Netflix streaming, is 11.5 mbps enough?

Internetmin,

Did you compare the pic and sound between the Roku and Apple?

Are they close? Is it about DVD quality on the pic?

I may just buy one or the other and forget about using my stereo so I can have cheap streaming.

thanks again,

Phil

Philojet,

The Apple implementation of the Netflix streaming supports 5.1 audio and their video implementation is among the best that's out there. There was a podcast last year on one of the TWIT networks with Leo Laporte's This Week in Tech that I believe covered them and the consensus was that the AppleTV was at the top or slightly behind VUDU in streaming. That was prior to the 1080p implementation of the AppleTV. I have a choice between the two devices and I always prefer the AppleTV. Is it DVD quality? Yes, it better than DVD or equal to DVD. If it's an HD stream, which most now tend to be, then the picture is even better.

In my simple opinion, if you don't care about doing full blown surround sound, then just grab the HDMI off your TV. I think that the NAD is a simple stereo receiver, so I would opt to just go directly to the TV with HDMI.

There is indeed another option and that is to get an HDMI switch that will decode audio into RCA stereo. That may be your best bet. You can pickup this Monoprice HDMI switch and it will do the trick perfectly for you. You can then feed the analog audio directly to your NAD.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=7112&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

Good luck.

Theo

thank you very much Theo,

I finally conceded that I will just plug the HDMI into the TV and use it's sound. If I want I can get the HDMI switch.

I remember Leo from ZDTV (now G4) I hope he cut his ponytail off! ;)

I am sold on the Apple and am off the buy one now.

Will give my two cents at a later date.

all the best,

Phil

Good Luck Phil and have fun with it.

thanks again everyone.

Just a quick update, I have the Apple TV and the picture is quite nice and looks better than my Uverse HD (which is average but decent overall) sometimes the Apple TV looks over saturated or a bit animated but is very enjoyable. I can not comment on the sound as I am using my TV speakers but it is fine. Also I am using a cheap HDMI I bought from Parts Express (flat black cable) that got some good reviews on AA.

Also I thought it was worth noting that I changed service with Uverse and they lowered my internet speed (without telling me) to 2.8 mbps and the Apple TV still worked fine! I got it bumped up to 5.8 now because surfing was too slow and the Apple TV pic did not appear to improve so I thought it pretty amazing that 2.8 worked.

Overall very happy with the purchase of Apple TV and the value provided by using Netflix (despite a very limited film library - where are all the foreign titles I remember when I had the DVD service and the film was only available online?)

all the best and thanks again Theo!

Phil