Talk me through a Roku.

[pampam]

We have an older tv and won't be buying a new one for at least a year. I am not teck savvy. I have DSL on my desktop. If I get a Roku, we won't be subscribing for any extras until we get comfortable with using it.

I understand, it is simple enough to hook up, it is described as plug it in and play, but I have some questions about it.

1. What channel do I turn my tv to to watch the Roku channels?

2. What kind of tv shows can I watch?

3. We have cable now, but there are only a few tv shows we bother with. I actually prefer the older tv shows with less sex, violence and ocult. Will this work with Roku?

4. Have you tried Roku and are you happy with it?

5. Were you able to cancel your cable or save any money by using a Roku?

6. Can I hook it up to more than 1 tv at a time, or do I need a roku for each tv?

 

[MegaSilver]

I have had a Roku XS and use it all the time.

We have an older tv and won't be buying a new one for at least a year. I am not teck savvy. I have DSL on my desktop. If I get a Roku, we won't be subscribing for any extras until we get comfortable with using it.

First, you will need a wireless router, or access to a ethernet cable near your TV. A Roku is an Internet appliance.

Second, most Roku's have the ability to output over composite connections, but HDMI is preferred.

Check your TV and Roku capabilities to see if they support HDMI, and your Roku to see if it has an ethernet port.

I understand, it is simple enough to hook up, it is described as plug it in and play, but I have some questions about it.

1. What channel do I turn my tv to to watch the Roku channels?

You have to change the input on your TV. Depends on your TV.

2. What kind of tv shows can I watch?

Not a lot of free options. The Crackle app has a small selection of B list movies and some internet only shows.

3. We have cable now, but there are only a few tv shows we bother with. I actually prefer the older tv shows with less sex, violence and ocult. Will this work with Roku?

We mostly use our Roku for YouTube, Netflix, NHL and PLEX. PLEX is a home media server, and judging by your questions, that is not something you will be interested in.

We use the YouTube app to watch popular videos.

Netflix and NHL CentreIce are subscriptions services ($8 a month for Netflix, $100 a year for NHL). Netflix has a massive library of TV shows and movies from decades ago to recently. NHL app allows you to watch almost any NHL game live, or within a few days. Great if you are a fan of an obscure out of market team. Not good if you are a fan of the local team, as those games will be blacked out

4. Have you tried Roku and are you happy with it?

We use it every day, so yes

5. Were you able to cancel your cable or save any money by using a Roku?

I save by not paying for pay-per-view movies, and less of a cost for NHL versus my cable provider. I also save time by watching what I want, when I want. We still have cable. Now, if we were in the US, I would cancel my cable and use the HULU app on Roku to watch network TV shows a day late. I take it since you asked this in the Canadian forum that you you are Canadian, and that is not available to you

6. Can I hook it up to more than 1 tv at a time, or do I need a roku for each tv?

Think of it like a DVD player. Technically, you could hook it up to more than one TV, but they would have to watch the same thing. Practically, it's a per TV device

 

[Maddysdaddy]

Given your acknowledgment that you are not tech savvy, you may also want to consider an Apple TV box, rather than a Roku (which I understand works really, really well, but is not quite as user friendly as Apple).

We have Apple TV boxes on our bedroom and living room televisions, and use them to watch Netflix, Hulu, and various American networks (we have configured our router with a vpn, so can access US streams), and it also allows us to stream from our iphones and ipads to our televisions.

Even if you don't have any other Apple devices, Apple TV will allow you to purchase/rent movies and tv shows from the Apple store. Other than accessing the Apple store, you should be able to do most everything else through a Roku box as well.

All you have to do is plug the Apple TV box into the wall, and then plug an HDMI cable between the box and your tv, and you're good to go.

We haven't cut the cord on cable yet, but as soon as we finish watching everything we have taped on our pvr, we intend to do so - it will be nice to only pay $20/month (Netflix, Hulu and vpn) as opposed to significantly more than that with cable. With the money that we save, if there is a show we want to watch that can't be streamed through Netflix or Hulu, we'll just rent it thru Apple (and we'll still be way ahead $ wise at the end of the month).

That being said, I'd strongly consider not going this route if you don't know someone tech savvy enough to get you set up on a VPN, so you can access US content. It's not complicated, but you will need someone who knows how to access your wireless router settings.

 

[bankr63]

5. Were you able to cancel your cable or save any money by using a Roku?

This one was interesting. We installed Chromecast on our two TV's and tried to cut the cable. But their (Rogers) retention department makes it cheaper to keep the cable. We dropped down to the most basic TV package (network only) which with bundling made our bill $14 a month LESS than had we completely cut. That deal was for 24 months, so we have to watch in another 18 months to see what the differential is.

The only real trick is to upgrade your Internet to unlimited BEFORE you downgrade the cable. The lower level cable package made it very difficult for me to upgrade my internet after the fact (although I did manage with a lot of help from the first decent Rogers phone rep I've ever talked to). AND you WILL need unlimited bandwidth to watch even a moderate amount TV through streaming. We only do 1 to 2 hours a night of TV and quickly outstripped our allocation.

Another big plus for Canadians may come when Rogers/Shaw launch their competing service for Netflix early next year. I don't care about the movies (they are rumoured to be ancient and B grade), but I am hoping they will be streaming the HGTV TLC and History shows that we currently miss. The cable companies own the rights to these channels, so Netflix can't carry them.

 

[bdoyledimou]

I have both Roku and Apple TV and anyone who said ATV is more user friendly has never used a Roku.

there are 100;s of free special interest channels -- http://www.rokuguide.com/channels

go here for a list.

your tv must have RCA (red white yellow connector) or HDMI to use it.

 

[ericstac]

I cut the cord a couple months ago.. Was tired of an expensive directv bill just to DVR prime time shows..
I actually cut the cord prior to figuring out Internet TV. Lol that weekend I bought an Apple TV and hooked it up, never looking back.. It's been great. No need to DVR because all the shows are on the fly when you want to watch. It's great...