All, this simply comes down to a personal choice of which device you like better. That’s it. The whole debate about specs is silly. I prefer the WD, clearly others do not.
Recently, Roku updated their FW, as well as a new version of Plex that has made the combination of the two, or using the Roku 3 on it’s own via its USB port a much better platform for playing local media files than ever before. Support for MKV containers, DD+, and DTS passthrough, FLAC support, some DLNA client services etc. have been added.
I have several WD boxes, a Roku, and I also use Plex. I personally like the interface for the WD devices better than that of the Roku for my local media, but I’ll give them credit, the most recent update (in January) has made the product much more competitive for playing your own files. For me there are still too many issues like the inability to play subtitle files over the network (supposedly getting fixed), and several media containers that still need to be transcoded like avi/Xvid. Also I am unclear if it can pass DTS HD MA, and it would appear most other people discussing it are just as confused as I.
I like that we can use custom themes, apparently dcb917 does not. So be it. Both devices are decent, and yes, the Roku has a lot more options for streaming video from the internet. It still does not play as many media types, both container and stream as the WD boxes. For some that will work fine. For other it won’t. Have a lot of AVIs? You’ll be doing a lot of transcoding.
I guess I am saying, each to his own. I’ll use my WD for almost everything local, and my Roku for most of my streaming needs, as well as certain apps for the Roku (like simple.tv) that are not DLNA compliant.
It is certainly worth noting though, that Roku has really stepped up their game with the Roku3 as far as local media, and the specs page does not yet reflect all of that yet. Most of this has been discussed on the Roku forum. A year ago I was lauging at people who insisted on using their Rokus for local media. Since the beginning of this year, it is actually become a very reasonable option.
Ill still just keep the two boxes taped together and get the best of both worlds :laughing:
-P