Anyone here have a Roku or similar streaming service gizmo?

[Archae]

Last edited Sat Feb 6, 2021, 06:50 PM - Edit history (1)

Are they any good?

Good stuff on them?

What do they charge for the service?

Thinking of buying one.

On edit: Just ordered one from Ebay.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. You don't pay Roku (except when you buy it). Think of it as a cafeteria serving up Prime, Netflix...

Hulu, etc.... THOSE you pay for! I just cut the cord and Roku is now my primary content server.

It connects to your wifi. If you have a smart TV you probably don't need it.

[Eyeball_Kid]

6. IMO, take your time when shopping for packages.

Most streaming service give you 80-90% junk. And just like cable, you still pay for quality content.

[snowybirdie]

2. Have them for years

Well worth the modest cost. You have free content as well as providing a platform for Netflix, prime and other pay per view channels. I get Free Speech TV and Stephanie Miller, no cost.

[hlthe2b]

3. Roku.. free once you buy the stick (and have WIFI)

Lots of free channels, including the ROKU channel with a mixture of older movie and tv content or you can subscribe to premium channels (e.g., HBO, At&T, Netflix, Hulu, etc.) If you have even minimal cable access, you can download a Comcast app and view that way, including some recording capacity. You can also watch Amazon Prime content, Peacock, etc.

I like it.

[onecaliberal]

4. We bought a Roku tv. We like it a lot. Plenty of great content.

[JenniferJuniper]

5. I love mine,

After dealing with annoying Fire sticks, it's really smooth with a nice interface.

But it's just a device so you can stream other content, like Netflix, Hulu, Prime, which you have to purchase separately. YouTube is free, of course.

I'd buy the newest, most basic one as the more expensive ones don't do much more.

[MacKasey]

7. I have been using Roku since 2011

Roku has it own channel with free stuff with commercials.

Also there are free apps like free speech tv and old movies and tv shows. The ones you have to pay for are monthly which you can cancel anytime, or yearly like CBS access which is cheaper than monthly

It all depends how what you like to watch

I like roku because it's easy to use?

Go to Roku.com and check it out

[Midnight Writer]

8. I have Roku. I like it a lot. Has a lot more options than are available on my SmartTV.

Roku is free after buying price, but you need to register with a credit card.

I have never had a charge from them, but you have the option of contracting for streaming services through them, or for Pay per View services.

I already had Netflix and Prime, but I pay them directly and the service shows up on my Roku.

Over 10,000 "channels" available, many free and many very specialized.

[wcmagumba]

9. I use both Amazon Firesticks and a Roku device...

they are free to use after the initial purchase as the previous poster said...I rotate through different streaming services as they are generally on a monthly purchase plan so, no contracts...come and go as you please. Lots of free (with ads) channels to watch too, my senior neighbors like their roku so much and never pay to stream. They mostly watch the game show rerun channel and old movie channel. Plenty of stuff to watch...they and myself also have indoor tv antennas attached to watch local channels and the major networks (again, free).

I usually have about two streaming on demand channels at a time which run anywhere from $7 to $15 each per month...Mostly I use Amazon Prime for the movies and I do quite a few online purchases through Amazon...Prime gives you free shipping along with the movies and tv shows...When I subscribe to a paid channel I usually cancel the channel the very next day so I don't forget as they all auto renew, you still get to watch the month you paid for and can renew (without penalty) any time. So I do recommend one of the streaming devices, just watch what you subscribe to for budgetary reasons as if you get crazy and subscribe to several at once (especially the live tv channels which simulate cable, about $60 or more monthly) you can spend a chunk of $....My take...

[CurtEastPoint]

13. If cord-cutting, look to see if Locast serves your city.

It's nonprofit, donation based and provides local channels. Currently they are in:


Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Charlotte
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
Houston
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Madison
Miami
Minneapolis
New York
Orlando
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Puerto Rico
Rapid City
Sacramento
San Francisco
Scranton
Seattle
Sioux City
Sioux Falls
Tampa Bay
Washington DC
West Palm Beach

[KarenS]

10. We've had Roku for at least 11 years,,,, we've purchased several models,,,

That's what we have and use,,,,, obviously we like them.

[samnsara]

12. when they first came out we bought them for everyones Xmas gifts..

we have one for each tv. We are obvious fans as well!

[samnsara]

11. Roku is the device but there are tons of free streaming services..

Pluto, Peacock, Stirr, Tubi and of course all the paid ones. I love the old stand by YouTube.. thats where i watch all the classic 1950s tv shows.

[rzemanfl]

14. My wife loves hers. Especially stuck here during the plague.

I had to buy a gizmo & a longer cable to split the signals from the Blu-Ray and Roku because there were not enough ports on the TV. Just a button to push that switches the devices back and forth.

[stopbush]

15. We've had Roku for three years. My son got us the Soundbar for Xmas.

Love it.

Two older TVs running Roku, one smart TV doing what it does. All streaming.

[avebury]

16. I love mine.

There are quite a few free streaming channels. I watch Pluto, Roku, Peacock for starters.

[demigoddess]

17. we use ours for the Classical Arts Studio. free.

All classical music, dance etc. My daughter loves it. You can have 4 straight hours of lovely arts. no commercials and little commenting. It is like you went to see a concert. Sometimes the concert is in italy or Paris.

[Bradshaw3]

18. Get one that fits your needs

The cheaper Roku devices don't have a mute function which means you have to go back and forth to your tv mute. Small point but it bugged me. I recently upgraded to the Roku sound bar which does have a mute and is much better for listening to streaming music sites like Spotify and for movies.
Also make sure you have enough bandwidth for your streaming needs. I don't do gaming so tv is good enough for me. I had Direct TV for years but prefer Roku with Youtube tv for streaming - at about half the price.

[2naSalit]

19. I just bought it...

Because my neighbor gave me their teevee because they got a smart teevee. I plugged it in and it worked except there was no HDMI or anything to receive signal from, neighbor has used it with a netflix firestick, we share the same dish for wifi.

So I thought about it for a couple weeks and yesterday I went and bought the Roku firestick version.

When I got home and plugged it all in, the teevee wouldn't even turn on! So now I have Roku but not teevee to watch anything on. I'm contemplating buying a teevee but it's a hard decision, haven't had one since 1980.

I have used Roku when staying at friends' homes and I liked it. Seems like it's worth the one-time price.

[crud]

20. On a related topic

What is the best way to get MSNBC with out subscribing to hulu or sling? etc. I'd love to be able to save the cost since it's pretty much all we watch all the time. I was hoping to get completely un hooked but then they impeached the first time and couldn't miss the show. Hulu just went up from started at 49 to 55 to 65.

[wcmagumba]

22. Sling TV Blue includes MSNBC and CNN for $35 a month...

Oops, I reread your post and see you've looked at Sling already, sorry bout that...

Probably the cheapest right now...Click on the See all channels down arrow

https://www.sling.com/service

[crud]

25. awesome

That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

[yuiyoshida]

21. My play station 4 can play streaming content mostly stuff like

Twitch and a few other apps.. I prefer just playing games than watching. Unless..its Disney Plus and then I can watch the Mandalorian.

[retread]

23. We have Roku, Firestick, and an Nvidia Shield. Also have an Android tv and a Roku tv.

When we got an olead tv I bought an Nvidia Shield for it. The AI upscaling is amazing.

[Montauk6]

24. I walked in late to the movie so...

Everyone's probably covered the ground here.

ROKU's great; if nothing else, they keep obsolete smart TV's relevant; i.e. you don't have to run out and buy a brand new one because the firmware/software's (which includes channels) no longer updated.

When we shopped for a big screener at Costco about 5 years ago, I saw one with ROKU embedded (ROKU TCL) and figured, hmm, I'll give that a shot, I've been happy with it ever since.

The ROKU device is also good because you can use a phone app to control it and, when you travel, you can take it with you and sometimes (if you're lucky) you can hook it to the hotel TV and watch what you want (but sometimes they lock down HDMI access).

When you register an account on their web site, you can enter your credit card info but that's only if you come across a channel that requires fees. ROKU itself doesn't cost anything once your purchased it.

I also have one of those Verizon streaming devices that's offered free when you sign up for FIOS (it was free, what the heck). I don't use it that much because the sound settings are confusing but it let's you load Google Apps, for what that's worth.

[Turin_C3PO]

26. Roku is good.

I used to have one. I have an Apple TV device and I like it a lot. It’s not a TV, it’s a little streaming device that you hook up to a tv where you can download apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, YouTube, etc. and watch them on the big screen instead of your computer or phone.