My review of the Roku IPTV box is now live over at RegHardware. It’s a nice enough piece of kit, but I can’t help feeling that, given it costs £99, it just doesn’t do quite enough, and doesn’t provide access to enough top class content. The main things for the UK are Netflix and iPlayer, which are both great services.
But after that, you’re into the minority things, like US news, public domain movies, TV from Ghana, and Bollywood bits and pieces. All has an audience, but for mainstream success, I think it’s going to need more – start with the other terrestrial broadcasters’ catch-up services, for example. 4OD, in particular, has a big back catalogue of stuff which could really make quite a difference if it was available. And LoveFilm, of course, would be good to see.
As it stands, UK users are paying rather more than those in the US, even allowing for VAT, and receiving a rather lesser level of content, in my view.
