I don't think I've ever done a tech review here at Screen Rant, but I've been hearing about the "Roku Box" for months now and I had the opportunity to review it this weekend.

The Roku Box works together with Netflix to allow you to download and watch DVD movies instantly. Netflix, of course is the biggest online DVD rental company on the planet - they've shipped out over one billion DVDs. Kind of the McDonalds of movies, I suppose.

I've actually been a Netflix member since shortly after it launched, way back in 1999. I've heard that some people have problems with them as members, but really I've found it to be a great service. For a fixed monthly fee you are allowed to have at home a set number of DVDs which they send in the mail. There is no due date - they control the turnaround time by fixing the number of DVDs you have at home. They include a postage paid envelope for returning the movie when you're done.

They offer plans starting at $4.99 a month and on up from there.

So while it's fairly convenient, you do have to plan your viewing sometimes as it takes a few days for a DVD to arrive and you don't always get what's at the top of your list (which they call a "queue"). That's where the Roku Box comes in: You can download and watch movies in your Netflix queue instantly on your television. I say "TV" specifically because Netflix had rolled out a "Watch Instantly" feature but it only allowed you to watch movies on your PC.

The Roku Box brings instant movie downloading and viewing to the masses.

It took me all of 15 minutes to get it set up from the moment I opened the box. And by "set up" I mean hooking it up to my home theater system, configuring the box via the online instructions and browsing my first movies to pick from on my TV screen. It's very easy and the instructions are all graphic-based and meant for non-technical users.

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It needs internet access via either a network cable or Wi-Fi (I used Wi-Fi) so that it can download the movies from Netflix. The quality of the picture is determined by your download speed - the faster the connection, the better the picture quality. I have a cable modem at home and using a wireless connection I achieved 4 out of 5 dots for picture quality. One thing I like about the box is that it has connections on the back for every sort of TV: Everything from the old composite white/yellow/red video/left/right connectors of older TV sets, to S-video, component, HDMI and optical audio connections.

I watched Logan's Run, and while the picture wasn't that great due to my testing with the oldest possible connection (composite), there were no pauses for downloading while viewing the movie. You can watch movies uninterrupted. You can also pause, fast forward and rewind. I also tested a more recent film, Trade for a few minutes to see what the picture quality would be like and considering the connection I was using I was very impressed. I look forward to viewing films with an HD connection between the Roku Box and my receiver.

The only downside is that while Netflix has an inventory of over 100,000 unique films, only about 1/10 of those are available yet for instant watching, and you can't browse by new releases. They have a "newly added" section but that's a hodge podge of older and newer movies and TV shows. You pretty much need to narrow your selection down by genre and dig through to find something you're interested in.

The Roku retails for $100 and you do need a Netflix account. The nice thing about instant viewing is that there is NO limit: you can watch as many downloadable movies as you like.

News also just came out today that Netflix has an agreement with Microsoft to allow this same functionality with the Xbox 360, although it requires a Xbox Live Gold account (whatever that is, I don't own a game box).

I'll definitely continue to use the Roku Box and look forward to Netflix making their entire library available for instant viewing.