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Roku is a compelling little device — right now, anyway. The living room box streams Netflix “Watch Instantly” films. These are movies and television shows that Netflix members can watch anytime for free. The mixture of free instantaneous content and a box that costs only $99 is a nice combo. The problem Roku has is that competition from major players is coming fast.

But rather than sit back and die a slow death, Roku is taking a step in the right direction. It’s opening its platform to make it so that any content provider can use the Roku box in the coming months, Roku chief executive Anthony Wood told Wired.

News of Roku expanding its box beyond Netflix content has been known for a while. In fact, back in July I called it a “living room Trojan horse” if it could secure content deals with Amazon’s video service (at the time called Unbox, but now called Video On Demand) and especially the NBC and Fox backed video streaming service Hulu. But this opening of the box to anyone is a new twist.

Depending on who actually pledges to develop on it, Roku could once again be more enticing than products like the Apple TV or Vudu. The Apple TV device added movie rentals earlier this year, and it can also stream video podcasts or any video from YouTube. Vudu also streams movies but it has more recent fare, and more recently added porn — in high definition — to its collection as well.

But Roku’s biggest challenge may be Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Within the next few months, Netflix will be adding its Watch Instantly content to the gaming system as well. For the millions of people that already have an Xbox 360, that makes the Roku useless. That’s why it’s important the device make this open move.

While Wood is a bit vague on all of the details, he does say that there will be a software development kit (SDK) that content providers can use to get on the box.

Vudu was sitting pretty 16 months ago. The set top box that streams premium content over the Internet to your television had over 5,000 movies from all the major studios except Sony and a bunch of smaller ones. This was impressive compared to its rivals, which at the time included traditional cable boxes and the first version of the Apple TV.

Times have changed.

Now the company faces competition from many of the big guns in the digital entertainment industry. Not only has Apple significantly improved the Apple TV over the past year, Sony, Microsoft and a new player, Roku thanks to the help of Netflix’s content, have all come out to play. By “play” I mean battle to the death to control your living room.

All of Vudu’s competitors now have deals with the major movie studios. If content is king, Vudu is one of many kings. So what to do? Find new content. And it looks like Vudu may have done just that by going to an industry that none of its main competitors are likely to touch: Porn.

That’s right, the films that few people fess up to watching despite the industry pulling in billions of dollars every year are coming to Vudu. The company has reached a deal with the AVN Media Network, an adult content company, to stream pornographic films on the Vudu, according to PC World.

Here’s the kicker: The films will be available in high-definition — which may or may not be a good thing depending on who you ask.

Standard definition porn rentals will cost $6.99 while HD ones will be $8.99. This is a steep price increase over more traditional digitally distributed movie rental rates which usually range from $2 to $5, but as the video and DVD industries have shown, people are willing to pay more for this content. There will also be an option to buy pornos in standard definition for $19.99 or high definition for $29.99.

So will porn content save Vudu? Well, it certainly can’t hurt it. Let’s be honest, the device was unlikely to survive against all the big players in the field and more popping up each week. The device, at $299, is roughly on par with the cost of the Xbox 360, but the 360 also happens to be a very popular gaming device as well. The Vudu is more expensive than the Apple TV and already did a $100 price-cut earlier this year.

Now there’s a compelling reason for some to buy the device again. The only issue may be explaining to your significant other why you went with the Vudu over its competitors. Perhaps the “it was on sale” lie will suffice.

[photo: flickr/anyaka]

Ever since Apple beefed up its Apple TV offering by announcing support for movie rentals from all the major movie studios back in January, the battle for digital distribution supremacy in the living room has been heating up. Recently, there’s been a string of big announcements and today brings another: LG is releasing a Blu-ray player this fall that will have the ability to stream Netflix movies to your television.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because this marks the third announced device that works with Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” streaming-over-the-Internet service. Previously, Netflix rolled out its box with startup Roku, and then it announced a partnership with Microsoft weeks ago to bring the funtionality to the Xbox 360 gaming console. Netflix previously announced that it had a deal with LG to put its movies on one of its devices, but it wasn’t clear what that would be until today.

The LG BD300 will offer something no other set top box yet has: A combo of Netflix “Watch Instantly” and Blu-ray high definition video disc playback. The device will also offer other perks that have become standard with Blu-ray players such as up-conversion of old DVDs to near-HD quality. The Netflix content will be streamed in standard definition.

This new box may throw a wrench into the plans of people who are looking for the best way to get movies from over the web onto their televisions. The Roku box with Netflix is cheap ($99) and is selling well. The company has also hinted it will open the box to more services beyond Netflix in the future, though it’s not clear what those will be. The Apple TV offers a great experience and a good amount of content, but it’s a bit more expensive ($229 or $329) and is limited in high definition content. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has both new release rentals and soon will have Netflix, but it’s selection is still rather limited and it too is more expensive. Meanwhile, Sony’s Playstation 3 is starting to offer digital movie rentals, including some films this fall before they come out on DVD, and has a Blu-ray player, but it has no deal with Netflix.

There are other options as well such as Internet streaming video startup Vudu, but the ones mentioned above seem to be the key players at this time.

LG says that this new Netflix enabled Blu-ray player will be “well under $500,” according to PaidContent. For all we know, that could be $450, which would still be a very steep price to pay compared to some of the other options. However, if the two things that most interest you in a living room box are Blu-ray and Netflix Watch Instantly capability, this appears to be the box to get now.

Otherwise, you might be better off waiting for a Blu-ray add-on for the Xbox 360 (the device had an HD DVD add-on before that format was discontinued) or for the Apple TV to add a Blu-ray optical drive. Apple has long been a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, but has not yet released any product that uses the format. It’s certainly possible that it won’t in favor of digital distribution through iTunes.

Or you could just wait for the first of these boxes that offers Hulu streaming. The NBC and Fox-backed online streaming site for premium television and film content has proven to be a hit on people’s computers but is not yet in the living room.

[photo: flickr/nick slide]

If you’re a subscriber to the DVD rental-by-mail service Netflix, you probably want to get your hands on the new Roku box. This device lets you stream any of Netflix’s 10,000+ “Watch Now” movies (movies that can be watched immediately over the internet for free with your subscription) to your TV set instantly. Quantities of the device are already scarce.

A new tidbit may make the device even more attractive: With a simple software download, other services beyond Netflix will soon be able to use it, according to Forbes.

This changes the device from a nice little purchase (it’s only $99), into a potential Trojan horse for digital content in your living room. Of course, it entirely depends on what other services reach agreements to use the device. Roku would only say that other “big name” providers could bring their services to the device with a simple update.

If it’s a movie download service such as Amazon’s Unbox (which currently has a deal with TiVo to get into the living room), that could be big. It would bring recent releases along with the vast array of Netflix’s catalog films to one device.

Of course while Roku isn’t exclusively Netflix, Netflix isn’t exclusively Roku either. The company plans to release another box featuring its “Watch Now” service in conjunction with LG later this year. There’s also an intriguing rumor that the service could come to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming console.

[photo: flickr/ccarlstead]

After a lackluster start, things were starting to look good for the Apple TV device. With its 2.0 software update, the media streaming device was able to rent or purchase movies directly to television sets, play HD movies and thanks to a deal Apple cut with the major movie studios, had plenty of content. Just to top things off, Apple even cut the price of the device by $70. It finally looked like it could work.

It’s not looking so great now.

Tomorrow, Netflix will unveil a set-top box made by Roku. The living-room bound device will allow subscribers to the Netflix online DVD rental service to access thousands of movies and television shows instantly — for free. The device will be $99. Even after January’s price cut, the cheapest version of Apple’s device is $229. This could be big. Very big.

Sure, with the Roku device customers are still paying via their Netflix subscription fee (typically around $20-a-month), but they’d be paying that regardless. All those customers must do now is spend a one-time fee of $99 and they’ll be able to access around 10,000 titles at any time.

This current slate of 10,000 “Watch Now” (the name of its instant viewing service) titles may not seem like a lot when you consider that Netflix has over 100,000 DVD titles available. However, the number looks pretty robust when compared to the number of titles you can regularly watch on the Apple TV for free: zero.

The Netflix/Roku system won’t be without its flaws. As CNET points out, thanks to Hollywood’s licensing system, only two of the current top 100 DVDs on Netflix are available to watch instantly (you can currently use the service on a PC). Simply put, most of the titles available will be catalog films (movies that have been out for a while). Still, if I were a Netflix subscriber and these were free, I would have no complaints watching them.

Another problem is that it doesn’t appear the Roku will have any option to get newer content to the device even if you are willing to pay extra for it. This is a misstep. Netflix could make this device a killer if it simply would allow customers to pay a rate comparable to what Apple charges for new release movie rentals.

The device also has no hard drive, meaning that all content is streamed live over the Internet. If there is a hiccup in your connection — or if your connection is simply slow, this will obviously be a problem.

While CNET deems the picture quality “acceptable”, some will likely still pay to have the HD experience that other device including the Apple TV and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 offer. However, Wired reports that HD streams will show up eventually on the Roku device.

In another blow to Apple, the Roku device is said to be a snap to set up and work with (usually one of Apple’s strengths over competitors). You can even queue up movies from your computer to watch on your box. The simple remote that consists of only a few buttons even bares a resemblance to the Apple TV’s remote.

While everyone has known that Netflix had several set-top box partnerships in the works, one emerging this quickly is a surprise. Netflix and LG are said to also be teaming up on a box due later this year. Unnamed partnerships are also in the works for Netflix, the hottest of those rumors is that the service could team up with Microsoft to deliver Watch Now movies to the Xbox 360. As I’ve said before, this could be a true killer app. Netflix chief executive and founder Reed Hastings is on Microsoft’s board after all.

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