My wife got me this along with a 50" tv for father's day. We have a sony internet streamer on our other tv and all I can do is compare the two. The Roku stick is much, much easier to use. The ease of operation has to be its biggest attribute. If you have paid streaming accounts such as Netflix, its very easy to access and watch shows. It also has a few free Show Apps, but to be honest, they don't have much inventory and if you have Netflix, there isn't much point in using the other Apps. They offer mostly the same shows. Some of them may be different but its not a large selection. My biggest issue with the stick is that it doesn't have a Web Browser to access the internet to Stream other online content like the Sony Internet Streamer does. The Sony Internet streamer is a lot more difficult to use and the PopUp blocker doesn't work on it. In comparing the two, I'd give them both 3 stars because they both have room for improvement. If you're looking for any easy access to watch Netflix, this stick is great, but its other features in my opinion are lacking. If it had Internet Explorer on it, with an effective Popup blocker, it would get a 5 star rating.
I was looking for something to supplement having cable and the Roku was exactly what I needed. It allows for me to choose from different viewing apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and I can even watch television on the Time Warner Cable app. Plus it was cheaper than buying an Apple TV.
This is my second Roku, I have a box for my older TV and got the stick for the new smart TV. Super easy to install. Got all my passwords put in and done.
I bought this for my child's TV, this product works perfectly. This is a must buy, must have. Forget paying tons of money on a monthly basis. Get Roku!!!