Is there really any value in a Netflix branded set-top? Every video game console plays Netflix, the new generation of consoles is coming out soon, and a bunch of TVs have Netflix baked in.

I think there was a story recently about how Netflix encodes each video multiple times for the various boxes and television sets. If they had their own box they could be more in control of at least one of those encoding formats.

...all using the Netflix API

The Netflix API does not let you create a player. As far as I know Netflix built the player for every device (Ipad, Playstation, Blueray...). If they did not build the player for a device they had to give the device manufacturer a secret API that I am not aware of.

Also, for the curious, their player is all HTML5 driven. They basically compile a browser for each device and build the UI with HTML5.

This could explain why Netflix is pretty much the only streaming provider who has refused to respond to us in regards to getting them on our upcoming media hardware platform. I even sunk as low as tweeting at some of their team to no avail.

the roku box came out of Netflix - I won't be surprised if they still have stakes there.

it's more about keeping their data for themselves, sharing is caring and they just don't :)

Roku shipped their HD1000 "Photobridge" video playing STB several years before Netflix introduced their streaming product. I know it was able to display 1080P MPEG transport streams at the very least.