD model remote does NOT have this function - you can still go back, but it's a lot easier than potentially skipping back way too far with the rewind arrow. With the Back 15 seconds button, it's just a click and with each click the show goes back exactly that amount, which is extremely useful if you just missed what someone said/did.
2) If you prefer motion control - only the XS model controller allows that.
3) Angry Birds game (FULL VERSION) Comes with it free...Which in and of itself is not a great value - I would not bother getting the XS if that is all you are after, but it is a bonus.

REASONS TO GET A ROKU IN GENERAL - CANADIAN CHANNEL LIST*:
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Netflix (1 Month Free Trial, $7.99/month after; slightly less selection than USA; Largest selection of ad-free movies and TV shows)
Crackle (Free Unlimited Access - Paid for by commercials; Only a single commercial per commercial break; Hollywood Movies/Shows, Large Selection of Dubbed and Subbed Anime; Rarely there's a show available to the USA online that is not available in Canada but they will not populate in the channel)
CBC Podcast (Commercial-Free On-demand National News - 10 minute clip of major stories available after 5 PM Eastern Monday-Friday; Other News-Related Clips including "CBC News: At Issue" and Rex Murphy)
USTVNOW (Free Live Stream of ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, NBC, PBS, and My9 - Pennsylvania Feed; Optional paid Subscription Cable Channel Packages)
NokNok (Affiliated With/Owned By Proxy.com - Most useful are the Proxy Cloud Plugins for ABC, NBC, and CBS which show episodes these channels have available to stream from their website - periodically updated with new content in chunks; also allows Live Streams from around the world; including English-Canadian content: Sun News, The Shopping Channel, ShopTV Canada, CPAC, and a Live-Cam of Niagra Falls, and French-Canadian Content: Canal Savoir, TVA, CPAC, and TVC9 en direct; NOTE: Some Live Streams will never work even if they say they are "UP")

Those are the most popular, but other Channels Include (Should be Free unless noted):
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News and Related: CNBC RT (Real-time Stock Quotes with Live Video Analysis), RT (Live Stream of English/American version of Russia Today, 24/7 news channel), WSJ Live (Wallstreet Journal On Demand), BBC World News (24/hr Live stream), MHz Networks (MHz Worldview Live Stream and other live news sources; Apparently Optional Movie Rentals)
Other Movie Channels: Popcornflix (Commercials pay for content), Vanguard (Independant films), Drive-In Classics (Classic Films; Sci-Fi/Horror Genre), Retrovision (Classic Movies and TV); Pub-D-Hub (Classic Films/Tv Shows/Cartoons); Pop Flix (Classic TV shows)
Anime: CrunchyRoll (Anime, 99% of which is Subtitled; Free or $6.95/CAN monthly Paid subscription), Manga (Limited Selection; Mostly Dubbs)
Music Channels: TuneIn Radio, SomaFM
Religious/Lifestyle Channels: byuTV (Live Stream; Documentaries, Biographies, and other non-religious content available as well), FamilyTV (low-budget Religious, Nature, Fitness, and Travel Shows available on-demand)
Educational: PBS (On-Demand Episodes, such as Nature, Nova, and children's programming; ad-free)
Technology: TWiT (Live-Stream and On-Demand Episodes), Derbycon (Apparently Hacking/data mining etc. videos from 2011), UHF TV ("Urban Hacker Films")
Other: UFOs and Aliens (Related Content movies and documentaries on-demand), Iggy.tv (Classic Programming, various themes), Travel With Kids (A channel dedicated to the travel show), Weather Underground (Primarily USA, but allows Canada; Shows current weather if you set location; NOTE: radar and some features will stop at the CAN-US border and show no information, but temperatures should be close; Less Canadian Cities), HuffPost (LiveStream and clips), AOL.on (How-Tos: Food and Technology)

Will *NOT* Work In Canada:
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Hulu Plus (Commercial-Free Subsciption Service Similar to Netflix, but with [apparently] more Cable-Network TV Shows On-Demand)
Disney Channel (I'm not sure why...there's really not much content)
Amazon Instant Video (You can even sign up, and there are free episodes, but it quits once you try to watch them)

* All these are tested and working/available to Canada, but may have additional content not mentioned or available to Canadians. Some of these channels may require a roku private channel code - but I didn't want to remove and later re-add all of them just to re-find the codes.

**THERE ARE MANY MORE CHANNELS I HAVE NOT TRIED OR FOUND - THIS LIST IS NOT COMPLETE AND THERE ARE ALWAYS NEW ADDITIONS. THEY ARE JUST THE ONES I FOUND AND TESTED MYSELF UP TO TODAY. **

First off, what is a Roku 2 XS? It's not, as a friend speculated, "some type of Japanese sushi made with raw fish". Here is the description from Roku's website:

"Roku is a small device that streams films, TV programs, music, and other entertainment to your TV via the Internet. Since Roku streams (rather than downloads) video, you get instant access to a huge library of entertainment without having to store any video files on your computer or hard drive.

Once you set up Roku, you do not need a PC to use it. Roku connects directly to your TV and your high-speed Internet service home using your wireless home network. It then lets you access the streaming entertainment channels that you sign up for (like Netflix) right from your TV, using a handy remote."

There are two versions available in Canada - the XD ($89) and XS($109). For the extra $20 the XS gets you an Ethernet port to plug in your in your network (both units have wireless built in), a USB port (to attach a USB drive with music, pictures or movies), and an enhanced "motion control" remote for use with the included Angry Birds game. Sounds good, but how well does it work and how does it stack up against the competition (Xbox, Boxee Box, Apple TV)? To see what you get check my previous post with unboxing photos.

BTW, as I'm writing this I'm using Roku to watch Sandford & Son for free on the Crackle app. I can't even begin to guess the last time I saw Sandford & Son!

Setting up an Account
First thing you need to do is set up an account at Roku.com with the usual email and password selection. While Roku and many apps are free some of the apps are not, and for that reason you need to enter credit card information just in case you purchase something in the "channel store". After this you need to enter in a PIN number for use on the Roku player. This is the number you need to enter whenever you buy anything (or you can change it not ask or to ask whether the app is free or paid for). A good thing to do just in case you have kids or want to make sure you don't accidentally buy something. The final step is to enter an activation number - this will show up on your TV once you set up the Roku.

Setting up the Roku
Connect the Roku to your TV with the included AV cables, or do the sensible thing and attach it to your TV using an HDMI cable (sold separately), plug in the Roku and change your TV to the appropriate channel/input.
At this point I'd probably state the obvious and tell you to turn on the Roku. But you can't. Nor can you turn it off. It is always on! Roku claims that the device uses so little power there is no benefit to turning it off ("Less than a nightlight") and that having it always on gives it the ability to automatically download updates. Word of warning - to make sure you aren't sucking up bandwidth make sure you go back to the Roku Home screen before switching off your TV and walking away.
Obviously you need access to the Internet to use the Roku. The XS can use either a wired or wireless connection. The first thing you'll see on your TV is how you want to connect - Wired or Internet. Wired is easy enough - just plug in a network cable to the port in the back. Choose wireless and all you'll have to do is select the network and enter in the password for your wireless network. For me the wireless connection worked perfectly and connected right away. It was at this point it gave me the Activation code I needed to enter on the website during my account setup. After I entered the code my computer I was then presented with a default list of apps to install (Netflix, Crackle, Wall Street Journal, etc.). Don't worry about going through all the choices, you can add and delete apps on the Roku later. Hit Continue and suddenly your TV screen will change. For me it started to download an update for the Roku. Once the update was done the chosen apps started downloading. After this you can start using your Roku.

Roku Experience
Let me start by saying that I wasn't too sure how good the Roku would be compared to my Xbox (see review) and Boxee Box (see review). I struggled with the decision to even buy one to review. I have to say that so far I'm pretty impressed. Everything has worked right away with no issues. Even hardware settings set up correctly automatically (TV aspect ratio and resolution). It was easy to download new apps and easy to play the apps you want. For me Netflix, Crackle, and TWiT were the ones I tested first and they all worked great. Netflix needed my username and password first, but it worked right away after that. In the USA there are a lot more apps than what are currently available up here in Canada, but there are still a lot of apps to choose from. Some of the better ones are:
Netflix
Crackle
MSNBC
Weather App (which automatically figured out where I was based on my IP address)
MLB
Facebook
Picasa
Flickr
UFC
Flixster

BTW, now I'm watching Fantasy Island :)

All the video quality has been excellent. In most cases it's even better than a standard definition TV signal from my cable provider.

There are a couple of disappointments. The biggest one I have is that you can't connect to your local network. This may not be an issue for most people, but I have all my music and pictures on my network and it's nice to access them using my Xbox or Boxee Box. The second disappointment is the USB port and the ability to play your pictures, movies and music. If you attach a large portable drive it takes a long time for the Roku to "scan the drive" and for videos it only only plays MP4 and MKV files. Music and picture playback was not an issue except for the scan time. If you put in a small USB stick then the scan time is greatly reduced.

Competition
Now how does it stack up against the competition? For me I'm most familiar with Xbox, Boxee Box, and Apple TV. Unfortunately there is no one device that does everything well. Xbox and Boxee easily connect to your files on your own network, Apple TV needs iTunes running on a computer to access the files within iTunes, and Roku simply can't do it. Boxee is the only device that has a built in web browser so you can access online videos from your browser. For example, I recently watched a documentary that CBC had on their website - this could only have been done on the Boxee Box. All the devices has different apps, but Boxee has the most and Roku has the least (for now) although it's pretty close to Apple TV. If you like to rent or purchase movies then the Xbox and Apple TV are your two choices.

Conclusion
For the price the Roku player is the best of the bunch. If you don't care about the Ethernet and USB port it's the least expensive of them all (Apple TV $109, Boxee Box $189, Xbox $199 (4GB unit)). If you just want to something to watch Netflix on your TV (which is what a lot of my clients want) plus have some other capabilities then the Roku is great. It's also the smallest of the bunch. If you have the need, or want, to move it to different TV's or take it on vacation with you then it's a breeze to move. I will definitely be recommending it to my clients.

Four out of Five Stars

There have been multiple reviews stating that you can't stream music or videos from your computer. This is actually possible if you install the Plex channel. You also need to install the software on your computer and have it turned on. Also within Plex, there are a number of other channels like CTV, Global, CBC, Showcase, Treehouse, Slice, etc. I haven't used it much yet, but it does look promising!

There are also private channels not listed on Roku. They must be added through your computer. Check out streamfree.tv for more info.