Roku Now Licensing its Media Player Design

__aajbyc7391 writes: Roku has begun licensing its A/V media streaming set-top-box hardware and software technology to third-party device makers. Netgear, Roku's first licensee, will soon offer a Netgear-branded version of the recently size- and cost-reduced Roku XDS box through Best Buy, Fry's, and Radio Shack stores. Although Roku's licensing move follows closely on the heels Google's October rollout of the Google TV platform, the $60 to $100 Roku XD player design's low-cost, low-power, compact design, and sheer ease-of-use make it a compelling alternative to Google TV, assuming Google's platform results in priced like Logitech's $300 Review. As a small example, the Roku player most likely uses an inexpensive, power-stingy MIPS-based NXP processor in contrast to the Review's more power-thirsty, expensive, and spacious Atom processor.

Power costs

[Martin Hellman]

Aside from the lower capital cost of the Roku box, do you have any idea of the difference in power consumption? Especially here in California, where I often am paying $0.40 or more per kWh for my last tier, a 20 watt difference adds up to $70 a year.

Re:

[__aajbyc7391]

Roku's website says its device consumes 6W peak and 4W in standby. In contrast, Logitech told me their Review's peak power consumption is 36W, but was unable comment on standby modes. There's more than 20W difference there, but the key is probably how well the Review does in standby mode, since when you're watching TV you're using a lot more power than that anyhow.