I just went through a similar effort, my wife wants to stream Netflix onto our HDTV. I looked at the Roku, but wanted to be as future proof as possible, yes I realize that is fool's errand. The main reason I did not go with the Roku was the lack of HDMI support.
I ended up buying the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player, HDMI out, Flac support, 2 USB ports. I should get it this week and let folks know what I think and it works out.
Thanks for the informative thread.
Tim