You can't be a gadget company and show your face on the playground without selling some way to make our TVs smart TVs. Whether this is a good thing is a matter of some dispute. But Netgear is throwing down.
Netgear's NeoTV Pro HD box is just another small bland black box—and that's fine! They shouldn't be noticeable. And while it lacks Roku's mega-plethora of streaming stuff, has the essentials (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Pandora, et al.) and beats the reigning econo-champ: $70 will net you 1080p playback, ethernet, and the ability to mirror your laptop screen (and anything on it) on your TV via Intel's WiDi. Of course, your computer might not support WiDi But if it does..! By comparison, Roku's 1080p doesn't kick in until its $80 version, and ethernet will cost you another bump up to the $100 model. Netgear's missing Amazon VoD—does that bother you? Does that bother you enough to peel off a few more bills? Think it over. The NeoTV HD Pro launches today. [Netgear]