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  • Roku box ..Do you have one ,and what do you think??

  • Roku box ..Do you have one ,and what do you think??

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    Old 12-14-2013, 08:02 PM
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    Default Roku box ..Do you have one ,and what do you think??

    I have been looking at this little box for a while. So hesitant to buy, as it all sounds good, but so new to me.. Would love information from anyone that has purchased one.. I assume I would need a box for both TVs in the house..
    Really looking for an excuse to rid myself of the Cable expense, and still enjoy most of what I like on TV.. From what I read, it seems I would enjoy that , and more...
    How hard is it to install? Thanks for any information on this..also on the other box, Apple TV..berni
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    Old 12-14-2013, 11:19 PM
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    We have had it for some time and like it. Where we live currently we do not have cable access. We did try one of those disks for many years but we did not like the type of shows and programs came on along with the not so acceptable to us adult advertising. Also they kept on switching the channels and we ended up with what seemed like channels we did not want else we had to pay more. I love watching without advertising and stopping a show and coming back when it suits me.
    I love watching tv series one after another like Bones or Army Wives. What it does not have is super popular movies and new release.
    We have the cheapest netflix package.

    Last edited by Annaquilts; 12-14-2013 at 11:37 PM.
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    Old 12-14-2013, 11:30 PM
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    Have it and love it. In order to watch a decent amount you do need a subscription to something. Netflix, hulu plus, amazon, etc. We have netflix and amazon prime but for us, amazon prime has some trouble with streaming. Others don't seem to have the same problem so it's probably a hardware issue. We also have a lifetime subscription to playon which lets us watch shows on network sites and also youtube and a few others. Playon is a little more glitchy because it connects to your computer first, and then your internet. The other channels connect directly to internet. Keep in mind also that hulu plus, even though it costs, has commercials during the shows.

    Installation is easy. You just hook it up to your tv (we used an HDMI cable) and plug it in to the wall, and then connect it to your network using the remote control. You do need a decent wireless internet connection but ours is skimpy at around 2.5 mbps (on a good day) and I have no problems watching a movie on netflix. Some models have an ethernet port that lets you do a wired connection to your router.

    eta: we also still have directv because dh doesn't really like navigating on the roku, plus we like watching current shows on the satellite channels.
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    Old 12-15-2013, 07:42 AM
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    Thank you Annaquilts and gale...Lots of good information..Don't know if I'd want it or not.

    I like my cable news as well. I read that you can get some thru roku. I guess the best thing is to buy it and try it..It's not that expensive. berni
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    Old 12-15-2013, 11:22 AM
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    We are going to give the new Google Chrome dongle a try. You plug a little thing into your TV and it pulls things you can watch on your computer onto your TV if you have wireless. It's only $35, so I figured it's getting our feet wet in a non-cable way of life.
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    Old 12-15-2013, 12:42 PM
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    Originally Posted by willferg
    We are going to give the new Google Chrome dongle a try. You plug a little thing into your TV and it pulls things you can watch on your computer onto your TV if you have wireless. It's only $35, so I figured it's getting our feet wet in a non-cable way of life.
    Please let us know how it works. I read some reviews that said they changed it so that you can't watch as many things on it. I think one was that before, you could stream content that you had stored on your computer (home videos, downloaded videos, etc) and now they took away that functionality. Even so I'd like to try watching Craftsy videos on my tv somehow so if it worked well for that I might be willing to give it a try.

    eta: also, Google is notorious for having horrible or nonexistent customer service. I was having trouble with domain names I bought from them and the only help I could get was from the community. I finally was able to transfer my domain names to a company that has actual contact info.

    Last edited by gale; 12-15-2013 at 12:45 PM.
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    Old 12-15-2013, 03:20 PM
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    We have TIVO--ditched satellite several months ago. The nice thing about it is that, unlike the Roku we gave to our daughter, with the TIVO we can record the shows that come on later than we like to stay up. We are very pleased with it. We paid about $200 for the unit and pay about $16 a month for the service. We also have Netflix for movies, etc. We have the Google Chromecast and it works pretty good--it would work better if our streaming over the internet was smoother. As we can't get most of the UK ballgames since we don't have cable or satellite, we find the games on the internet and Chromecast them to the TV. Pictures aren't smooth (not the fault of Google), but at least it works. We live 10 miles out of town, so our internet service isn't the best in the world! Cable is non-existent where we are.
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    Old 12-15-2013, 03:26 PM
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    We looked at Tivo but didn't want the monthly charge. We got a hdd recorder that also plays and records to dvd and we love it. No monthly charge. We have to program the recordings but it's no different than using a vcr and we do our regular shows as weekly so we don't have to program them every week. We can edit out commercials easily and put shows on dvd if we want to watch in the car or loan them to family members. I combine it with the auto-tune feature on the directv box and it's almost as good as dvr or tivo. We can also watch a dvd while recording a show or watch a different prerecorded show while recording another one. Also, we can pause and rewind live tv just like you do on a dvr.
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    Old 12-16-2013, 04:23 AM
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    We have a Roku and use it all the time. Netflix and Amazon Prime are the ones we use the most with it. Easy to set up, easy to use and have very little problem with streaming issues.
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    Old 12-16-2013, 04:37 AM
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    We love our Roku. We use Netflix through it.
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