Wow - Roku - saves dinero - internet TV

comanchepilot

comanchepilot

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Jun 1, 2010
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Display name:
Joe Farrell, yeah, him
I bought a Roku - we first tried the Chromecast and that was a disaster - the quality of the stream was always jerky- it was a pain to get to work - and the interface was kludgy when it came to anything not in the browser - you had to force it into the chrome browser or kludge it from the apps.

I then found a refurb'd Apple TV for $60 and we loved it - hooked it up to the main TV in the family room - and were able to use the apps to watch MLB, etc and the ability to 'cast' using airplay was great. I discovered that I could 'cast' the Time Warner Cable app to the Apple TV which given that the TV already had a DVR did not make it all that productive - we mainly used the Apple TV for MLB TV.

Then I bought a Roku 3 - Amazon had a quickie sale last week for $69.99 for new one - not refurb. We have an outdoor room that is on a covered but open on three sides patio next to the pool - that had a TV and a cable outlet but it was only basic cable -I tried casting using the Google Chromecast and remembered why I hated it so much - so we got the Roku 3.

We do NOT subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or anything else like that yet - but - Roku has the TWC app, the MLB app an even the AOPA app. The stream at 720p is sharp and crisp in a way that the Chrome never was - and using the TWC app hooked to our network means that I can get essentially everything I could get with a $10 monthly charge for another cable box for free. . . .

So now this outdoor TV has a Roku 3 on it - and its like we have another cable box for a $70 one time charge instead of $10 a month - once again - that saves real money. We have an Apple 'N' router solving the speed problem - and since it is a truly part time TV we're not going to use a whole lot of data to get throttled or cut off -
 
Have had both Roku and Chromecast for several months, both work just fine. Am waiting for more programming on the latter.
 
I went back to using the built-in streaming capability on my Samsung Blu-Ray player the day that Roku started serving ads.

I was thinking about buying Amazon's new box until I found out it ran on Android. I'd rather go back to renting DVDs at the store than give Google yet another glimpse into my life.

I may just wind up building my own media server.

-Rich
 
Whoa! A glimpse into ones TV viewing habits...oh my goodness, the world's going to end!:hairraise:

PS: have never seen an ad on Roku in over a year. :yes:
 
flyingriki said:
Whoa! A glimpse into ones TV viewing habits...oh my goodness, the world's going to end!:hairraise:

PS: have never seen an ad on Roku in over a year. :yes:
Click to expand...

And what do you call the huge banner on the right of the home page? Unless you have an old model and somehow stopped it from updating itself, you're seeing ads. You may just call them something else.

As for my TV habits (actually, streaming habits, because I haven't owned a TV in almost 15 years), I could give a rat's ass who knows what I watch, as long as it's not Google.

-Rich
 
I have an Apple TV, but since I haven't figured out how to get Big Bang Theory, I haven't cancelled DirecTV, yet, though I probably will soon. I just don't watch enough TV anymore to justify it.
 
RJM62 said:
And what do you call the huge banner on the right of the home page?
Click to expand...

Gee, I dont know, maybe it's pointing out a show to consider? WOW, that's just awful! I need to cancel my subscription right away!
Something tells me rural NY is growing as many wacky doodles as the city is.....
 

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RJM62 said:
And what do you call the huge banner on the right of the home page? Unless you have an old model and somehow stopped it from updating itself, you're seeing ads. You may just call them something else.

As for my TV habits (actually, streaming habits, because I haven't owned a TV in almost 15 years), I could give a rat's ass who knows what I watch, as long as it's not Google.

-Rich
Click to expand...

Sorry Rich :D

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/26/28-not-having-a-tv/
 
bartmc said:
Sorry Rich :D

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/26/28-not-having-a-tv/
Click to expand...

Nah. Not in my case, anyway. I never made an affirmative decision to not have a TV. I just haven't gotten around to replacing the last one I had.

What happened was that I was moving from one apartment in NYC to another, and I'd rented too small a truck. I had the choice of either making another trip or leaving some bulky items behind. Because the TV I had was old and bulky, I gave it to one of the neighbors. She said she needed one for her kids' room. I left the other stuff I didn't feel like moving on the sidewalk with "FREE" signs on it.

I fully intended to buy a new, probably big-screen TV for the new place. I just never got around to it. And now, almost 15 years and two moves later, I still haven't gotten around to it.

But it could happen any time.

-Rich
 
denverpilot said:
LOL.

The number of people switching to IP as their TV distribution medium is why Net Neutrality is definitely going to go away.

Lots of nice bribes there for politicians not to do anything on that one. It's a goner, not that it ever really existed.
Click to expand...

It's called "preserving the existing cable business model".
 
comanchepilot said:
I bought a Roku - we first tried the Chromecast and that was a disaster - the quality of the stream was always jerky- it was a pain to get to work - and the interface was kludgy when it came to anything not in the browser - you had to force it into the chrome browser or kludge it from the apps.

I then found a refurb'd Apple TV for $60 and we loved it - hooked it up to the main TV in the family room - and were able to use the apps to watch MLB, etc and the ability to 'cast' using airplay was great. I discovered that I could 'cast' the Time Warner Cable app to the Apple TV which given that the TV already had a DVR did not make it all that productive - we mainly used the Apple TV for MLB TV.

Then I bought a Roku 3 - Amazon had a quickie sale last week for $69.99 for new one - not refurb. We have an outdoor room that is on a covered but open on three sides patio next to the pool - that had a TV and a cable outlet but it was only basic cable -I tried casting using the Google Chromecast and remembered why I hated it so much - so we got the Roku 3.

We do NOT subscribe to Netflix, Hulu or anything else like that yet - but - Roku has the TWC app, the MLB app an even the AOPA app. The stream at 720p is sharp and crisp in a way that the Chrome never was - and using the TWC app hooked to our network means that I can get essentially everything I could get with a $10 monthly charge for another cable box for free. . . .

So now this outdoor TV has a Roku 3 on it - and its like we have another cable box for a $70 one time charge instead of $10 a month - once again - that saves real money. We have an Apple 'N' router solving the speed problem - and since it is a truly part time TV we're not going to use a whole lot of data to get throttled or cut off -
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for for. You climbed the device $ scale and enjoyed each subsequent device to a higher degree (or so it sounds).
 
Datadriver said:
You get what you pay for for. You climbed the device $ scale and enjoyed each subsequent device to a higher degree (or so it sounds).
Click to expand...


Except that all those devices are in the same pricing category plus or minus the cost of fast food?
 
We ditched TV and so far haven't really missed it.
That being said, I waste same amount of time as before just on different stuff now.
 
6 months ago was my last cable bill. I'm very happy with my decision.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk
 
Xbmc. Primewire plugin....All free

Never need anything else again.
 
To take your Roku more excellenter run Plex Media server on a computer and use the Roku as a client: https://plex.tv/downloads

Besides letting you send content from your computer, plex has more "channels" you can access like Comedy Central, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,etc
 
SkyHog said:
Xbmc. Primewire plugin....All free

Never need anything else again.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that's in my future. The Blu-Ray player works fine, but has limited options. And although I respect those who don't mind every moment of their lives being tracked and sold to the highest bidder, I'm not one of them; so Roku and anything having anything to do with Google are out until they cut me in on the profits.

-Rich
 
Been using Microsoft media center for 10 years and still love it. I have an hdhomerun prime that gives me 3 tuners to stream in any room.
 
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