Tell me about roku

[tlenzendorf]

And Hulu please! Is it just movies or is it shows as well? What's the time table for what's shown in comparison to when things come out on DVD and on cable networks?

 

[wiigirl]

I love my Roku....can't imagine life without it now.

Hulu is great for shows but not so much for movies. I love Hulu.

 

[DawnM]

Hulu is more TV shows and Netflix is more movie based.

You will need to subscribe to Hulu+ in order to stream to your Roku. Just know that CBS doesn't stream. NCIS, Hawaii FIve O, CSI, Criminal Minds, etc.....are NOT on Hulu+

Dawn

 

[MMCD]

I have one of the original rokus with no hdmi connection. But I also have kids' xbox380 and wiiu that plays netflix. I love my netflix. I would not buy a roku to get netflix. I have a sony wifi bluray dvd player that offers netflix, hulu, crackle... My brother asked for as roku for Cmas but I bought him the same sony player as mine. He really likes that so much better because it is one connection to his TV and doesnt need the dvd player anymore.

The roku was the easiest to load and search movies over the game consoles but the sony is about the same. Yes, I would recommend Netflix but not a roku to get Netflix. I did Hulu for awhile when it was free but it always seemed to show bits of episodes and not full episodes. Now you have to pay for it to get full episodes. I'm fine with just netflix.

 

[DawnM]

Amazon Prime streaming is included for free, but not all things are free, only those in the Prime line up.

Also does Amazon Prime give you free movie streaming? Or do you have to pay for them?

 

[JoyG]

If you don't mind my asking, how much does all that cost you a year? I'm considering it, but I really love my charter on demand and all my shows and movies.

I would need: Nurse Jackie, True Blood, Californication for example. Then we watch movies on Starz a lot. So it sounds like I would need Hulu for sure but would Netflix give me the current movies like on demand does?

You can rent current movies from Amazon on demand, but even if you have prime some of the newer shows aren't free. I find they are cheaper than renting them on demand though.

I pay about $79 a year for Amazon. I get my money's worth though due to the free shipping (I shop there a lot).

I pay about $8 a month for Hulu and about the same for Netflix.

 

[chriskre]

I love my Roku player.
I've had it for years now and it even has a free Disney channel with lots of trivial stuff that you always wanted to know about Disney and can now get on demand for free. Is this a great country or what?

 

[DawnM]

But it does not stream Amazon anything. Just be aware.

I am an Apple lover too and have Apple products, but unless you can jailbreak the Apple TV, you cannot stream Amazon or PlayOn.

The Apple TV 3 does not have a jailbreak yet and the Apple TV 2 is astronomically expensive on ebay as people want the one you can jailbreak.

Dawn

Apple TV is a lot better...as with all Apple products

 

[nunzia]

I just got a Roku and I'm quite the idiot when it comes to hooking stuff up. Easy cheesy. I've only used it so far for Amazon Prime, but there's lots of other options there to explore. I don't use it for my normal TV watching as I really need to have my network and news channels real time.

 

[JB2K]

Today's Blu-ray players are loaded with all the usual apps (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, Vudu, and YouTube, among many, many others -- you'll see the logos on the retail box).

In addition, they can play your existing DVD (or Blu-ray Disc) collection, plus, they don't take-up very much space (and it's one less gadget you have to hook-up to the TV).

Best of all -- most of the "fully-featured" models are running about $75, which is a great price for a single device that does nearly everything.

 

[momof3ds]

We have a roku upstairs and an apple TV downstairs. Our main TV has apps as does our blu-ray player. But, the roku and apple TV have better interfaces so they are easier to use with netflix and hulu plus.

 

[tlenzendorf]

Today's Blu-ray players are loaded with all the usual apps (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, Vudu, and YouTube, among many, many others -- you'll see the logos on the retail box).

In addition, they can play your existing DVD (or Blu-ray Disc) collection, plus, they don't take-up very much space (and it's one less gadget you have to hook-up to the TV).

Best of all -- most of the "fully-featured" models are running about $75, which is a great price for a single device that does nearly everything.

That's a great idea. I guess with one of these then I would need to decide which apps to go with to get the most bang for my buck.

 

[ohmslaw]

We canceled cable and now have an antenna and 3 roku's. The best part about the Roku is that it is open source. There are hundreds of different "channels" that can be put on the Roku, including netflix and hulu. I don't believe that the dvd players are that flexible. You can only play the apps that they put on there.

As for show timing, netflix runs at least a season behind. Hulu can show current shows. But for some goofy reason, some shows can only be streamed to a PC. We also have a laptop with an HDMI output so between that, the roku and the antenna, we have plenty of TV.

I was hesitant to cancel cable but my wife was mad at Uverse for raising our bill again. Honestly, after a couple of months of adjustment, I hardly watch any tv anymore, especially during the week. We usually watch shows that i missed during their initial run.

 

[wgeo]

We've had the Roku for about a year now and love it.

About 6 months ago our DVD player died a painful death, so we purchased a new one and got one that could also stream Netflix, Hulu etc. It got great reviews, and works wonderful as a DVD/Blue Ray players. But for streaming it was horrible. It took soooo much longer to navigate around and load shows it was a huge pain, we went back to using our Roku for streaming.

 

[Octoberbride03]

Are you able to watch any of the cable news networks on it? Or just clips of shows?

 

[Muffy]

I have a Roku but haven't used it yet. Can you watch Dateline and 48 Hours with it if you have Hulu Plus? TIA for any info!

 

[DawnM]

No, those shows are only available on their channel's website. Discover.com and CBS.com.

If you go to Hulu.com, type in the name of the show you wish to know about and it will tell you if it is available.

Dawn

 

[DawnM]

I don't believe so, I do see some clips.

Are you able to watch any of the cable news networks on it? Or just clips of shows?

 

[DawnM]

If you do want to watch things from CBS.com, you can get a program called PlayOn. It is $39 for a lifetime membership. You must have a PC and it must have the program open, but then you can stream it to your Roku.

it is not perfect and sometimes can be glitchy, but it does work overall.

There is also a new channel called Plex that supposedly does the same thing. I haven't figured it out yet, but maybe someone here has.

 

[hsmamato2]

Dawn it sounds like you're familiar with the gadget....Last season I seriously considered a dvd/dvr/streaming machine but held off b/c of my ds and his love of animal planet...but since I just got a notice in the mail telling me that my rates are going up...and paying over 500.00 per year is grating on me,,,I'm rethinking things.....