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Inside The Tech Of The Netflix Player With Roku

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News Posted: Thu, May 29 2008 9:47 AM

A little over a week ago, Netflix unveiled a set-top box for watching on-demand movies and TV. The content box -- dubbed the "Netflix Player" -- was developed by the ingenious team at Roku.

We were curious about the box and how it came to be, so we chatted with Tim Twerdahl, the VP of Consumer Products for Roku. Tim told us a little about the guts of the box, the future of the set-top box, and what he's watching now. Here's what we found out...

Hey Tim, what powers the Player?

It's running on Linux and we're using an NXP core processor. I'm not really deep into the tech side of things, but the version of Linux it's running is not off-the-shelf.


Is there a storage device in the player?

Tim:  There's no hard drive. We're just using flash memory.

Why's that?

Tim:  Well, three reasons. For one, there's cost involved with putting a hard drive in each box and we really wanted to hit the $99 price point. Second, we wanted to avoid any failure issues associated with hard disk storage. Third, we've heard feedback from home theater purists who said that they don't want to hear fan noise.

Is that right?

Tim:  Yep. Quite a few people don't want to hear the hum of a fan in the background while watching TV.




How did the Netflix Player come to be?

Tim:  Well, Netflix has been interested in the idea of doing a set-top box for some time. They've also been working with Anthony Wood, the CEO of Roku for some time. They asked about 20 of us to come join Netflix and build a box for them.

Before it launched, the box was spun out as an independent Roku product instead of a Netflix product for two reasons. One, it leaves Netflix an open platform so that they're not just tied down to one device. It also allows Roku to seek out other content providers to put their content on the Roku box.


What's the future for the product?

We're talking to all big web video providers right now. Of course, I can't go into specifics -- but we are looking into a number of ideas.



How big is the entertainment library going to get?

Tim:  Well, less than year ago Netflix had 3,000 titles available through their online streaming service. When we launched the Player, we went out with 10,000 titles available. So, I'd say we're on a great trajectory.


Will Netflix's recommendation engine be integrated with the player?

Tim:  You can rate the content you've watched, just not on the box itself. If you have the Player, you'll have two queues available on the Netflix site -- a DVD queue and an instant queue. Netflix wants to drive users to their site, where they have all their recommendation tools. Ultimately, the decision was to keep simplicity in the living room and push complexity to the website

What's the response been?

Tim:  Initial demand has been tremendous. We're sold out currently and we're running on about a  two week back order. The promoter in me wants to tell people to sign up now and get their names on the list.

 





How does Netflix decide what content to add to the service?

Tim:  Right now, they prioritize by looking at what's popular in the DVD queues of subscribers. Then, they try and get the digital rights for those DVDs. They're leveraging the data they have on what's popular to gauge their next moves.

Can users request new movies/tv shows to be added?

Tim:  Right now, no. But it's a great idea. I'll pass it along.


What have you been watching on your Netflix Player lately?

Tim:  I've been catching up on season 2 of Weeds. I'm really into it right now.


Thanks for your time and the sharing your insight, Tim!





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SqUiD267 replied on Thu, May 29 2008 2:02 PM

 That sounds really cool and convient.  The HD capapbilites and no HDD is good. I persoanlly don't mind the fan at all.

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slimbo replied on Sun, Jun 1 2008 8:53 AM
"was developed by the ingenious team at Roku."

Is that the same Roku team that copied Slim Devices product and runs on Slim Devices software?

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digitaldd replied on Sun, Jun 1 2008 5:24 PM

Seems like a great little device from the reviews I've seen. The only gripes folks seem to have are:

- only a small percentage of Net Flix library is available for streaming, this I assume will solve itself over time. And perhaps Roku could add a few partnerships to add more content. I can see them striking a deal with Amazon [for their unboxed offerings] or Vongo [for their access to Starz! content].

- pause/unpause, fast forward/rewind and any jumping around during playback causes the movie to pause, freeze, stutter or have its video/audio fall out of sync for a minute or two. At least according to the reviews I read. 

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jvo replied on Fri, Jun 6 2008 6:25 PM
The Roku SoundBridge is only superficially a "copy" of Slim Devices' Squeezebox. Actually, it's been quite a while since a SoundBridge used the SlimServer. Also, it is architecturally different from the Squeezebox (it's "smart" and doesn't require a server to run its UI).

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SB1 replied on Tue, Jun 10 2008 9:51 PM
Got mine today and it is a POS. It keeps freezing and is unresponsive. I have tried it on two TVs on two separate networks using both HDMI and composite video. I have had to reboot it and reset it multiple times and I am sending it back. Very disappointing....
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ice91785 replied on Sat, Jun 14 2008 11:50 AM

I'd really like to see a unit that had a good handful of local storage, so you could say locally keep 30 of your favorite movies for watching anytime (and not have to worry about a bad stream or network latency) after a download period from an UBER-fast server of course. Subsequently, you could obviously then remove and add new content whenever you wanted keeping at that storage limit.

Perhaps this would require an external add-on HDD or something from you? ...Just an idea anyway

 

 

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