Roku v1.5 firmware update brings HD Netflix streaming
By Darren Murph 
posted Dec 20th 2008 10:06PM
posted Dec 20th 2008 10:06PM
[Thanks, TheManTheyCallJayne]
posted Dec 20th 2008 10:06PM
The number of televisions estimated that sit unused in closets.
The EPA estimates that nearly 100 million unused televisions are currently taking up precious, beautiful space. (source: EPA, July 2008)
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It will also allow access to additional content besides Netflix. No one knows what content that is yet, but it will be revealed once the update is fully deployed.
I was a beta tester for 1.5. It's pretty rock solid stable. I only had issues at first with wireless that I never encountered before the beta. Unfortunately I don't know if that issue was totally fixed in the later builds since I went wired and never switched back.
At first Netflix was offering HD streams at 3.6mbps but I believe most now are at 2.6 and SD streams report at 1.5mbps. All in all the HD content is pretty good. Certainly not BD quality but decent. Somewhere between DVD and BD.
The biggest thing is how Netflix encodes the movie/show. Some look great (I recommend the Star Trek series and The Thing) while others are just adequate.