One of my pet hates is entering my credit card details for a service that is meant to be free. How about having to enter your big long number before you can use a product you spent £100 on? Setting up the Roku 2 XS made me grumpy; the actual process only took a few minutes but it set the tone for the rest of the test.

Resembling an oversized nugget of shiny coal, the Roku lives up to its extra small billing (it measures 84x84x24mm). Its purpose in life is to allow internet-based media streaming on your TV in HD (720p or 1080p). Connect the little black box via an HDMI cable (also, annoyingly, not included), pair it with your wifi network and you’re ready to go. The US version provides a choice of more than 350 channels but subtract about 300 from the digital sweet shop for the UK version. There are some quality free channels a mere click away though, including BBC iPlayer, Netflix and Facebook. I also really enjoyed the free TED channel (Technology, Entertainment, Design) – a few inspirational talks later and I was nearly cheered up.

I did get the impression that the scaffolding was still up and the builders were on a tea break, though. There’s a built-in USB port for connecting a USB stick, but the Roku only supports MP4 video files or MP3/AAC audio files, which is a bit measly. Additionally there’s no Lovefilm (which is a deal breaker for me), plus no Twitter, and network streaming is harder than it should be.

Although a free full edition of Angry Birds and a motion sensitive remote control nearly redeem this pigmy streamer, unless you’ve got no other way to get Netflix or are infatuated with iPlayer, I’d recommend the Dune HD TV101 or WDTV Live as better all-round streamers for similar money.

Roku 2 XS Media Streamer

£99.99 from www.amazon.co.uk and www.play.com, see www.roku.com/2xs for more information.