Best Way to Stream Disney+ on a "Non-Smart" TV?

[bluezy]

I checked out the Roku Premiere...WOW! I think that is what I will go with! BONUS...We have a little 24" TV in our bedroom that is no longer hooked up to anything (dumped the additional cable box years ago when we "upgraded" to HD service) and it looks like I could plug the Roku into the HDMI port on that TV and stream the Xfinity Stream app...Boom! I have a TV again! No more watching TV on my iPad when I want to watch TV while the kids are watching something else. I love to watch the Tigers/RedWings but since I am often "out voted", I have to watch my live sports on the Xfinity app on my iPad (or my phone!). It looks like it is a rather portable device and the access to the HDMI port on both TV's is very easy so moving it between the two would be very simple. Thanks for the suggestion and I think I've found my solution.

We recently ditched all but one of our Comcast boxes and started using the Xfinity streaming app through Roku. Years ago we had a Comcast box on every TV in the house (10 at the time). At that time, each box was $1.99. Then the price kept inching up and we started dropping boxes and only had them on the 5 TVs we used the most plus one other box that we moved between 3 different TVs (it rarely got used -- it wasn't like we were moving it daily). Then the boxes went up to $7 each and when I called to negotiate our contract I complained about the cost and the rep suggested using Rokus instead of boxes. We already had 3 Rokus in the house so we tried it on those TVs for a few weeks before returning all of our Comcast boxes (except for 1). We've now bought Rokus for almost every TV in the house. I'm sure at some point Comcast is going to start charging for streaming, but right now, we'll enjoy *not* paying extra for it. The only thing that I find frustrating is not being able to just enter the channel number on the remote. It always feels like a 5 step process to get to a specific channel (unless it's a frequently watched channel and is on that list). I miss the ability to just jump back and forth between channels.

 

[bluezy]

I personally like using my phone as a remote because I always have it and I never have to search for remotes. I have Chromecast and I just keep all the apps with TV content in a single folder on my phone. I even use the phone to run content to the smart TV (yes, you can do that). To each his own though - they are all basically the same price.

There's an app for a Roku remote. My son uses it all the time. He put it on my phone as well but I rarely use it. We have so many Roku remotes in this house that if one is temporarily missing, we just grab one from the next room.

 

[starry_solo]

I considered upgrading my blu-ray player so that it could connect to WiFi that I have, but after reading this, I may go the Roku route...

 

[Carol_]

If you already have a computer or laptop and don't mind it being used whenever you want to watch Disney+, purchase an HDMI cord (most PCs and laptops should have a port for one), plug one end into PC and another into TV. This will allow you to display your PC screen on your TV which you can access Disney+ website from. I got a 15ft HDMI cord from Amazon for $12, some people may not need that long of a cord.
...

This is what I do... I'm currently typing on my wireless keyboard connected to my computer, which is connected to my HDMI input on my TV across the room. The computer now sits permanently attached to my TV. I recently bought a $150 chromebook to carry around the house or on the road.

 

[MomToOne]

Also, what do folks do for local channels.... ? We currently get ours through DirecTV at home, but if DirecTV goes away, what are the options? (For the motorhome too...., we have a dish on the roof and a low end DVR with DirecTV out there right now....).

Local channels can be picked up using an antenna. I use a couple of simple indoor ones for our TVs. This is one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X4R9VBA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 but I have another brand as well - there are lots of them out there, just read reviews on Amazon or Bestbuy or wherever. If you plug your address into Antennaweb.org, you can get an idea of the stations you will pick up, and what direction they are in. Since you are looking for a motor home, you may want to research amplified antennas as well if you will be in more remote locations - but stronger is not always better in this case. If the towers are close, the amplification can supposedly actually cause you issues. But I vaguely remember some of the amplified antennas can have the amplification turned on or off as needed....

Note PBS has a good Roku app, if that's something you are into. You can watch most shows playing that week on your home station without paying for a membership. ABCs Roku app is OK for keeping up with their shows too. CBSs I don't use because they want you to pay. NBCs app I don't use for some reason either - but I can't remember if it's because they want me to pay or if I just don't watch any of their shows! And the problem with the network apps is that you can't get live, local news which you just sometimes need - that's when you need the antenna.

For general viewing of all other "cable" stations, we use Philo. It has all the stations we want, but they don't have any sports - which is fine for us because we don't watch any sports. I have the old $16/month plan, but I think new users are forced into their $20/month plan. I did the trials of YouTube TV and Sling but YouTube didn't have all the stations we wanted, and Sling didn't add anything significant we wanted over what was on Philo. We also have Hulu, but only because DD gets a student deal that includes Hulu, Spotify and Showtime for $5 a month. I also sometimes buy a month or two of Netflix and Amazon Prime to catch up on certain shows, but I am not a regular subscriber. And every now and then I just buy movies or shows on Google Play or Amazon. There are a few I like to watch that are cheaper to buy that way than to pay for a streaming service that includes them. (All of these services have Roku apps)

 

[jlundeen]

Local channels can be picked up using an antenna. I use a couple of simple indoor ones for our TVs. This is one I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X4R9VBA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 but I have another brand as well - there are lots of them out there, just read reviews on Amazon or Bestbuy or wherever. If you plug your address into Antennaweb.org, you can get an idea of the stations you will pick up, and what direction they are in. Since you are looking for a motor home, you may want to research amplified antennas as well if you will be in more remote locations - but stronger is not always better in this case. If the towers are close, the amplification can supposedly actually cause you issues. But I vaguely remember some of the amplified antennas can have the amplification turned on or off as needed....

Note PBS has a good Roku app, if that's something you are into. You can watch most shows playing that week on your home station without paying for a membership. ABCs Roku app is OK for keeping up with their shows too. CBSs I don't use because they want you to pay. NBCs app I don't use for some reason either - but I can't remember if it's because they want me to pay or if I just don't watch any of their shows! And the problem with the network apps is that you can't get live, local news which you just sometimes need - that's when you need the antenna.

For general viewing of all other "cable" stations, we use Philo. It has all the stations we want, but they don't have any sports - which is fine for us because we don't watch any sports. I have the old $16/month plan, but I think new users are forced into their $20/month plan. I did the trials of YouTube TV and Sling but YouTube didn't have all the stations we wanted, and Sling didn't add anything significant we wanted over what was on Philo. We also have Hulu, but only because DD gets a student deal that includes Hulu, Spotify and Showtime for $5 a month. I also sometimes buy a month or two of Netflix and Amazon Prime to catch up on certain shows, but I am not a regular subscriber. And every now and then I just buy movies or shows on Google Play or Amazon. There are a few I like to watch that are cheaper to buy that way than to pay for a streaming service that includes them. (All of these services have Roku apps)

Wow...thank you for your detailed post! Lots of good info there!

 

[kristenrice]

We recently ditched all but one of our Comcast boxes and started using the Xfinity streaming app through Roku. Years ago we had a Comcast box on every TV in the house (10 at the time). At that time, each box was $1.99. Then the price kept inching up and we started dropping boxes and only had them on the 5 TVs we used the most plus one other box that we moved between 3 different TVs (it rarely got used -- it wasn't like we were moving it daily). Then the boxes went up to $7 each and when I called to negotiate our contract I complained about the cost and the rep suggested using Rokus instead of boxes. We already had 3 Rokus in the house so we tried it on those TVs for a few weeks before returning all of our Comcast boxes (except for 1). We've now bought Rokus for almost every TV in the house. I'm sure at some point Comcast is going to start charging for streaming, but right now, we'll enjoy *not* paying extra for it. The only thing that I find frustrating is not being able to just enter the channel number on the remote. It always feels like a 5 step process to get to a specific channel (unless it's a frequently watched channel and is on that list). I miss the ability to just jump back and forth between channels.

Question....do you happen to know if using the Roku for streaming the Xfinity app uses a large amount of data towards your monthly allowance? I can't understand how we end up pushing our 1TB data limit so often. We haven't gone over yet, but we've come very close. The girls like to watch YouTube and they often watch "shows" on the TV while watching clips on their phones. Someone told me YouTube doesn't "compress" their data so it uses more than, say, Netflix, so I guess that's what is doing it. I about choked when I saw that we somehow went through 17GB of data OVERNIGHT! We were at 61GB used last night when I went to bed (Yes, that is in just 2 DAYS!) and when I woke up this morning, we are already at 78GB used for the month. I checked my older daughter's phone and realized that she had gone to sleep with her YouTube running, on Wi-Fi, not the cellular which is unlimited, and I am guessing that is what did it.

 

[EACarlson]

Question....do you happen to know if using the Roku for streaming the Xfinity app uses a large amount of data towards your monthly allowance? I can't understand how we end up pushing our 1TB data limit so often. We haven't gone over yet, but we've come very close. The girls like to watch YouTube and they often watch "shows" on the TV while watching clips on their phones. Someone told me YouTube doesn't "compress" their data so it uses more than, say, Netflix, so I guess that's what is doing it. I about choked when I saw that we somehow went through 17GB of data OVERNIGHT! We were at 61GB used last night when I went to bed (Yes, that is in just 2 DAYS!) and when I woke up this morning, we are already at 78GB used for the month. I checked my older daughter's phone and realized that she had gone to sleep with her YouTube running, on Wi-Fi, not the cellular which is unlimited, and I am guessing that is what did it.

Cellular isn't truly unlimited either. Depending on the company they will knock you down to 3g or even 2g data coverage at a certain point. Continue month after month and you end up with all your traffic at the end of the line. Verizon starts throttling after 22gb, if your daughter used 17 overnight that wouldn't leave much for the rest of the month.

 

[kristenrice]

Cellular isn't truly unlimited either. Depending on the company they will knock you down to 3g or even 2g data coverage at a certain point. Continue month after month and you end up with all your traffic at the end of the line. Verizon starts throttling after 22gb, if your daughter used 17 overnight that wouldn't leave much for the rest of the month.

We each go through >50-70GB of data on our phones each month without any obvious slow-down so I don't have any complaints with our cell phone service.

 

[Miffy]

I considered upgrading my blu-ray player so that it could connect to WiFi that I have, but after reading this, I may go the Roku route...

@starry_solo--We used our blue-ray for a while after we got it, thinking it'd be easier, but in fact it's much much clunkier and slower than using the Roku.

 

[dclpluto]

Question....do you happen to know if using the Roku for streaming the Xfinity app uses a large amount of data towards your monthly allowance? I can't understand how we end up pushing our 1TB data limit so often. We haven't gone over yet, but we've come very close. The girls like to watch YouTube and they often watch "shows" on the TV while watching clips on their phones. Someone told me YouTube doesn't "compress" their data so it uses more than, say, Netflix, so I guess that's what is doing it. I about choked when I saw that we somehow went through 17GB of data OVERNIGHT! We were at 61GB used last night when I went to bed (Yes, that is in just 2 DAYS!) and when I woke up this morning, we are already at 78GB used for the month. I checked my older daughter's phone and realized that she had gone to sleep with her YouTube running, on Wi-Fi, not the cellular which is unlimited, and I am guessing that is what did it.

I didn’t know Comcast had a cap on Internet. I just looked it up my state New Jersey there is no cap. We only use about 600-700 a month anyway. While I was looking it up it said that Comcast gives two courtesy months free if you go over. It was from a few years ago so don’t know if it’s still that way. Most families probably use more on a weekend day than a school and work day. So you might be ok.

 

[starry_solo]

@starry_solo--We used our blue-ray for a while after we got it, thinking it'd be easier, but in fact it's much much clunkier and slower than using the Roku.

OK, the Roku it is! Our TV is about 10+ years old, back when LCD was top-of-the line and LED was starting to get started?

 

[bluezy]

Question....do you happen to know if using the Roku for streaming the Xfinity app uses a large amount of data towards your monthly allowance? I can't understand how we end up pushing our 1TB data limit so often. We haven't gone over yet, but we've come very close. The girls like to watch YouTube and they often watch "shows" on the TV while watching clips on their phones. Someone told me YouTube doesn't "compress" their data so it uses more than, say, Netflix, so I guess that's what is doing it. I about choked when I saw that we somehow went through 17GB of data OVERNIGHT! We were at 61GB used last night when I went to bed (Yes, that is in just 2 DAYS!) and when I woke up this morning, we are already at 78GB used for the month. I checked my older daughter's phone and realized that she had gone to sleep with her YouTube running, on Wi-Fi, not the cellular which is unlimited, and I am guessing that is what did it.

I have no clue on the data while using the Roku. I wasn't aware that we had a limit -- we've never been notified that we've gone over a limit. And we have 3 teens/young adults in the house who are constantly streaming *something* in addition to my husband and I often watching 2 different TVs.

 

[wenrob]

Question....do you happen to know if using the Roku for streaming the Xfinity app uses a large amount of data towards your monthly allowance? I can't understand how we end up pushing our 1TB data limit so often. We haven't gone over yet, but we've come very close. The girls like to watch YouTube and they often watch "shows" on the TV while watching clips on their phones. Someone told me YouTube doesn't "compress" their data so it uses more than, say, Netflix, so I guess that's what is doing it. I about choked when I saw that we somehow went through 17GB of data OVERNIGHT! We were at 61GB used last night when I went to bed (Yes, that is in just 2 DAYS!) and when I woke up this morning, we are already at 78GB used for the month. I checked my older daughter's phone and realized that she had gone to sleep with her YouTube running, on Wi-Fi, not the cellular which is unlimited, and I am guessing that is what did it.

It’s definitely YouTube and there’s no way to set the stream to a lower resolution. I had to put a time limit on my kids viewing and train them to turn it OFF if they’re doing something else.

 

[scard192]

We recently ditched all but one of our Comcast boxes and started using the Xfinity streaming app through Roku. Years ago we had a Comcast box on every TV in the house (10 at the time). At that time, each box was $1.99. Then the price kept inching up and we started dropping boxes and only had them on the 5 TVs we used the most plus one other box that we moved between 3 different TVs (it rarely got used -- it wasn't like we were moving it daily). Then the boxes went up to $7 each and when I called to negotiate our contract I complained about the cost and the rep suggested using Rokus instead of boxes. We already had 3 Rokus in the house so we tried it on those TVs for a few weeks before returning all of our Comcast boxes (except for 1). We've now bought Rokus for almost every TV in the house. I'm sure at some point Comcast is going to start charging for streaming, but right now, we'll enjoy *not* paying extra for it. The only thing that I find frustrating is not being able to just enter the channel number on the remote. It always feels like a 5 step process to get to a specific channel (unless it's a frequently watched channel and is on that list). I miss the ability to just jump back and forth between channels.

thanks for all of this information. I'd like to get rid of my old CRT TV in the den with a Comcast box ($1.99). Hoping to find a Smart TV with built in Roku on BF. I have a Fire Stick, but that is not compatible with the Xfinity Stream APP. A Comcast rep suggest Roku to me too.

 

[bluezy]

thanks for all of this information. I'd like to get rid of my old CRT TV in the den with a Comcast box ($1.99). Hoping to find a Smart TV with built in Roku on BF. I have a Fire Stick, but that is not compatible with the Xfinity Stream APP. A Comcast rep suggest Roku to me too.

You're still only paying $1.99 for a box????? We haven't paid that low of a price for at least 10 years, I think.

 

[EACarlson]

I believe they are talking about the digital adapter that became required to get any service on CRT's about 8 years ago. It works the same as plugging the cable directly into the tv did years ago.

 

[dclpluto]

I have no clue on the data while using the Roku. I wasn't aware that we had a limit -- we've never been notified that we've gone over a limit. And we have 3 teens/young adults in the house who are constantly streaming *something* in addition to my husband and I often watching 2 different TVs.

your State does not have a limit. Seems like the northeast for Comcast there is no limit. Of course this could always change.

 

[scard192]

You're still only paying $1.99 for a box????? We haven't paid that low of a price for at least 10 years, I think.

Yes, I have 2 old CRT TV upstairs, the darn things won't die. No HD service on the boxes, but work for me needs.

 

[dclpluto]

Yes, I have 2 old CRT TV upstairs, the darn things won't die. No HD service on the boxes, but work for me needs.

i know what you mean. I got one left. It’s in the bedroom. I wish it will die. Just don’t want to replace it while it’s still working.