Purchased the HD1000 for audio streaming and photograph display. The high definition digital display of photographs is great. Easy to set up and use. The audio capability is much more limited and not at all easy to use. I believe Roku is somewhat misleading in their claims about the audio capability of this unit. Many popular formats are not supported although Roku suggests using third part software. This is very limited and I am not a fan of having to use third part software to upgrade a product to meet its marketing claims. If audio is important to you, look elsewhere. I am disappointed with the device.

I bought the Roku HD1000 so that I could display digital photos in HD on my TV. I was not disappointed. In fact, the results were outstanding! If you use a memory stick, SD card, or compact flash disk, the setup couldn't be easier.

If you want to get files from your PC over a network things get more complicated. Not complicated in a technology sense, but in a user interface sense. You need to do a bunch of clicking to get things set up.

If you want to play music from your computer, the interface becomes a hassle. You end up browsing through a hierarchy of folders to find the song you want, and it's basically not worth the trouble.

I already own an Audiotron, which does for music what the Roku does for photos, and it's so much easier to use that the Roku will be a photo-only device for me. The Audiotron saves you the endless folder browsing by automatically searching the entire network for music, and then organizing it for you. It allows you to very quickly choose music by artist, album name, song title, or genre. The Roku could do with a lot of improvement in this area.

The irony is that if the Roku had been billed as being for photos only, I'd have given it 5 stars. It's really the only game in town if you want high definition photo display on a TV, and it's terrific! For trying to be a video and music solution as well, and being poor to fair in those categories, I deduct a star. If you want a solution for music or video, buy something else.

The Roku HD player was nothing but problems. I'm not a pro at things like this but my friend is and we spent over 3 hrs trying to get this thing to work and only then got it to work halfway. Judging from other people on Roku's message boards I wasn't the only one. It has serious networking issues. I sent mine back I was so disappointed. The idea was great but not the product.

I just got this item today along with the iomega 250GB Network Drive. I plugged in my drive, put some music on it, then as soon as I turned on my Roku, it saw the files and started playing them immediately.

I agree with some other users who say that navigating through the music is slow and cumbersome...that's why I gave it 4 stars, not 5. However, this item works just like it was advertised. I'm extremely pleased.

I just felt compelled to write given some of the previous reviews. I just bought this - yes I know (sucker!) - but I really wanted to see what mt Plasma could do with a decent signal.
I plugged it in - used component cables to sit the roku unit btn DVD out and plasma in (a screen saver feature and ease of use) - and voila - my aquarium artpack was running in 1080i - beautiful!
Then I got ambitious - I bought the DLink G810 Ethernet Bridge (runs on the g wifi so fast enough to stream video) - set it up with my D-Link Wifi g network as per the package - very easy! and again voila the Roku had found 1500+ mp3s on my desktop, over 3000 photos, and there was little if any noticeable lag in viewing.
i hold off from 5 stars as it is not the most beautiful UI in the world and also is fairly basic in nature of what it can do BUT ifr you are looking to stream audio and video from PC, show photos from PC, and look very cool to your friends with a real HD gadget! then the Roku is the one.
Only thing - check the www.rokulabs.com site forums for details on 'issues' for advanced users and also looks like a new OS update is coming soon, so maybe some of the more basic features will get enhanced.
Great Product and cheap!