New Apple TV vs. Roku vs. Xbox 360 and Others

Showing 25 comments

1. crutonic at 9:26am 29th November 2010 do you have the hack that allows you to watch hulu? was it wast to hack? I have no idea how to do it.
2. dodo brown at 9:28pm 25th October 2010 CYE.. I googled "ATV Flash Torrent", Got it Free. Went to ATV Flash website and watch the tutoral. Made Installation on the Apple TV first gen easy. Now I have everything but Netflix. USB with ton of avi movies and music, plus I can control it all with my iphone or ipad. The PS3 will play netflix, but would love to see netflix on 1st Gen AppleTv. Maybe upgrade the hardware too to 1ghz. The Original has more options because of the harddrive, but maybe the 8gb ssd on the new apple tv is upgradable. but I like the silver metal over the black plastic.
3. gjperera at 7:07am 12th October 2010 Agreed. Wi-Fi N is a must especially if you have these devices scattered throughout the house and don't want to worry about signal penetration and loss of throughput because of walls and other obstacles.
4. gjperera at 7:06am 12th October 2010 Great write-up, I also wrote a similar article and table comparing all of these devices including the PS3 and Xbox - http://www.gilsmethod.com/supercharge-tv-8-video-...
5. Shock Me at 10:15am 5th October 2010 Anything without builtin WiFi 802.11N is no sale. 1080p is better but not a deal-breaker. Integration with iPhone and iPad playing video from 3rd party apps? Definitely worth $100.
6. Shock Me at 10:10am 5th October 2010 My Samsung 1080p 120Hz LED LCD HDTV already has all these internet apps like VUDU, NETFLIX, BLOCKBUSTER, HULU + I can reach them all by pressing a single button on my remote. Every other solution offered above takes extra steps and more setup. I will be purchasing the Apple TV and it will sit beside my Scientific Atlanta cable DVR and spare cable tuner, my Sony PS3, my retired Dish Network DVR with some treasured shows trapped in its memory, my XBox, my Pioneer LaserDisc, my ATSC indoor antenna, and my shelf top stereo/DVD player. With the exception of possibly my cable box they will all still be there when Apple TV comes into its own. Stacks of LaserDiscs, DVDs, VCR tapes, XBox and PS3 titles and captive DVR recordings will keep them in place but little used. If my broadband connection was faster and would remained unlimited I would definitely move them all away in favor of this little box from Apple.
7. bob e at 4:50am 27th September 2010 We have (2) Roku and (2) Xbox 360! Actually I really prefer the Xbox and it will soon work with Kinect sensor.
8. Rambyte at 12:16pm 14th September 2010 Thanks for compiling this comparison. As a consumer, it would also be helpful to compare the monthly costs incurred for watching a hypothetical "basket" of TV Shows, Movies, Games, etc., via the various platforms. For instance, I know Apple will charge $0.99 per TV Show and $2.99 for most Movies. They will also off a price of maybe $30.00 if you sign up to receive a full season of a given TV Series. I am guessing the monthly "run" costs makes one model significanly cheaper than another. My main objective is to eliminate Cable TV. If I can watch all the TV Shows I like using this device via the Internet, why not cancel Cable TV?
9. Cye at 5:39am 14th September 2010 But people if you want to rent real HD Streams www.vudu.com is the best for true real HD hands down, no joke. My Vizio Blu-Ray Player also has a VUDU App & when you purchase the Vizio VBR200W it comes with 3 free movies equaling up to I think $17.99 & after I used VUDU I never looked back, I love VUDU. You Rent movies or buy them. They also frequently put movies on sale rent & purchase. Also You can check it out at http://bit.ly/digdoi ,but do not buy it from the website because they want way to much because they sale it on there site for $349.99 & I bought mine & a ton of other people at walmart for only $149.99 & it has WIFI, App's like Netflix/Pandora,Vudu,Twitter,Facebook,Weather,Flickr. It can play jpeg pictures & also video by way of external drive or Flash-thumb drive. I know I got totally off the subject just wanted to let you know about the Vudu Service & this great Blu-ray player.
10. Cye at 1:50am 14th September 2010 Oh & for got it Also let's you play Youtube video's on the Apple TV.
11. Cye at 1:34am 14th September 2010 Oh & I forgot you can also play any kind of music format well at least WMA,AAC,MP3 etc. Oh & I also forgot you can also use a Wii Controller also to control it & any Harmony Remotes. Here is a link to the hack for Apple TV http://www.atvflash.com/ & for Zinc media center you can find it at http://www.zinc.tv/. Enjoy!
12. Cye at 1:25am 14th September 2010 Maybe I am missing something, what I do not know is what new is boxee offering besides this set top box is there anything else interesting because right now I have a Apple TV that I hacked with ATVFlash that I purchased for a little bit of money & it gave me these pro's: 1.) I can play all of my dvd's that I purchased & Ripped unto a hard drive connected to my Apple TV or connected to any computer on my local network & it plays all of my ripped dvd's menu's & all (VOB Files/Video.TS). 2.) It let me add a USB Hub so I can add as many hardware add-on's as I choose, but at the moment I only have a 2 TB Hard Drive,Wireless Keyboard & I also use my IPhone 3g & my IPad as remote controls by way of app's. You can also use the Hillcrest lab's Loop Controller or if you choose a regular USB Mouse & Keyboard, but I prefer Wireless & app's to control my Apple TV. 4.) It let's you install Boxee & XBMC Media Center & with the boxee media center software I can add some app's & transfer all of my settings right away that I have on my computer based boxee software as soon as I sign into my account. & there is an app by the name of Navi-X V1.0 that you can add in boxee & it let's you watch streaming films tv shows & anything that you can think of. The only downfall no Netflix, but my Vizio Blu-Ray player has a Netflix app in it already, so I use that when I do not want to turn on one of my computers or I use my ipad Netflix App which is ok but that small screen does not do it at least for me. 5.)Also It makes my apple TV play flash content, XVID, DivX,MKV,Mov,MP4 & several other's. 8.) This ATVFlash hack even let's you install firefox & Flash player & by default it has a default web browser already installe that I do not care much for. 9.) You can rent some movies thru Itunes SD or HD & also Purchase. WhenI purchase movies & all of my favorite Podcast lie twit & Revision3 & Cnet I choose to download them to my Mac or pc first & then I just Sync them to my apple tv, but it will let me just watch all my content if I choose on any networked device on my local network. I am not saying that this option is better I am only telling you about it to give you another option that you may already or not know about. Also the creators at ATVFlash that made the Hack also said that they will be doing a hack like the one we already have but with more stuff added for the new apple tv & they said it will be even better because it has a faster CPU in it & that they will add back the external hard drive support. Anyway I am a tech geek so I want all, but of course I can not have all of these set top boxes, so I am looking more towards the Google TV Box & the new Apple TV because the options are almost endless by way of ATVFlash Hack. So I hope I helped. Not the end all or the best, just another option to compare. But if you all want to just use a computer then people check out Zinc Media Center Software because it let's you do it all & I mean everything even add your own RSS video feeds because it is based on firefox. So Good Luck! !
13. Wes at 6:42pm 3rd September 2010 the new xbox 360 has built in wifi.
14. Siobhan Lyons at 9:27am 3rd September 2010 Hi Nick--You have the FreeAgent Theater+ listed, but the photo is showing the older version of the product. The correct photos of FreeAgent Theater+ can be viewed here: http://media.seagate.com/seagate-freeagent-theate.... Additonally, the price listed is incorrect. FreeAgent Theater+ is normally priced at $129.99, but is currently on sale for $99.00 on www.seagate.com. You may also want to tell readers about Seagate's newest home entertainment solution--the GoFlex TV HD media player. Either a GoFlex ultra-portable drive or GoFlex Pro ultra-portable drive can be inserted directly into the device, or another storage device, digital or Flip camera can be connected to the two additional USB ports on the back of the device to access personal digital media. Find out more here: http://media.seagate.com/seagate-freeagent-goflex...
15. Mike Parent at 11:04am 2nd September 2010 Yeah this should really be using the new 4GB 360 slim with built-in Wireless N - the Arcade unit mentioned is retired for god sakes! Someone did not do their homework. tsk tsk.
16. Alvaro Munoz at 10:42am 2nd September 2010 Well... PS3 is not included for price, but you could consider the Blu-Ray Players that already have similar features, like Sony BDP-370 for less than $150 in some web stores. Also, for the community that loves DivX, Apple TV does not support that format, as many others. The most important thing here is that we have a lof of products to consider... and evaluate. Read blogs, read the manual, and try to take the product that support your media and have the App according to your needs. By the way, many of the new HDTV support streaming and/or they are DLNA compliant as well. Regards!
17. Lothlorian at 9:56am 2nd September 2010 Well according to this list Apple TV is not looking to good. You would think that Apple stands for quality but at only 720p when you can get 1080p on a Roku at the same price. Apple TV only has HDMI output meaning it will only work on newer HD sets leaving old SD Sets in the cold. Roku many input connections for older sets and 1080 HD on new sets.
    1. Mike Parent at 11:05am 2nd September 2010 I would think if you have an SD set you are not the target market for the Apple device.
       1. Joe at 7:47am 27th September 2010 I would beg to differ. Media streaming is not only enjoyed by HDTV owners. I currently only own SDTV's, and have a Roku box and also watch Wii-disc-enabled Netflix. The fact that my Roku can output an HD signal is nice for the future, but the fact that they didn't require me to own a high-dollar TV to enjoy the content makes me want to spend money on their box, as opposed to Apple. Also, what exactly *is* the "target market" for the Apple device, since it can only output 720p? That non-existent mid-market "not high-end HD, but not SD" tech junkie?
18. tristan thomas at 5:53am 2nd September 2010 Sorry but Apple should concentrate more on fixing its broken products then to introduce new ones. Hey, you can't blame them for trying to cover up a solution for the iPhone Plus has anyone heard about why Apple would not allow its products to be tested by O2? It was a simple questionnaire that they had to fill out. You can check it out here: http://tech-senses.com/?p=83
19. zs450 at 4:32am 2nd September 2010 minor change for the 360 since the new "S" model ships with 802.11n inside and, for those millions of have "media center" built into Windows Vista / Windows 7 it also acts as an extender so you can stream live and recorded shows to it in additon to all of the other functions it brings along.
20. Gerry at 10:02pm 1st September 2010 What about the Wii on the chart? You can get a Netflix disc for it and use the Wiimote as your remote control. It's not true HD, but it does work well. And it plays games and lets you surf the web (though the latter isn't exactly it's forte...)
21. Dan at 6:46pm 1st September 2010 Umm Roku just stated that the XR will support 1080p from a software update: http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3... -Dan
22. ioman at 4:58pm 1st September 2010 If it doesn't have 1080p, then it's not worth it. I use my PS3 for my media streaming, both through Netflix and my PC. I understand that its $400 so that's why it didn't make the list, but I still think it's the best streamer out there. Feature-wise, I think the Roku still has a headstart over the others.
    1. westcott at 9:10am 4th September 2010 This is a silly statement. Do you really think people are getting a 1080p resolution via streaming? AND, even if they were, do really think more than 1% of the population could tell the difference between 1080p and 720p? I do agree that Roku has a great product for the money. They seem to understand that you still need a wealth of outputs. I would like to see a coaxial audio output added.