Roku questions

[just a scout]

Just got one to try it. Why do I need to have a cable provider to activate the channels, like Disney, Fox, etc? I thought that was the whole point of this thing so I could dump Uverse.


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[tb-av]

I don't have a roku but a lot of these things are lower priced substitutes for your cable provider.

So for instance if you pay $100 for cable TV, with some of these services like say Netflix($8), Hulu($8), etc... Maybe you subscribe up to 5 of those. That's still only $40 as opposed to $100.

There are some other things happening too like a little $35 computer named Raspberry Pi that has a media server free software. Then inside the media server will be apps that can, if you wish... and to various degrees, scan services to acquire new content.

So rather than one stop shopping at cable TV prices with their hardware, you subscribe to what you want..

ETA: Sorry, I forgot to add, you still need Internet access no matter what.

Option A
Internet and TV from ISP

Option B
Internet from ISP
TV from alternate services via the Internet

Option C
Free Internet --- hard to find and often impractical.

[Honu]

money ! that is why they want there money and won't release there content ? some are OK with it some not


we have a ROKU box great setup mostly to access netflix and amazon prime
but I also use PLEX with a mix of sickbeard to get shows I want and use netflix and amazon prime
setup some of the channels in PLEX to get some content also but PLEX is going to be more than you want to do at the moment I am sure

[just a scout]

My buddy was telling me AT&T told him no more internet only soon, you'll have to get the full package. Well wtf? Seems like there's no way to win.


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[tb-av]

I doubt if it will come to that.... after all Obama vowed to protect the Internet before he got elected. He's got Tom Wheeler in charge and Wheeler has four or five ISP execs advising him. I'm sure it will be just as fair as ObamaCare.

[just a scout]

Right. They're only looking out for what's best for us.


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[SteyrAUG]

Roku does have some free programing, but there is a reason it's free.

And streaming sucks. I've watched exactly ONE streamed movie in my life. The constant buffering like a "Youtube" video was enough for me to never want to do it again. I'll take downloads to my DVR any day.

[Koshinn]

Roku does have some free programing, but there is a reason it's free.

And streaming sucks. I've watched exactly ONE streamed movie in my life. The constant buffering like a "Youtube" video was enough for me to never want to do it again. I'll take downloads to my DVR any day.

You must have slow Internet. :p

I've watched dozens of streamed movies and hundreds of streamed TV episodes. I almost never get buffering issues, and only then because I'm doing like 10 things at once on the Internet (downloading stuff, steaming two things at once, etc).

[MountainRaven]

You must have slow Internet. :p

I've watched dozens of streamed movies and hundreds of streamed TV episodes. I almost never get buffering issues, and only then because I'm doing like 10 things at once on the Internet (downloading stuff, steaming two things at once, etc).

This has been my experience.

[SteyrAUG]

I almost never get buffering issues, and only then because I'm doing like 10 things at once on the Internet (downloading stuff, steaming two things at once, etc).


And when I watch movies on my DVR or a DVD I never get buffering issues. Sometimes the internet can get blinky and computers are unreliable. I don't want my movie watching experience to depend on either.

[Koshinn]

And when I watch movies on my DVR or a DVD I never get buffering issues. Sometimes the internet can get blinky and computers are unreliable. I don't want my movie watching experience to depend on either.

Your dvr is a computer.

I've gotten more issues with DVDs and cable tv than I have with streaming.

Where do you live that internet and computers are so bad? I'm in BFE Oklahoma and I have more than adequate internet, so much so that I only turn in my tv once a month or so.

[SteyrAUG]

Your dvr is a computer.

I've gotten more issues with DVDs and cable tv than I have with streaming.

Where do you live that internet and computers are so bad? I'm in BFE Oklahoma and I have more than adequate internet, so much so that I only turn in my tv once a month or so.

I understand my DVR is a computer, but it doesn't start acting goofy because I did a Microsoft update.

Haven't had cable for about 20 years but I've never had an issue with a DVD unless it was actually damaged. My internet speed is faster than the average so that isn't the issue, the issue is streaming sucks. You can't fast forward, rewind pause or any similar feature with a stream as reliably as you can a file saved on a drive in your DVR. That is because it is a live stream.

If you haven't had any problems, that's awesome. I just hate streaming.

[Koshinn]

I understand my DVR is a computer, but it doesn't start acting goofy because I did a Microsoft update.

Haven't had cable for about 20 years but I've never had an issue with a DVD unless it was actually damaged. My internet speed is faster than the average so that isn't the issue, the issue is streaming sucks. You can't fast forward, rewind pause or any similar feature with a stream as reliably as you can a file saved on a drive in your DVR. That is because it is a live stream.

If you haven't had any problems, that's awesome. I just hate streaming.

You can't fast forward, but you can definitely pause, rewind, and skip ahead. Have you tried Netflix? Because how you describe streaming doesn't describe Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu.

[SteyrAUG]

You can't fast forward, but you can definitely pause, rewind, and skip ahead. Have you tried Netflix? Because how you describe streaming doesn't describe Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu.


I have streamed exactly ONE film using Roku and it was a 24 hour Amazon rental. This was maybe a year or two ago. As the stream is never saved to a hard drive but is a continuous download it will never be as good as something saved on a DVR.

Yes you can pause, and rewind, just not as effectively. I watch recorded shows on my DVR daily and never have the problems I had with the Amazon rental. Again, it was nearly identical to watching a really long youtube recording.

I suspect the problem is rentals aren't stored on my computer hard drive as they are streamed in, so if I rewind past a certain point that material has to be streamed to me again. It's not kept in memory anywhere on my computer and that is why streaming sucks, or at least for me. Also not sure why we are devoting so much time to this topic.