Hm. Do I have any options here?

[MRW1215]

I'm interested in these set top box/ "smart TV" boxes. Actually, I currently have a Vizio CoStar, but I'm not completely happy with it. There are four very specific things that I consider "mandatory", as far as things the box can do:

1) Hulu Plus
2) YouTube
3) Netflix
4) The ability to watch embedded videos from websites

#4 is specifically pretty hard to find, because it seems like most of these boxes either don't have a web browser, or don't have flash support (or whatever is needed to actually make the videos work). But I consider #4 to be fairly important, because, well... There's a particular livestreamed video podcast I enjoy watching, but it's only livestreamed on the company's website, and only to paying members of the site (which I am). So, there's no other way to watch it other than through a web browser (unless I wait a full week for it to come out on YouTube for everyone, but it's so much more fun to watch it live).

My CoStar actually allows me to watch that podcast live (although, I do occasionally have problems getting the video to load on the browser, but it works a good percent of the time). Unfortunately, it seems as though there's no way to access Hulu Plus on the CoStar, which is a huge disappointment to me, because I want to keep up with my favorite shows, but it'd be nice to watch them in bed, on my TV.

I've been trying to figure out if any boxes have all four of these capabilities, but it seems like every one I look at is missing at least one of those four. Are there any options available that will take care of all four of my needs?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I'm interested in these set top box/ "smart TV" boxes. Actually, I currently have a Vizio CoStar, but I'm not completely happy with it. There are four very specific things that I consider "mandatory", as far as things the box can do:

1) Hulu Plus
2) YouTube
3) Netflix
4) The ability to watch embedded videos from websites

#4 is specifically pretty hard to find, because it seems like most of these boxes either don't have a web browser, or don't have flash support (or whatever is needed to actually make the videos work). But I consider #4 to be fairly important, because, well... There's a particular livestreamed video podcast I enjoy watching, but it's only livestreamed on the company's website, and only to paying members of the site (which I am). So, there's no other way to watch it other than through a web browser (unless I wait a full week for it to come out on YouTube for everyone, but it's so much more fun to watch it live).

My CoStar actually allows me to watch that podcast live (although, I do occasionally have problems getting the video to load on the browser, but it works a good percent of the time). Unfortunately, it seems as though there's no way to access Hulu Plus on the CoStar, which is a huge disappointment to me, because I want to keep up with my favorite shows, but it'd be nice to watch them in bed, on my TV.

I've been trying to figure out if any boxes have all four of these capabilities, but it seems like every one I look at is missing at least one of those four. Are there any options available that will take care of all four of my needs?

PS3?

Seriously though, what about the Roku? I have a feeling #4 will be hardest to find.

 

[MRW1215]

Heh, I do have game consoles, but they're all attached to my main TV in the living room. Looking for something for my bedroom TV. #4 probably will, indeed, be the hardest to find, though I'm pretty surprised the CoStar can do it, but for whatever bizarre reason can't do Hulu Plus at all.

I've looked at the Roku, but from what I can tell, I don't believe #4 would be possible on that. I also heard there's no official support for YouTube on the Roku, though apparently there are some third party apps for that (but I'm not particularly comfortable giving my YouTube credentials to a third party app for my YT subscriptions and whatnot).

It kinda amazes me that it's so impossible to find all of this in one package. It seems like every single box out there is missing at least one of these things, and I don't really understand why. I can't imagine it would be that difficult/ problematic to build a device that can do all four of these things, should it?

 

[HES]

It kinda amazes me that it's so impossible to find all of this in one package. It seems like every single box out there is missing at least one of these things, and I don't really understand why. I can't imagine it would be that difficult/ problematic to build a device that can do all four of these things, should it?

I know. I'm stuck with the same question. It's almost as if buying or building a dedicated media PC would be the way to go. It wouldn't be so frustrating if Google would actually support the platform instead of leaving it to die on the vine.