Roku HD1000 High-Definition Digital Media Player

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Manufacturer: Roku
Price at amazon.com: Too Low To Display
Usually ships in 24 hours

List price $299.99



Product Features:

• High-definition media player supports 1080i, 720p, and 480p outputs for optimal viewing on high-definition and HD-ready TVs
• Designed for convenient living room slide shows and MP3/linear PCM music playback from your memory cards or personal computer
• Compatible with Roku Art Packs and LiveArt (not included) for high-definition wall art from still and motion images
• CompactFlash, SD, MMC, Memory Stick, and SmartMedia slots
• Can be networked with your PC through an Ethernet port or Wi-Fi

Product Description:

Early Adopters Pick: October 2003. This is the world's first high-definition digital media player. Whether you're already equipped with a high-definition TV or still using a standard CRT set, the HD1000 from Roku puts all manner of digital entertainment before your eyes and ears. Tap into a home computer network, hook the unit up to a stereo, or simply pop in a memory card--then sit back and enjoy your favorite photos, artworks, music, or LiveArt (full-motion images of beaches, waterfalls, etc.). While it will work on nearly any monitor, the HD1000 was designed to make the most of a high-definition television's brilliant color and pristine clarity. The HD1000 makes viewing and sharing treasured digital photos easier and more exciting than ever. Photos displayed through the device will look crystal-clear on your high-definition or big-screen TV. No more crowding around a PC monitor in your cluttered den--the HD1000 lets you relax and view digital slideshows in a leisurely atmosphere. Not watching a program on your wall-mounted plasma display? Now you can create stunning wall art with a click of your remote. Roku's Art Packs (not included) are a simple way to enhance your décor and make use out of an idle HDTV. Choose from a range of images--classic masterpieces, stunning nature scenes, or a lifelike aquarium--and bring them to life in your living room. Or, use LiveArt to change your surroundings without changing your location. Bring a rippling mountain lake, a leafy summer forest, or a white sand beach with soothing waves to turn your living room into a pool of peace and tranquility. The HD1000 supports looping HD MPEG2, standard JPEG images, and MPEG clips. (Art Packs come on CompactFlash memory cards; just pop in the card and choose your favorite scenery.) Next, liberate your growing library of digital music files from your PC and listen to them through a home stereo. Roku lets you listen to files on any of various memory cards (CompactFlash, SD, MMC, Memory Stick, SmartMedia) or over a simple Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection, so you can enjoy your favorite music through the high-quality sound system in your living room. Its attractive onscreen display shows the current media source and displays its contents as well as the media file in play, with full ID3 data for music files. The HD1000 offers built-in protection to reduce the risk of image burn-in on your TV screen, too. (The unit can't prevent all types of burn-in, of course--it's ultimately your responsibility to use your display's manual and common sense to prevent burn-in.) The HD1000's Screen Saver mode engages when the HD1000 is your primary video source, and it can even step in whenever one of your other video sources stops moving. When placed in a pass-through configuration--with the signal from a DVD player, say, passing through the HD1000 on its way to a screen--the HD1000 can detect when the video input source is still and will automatically generate a changing Screen Saver. The HD1000 is based on the Roku OS, an open platform that includes Roku's advanced media APIs and the Linux Kernel, and for which other companies can design as-yet-undreamed-of accessories. What's in the Box HD1000, user's manual, remote control, remote batteries (two AAA), a component-video cable, a stereo analog audio interconnect, and an AC power cable.

Description from Manufacturer:Early Adopters Pick: October 2003. This is the world's first high-definition digital media player.

Whether you're already equipped with a high-definition TV or still using a standard CRT set, the HD1000 from Roku puts all manner of digital entertainment before your eyes and ears. Tap into a home computer network, hook the unit up to a stereo, or simply pop in a memory card--then sit back and enjoy your favorite photos, artworks, music, or LiveArt (full-motion images of beaches, waterfalls, etc.).

While it will work on nearly any monitor, the HD1000 was designed to make the most of a high-definition television's brilliant color and pristine clarity. The HD1000 makes viewing and sharing treasured digital photos easier and more exciting than ever. Photos displayed through the device will look crystal-clear on your high-definition or big-screen TV. No more crowding around a PC monitor in your cluttered den--the HD1000 lets you relax and view digital slideshows in a leisurely atmosphere.

Not watching a program on your wall-mounted plasma display? Now you can create stunning wall art with a click of your remote. Roku's Art Packs (not included) are a simple way to enhance your décor and make use out of an idle HDTV. Choose from a range of images--classic masterpieces, stunning nature scenes, or a lifelike aquarium--and bring them to life in your living room. Or, use LiveArt to change your surroundings without changing your location. Bring a rippling mountain lake, a leafy summer forest, or a white sand beach with soothing waves to turn your living room into a pool of peace and tranquility. The HD1000 supports looping HD MPEG2, standard JPEG images, and MPEG clips. (Art Packs come on CompactFlash memory cards; just pop in the card and choose your favorite scenery.)

Next, liberate your growing library of digital music files from your PC and listen to them through a home stereo. Roku lets you listen to files on any of various memory cards (CompactFlash, SD, MMC, Memory Stick, SmartMedia) or over a simple Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection, so you can enjoy your favorite music through the high-quality sound system in your living room. Its attractive onscreen display shows the current media source and displays its contents as well as the media file in play, with full ID3 data for music files.

The HD1000 offers built-in protection to reduce the risk of image burn-in on your TV screen, too. (The unit can't prevent all types of burn-in, of course--it's ultimately your responsibility to use your display's manual and common sense to prevent burn-in.) The HD1000's Screen Saver mode engages when the HD1000 is your primary video source, and it can even step in whenever one of your other video sources stops moving. When placed in a pass-through configuration--with the signal from a DVD player, say, passing through the HD1000 on its way to a screen--the HD1000 can detect when the video input source is still and will automatically generate a changing Screen Saver.

The HD1000 is based on the Roku OS, an open platform that includes Roku's advanced media APIs and the Linux Kernel, and for which other companies can design as-yet-undreamed-of accessories.

What's in the Box
HD1000, user's manual, remote control, remote batteries (two AAA), a component-video cable, a stereo analog audio interconnect, and an AC power cable.Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: Hi-Res HDTV pictures, MP3s, easy-to-use, and inexpensive. Rating:
High-Resolution HDTV output looks fantastic, for both pictures and
menus. MP3 player displays ID3 tags and can play in the background
while you do other things (like watch a slideshow). The user
interface is clean, minimalist, and easy to use. It finds shared
content on networked drives and inserted flash cards and they appear
in the user interface automatically. Unlike the competition, it
requires no proprietary server software: just plug it in and you are
ready to go. And it costs about the same as competing products, but
none of them provide HDTV output.

The only drawback is that the remote responsiveness is slightly worse
than other electronics, though programming a learning remote from the
supplied remote makes it better.

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Comment: Second thoughts Rating:
This product is truly designed for owners of digital cameras with various types of memory cards. The image quality on large format HD screens is quite impressive.

Downside, you have to have a compact flash card and reader in order to import the updated software. Looking at prices at Amazon this could cost more than half the price of the unit itself. This is a serious shortcoming for this product and my reason for a average rating. I have still not been able to get the unit to work on either of my networks using Windows XP.

Most people keep their photo's on CD's and a CD slot would have been a great feature, even over the assortment of memory card slots they provide. I would believe that most images are moved from memory cards to hard drives and cd's for long term storage and later viewing making a CD drive much more practical.

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Comment: Very good product, although a bit too expensive Rating:
This is a very well executed product.

After using the Prismiq MediaPlayer for six months (which I have now sold off on ebay), this is a godsend. Even my wife can now use the Roku HD1000.

* Component Video Output of upto 1080i (this is a plus for me as I have an HDTV, although this may not be an important feature to you if you do not have HDTV) -- finally some justice done to my digital photos. Actually, the UI is more readable as well because of the higher resolution.

* Very good UI, although some some features (better playlist navigation, auto-playlists or sort by artist/album/genre etc) are desperately needed.

* Open platform, SDK is freely available. Opens door for 3rd-party developers

* No special server software needed, other than SMB file sharing.

* The company engineers (including the CEO) seems to be listening to the customers and coming up with useful feature updates.

* The only negative feature is its price. At $500, it seems a bit too expensive.

Posted at November 11, 2003 03:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)