Does anyone have anything negative to say about Roku Express 4K+ ?

[eppur_se_muova]

I'm thinking of making the jump to streaming services (Sling Blue). The Roku is on sale -- $10 off -- for now.

Is there some "dummy" streaming service I can use to test the Roku device without having a paid subscription ?

Our demands on TV are minimal. MSNBC and a few other channels and we're OK.


ETA: We'll need an HDMI to AV converter box for most of our old TVs. Anyone done that ? Is picture/sound quality degraded ?

[roscoeroscoe]

1. We like our Roku

We love to watch some stuff on Pluto. Streaming services, if you use them, load pretty quick on Roku. And, you can take it with you when you're travelling.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Thanks. Not likely to go traveling, but might need to move it from room to room occasionally. nt

[roscoeroscoe]

8. Exactly, very handy that way.

Like your logo!

[Phoenix61]

3. There are literally 100's if not 1000's.Pluto is one.

I’ve used Roku devices for years and never had a problem with them. I upgraded to a Hisense Roku tv so no longer use the Roku stick.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Oh, thanks, I forgot about Pluto.

Not something I really keep up with, but nice to know they're there.

[yellowdogintexas]

15. our new one does everything including turn off the TV. There is a ping feature so you can find

a lost remote! It is also rechargable with a C charger - no more battery changing

[Midnight Writer]

5. To use the Roku, you have to open an account and supply a credit card number.

However, you are not charged unless you explicitly OK the charge. I've used mine for years and have never had a charge or paid for anything.

As others have posted here, there are hundreds of free channels you can check out.

I am very happy with the product and the service.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Thanks. That's certainly peculiar, but not a deal-breaker. nt

[roscoeroscoe]

9. Actually, we never log in

We skip right past that and our Roky seems to remember our preferences without all that.

[ZoltarSpeaks]

17. You can have an account without supplying a credit card number.

They certainly try to steer you toward giving them a card number but watch carefully as you progress through the account setup. If you get to a page that appears to be a dead end unless you supply a credit card, ask how to proceed on Google. I don't remember if they have an obscure "skip" link or if you have to back out of the page to proceed, but you do not have to give them any payment information unless you intend to buy services. I have been through at least 10 Rokus starting with the XS models up to and including the 4K Ultras and I have never given payment information.

Roku used to only let you decline giving payment information if you called them to set up the account. This was extremely unpopular, and apparently they listened.

[UTUSN]

7. Nothing negative & don't know ur specifics. Have 2 Roku sticks,

tons of free channels, all i use is free Youtube, fantastic.

[hunter]

10. I'm trying to find a streaming device that DOES NOT deluge me with offers for "free" services.

My perfect streaming device would only display the services I'm currently subscribed to.

At the moment that's Netflix and YouTube Premium.

I have zero tolerance for television advertising.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. my ROKU itself does not bombard me with anything. I just tab over to the channel I want

and watch it.
If you are not watching anything and just the wallpaper is showing, occasionally an image of a movie will float across the bottom of the screen, or a small ad for a streaming service will pop up in the lower right corner,.
I get the ads on You Tube, big time, FreeVee (subsidiary of Prime) is ad heavy too.

I don't go there often, but it is possible that the ROKU channel itself may have a lot of ads. Lots of good free stuff there.

[hunter]

16. My wife and I had one of the very early Blu-Ray players that supported streaming.

It had a very simple remote control and menu system that supported up to four streaming services, one of them being Netflix. We'd still be using it if the streaming services hadn't stopped supporting it.

[GenThePerservering]

11. The Verge had something to say about Roku's

motion smoothing.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Thanks! Apparently there's supposed to be a very simple way to turn it off.

It's not clear if it works for everybody. Some Roku models don't have action smoothing.

https://community.roku.com/t5/Discussions/Turning-off-action-smoothing/td-p/905951

https://community.roku.com/t5/Discussions/Turn-Off-Motion-Smoothing/td-p/940444

[ZoltarSpeaks]

18. I believe that problem is limited to the integrated Roku TVs.

I don't think the standalone streaming boxes are affected with the smoothing - this only affects Roku TVs. A separate streaming box would need the horsepower to do the processing and the TV would have to be able to accept the higher frame rate. However with the Roku built into the TV the motion processing is already there as a display option and the Roku apparently can simply turn it on, much to the chagrin of users if they can't turn it off. I dislike motion smoothing for general viewing.

Roku has been know to push bad software updates on users that you have to wait out until they fix it in the next cycle. There is no reverting to earlier versions, and you can't turn the automatic updates off. And they love to add in features ( like Trivia, recommendations, and now home-screen ads) that many users hate and it's a losing battle trying to keep the features turned off, if you can at all.

[yellowdogintexas]

14. Use Free Speech TV as your 'dummy' channel. It is totally free and all progressive all the time.

Stephanie Miller on weekday mornings is a delight. Plain ordinary You Tube is also free.,

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Thanks! nt