Roku?? and cutting DirectTV

[mommy4]

Does anyone own a Roku? We are considering this and I'm just not sure if it will work for us. Apparently we will have to get faster internet and then order Netflix to be able to get Disney and Disney Jr.
We mainly watch the kids channels, so having something that offers those are important. I like the local stations, but we can get the news on the computer.
Any advise or insight would be appreciated!

 

[ceemys]

I don't have Roku. I have my antenna TV and stream Hulu and Netflix through my Wii. Those work for us.

 

[mommy4]

I don't have Roku. I have my antenna TV and stream Hulu and Netflix through my Wii. Those work for us.

We have an older tv. I guess I will look into this too.

 

[MrsDrewsky]

I second the antenna. We bought a Leaf and our signal is very good.

 

[cseca]

Does anyone own a Roku? We are considering this and I'm just not sure if it will work for us. Apparently we will have to get faster internet and then order Netflix to be able to get Disney and Disney Jr.
We mainly watch the kids channels, so having something that offers those are important. I like the local stations, but we can get the news on the computer.
Any advise or insight would be appreciated!

We have Roku, Apple TV, play on and antenna. No more cable
We love our Roku the best but as you said, there is no Disney stuff in there. If you have Amazon prime you can get some PBS and Nick Jr. kids shows for "free". and some movies too.

Also if you sign up for Hulu plus ($8/mo) there are some additional kids shows there as well but still no disney. You can do a trial version for 2 weeks free I think.
If you are still interested in getting Disney shows the $ you save from your monthly no cable bill should be plenty to buy shows from amazon or iTunes ( depending on what your current household has).

Honestly we subscribe to Sofia and Doc. And that's about it. The rest we watch amazon, Hulu plus or play on.
I didn't even bother with Netflix since they only have a handful of older Disney shows.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I love our roku box. It sure beats paying the cable bill every month.

 

[DawnM]

Go to Netflix and make sure the shows you want are on there. There are some older shows, but nothing current for Disney, Nick, etc....

We have a few Roku boxes. One for each TV.

We have an antenna, HD Tivo with lifetime I got off of ebay, and Roku boxes.

I currently pay $11 for Netflix ($4 extra for the ability to stream to more than 2 devices at a time.) and that the extent of my TV bill.

You might want to try streaming and see if the internet speed you have is sufficient. What speed do you currently have?

The two bills I knew I could cut back on were the satellite TV bill and the cell bill. I cut $80 from Directv and $110 from the cell bill. I have been saving $190/mo for over two years now. Even thought Dh got a significant raise, I can't see going back. That $2280/year is now going in to a 529.

Dawn

 

[crisi]

Almost all stuff released to Netflix is released AFTER the season ends. We end up buying episodes through Amazon Prime sometimes. So the "comes with subscription" stuff on Netflix is great if you don't mind being a season behind and not having a lot of control over what is out there and what isn't.

The roku box however, is great in that it enables an ordinary tv to stream Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and a ton of other channels - some free - many paid.

Look at per episode or per season rates on Amazon. Having a Prime membership will get you very similar stuff as what is on Netflix for "free"- then unlike Netflix you can rent or buy episodes. I suspect that if I were to really look at it for us, the cheapest option would be to drop our direct TV and Netflix and use Amazon Prime and intermittent rentals. But we have Direct TV for the three baseball games a year my husband watches, Amazon Prime for shipping, and Netflix because its habit.

 

[hsmamato2]

Doesn't Netflix have lots more disney content now? I thought I saw a bunch..... FWIW, any device you can stream thru is fine, Wii, ps3, Roku, even the google chromecast is great.... personally I subscribe to Netflix for lots of content,and to Huluplus for ABC shows I can't get with my antenna,so total 16.00 per month (to watch those shows!) Technically don't need both, but we live in an odd place that is hard to keep reception,even digital. And NO ABC. but that's just us,everyone else seems to get it just fine..... I think Huluplus for those few (abc) shows is cheaper than buying a season pass from Amazon video....

 

[hsmamato2]

yeah, out of all the streaming options I like Amazon the least,it's too expensive! the new season of Modern Family is 1.59 per episode,which,if it runs 24 like the last season is almost 40.00 for one show....I don't get that at all, when Huluplus is 8 bucks a month,for all the shows I want to see.......
I have a lifetime Tivo box I got on ebay, love it so much! But it only runs netflix,so I have a little roku also for huluplus....

 

[wiigirl]

I love our Roku!

 

[mommy4]

So, I can stream through the Wii? I don't need the roku box? And, is there anywhere that I can buy Disney Jr. shows?

 

[ceemys]

So, I can stream through the Wii? I don't need the roku box? And, is there anywhere that I can buy Disney Jr. shows?

Yes you can stream both. We watch them often. Netflix has more and more Disney shows. Some are older, but we are OK with that. My ONLY gripe is CBS won't allow their current running shows to be uploaded. I like that they have plenty of pbs kids shows.

 

[3Gsandme]

We ditched cable a while ago. We have an over the air antenna and a roku with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.

Netflix signs a deal with Disney and they have a good amount if content. They have Oso, Manny, Jake and Jojo. There may be more. They have a lot of movies as well, mostly the one off (older less popular classics like Dumbo and Alice and newer titles that were less popular like Treasure Planet and Atlantas).

Amazon Prime has Nick Jr, but nothing super current, I don't think.

We subscribe to Sophia and I should probably subscribe to Doc. We pay 1.99/ episode on Amazon

 

[crisi]

yeah, out of all the streaming options I like Amazon the least,it's too expensive! the new season of Modern Family is 1.59 per episode,which,if it runs 24 like the last season is almost 40.00 for one show....I don't get that at all, when Huluplus is 8 bucks a month,for all the shows I want to see.......
I have a lifetime Tivo box I got on ebay, love it so much! But it only runs netflix,so I have a little roku also for huluplus....

It depends on how you do it.

For us, I think MOST of the shows we NEED to watch are free with Prime after a season. However, during the season, if we need to keep up - its $2 an episode. Since the shows we need to keep current on are .... Doctor Who...and.....?????? and there aren't very many Who episodes in a season, we could spend $75 on prime and probably another $50 for the whole year buying single episodes or renting movies. That would be cheaper than the $20 a month Netflix we have - and we have Prime anyway for the free shipping and Kindle loans.

Netflix doesn't even offer the option of "keep up" episodes, so we'd still be using Amazon (without DirectTV) for them.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

You guys must not be sports fans

 

[GusGus77]

We can stream through our blue ray player. Also the wii. So those could be alternatives to the roku.

Netflix did enter into an agreement with Disney. SO the amount of Disney material should be increasing.

 

[crisi]

We can stream through our blue ray player. Also the wii. So those could be alternatives to the roku.

Netflix did enter into an agreement with Disney. SO the amount of Disney material should be increasing.

Also a Playstation, XBox or Smart TV, Apple TV or Google TV, etc... There are a ton of ways to stream. If you don't have a device that streams already, a Roku is, I think, still the cheapest - its also the most single use.

 

[Belle0101]

I'm really thinking this is the way I want to go but I have a few questions, if someone doesn't mind answering them.

The 4 favorite shows in our house are:
Doctor Who -- airs on BBCA
Sherlock -- airs on BBCA
Broadchurch -- airs on BBCA
The Walking Dead -- airs on AMC

Other than that we (DH, DS13 and I) really don't follow any other shows. The TV is always on if DH is home but he flips channels quite a bit. Which of the streaming services (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime), if any, carries those shows?

I think we would probably get a Roku since we sold our Wii last year. Had I known then what I know now, we probably wouldn't have.

Of course that all depends on what DirecTV says when I call. I mentioned in another thread that DH thinks we are 1 year into our 2 year contract and he doesn't think it can be broken without a significant penalty. Again, had I known then what I know now.

Also, we have an antenna on our roof. It probably still works, I just don't know how to use it.

I guess the other question, we each have our own TV. Would we need a Roku for each one?

Thanks!!

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

We have a Roku that we use to stream Netflix and Amazon Prime content but I didn't give up DirecTv to get the Roku. I just added it on. There is not enough stuff to watch on Netflix and Amazon Prime to replace my cable channels.

I would only do that as a last ditch if I HAD TO cut off satellite and had no choice.