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Now that Mexico is facing the end of analogical TV one can't help but wonder what would happen with all those old TVs still sitting on top of someone's entertaining center. The whole idea of having them become garbage and fill endless dumps all over the national territory is enough to make you cringe if you have the minimum ecological conscience.
Of course, there are alternatives. First of all, cable systems are able to extend the life of those monsters of TVs that you brought for a lot of moolah not too long ago, as well as table top boxes. But still, another type of content is far from being fully available to our old microwave oven-type TVs.
That content is about streaming video and audio. For the last couple of years or so, services like Netflix and ClaroVideo have been cutting a piece on the TV market and become important venues for producers, to the point of creating their own very successful content while also showing reruns of regular TV series.
That's very cool, really. And if you though that your mom's TV, the one you just got a box to catch those digital TV channels, could not be used to access those contents, well, you are quite wrong.
I am not talking here about using those dubious HDMI to RCA or composite video adapters that pop up on the internet and some badly produced infomercials. The mileage with them can vary, but in the end you have to get a bunch of cables to connect your old TV to your tablet or laptop.
But do not despair, there is something better, better made and fully implemented to perform its function.
The artifact, or rather artifacts in question, are presented by a company called Roku, and they have convergence written all over them.
I liked them a lot when I had the chance to play with their "Model One" during a 101 presentation in a hotel of Mexico City, with the presence of Lloyd A. Klarke, Director of Product Managment; Alex Dalesio, Latin America Sales Director, and Mike Duin, chief of Communications at Roku.
The "Model One" is interesting because it has RCA or composite video connections, the same ones you use to connect your old VCR and DVD player to Mom's TV. On the many available channels you can find Netflix, of course, Youtube and many others ("Wow! Is there really a Popeye network?") that perhaps you didn't know about. Some of them are free while others charge a subscription, but regarding Roku, the service in itself is free and comes with lifetime support.
As for the number of channels available, it's on the thousands and increasing. Here's some data to give you an idea:
- There are more than 200 movie channels, like Netflix and Google Play, and soon Crackle and Cinépolis Klic will present content in Spanish.
- You have access to more than 100 music channels like Spotify and Rdio, while local radio stations will be available on TuneIn Radio.
- More than a hundred cooking channels (Yeah!), like Tastemade and iFood.tv are also available in case you run out of ideas for eating or want to impress someone with your skills (and save money in the process, blink, blink).
- There are more than a hundred kids channels like Happy Kids and Cartoon Club (and let's not forget the Popeye channel!).
- You can also play games. There are almost a hundred game channels, like Tetris, Snake and Frisbee Forever.
- Also, for those of us that are either testosterone-addicted or extremely bored there are some hundred sports channels like Sports Illustrated, WWE, GoPro and Red Bull TV. Wrestlers and flying bikes man!
- And, of course, there are some 50 video channels like YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, TED and Twitch, to satisfy all your cat, rock and science video needs.
"Model One" is retailing at $1,099 Mexican pesos in stores and supermarkets, and it's just the starting point into the Roku experience.
Going up the ladder, "Model Two" ditches the RCA outputs, but comes with a card reader and the ability to stream content from your smartphone in real time, so you can share everything from home videos to music. It uses the HDMI connection to your TV.
"Roku Stick" is similar in design to Google's "Comcast", being basically a stick you connect to the HDMI port of your TV. The added advantage is that you can take it everywhere and use it, say, at the neighbor's and have a nice evening watching movies or a sports channel. You can also use it at the den and then take the stick to your bedroom and continue watching your TV shows. "Model Two" retails for $1,599 while the Stick goes for $1,099 Mexican pesos.
On all models, the interface is very simple and it kinda reminds me of an Android image gallery in the way that the available content is presented, allowing the user to learn it in just a few minutes. Also, there is a very simple remote control that works on wi-fi and can reach the terminal from anyplace inside the network.
Something worth noticing about Roku is how it streams content really fast and with good image quality even in the sometimes really slow networks in Mexico City. According to Lloyd, its OS is based on Linux (like everything else today, even your electric shaver) and it is optimized for extracting the content with the best possible quality, in a classical "less is more" fashion.
All in all, I am pretty certain that Roku did not intend to save our old analog TV's, but it certainly makes a good alternative to letting them go to waste and bring forth more pollution.
In any case, with a remote control so simple that either a five year old, or a seventy year old, can get the knack of it in no time, thousands of options for streaming content and even the option to create your own content and share it worldwide, make for a great choice for entertainment at the right price.
And just in time for Xmas.
