Roku?
 

Hi everyone,

Installed in Chicago now, and moving into a new apartment next week. Was considering getting a Roku box - anyone have any thoughts? Seems like most people tell me cable definitely isn't worth it.

Stay warm, fellow mid-westerners!

Siv

Re: Roku?
 

I agree that cable isn't worth it, but then I'm not sure Roku is either. We've been entirely TV-less for almost a year, and neither Mrs P nor I really miss it at all. :ohmy:

Re: Roku?
 

Well, that's the other option, of course. At the moment my husband is sending over bits and pieces from the UK that he downloads. It's only the odd show we'd watch :/

Weighing it up..

Re: Roku?
 

We have used the Roku for over a year. We subscribe to only one paid channel, AcornTV, which plays a lot of British shows, and we use Amazon Prime to access a lot of things we might ordinarily pay for (I'd get Amazon Prime anyway since I buy a lot on Amazon). Everything else we watch is free. We are really happy with it and the fact that we don't pay for cable. We mostly use it for movies, news, weather, music, and some TV series, and we really don't care about not seeing TV shows the instant they are out. My husband likes the Plex channel to download and watch his YouTube favorites. The Roku is pretty flexible and we find enough to watch but you may not like it if you have your weekly favorite TV show, your live sports, or anything live really.

I'm with you, Pulaski. Before I met my husband, I went quite happily without TV for 25 years. Someone stole my TV in college, I couldn't afford to replace it, and I realized I hadn't turned it on in weeks anyway.

Re: Roku?
 

Why not purchase a Blu-Ray player with streaming capability and get two for one? Also more and more TVs have streaming built into the TV.

Samsung Blu-Ray Player with WI-FI

Re: Roku?
 

Our Roku has now just been relegated to using for netflix. You can't (or couldn't, I haven't checked recently) use it for Hulu, only Hulu Plus (which you have to pay for) and the youtube interface isn't wonderful.

Instead I'd go for either a blu-ray player that does what you want, or find some way to stream from a pc onto your tv. Then netflix ($8 a month), Hulu (free) and youtube (free but limited) are your friends.

Re: Roku?
 

I'm confused. My internet provider is my cable tv provider. Can I opt out of Cable tv and get reasonable tv content over the internet connection? What does a roku do for me? DVR?

Re: Roku?
 

Samsung uses "Smart Hub" on their TVs and Blu-Ray players. The TVs even have a built in browser but the design of the remote to control the browser is cumbersome. If they get a good interface for the browser (mostly software and a mouse like device is needed), then it should work similar to a laptop.

Samsung Smart Hub

More on Samsung Smart Hub

Some things you pay for and others are free.

The following is the Samsung TV Smart Hub remote.

Re: Roku?
 

We've got a samsung smart tv, but rarely use it for anything other than pandora radio as it is so cumbersome. We have a Roku box on to provide a better interface for streaming from Netflix and amazon prime. That said, I haven't watched anything at all on tv for over 2 weeks now, and all wife is watching are Korean soap operas. If you haven't discovered that particular joy yet, you really should ....... :unsure:

Re: Roku?
 

We have a Vizio smart TV, and we moved out Roku to the bedroom as the TV is so good.

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube etc.

Very occasionally we will plug my MacBook Air into the TV (when streaming Iplayer through a VPN) but other than that our smart TV has everything we want.

The interface is pretty good, YouTube can be a pain but it allows you to pair your mobile device and search for content on there - negating the horrible text entering.

Re: Roku?
 

Which VPN do you use?

Re: Roku?
 

Overplay

Re: Roku?
 

Have Vizio revamped their smart tv interface recently? We have a 3(?) year old Vizio that we took out of a rental, and one of the reasons we bought Samsung for our main TV was that (for us) the smart side seemed better, although the sales guy was very upfront about its shortcomings. The thing that bugs me most is that most of them suffer from the onscreen pointer style keyboard...I saw some (lg maybe?) had started putting qwerty keyboards on their remotes, which is an improvement, but I'd like to find a proper keyboard that I can pair with it....any ideas?

Re: Roku?
 

I have both a roku and an Apple TV. The Apple TV gets much more use for me because of the ability to airplay from my iMac, ipad or iPhone. It's just so very convenient.

Re: Roku?
 

Love our Roku..... extremely easy to use and very reliable. Massive range of channels available, including Spotify, Pandora, Netflix etc.

Re: Roku?
 

Doesn't your Samsung Smart TV remote have a qwerty keyboard? Mine is over 3 years old and does. However when I first got it, it was seldom supported and assumed that since Samsung was using the Smart Hub for their Blu-Ray players that didn't have a qwerty keyboard, they'd eventually create a different useable interface for the Smart TV but that still hasn't happened.

Trying to use the browser is nearly impossible due to the lack of a pointing device and although the qwerty keyboard is used, you have to first use the arrow keys to position over the desired field, hit enter, and then a separate window pops up that allows use of the qwerty keyboard.

Re: Roku?
 

If you get internet and phone from cable company, it might be cheaper to get the tele than to ditch it. That's the case for us with FIOS, it's $20 cheaper than if we didn't have the tele.

Also without having the tele, wouldn't have the option to use NBC sport streaming online and all the rest of them.

Roku is handy if you use a lot of the streaming services like Hulu/Netflix/Amazon etc, especially if you're not a Mac household.

I don't know what the big advantage over Roku 3 is over Roku 1 or 2 though, other than having a motion sensor controller for games and the later 2 generations having a headphone jack in the remote.

Re: Roku?
 

No. At the time I think so e of them might have done, but the kids wanted the 3D, and the model we went for didn't have the keyboard on the remote. Shame, because the 3d is a big white elephant, while the keyboard may have actually got used....:( at the time, I sort of assumed I'd be able to tie a wireless/Bluetooth keyboard to it but that ain't happening....

Re: Roku?
 

I also have 3D and it is a "white elephant". I was talking to someone from Sony about 3 years ago and she said by all indications, Sony was betting the farm on 3D.

Re: Roku?
 

The new Bravia 3D is amazingly nice though....even the fake 3D isn't to bad...but then the passive glasses are cheap as chips and aren't as heavy as the other kind.

As for Samsung and keyboard, isn't there a android/ios app? Most TV's and the like I thought would have one and you'd use that as a virtual keyboard over wifi.

Re: Roku?
 

The Samsung 3D is pretty decent also including the fake 3D but even when they introduce 3D without the need for glasses, I doubt many people will use it very often and if it wasn't included in the TV, I doubt many would care once they had a TV previously with it.

I think all the apps come from the manufacturer (core applications probably come from the media suppliers) so until the manufacturer provides the interface such as a modified android app, I doubt there is a way to make it work correctly.

Re: Roku?
 

I'm mulling my TV options right now. I have cable and internet and pay $119/month for a 25Mb/s connection and a cable package that gives me BBCAmerica and NBCSports for the Premier League. If I was to just go with the internet my monthly bill would be $30.......so I'm looking at going with Netflix, Roku and over the air TV for NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS etc. I'd save a bunch. but have to give up BBC America and the Premier League.

Re: Roku?
 

BBCA wouldn't be a big loss, if you've got a VPN and Netflix, you'd get the UK catalogue, so would have those programs, along with anything on BBC iPlayer/ITV/C4 etc.

The footie might be more of a challenge and limited to dodgy sites like http://www.wiziwig.tv/competition.ph...pline=football

Though with Chromecast, you could fling a desktop browser tab at the tele as most of these are flash, should work well but quality is variable. The non-flash feeds are better quality but have no idea how they would work within the browser.

It's something I've been looking into recently, but I've run out of HDMI ports on the tele and HDMI splitters are a bit iffy is they aren't powered and would add a couple more power cables at the back of the tele, but would be cheap, $35 for Chromecast, $10 for a splitter, $4 for another HDMI cable to plug the splitter into the tele port.

Just a shame that the Chromecast can't throw content from your desktop without it going through the browser and that it's a bit iffy via tablets as the chrome browser on the tablets can't throw content over.

Re: Roku?
 

With the VPN services how much TV (ie data) can you watch, I see OpenVPN charges $50 for 500Gb, I figure that might be good for 6 months heavy viewing ie 8 hours a day.

Can I use Chromecast to view web videos from my Mac over WIFI on a TV in another room, and if so how do I control them. I'd like to use VPN to watch BBC ITV etc and be able to see it on my Mac and my Sony Bravia in another room.....my TV does not have WIFI itself

Re: Roku?
 

We have a Roku. Our home entertainment system pre-dates HDMI so we also had to get an HDMI/RGB adapter in a direction no longer manufactured -- but it was available on Amazon.

We have Amazon Prime for "free" shipping but that includes streaming, much in the way of which is no extra charge. Netflix is nominal sum per month.

There are no charge channels from TED and Smithsonian which I find pretty neat.

Living in Los Angeles, there is a plethora of over the air channels especially since the swith-over to DTV.

Re: Roku?
 

Datacaps, I've no idea, they are all different. Going the DNS route would mean it auto channelling things needing a UK IP, so unless you're watching the Beeb all day, you're unlikely to blow that kind of data.

As for Chromecast, basically what you watch on the web browser gets thrown onto the device, which is plugged directly into your HDMI port on the tele, along with a small power source that's either a little power box or a USB connection. The Chromecast is marginally larger than a thumb drive.

It seems not to work with everything though, such as Silverlight based video feeds, so Amazon Instant Video won't necessarily work, unless you select to view via Flash.

Chromecast has wifi built in, so will join your network. To set it up, it broadcasts a network signal, you join it with your laptop or whatever, then you tell it what your home network settings are and it joins your home netowkr, and then it pulls what ever your browser throws at it. So it doesn't matter where your laptop/TV are, as long as they are all connected to the same home wifi network.

Edit: As for how you control it, it's similar to how Airplay works, or the TV option on youtube enabled devices when viewing on a tablet and throwing that feed to the app on the tele. Hit the little icon and sends over the browser, which is why you watch in a new tab, in full view mode.

Re: Roku?
 

So I'd need a laptop/pad/smartphone to use Chromecast if my Mac is in another room.

Re: Roku?
 

No.

The Mac just needs to be connected to the same home network that you connect the Chromecast to.

Advantage of a mobile device being not having to nip next door to change the feed/channel, but as you can only throw what the browser is seeing via a desktop/laptop version of the chrome browser, you're either got the laptop with you or you're nipping off to the computer anyway.

The tablet/phone apps basically have apps within to get things like Hulu/Pandora/Netflix etc to be thrown to the Chromecast, but they can't throw over what you view on your web browser, which is what you'd need for Amazon Instant Video, BBC/ITV and other UK content.

Re: Roku?
 

So if the mac and the Chromcast/TV are in different rooms how do I control what comes on the TV without getting off the couch?

Re: Roku?
 

Children.

Re: Roku?
 

I thought Roku was complete garbage, then again, I think my cable subscription is worth every penny!!

Re: Roku?
 

Roku...horses for courses
Cable...I honestly think that's the very first time I have ever heard that...you don't work for a cable company by any chance, do you?:rofl:

Re: Roku?
 

I have a solution. Looks like you can access UK TV using Chrome and a proxy server. Then it's possible to mirror the mac desktop to a TV using Apple TV and also to an iphone using Mocha Lite...so you can control the iPlayer etc on the iPhone and watch on the TV.

Re: Roku?
 

The Roku is probably the best 80 bucks I've ever spent on electronics. Yes, I have a "Smart" TV / DVD etc, but the Roku interface is SO much less clunky.

We run Netflix and Prime through it. I don't need it for much else as we have a Laptop/VPN connected permanently to the TV as well for UK and other stuff.

Re: Roku?
 

LOL cable TV

Re: Roku?
 

Our internet is via TWC but we don't pay for TV. They actually pipe the standard channels (around 10) for free over the same cable (at the moment at least). We have a Vizio smart tv for Netflix and such, and for streaming from our home server via PS3 Media Server (used to use Plex but to slow with the Vizio). The server PC is also hooked up to the TV for iPlayer use (via ExpatShield VPN) and footy streams.

Re: Roku?
 

This, pretty much.

It's not a perfect solution, but it is the cheapest option, considering the third gen Roku is $100 ish and about $20 cheaper going down a generation.

Re: Roku?
 

AppleTV is a lot more expensive...plus you'd definitely need to be paying for a VPN service, one that included mobile devices, whilst the other option would just have been the $35 Chromecast and a free VPN plugin on the desktop.

Re: Roku?
 

This is the only post I have understood so far:confused:
I have my pc connected to the TV via HDMI (instead of a monitor)- why do I need a Roku - if I subscribed to Netflix etc, would it not work?
Is it just the wifi and pretty interface, or am I missing something.

btw my bill is the same, Nun, but I get 40mb/s allegedly. What is the consensus on "enough mb/s" I have options from 10-90.

Re: Roku?
 

No but I am addicted to TV. The main thing I miss from home is Sky tv, sad, I know, but there it is :)