By Alex Nunez on November 22, 2011 in
During our annual perusal of leaked Black Friday sale circulars, one of the items that's popped onto the radar this year is the digital media player. These are excellent gifts (my wife and I gave her brother a Roku for Christmas last year and it was a big hit), and retailers appear to have caught onto this. Walmart has the RCA DSB772WEl in its flyer listed at $39 (that's also the regular Walmart.com price, so there's no need to run to the store). Best Buy has the Sony SMPN100 media player listed for $49.99 ($50 off the regular price). While those low prices may be tempting, you're better off ignoring them and buying a Roku device instead.
Why a Roku?
ConsumerSearch's senior electronics editor, Carl Laron, is emphatic: "Honestly, if you need a set top box, the Roku is a no-brainer. Established, and with a broad knowledge base and active user community if you run into troubles."
Right now, Roku offers well over 300 content channels, and it continues to add more. Its lowest-priced 1080p-capable device is the Roku 2 XD, at $80. The fully-loaded, best-reviewed Roku 2 XS goes for $100. Currently, Roku also offers a bare-bones model, the LT, which supports video up to 720p, for $49.99. It's also worth keeping an eye on the Roku website for possible sales leading up to Christmas. Last shopping season, they offered 20% off on the XD.
But that RCA streaming player is SO CHEAP!
It sure is, but based on Walmart's listing and the handful of published reviews, the only content providers we're certain it offers are Netflix, Hulu Plus, Vudu, YouTube, Pandora, and Picasa. Yes, it supports 1080p and has built-in Wi-Fi, but if you run into trouble with it, finding quality support could prove troublesome. For example, the online FAQ for the advertised player is not particularly informative.
Carl's take on the RCA streaming digital media player is hardly a vote of confidence: "On the RCA, it's a cypher. No one but Walmart has it. Don't know who makes it (RCA is a licensee these days, selling their logo to other companies to slap on cheap goods)."
Okay, but Sony's solid, right?
Best Buy's offering what seems like an attractive discount on the Sony wireless network media player for Black Friday, but once again, Carl reports that there's not much to get excited about. He sums it up by saying, "Not terribly well regarded. Essentially takes Sony's TV/Blu-ray player streaming and puts it into a set top box."
Reviews are middling at best, both at BestBuy.com and at Sony.com (where it's already marked down to $50, incidentally).
A Roku is the smartest choice
Once again, your best bet is to go with a Roku model that fits your alloted budget, and you can do a lot of homework before you buy. Roku's online user forums are open to anyone, loaded with information, and are as helpful to shoppers doing pre-purchase research as they are to the Roku owners who use them to share their experiences and ask questions of fellow users. Whether you're buying for yourself or as a gift, a Roku digital media player stands well above either of the other two models we've seen in this year's Black Friday ad circulars.