Streaming movies and TV - Apple, Roku or something else?

One of my neighbors called me to ask some questions about Netflix and other movie streaming. She and her husband had just visited their son in Texas and had seen Apple TV; they have also watched Netflix movies through Roku at our house and she wanted to know which I would recommend buying.

She probably expected a quick answer, but we actually talked for several minutes. What to buy is not necessarily simple to decide and the various products that can provide these services are in constant flux.

Note that services like Netflix are extra cost: they are not included with your purchase of Roku or Apple TV. What these products provide is access, not the subscription. They do include some free services, but those are usually extremely limited as to what they offer.

Netflix

Her primary interest was Netflix. She explained that they are tired of waiting for DVD's to arrive and would like to switch to Netflix's streaming service. Therefore, the first question I had to ask is whether she realized that not all titles you can get as DVD's from Netflix are available for streaming.

She was not aware of that, and I have talked to several other people who also did not know this. Obviously, that's important, but I don't think that is necessarily a reason not to switch to streaming.

If they added the streaming and kept the "one at a time" DVD plan they currently have, they'd be paying an extra $8.99 a month for the physical DVD's. If even only half of their viewing is streaming, they can rent new movies from Amazon (included with Roku, Apple and most other TV boxes) or their cable provider for a few dollars. If they only did that twice a month, that would usually be about the same cost or cheaper than having the low end Netflix DVD service.

That was the opinion my wife and I had when we dropped our DVD plan and switched to streaming only. We reasoned that if we really wanted to see a current movie, we'd be willing to pay a few dollars now in then.

In practice, that hasn't worked out. Every time we have thought about ordering a pay movie, we've hesitated and said "Let's wait". It will come to streaming eventually and in the meantime, there are hundreds and perhaps even thousands of movies and TV shows we have never seen that are available now,

Which box to buy?

I have a real problem making a definitive recommendation here. I sent my neighbor to read "Apple TV vs. Roku LT: Which streaming box should you buy?" but I also pointed out that these reviews are always a snapshot in time. Google TV wants to compete with Apple and Roku and Microsoft would like to enter this market also. The "best" system to buy might be any of these or something else entirely in six months time.

I do recommend reading the Apple TV product page. I think they do a far better job explaining the available services than the equivalent Roku pages - of course you should read them both if you are not already familiar with all the options.

By the way, none of these things are difficult to hook up. They all come with excellent directions and if you have any trouble at all, a neighbor who owns something similar can probably get you on the right track very quickly. Both also have on-line and telephone support available. You don't need to worry about this and you should not need to pay anyone for installation.

Built in

I also mentioned that if they were currently considering a new TV or upgrading their current DVD player to BluRay, many models have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon access built in now. The features may not match those provided by Apple TV or Roku, but if you are about to make such a purchase, that could introduce you to the various services available and help you make a more informed decision down the road. You might ultimately decide to buy Apple, Roku or whatever, but you'd have basic Netflix and Amazon or Hulu access in the meantime.

The Future

I would expect to see streaming video only become more prevalent in the years to come. While movie and TV studios are now somewhat reluctant and slow to release titles to streaming, as more and more of us disdain to watch any other way and are willing to wait for things to reach services like Netflix, that attitude will soften.

It is, of course, impossible to say who will be the primary content provider. It might be Netflix or Apple and it might be your current cable provider. The battle for your streaming TV watching has barely begun now. There will be extreme competition in this area over the next few years.