Gadgetory

what's up prized by fans i'm brian Tong and we've got a battle for streaming box supremacy it's a prizefight throw down showdown between the roku XDS and the Apple TV our judges for this fight our senior editor John bad to the bone Falcone senior editor David Garneau and yours truly all night long we'll take all three judges blind scores and average them out to the nearest tenth each round the final prize fight store will be an average of all rounds using the same decimal system let's get this party started round 1 in design both of these boxes are small and black and you really won't notice them next year TV set the roku XDS is simple and clean but it's fabric tag belongs on a t-shirt more than it does on a set-top box Apple stays true to tradition and can even make a streaming box sexy it's the smallest component you'll have it's about fifty percent smaller than the XDS and its remote is just as sleep Apple TV starts a fight with a perfect five and Roku get two for next round is interface and navigation the roku XDS has a simple interface that's very utilitarian it won't wow you visually but it gets the job done it's also easy to customize by adding channels for your favorite content and the remote doesn't get in the way the Apple TV interface is clean and elegant just like you'd expect animations are smooth and its interface feels polished you won't get any real customization here but its remote is simple and easy to use the big a gets another perfect five and the Roku gets a 3.7 dr. averaging two rounds Apple leads by over a full point but it's still too early to get excited round three is secret with the media box you want options and the roku XDS connects to any TV with HDMI up to 1080p component video and composites there's also USB port for potentially streaming content off a connected thumb stick or hard drive in the future plus you're getting dual band 802 11 N and an ethernet port for connectivity now the apple TV is pretty limited here it brings HDMI at only 720p and that's it it won't connect to any non HD television sets networking options include Wi-Fi and ethernet but is pretty slim pickings roastin strikes back with a perfect five of its own and Apple gets a 3 next round is content with media streaming boxes content is king Netflix is the flagship service on both boxes but you know s we're hungry for more now the Roku shines with over 100 channels of content like amazon video on demand Hulu Plus Pandora for music discovery and streaming music from the cloud with mp3 tunes plus there's on-demand sports from Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League and none of these services are currently available on Apple TV now beyond Netflix apples box has access to content from itunes but key shows like house fringe or modern family aren't even available at the moment it can stream itunes from pcs on your local network and you can watch youtube you can use airplay to view content from iOS devices on the big screen but not all media content can be viewed like videos plane in Safari or movies you recorded on your iPhone it's a killer innovation but it's still not fully baked The Rose who gets another 5 with its myriad content solutions and the Apple TV gets a 3 after averaging four rounds Roku has taken the lead by four tenths of a point this one is so close and the final round that decides it all is value for ninety-nine dollars the roku XDS brings the best video and audio streaming services on the web with every connectivity option you can think of the apple TV is also 99 bucks and if you live in an apple dominated ecosystem you'll feel right at home with itunes integration but you'll be missing out on a whole lot of content in the final round roku gets another perfect five and Apple gets a four so let's average out all five rounds and in a battle where the big a dominated from the start the roku XDS came back with three perfect rounds taking this faceoff 4.5 24 and is your prize fight winner both of these streaming boxes will continue to mature with new features and content but the decision really comes down to your desire to stay in the Apple world or experience all the services that Roku has to offer I'm Brian Tom thanks for watching we'll catch you guys next time for another prize fight you