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

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?

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.

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.

LOL cable TV

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.

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.

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.

This is the only post I have understood so far
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.

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

I have the basic Roku LT which I got on Amazon on sale at $40 [usually about $50]. As I mentioned, had to buy the HDMI cable and a converter switch.

BTW, Amazon is the best price by far for HDMI cables.

The LT streams only in 720. However --

We have a 42" plasma and sit about 10' away. To be honest, I cannot tell the difference between 720 and 1080 [many over the air channels broadcast in 1080].

MonoPrice has the best price, but they don't do free shipping anymore, so works out about the same, $4 a cable....but shipping to CA would be cheaper, or if you're local you could just pick them up and the cables are $2 for 3" and some seriously interesting choice of colours

I don't think you do.

We have a Roku on the tv in the bedroom so that Mrs Y can operate it by remote, and we have another similar box ( western Digital? NetTV? Not sure...picked it up for $25 on Black Friday) on the tv in the game room so the kids can watch their stuff.

We use them as a replacement for the smart tv function, because they are smarter, but they are not as good as a PC as long as you don't mind the lack of remote control.

We supposedly have a 50mbps connection from comcast, and during the morning/early afternoon I can believe it. Come the evening, it slows down considerably, even if there is only one of us streaming. Someone, (Michael maybe?) explained a while ago something about shared capacity into the street. Maybe we should look at getting an alternate internet source so we can all do our stuff uninhibited....!

Anything that a Roku can do, a PC can do.
That is pretty much it.
If you are the only one simultaneously using your internet connection, normally most people will be happy with any connection at 15 mbps or more unless they are doing a lot of downloading. Mainly the difference you will see will be if you are downloading things such as "Windows Update" which may take longer on a slower connection.

The biggest issue that I had when I moved to my condo was that I was getting collusions other WF-FIs in the complex. Prior to several years ago, all routers used the 2.4 GHz frequency band and the routers used slow protocols (802.11abg). Whenever a router transmit packets from the router to the PC or streaming device, other routers have to wait for a time slot to open up and if the protocol speed is slow, other routers will have to wait long time for a slot to open and then they fight for that slot but only one can get the slot. Therefore with a bunch of routers all with slow speeds using the same frequency band, throughput speeds can drop significantly.

The biggest issue was that I would try to watch Netflix at 5PM. Netflix first checks my connection speed to determine what quality of video to send me and it would see 15 mbps and Netflix would chose the highest quality video since even if my connection intermittently dropped to 10 mbps, Netflix can continue to play the movie since it buffers about 15 seconds of video to your PC or streaming device before it starts the movie and for the highest quality movie, as long as an average of about 10 mbps can be maintained, everything works perfectly.

People would come home from work at 6PM and start using their computers and it would interfere with my WI-FI throughput intermittently dropping my throughput down to 3 mbps. Eventually because the connection slowed so much, the Netflix buffer would empty and Netflix would have to pause my movie until it could fill it back up but if there was a lot of activity on the WI-FI frequency, very quickly again the buffer would empty again and the movie would pause again.

I purchased a new 802.11n router which is 6 times faster than the fastest of the older protocols but when I tried to use that protocol on the 2.4 GHz band, the same thing happened since even though my WI-FI speed is so much faster than the others, it was still having a difficult time getting a time slot to transfer the video from my router to my streaming device.

Eventually I used the "N" protocol on the new 5 GHz band and then the throughput speed remained consistent and the problems disappeared. Even if others in the complex start using the 5 GHz band, I shouldn't have any problems since the "N" protocol is fast and all routers only need a very small time slot so there should be plenty of air time available to transfer the needed throughput. The latest protocol is the "AC" protocol which is 6 times faster than the "N" protocol so maybe down the line when everyone is using the "N" protocol on the 5 GHz band and a real high throughput is needed (ultra high definition TV), the "N" protocol could possibly cause problems on the 5 GHz band when there are a lot of users trying to watch TV via the internet in ultra high definition. Then they may have to use another frequency band that uses a protocol that is 6 times faster than the "AC" protocol to free up air time.

If you live in a condo or apartment complex, use the following link at different times of the day to determine your throughput. If it varies significantly and often, then you likely have a WI-FI problem and you may need to upgrade to a dual band "N" or "AC" type router and use the 5 GHz band. Most devices currently support the "N" type protocol but not all support it on the 5 GHz band such smart phones and most printers. The "AC" protocol is fairly new so unless your devices a fairly new, it won't use that protocol but will use the "N" type protocol and if the "N" type protocol is not available, it'll use the very old slow "g" or "b" protocol but those can only be used on the 2.4 GHz band.

http://www.speedtest.net/

If you have an old type router, (802.11abg), you won't get more then about 16 mbps via Wi-FI even with a 40 mbps line speed since that is pretty much it's faster throughput without collusions for that type of router. So sometimes people are paying for a high speed line but don't realize that they are being restricted by the WI-FI speed of their router.

Comcast has been raising my line speed and now it is very consistently 29 mbps on both the internet connection and the WI-FI.

Sometimes it is the line speed that varies but that can be determined by hardwiring your PC to the router. If the speed remains consistent, then it is a WI-FI issue. If the line speed varies and you are on cable, you may possibly be able to make it consistent by upgrading to a DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem. On cable, sometimes it is not possible to solve an inconsistent throughput problem if the cable company puts too many homes/apartments on the same band and the band has limited throughput. A DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem can only possibly solve the problem if the cable company binds multiple channels together for the internet connection. In my area, it appears that Comcast is binding several channels together since my line speed is very consistent and I have a DOCIS 3.0 cable modem. Some DOCIS 3.0 cable modems can bind up 4 channels together and others can bind up to 8 channels together. Since currently cable companies don't allow binding more than 8 channels together, there currently isn't any DOCSIS 3.0 modems that bind more than 8 channels but if cable companies start allowing more channels, new DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems that can bind more channels will be produced.

If I switch over to the 2.4 GHz band using the "N" type protocol, my throughput will be all over the place throughout the night (from 2-29 mbps).

We are considering ditching cable and going to Roku, I am trying to justify staying with cable but it's getting harder and harder. I'm not happy with the range of channels my cable company has in this area, and they often get into disagreements networks over pricing. this lead to Turner owned channels and a few others being dropped for a while until terms were agreed. The price is another factor. The only thing I would keep cable for is local news, and that isn't really enough to justify keeping it.