Roku XDS: My Number One Xmas Item

This year there is one gift that I have on my list that stands about above all the rest and this is the Roku XDS Streaming Player. The main reason why I chose the Roku XDS for my Christmas list is because I have an older TV currently and it doesn’t have HDMI ports, I do however support component, composite and optical audio which the Roku XDS has that the less expensive versions of the Roku player do not have.

I have a Netflix account and love that it streams through the Wii for my kids, but in my master living room I don’t have access to Netflix and instant movies streaming, the Roku XDS solves this problem for me plus ties in to Hulu so I can catch up on TV Shows that I miss and/or forgot to DVR.

For $99 if you have a wired or wireless connection in your house the Roku XDS brings streaming movies and television shows to any television system in your house and is really worth the price if you have a Netflix subscription. Even more so is that the Roku Netflix interface is among the best and has features and ability to search and find instant movies that are lacking in the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions of the Netflix interface.

So for me, my Christmas gift that is above all else this year is the Roku XDS which I will use quite often instead of having to wait for DVD’s to arrive by mail.  The only thing is I think I got rid of my optical audio cable that I used to have with my Playstation 2 some years back and I will probably have to buy a new one.  These aren’t much though and Amazon.com sells one for like $4.

The Roku XDS system also supports playing video and music files from a plugged in USB device, it supports mp4, mp3, wma and wmv video formats.  So literally you can just drag and drop movies and video to your USB device and plug it into the Roku and watch it on the big TV or listen to your music from your TV.

I am curious if anyone has used the Roku Internet TV system yet and how do you like it?

-Justin Germino