We do not currently have cable television or a wide selection of movies in the McPherson household. What we do have is Netflix, a lovely service that for approximately one-third the price of cable television gives us an endless supply of DVDs in the mail. Kelly is the Household Manager of the Netflix Queue and is always finding informative and fun films for us to enjoy.
Netflix offers some films not only in DVD format but also in streaming video from the Internet. This is good because you can go from wanting to see a film to actually seeing it in about 30 seconds. It is bad because you have to watch the film on your computer, which usually possesses neither the screen size nor the position for optimal feature-film enjoyment.
Enter the Roku Player, which I bought for Kelly as a Christmas present (though honestly I kind of wanted one too and am thus guilty, as we say in the McPherson family, of “buttering my own parsnips”). It allows you to stream movies right from Netflix to your television, bringing us remarkably close to the utopian day when you can sit down, think of a movie, and start watching it in no time at all. It’s even wireless so you don’t have to hook it up to your router. Fancy!
The box also has generic computing capabilities and a variety of other applications, which include listening to internet radio on Pandora, renting new release films from Amazon, and looking at photos from Flickr. The nerd in me is sorely tempted to reprogram the thing or write my own software for it, but I know I’ll never get around to it. It’s just heartening to know that I could.
It’s easy to set up and works great. We are not prone to product endorsement at Oatmeal for Breakfast but we do think our friends who use Netflix might enjoy this little wonder. We hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas!
I haven’t made it over here to comment recently, but I’ve been reading the blog via google reader. So I rarely go comment. However, you two are so much like us, it is so sad that you don’t live in Tennessee or we in Washington state.
Suffice to say, we were looking for the same thing for Christmas! We, too, only have Netflix NO cable, and well…
We almost bought that. Almost. We also almost bought the Apple TV. Anyway, my husband (the computer nerd) wanted to give me internet tv for Christmas. Our solution was to give in and buy a flat screen. (Which wasn’t much more than the apple tv). Then we bought a $20 cord from Wal-mart b/c we decided we wanted a flat screen. Although we debated over the one you bought for six months.
As you can see, we really should live in the same city, and I’m sorry I’ve only known Kelly and not yet gotten to meet you. Maybe this summer we can actually make our trek to Washington?
Either way, I thought you’d want to know you have a twin mindset couple down here in Tennessee. :0) Hope y’all had a very Merry Christmas. We are thoroughly enjoying out Netflix on our tv, too.
Leah (and Chris)
Oh Leah, I just read your blog post! What a crazy ordeal, but I’m so glad the new television fit in the cabinet! I agree, you should come out to visit or we should find a way to visit you soon!