Almost immediately after Netflix showed their new $99 set top box built in partnership with Roku it was compared with the Apple TV. A fair comparison at first glance as it appears to have similar features and go after the same market.

Well, no and no. The Netflix Player is a solution that will offer standard definition video that Netflix now streams on their web site for their subscribers and allow it to play on a TV. There is no hard drive in the Netflix Player.

Netflix probably will not stream high definition or Dolby 5.1 surround sound as this would require an Internet speed of at least 6 Mbps or more which most U.S. households lack. The box syncs with nothing and “streams” only the content from the Netflix site. This is no Apple TV killer. Nor does it position itself to be one.

Netflix subscribers currently pay at least $8.99 per month to have unlimited access to a subset of the 80,000 title Netflix library, about 10,000 movies that they can stream to their PC. Buying the $99 Netflix Player will allow them to extend the viewing of these streams to a TV.

Although the Roku box has the capability to play HD and surround sound (so says Roku) there is nothing so far to suggest this will happen anytime soon due to the relative anemic download speeds most U.S. homes have available.

The Netflix Player includes HDMI, component video, S-Video and composite video outputs along with digital and analog audio outputs, and connects to the Internet via Ethernet or 802.11b/g WiFi.

The Apple TV costs $229 offering HD Movie Rentals, Podcasts, YouTube videos, and connects to all your Mac or Windows PC computers in your home to “stream” all your iTunes content that you have stored on your computers that include TV shows, movies, music, audiobooks, and photo slideshows. You can also sync content to the Apple TV and then play the content from its internal hard drive. The Apple TV also allows you to view online photo galleries on Flickr and .Mac.

When renting an HD or SD movie it is stored on the internal hard drive of the Apple TV. You can usually start watching the movie within about a minute or more depending on the speed of your Internet connection as the download is cached.

You have 30 days to start watching the movie and can watch it as many times as you like in a 24 hour period once you start the rental. Most all of the high definition rentals have Dolby 5.1 surround sound. The Apple TV also allows you to purchase standard definition movies, TV shows or music directly. Purchased content can be easily synced back to iTunes you your computer and played on your computer, iPod or iPhone.

The Apple TV has HDMI, component video, digital and analog audio outputs and connects to your home network via Ethernet or 802.11b/g WiFi. Apple TV requires an HD TV.

The Apple TV is a much more complete entertainment solution geared toward the iPod/iTunes user or the person that wants to rent HD content from a set top box.

The Netflix Player is a device that may appeal to the Netflix subscriber that will offer “streaming quality” standard definition movies on a subscription. No storage, syncing, buffering, or purchasing of content is available.

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