ShadowAce, can you put this on your ping list? Thanks.
I have the Roku stick which is about $40, but I like Chromecast better for $35.
Been using Roku for a couple of years now. Fair amount of free programming. I have a subscription to Amazon Prime (100 dollars a year now) and Netflix. So that is less than $20 dollars a month total. Not good if you a major sports buff, but can access for a fee. Love being able to watch what I want when I want. Don’t miss cable bill.
I have a roku but it doesn’t do much on its own. You need to have subscriptions to Netflix or another service to make it useful.
There are a few free channels like NASA TV.
They’re nice if you have Netflix account. They don’t take up a lot of bandwidth either. The Amazon fire sticks aren’t bad either.
“I turned off my Comcast TV because they keep driving the prices up and taking channels away and I got sick and tired of not being able watch TV stations that were once part of a standard cable package. “
Several decades ago a cable company stock prospectus said their business model guaranteed returns. They said they’d always have a proposal before the commission to raise rates. They published their prior results which were 100% approved. At the time basic cable was about $12. Their chart showed it going to $60/month over whatever the timeframe was. When my sister complains about her $100-plus cable bill I remind her that she invested in the company and his reaping returns.
Truly one of the best investments I’ve ever made. A HUGE number of free channels (now including Youtube), and if you have pay channels like Netflix, you just add them to the lineup. You’ll be amazed.
We got the Roku 3 about a month ago. We are lucky to get 1.5 mps speed and are very happy with the result. Their advertising suggests that 5 mps is necessary, don’t believe it.
I have two of the Ruku Stick drives (Model #3500) and they are prone to overheating. Generally they drop the signal every hour. Very irritating.
They are somewhere in a drawer around here.
Junk, IMO.
I have one on every television and started when they first came out. I do have one Chromecast stick and Roku is the hands down winner. Life without it would be, well, sucky.
But for me the best thing about Roku/Chromecast is the ability to stream home movies from my computer to the TV using Plex.
I have had a Roku box for years..works great. I would also look at Amazon’s Firestick...we also bought one for another TV. This works great too. For a bit more money you can get Apple TV... works great, but does not allow access to Amazon movies. Nice for streaming any videos you might have on an Apple device
Heck yeah. Best decision I ever made. Don’t miss satellite at all. We stream through Netflix on our Roku; not counting high-speed internet it only costs 8 bucks a month. Compared to our satellite package, which was $120!
We loved it so much we bought a Roku stick for the TV in the other room.
Highly recommended. It allowed me to ditch cable TV entirely. For less than $20 a month you can get Netflix and Amazon Prime (or Hulu Plus) and get all the TV shows, movies and documentaries you could ever have the time to consume. As well, you will have access to tons of free channels as well as feed YouTube from your computer or tablet.
Beautiful interface and you can control it from your smartphone or tablet.
Only thing I miss is live sports but for that, I go over a friend’s house or visit a local sports bar. I saw the last Super Bowl in a Buffalo Wild Wings and it was far better than watching it at home.
Roku + Netflix + Amazon Prime = Hours and hours of movies and some pretty good TV.
Most of what Netflix and Amazon offer is crap, but there are some nuggets that make the expenditure well worth the $$$.
The latest Roku lets you access YouTube. There’s some funny and very informative stuff there.
I know there are others (Apple TV, etc.), but I’m not familiar with them. I do like Roku.
Enjoy!
Amazon Fire.
Blows all of em away
roku is a great deal and a great product. I now stream (from netflix) WAY more than anything I watch from directv.
The way it works is you buy the roku (I recommend roku 3, though your entire system has to be HDMI capable), and then never pay another dime to roku. On amazon, roku 3 runs less than $100.00 to purchase.
The roku box sits between your router and your tv, connected to both. It has not hard drive, so can buffer on a few seconds worth of streaming in order to smooth out any bumps on your internet service. However, you DO have to have very good internet service for roku streaming to work well.
There are a few free streaming “channels”, but the paid services have the good stuff. netflix is the 900 lb gorilla, and in my opinion is worth the $10.00/month. Huluplus specializes in replaying recent TV shows, and in my opinion amazon prime isn’t worth paying for just for their streaming (except maybe for a couple of months to watch their exclusive HBO content); in other words, if you buy lots of stuff from amazon, then amazon prime is worthwhile for free 2-day shipping and the streaming part is a nice freebie.
I turned in my cable set top box 6 years ago and replace it with a Roku.
I only subscribe to internet service, Netflix and Hulu and save about $70 a month this way.
Roku has at least 1500 channels of which at least half are free.
Comcast has a “Blast+” package deal that is $59.99/month with Basic cable and Digital Economy together (45+ channels) AND 50 MB/sec maximum speed Internet PLUS HBO for a year.
AT&T Uverse has a similar package with 18 MB being the only major difference (still has HBO free for the year) for $39.99.
The prices effectively give you the TV stuff for free. Neither company has a contract requirement for those prices.