apropos my inquiry on the vga-to-hdmi converter, I think the Roku solves all of the problems I have in one little box.

100 bucks (minus twenty for the brand new netflix subscription)

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

might aswell check out other options such as the Apple TV, for a couple extra hundred maybe a ps3...

depends on what suits your needs bro, if you are going to pay for content then get the roku or a similar product such as [URL="http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=30"]this[/URL]. However if you are going to download the content yourself i think you should get a HTPC fo sho.

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136472&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle--Hard+Drives+-+External--Western+Digital-_-22136472[/url]

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

[QUOTE=Kamal;889489][url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136472&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle--Hard+Drives+-+External--Western+Digital-_-22136472[/url][/QUOTE]

Am I understanding correctly that that's basically a computer just for the tv? I'm mostly illiterate when it comes to computers and technology, so I'm wondering, what are the advantage s of the WD over the Roku?

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

are you planning to use a browser at all or simply play movies / music on your tv? the wdtv does not have a hard drive. it connects to your tv and also over the network to another pc / laptop and streams media over it to the display. roku's have been buggy and last I read, firmware updates have been slow to come by. wd-tv was one of the higher rated ones (especially the second gen ones, which I believe this is)

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

[QUOTE=Kamal;889510]are you planning to use a browser at all or simply play movies / music on your tv? the wdtv does not have a hard drive. it connects to your tv and also over the network to another pc / laptop and streams media over it to the display. roku's have been buggy and last I read, firmware updates have been slow to come by. wd-tv was one of the higher rated ones (especially the second gen ones, which I believe this is)[/QUOTE]

Just planning to play movies and music on the tv.

i suppose since i use jtv every so often, having a browser wouldn't be so bad either. I guess that's the upside ofthe WDtv?

I'm just wanting to make sure that if i go with the WDtv, it won't be a drag on my system if i happen to be watching movies streamed from the laptop while i'm doing other work on the laptop.

if it helps make better sense, this is what I'm using: [url]http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3986[/url]

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

I dont think wdtv has a browser, here are the official specs of the top end model from WD

[url]http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=832[/url]

it won't "drag" your system unless you're pulling max bandwidth from your laptop. AND you've got a Core2Duo T5250 proc with 2GB ram so you should be good to go. Unless you're trying to remux an mkv AND stream a full 1080p untouched file from your laptop at the same time, you should be fine.

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

of course if you also have your media stored on a portable drive, you can plug it into the WD TV via USB and not worry about how the player is connecting to your laptop.

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

^ my bad. should have been more clear. not the wdtv that has a browser, but that i use the one on my computer (to watch jtv, youtube, live leak, cnn, etc....) on the tv screen itself.

Re: Anyone here have a Roku HD?

aaah ok. yea the WDTV will not interface what's on your laptop screen, onto the TV. You will need to connect your laptop directly to your TV for that.