Roku streaming

GMAC

GMAC

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Waxhaw
Bout tired of cable (pretty much used up for the kid dvr stuff) anyone really like roku? Can get the stick and yada yada pretty cheap. Thoughts and in-site please
 
I like my Roku. The one I use in my living room I've had for probably 10 years. We have 4 in our house and they all do what they are supposed to do. Using it to watch Andy Griffith on Amazon prime right now actually.

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GMAC said:
Bout tired of cable (pretty much used up for the kid dvr stuff) anyone really like roku? Can get the stick and yada yada pretty cheap. Thoughts and in-site please
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I cut the cord many years ago. I’m sure technology is passing me by, but what I’ve got works for me. We have Roku devices on every TV. Our TVs are older models and aren’t smart TVs. Got a subscription to Sling. Have a really good antenna on the roof connected to a Tablo device (think wireless DVR for over the air channels). The Roku pick up the OTA channels from the Tablo.

You put apps on the Roku devices. Tablo has an app, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc. Click on the app and it opens the program.

Feel free to ask any questions.
 
We are happy with our roku, we get HBO-Max for free with our internet from ATT and roku used to not be able to stream to it, but everything else does.

We had the fire stick from Amazon and a couple of chromecasts, the roku seems to most reliable of the 3 this far (chromeecast and fire stick both just stopped working one day).
 
We had Fire sticks, switched to Rokus. The regular stick version is fine, but the one with 4k support is definitely faster and more reliable. Either are better than the fire stick. Also better than the alleged "smart" tv...

The remote for the Roku stick was chewing through batteries every few weeks. I posted on their support forum and they mailed me a brand new remote.
 
Glad I’ve got some more feedback. Any difference in the packages? Or they just trying to get extra money? But hell at less than $100 it’s still gonna be way better than a cable bill
 
I’m looking at streaming stick and ultra ht... any advice?

www.roku.com

Roku

Roku provides the simplest way to stream entertainment to your TV. On your terms. With thousands of available channels to choose from.
www.roku.com
 
We made the switch the cheap smart TCL tv
pay $50/month for youtube tv subscription.
and honestly there isnt anything we miss from directv
 
I jailbroke a firedick 3 years ago. side loaded kodi and added a few streaming apps on it. Works a great if you’ve got decent introwebs.
 
We cut the cord a couple years ago and never looked back.
The Roku boxes (3,4 etc) are generally better/faster than the little sticks. We have a stick in teh den and I had using it due to the lag.

Another cool feature is that yo ucan control it w/ your phone on te hsame wifi network. Convenient when you kid loses the remote or you're just feeling too lazy to look for it.
... or if you wanna piss off your wife from another room.
 
We cut the cord nearly 10 years ago. Been using Roku devices ever since. Had Sling TV for a little, but I cancelled it when Univision dropped from the programming line up. Now we do Univision direct through the app, Netflix, and Prime. No regrets.
 
GMAC said:
Glad I’ve got some more feedback. Any difference in the packages? Or they just trying to get extra money?
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Can't speak to their branded streaming services, we've never tried them. The Roku is just a way to get to Youtube/Amazon/Netflix/Motortrend/PBS/etc.
Ron said:
We made the switch the cheap smart TCL tv
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Is the picture on yours any good? We have one, but the greens are hot. It's fine for "a TV", but not for anything you'd want to have in the living room.
 
After asking around about it for 2-3 years, I finally made the change about 3 months ago, and can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner. I added YouTube tv, seems to be the best option for college football. With our amazon prime membership, we have access to prime video. Added Netflix and Disney+ for the hell of it. And then there was a bunch of stuff that came pre-loaded that I haven’t used yet or is pre-pay. With all that, im going back to my youtube tv subscription and stripping some of the add-ons I thought I’d ‘need’. I have more now than I did before and I’m saving $75/month doing it. Pretty intuitive and easy setup. Should have done it a long time ago.

Edit...top 3 things that probably get played are 1) Peppa Pig from the YouTube app 2) Pixar movies from Disney+ and 3) Daniel Tiger from the PBS app. So keep that in mind if you’re getting overwhelmed with the a la carte options and have kids.

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shawn said:
Can't speak to their branded streaming services, we've never tried them. The Roku is just a way to get to Youtube/Amazon/Netflix/Motortrend/PBS/etc.

Is the picture on yours any good? We have one, but the greens are hot. It's fine for "a TV", but not for anything you'd want to have in the living room.
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So we havent made the jump in the living room yet. Ive got a 65" Panny Plasma that doubles as an auxiliary heater....but if you've ever been to my house - the living room only has 1 wall suitable for a TV and has 120" of windows facing due west to the left 90 and 4 French doors with glass panes directly opposite the TV - glare can be a problem. So we've got the cheap chromecast dongle swinging off the side.

The TCL are in the 2 bedrooms and the game room. And in ~45" varieties with 10+ ' viewing distances they are perfectly fine.

Though to be 100% fair TV is more background noise while I do something else - or college football. I dont pay close attention to anything else so YMMV.

But I think we paid $149 for the 42 in my daughters room and 189 for the 49" in our room. They are definitely worth that.
 
UTfball68 said:
1) Peppa Pig from the YouTube app 2) Pixar movies from Disney+ and 3) Daniel Tiger from the PBS app
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Can confirm. This list changes every few months, but the overall point is spot on. A word of advice to any would-be Youtube stars: Just start a kid channel full of badly animated songs. You'll be doing millions of views/month in no time flat.

Also, the streaming service walled garden is real. Our kids had a bunch of Paw Patrol toys, named all their stuffed animals after characters on the show, etc. I realized one day they didn't watch it anymore and figured they'd grown out of it. Nope. It moved from Netflix to Hulu.
 
I have the Roku Ultra and love it. We had the Roku Express and used it for years and then realized that I need to get something that can be hardwired to our modem and the difference was night and day.
 
shawn said:
Can confirm. This list changes every few months, but the overall point is spot on. A word of advice to any would-be Youtube stars: Just start a kid channel full of badly animated songs. You'll be doing millions of views/month in no time flat.

Also, the streaming service walled garden is real. Our kids had a bunch of Paw Patrol toys, named all their stuffed animals after characters on the show, etc. I realized one day they didn't watch it anymore and figured they'd grown out of it. Nope. It moved from Netflix to Hulu.
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This is just so funny to me. My daughter loves Paw Patrol, Peppa, Ricky Zoom, Umi Zoomi, and PJ Masks, and I find myself walking around singing the theme songs and watching the shows unintentionally.
 
We switched a few years back, and dont miss it. Currently the wife gets Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Discovery+ for free through VZ. Not sure how, but might want to look it up. I also pickup Motortrend when they run a special at Chrstimas. We use AT&T-TVNOW or whatever its called. I got it a while back because of the DVR. Been thinking of switching to another, but they all seem the same price anymore. Local news stations have their own app, where they play their broadcasts for free.
 
Does it have dvr? I’m thinking not because everything is streamed, but gotta ask. I’ll be purchasing at minimum 1 before the weekend is over
 
GMAC said:
I’m thinking not because everything is streamed, but gotta ask.
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blog.roku.com

Roku

Roku provides the simplest way to stream entertainment to your TV. On your terms. With thousands of available channels to choose from.
blog.roku.com

Most content is on-demand, so there's nothing to DVR. Channels that offer live TV have DVR services sometimes.
 
GMAC said:
Does it have dvr? I’m thinking not because everything is streamed, but gotta ask. I’ll be purchasing at minimum 1 before the weekend is over
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Youtube tv has an unlimited DVR, but only retains things for 9 months. Disney+ and Netflix has a Watchlist that will keep things in queue for as long as it’s available...

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We dropped dtv and went Hulu live with dvr. Think it's around 80 a month. Kinda expensive but the same we had at dtv and 100 less. We use fire sticks and also cast using a chromecast.

I like Hulu can watch it anywhere on any device.

I did just see Google just came out with a new chromecast that sounds like it works similar to a roku. Seems interesting.

We also have prime.

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