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Didn't know such a thing existed. Don't you still have to "pair" the Roku with your new internet connection. I'm not ever doing this, just curious. Thx.
Yes, have to type the router SSID & pw in, takes a minute or so, depending on how nimble my fingers are.
But since the router plugs into the ethernet, we don't have to log into the hotel internet. So it's a wash.
Also occasionally it doesn't work in a hotel - usually because there's no hdmi port on the tv, other times just some general incompatibility. But it's a go about 80% of the time.
Last edited by biscuitmom; 01-08-2014 at 06:15 PM..
FWIW - my husband bought a cheap Chromebook (about $200) as a Christmas present for himself in December. He loves it. And I was super surprised to find out that Chromebook now has 20%+ of the laptop/desktop computer market! Robyn
I'm typing this on an Acer Chromebook that I bought for travel and as a backup for my MacBook Pro.
Love the superfast startup, long battery time, that it's not all cluttered up with programs and is pretty much maintenance free.
But it doesn't stream media (Amazon Prime, UVerse, YouTube) well. Frequently stops and goes black screen when I'm streaming Prime and YouTube, and I have to reload the website and restart the video. It won't stream UVerse at all because a download is required and you can't download to a Chromebook. The inability to download is its main drawback. It's fine for general websurfing and email.
My cable/ telephone company is offering caller id that shows up on your tv screen, which I think would be handy for my neighbor who is hard of hearing and often misses phone calls.
I have friends who have that service. It's funny when you're over watching tv and they get calls from bill collectors that show up on the screen
That's a hard thing to wrap our heads around. The distinction between the devices that enable us to get content - and the sources of the content. For example - my internet TV shows many sources of internet content - but it's basically a piece of hardware. What would Roku add to my wifi/computer/TV network? Robyn
Robyn, if your smart TV works well with Amazon Prime, Netflix, etc., you don't need a Roku. I bought a Vizio 55" so-called smart TV and found out afterward that Vizio has a LOT of problems streaming amazon (which is the main reason I bought it!!). It will stream for 8-10 minutes, then stop. After trying everything I could think of, and contacting amazon and Vizio both with no success, AND finding a very long discussion thread on amazon talking about the exact same problem (apparently it's been going on for YEARS), I gave up and bought a Roku. Took maybe 15 minutes to set up (and that's just because I go really slowly with new tech), then I was streaming amazon with no problems at all. It's a couple of months later and I still love the Roku -- it's annoying that I had to buy one, but it was SO worth it.
I liked the Roku so much I bought another for my master bedroom TV, which is a really old 32" tube TV. Yep, the Roku works with those too, although you have to use the composite cables (the red/white/yellow ones), which means the quality isn't as good. It's good enough for me.
I just bought another Vizio HDTV for my guest room (which I tend to sleep in in the winter as it's MUCH cozier) -- didn't bother buying the "smart" version this time, since I knew the Roku would work. I just set them both up today and will be watching a movie in bed tonight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robyn55
I did a little reading about Roku this afternoon (there are worse things to do on the coldest day we've had in 20+ years!). It's basically a box that can stream media into your TV.
Just want to see if I got the basics straight.
The media has to come from somewhere. Like Netflix. Which you can subscribe to and channel through your Roku box (no other hardware required).
Yes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robyn55
To get the best reception - you have to connect it through an HDMI port. I know TVs today routinely come with 12 - but I have some older TVs with 1/2. If you want dual cable TV/Roku inputs - you'll need at least 2 HDMI inputs. Assuming you're not using something like a DVD player on a HDMI input too - in which case you'll need 3 or more.
Yes, but as I wrote above, I stream video through composite connections in the master bedroom and the video looks fine to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robyn55
You need one Roku box for each TV.
There's really no reason to put a Roku box on a TV that's "internet ready". It's something you use for TVs that aren't "internet ready" - it's the link between your internet and your TV in that situation.
That SHOULD be correct, but there is a long-standing problem with Vizios streaming amazon (see what I wrote above). YMMV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robyn55
Also - when it comes to a non-internet ready TV - how would a Roku box be superior to a wifi-enabled thing like a DVD player? IOW - if I have this big old gorgeous display Plasma TV in my home theater that is basically "dumb" - what would be the best way to connect it to something like Netflix/Amazon? Robyn
The wifi-enabled DVD player may very well work ... I've never tried that.
And regarding Rokus in hotels:
Quote:
Originally Posted by biscuitmom
Yes, have to type the router SSID & pw in, takes a minute or so, depending on how nimble my fingers are.
But since the router plugs into the ethernet, we don't have to log into the hotel internet. So it's a wash.
Also occasionally it doesn't work in a hotel - usually because there's no hdmi port on the tv, other times just some general incompatibility. But it's a go about 80% of the time.
My Roku came with a composite cable to use with it for non-HDMI-enabled TVs -- I imagine virtually all hotel TVs would have composite connections at the very least, and often in the front of the TV.
We've subscribed to Netflix for several years. We also got the 3 DVDs at a time plus streaming. We cut out the DVDs shortly after Netflix changed their pricing policies, where they separated streaming and DVDs. We watch a variety of movies and some TV series. The movies vary a lot. Sometimes drama, suspense, westerns, foreign, and comedy. Sometimes we might watch TV series like Hell on Wheels, the original Hawaii Five O, and crime dramas. The nice thing about the TV serious is there are no commercials.
I believe Roku has some channels or content that is exclusive to Roku. So I think the most accurate answer is a Roku is a hardware device that offers some additional content or channels. The Roku 3 is a little more expensive than the Roku 1 or 2, but it is higher quality. The cheapest place I've seen it is at Sam's Club, a few dollars cheaper than Walmart, where it's just under $100.
If you wanted to do the free Netflix trial, you could try it for free on a computer or Android tablet. The screen is pretty tiny, but at least you could check it out for no cost.
An HDMI cable for $28 is pretty high. There are places that sell HDMI cables at even higher prices. You can buy good HDMI cables on the Internet for about $10.
If you need some movie suggestions, I could give you a lot of them. We've watched some really good movies that we've never heard of before. I think Netflix will be around for a long time, and will improve over time. I regret not buying Neflix stock years ago or even last year. I heard that the Netflix stock price tripled in the past year. If you bought Netflix stock years ago, it went up 300 times since then.
It's easier to search for movies using the Netflix web site. You then select the movie and add it to you queue. You can then see the movie listed in your queue using the Roku, a DVD/Blue ray with streaming, or a smart TV.
Let us know how you're trial is going and if you need some suggestions to keep you very busy watching Netflix!
Thanks for all this useful information. I did sign up for Amazon Prime today. Just for future reference for others here...
Just about anyone can get a 30 day free trial. Except people like me who are secondary household users of other existing Amazon Prime accounts (which only gets me free "Prime Shipping" - nothing else). For me to set up an Amazon Prime trial - my husband would have to "unshare" his Amazon Prime account - and then I'd have to sign up on my own with the free trial. I buy a ton on Amazon - and had wanted to use the lending library for a while (my husband and I have separate Kindles). So the "unsharing" and signing up again seemed like more trouble than it was worth for me. I'll try the lending library and instant video for a year. If I don't get my money's worth - I can always go back to the way we're set up now.
I'm starting to realize that in a multi-TV household like ours - the best solution for one TV isn't necessarily the best for all (assuming you don't want to replace all your TVs right now ). We have 6 TVs. The one on the porch (really old CRT) is good to go only with a DTA box. The one in the guestroom (also really old - but flat screen) is also good to go only with a DTA box. Like others here - my husband and I sometimes sleep in the guest room - but we don't watch TV there. I have the new TV in my home office all set up. That pretty much leaves the MBR - the living room - and the kitchen/dining room.
WRT to the master bedroom - the Roku box is looking better and better. Most of the viewing there is done by my husband before he falls asleep (I'm asleep in about 5 minutes ). He can't find any content he likes on Comcast - on a box that costs us about $9/month to rent. If we buy a Roku - and he likes the content - we can get rid of that box - and save some $$$$ (which would be nice - our cable costs are really high these days IMO - I still remember the good old days when you bought cable for X - and simply plugged your TVs into the wall - and didn't need to rent a STB for every set).
BTW - does anyone have any suggestions about the best Roku box to use on a HDTV if you don't need headphones (headphones is one of the features on the Roku 2)?
If the Roku works in the MBR - I'll think about the living room (which has an older plasma HDTV and a "home theater system"). Best I can figure out - our best/least expensive options there are a new DVD player or a Roku. Either would be plugged into an existing receiver (which has 2 HDMI inputs - one output into the TV). Still haven't figured out which is the better solution. I'll have to explore the issue more. The kitchen would be last - and I'll think about that down the road. Rome wasn't built in a day - and these new-fangled TV systems weren't built in a day either best I can figure out.
BTW - I haven't had a chance to explore the Amazon content yet. After a brief look - there doesn't seem to be a ton that's mind-blowing - but I guess we'll get our money's worth considering what it costs.
Note WRT HDMI cables. I agree that $28 is a lot to pay for one. I haven't paid for one in several years. When Comcast upgrades its set top boxes and/or we get a new piece of equipment that requires a new box - we order the new box over the phone to be mailed to our house. We always get a brand new one. And the ones with HDMI outputs come with HDMI cables (which you never have to return). They're short cables (like 3' or 6' feet) but they're perfectly ok for most applications. Then we return the equipment we're replacing to our local office. OTOH - if we pick up "new" equipment at our local office - it is never new - is always a generation or two or three out of date - always looks like it's been abused by a family with 3 kids who all have sticky fingers - and you don't get the cables. Don't know if this will work with Comcast anywhere else (or any other provider) - but it works here (and - on my part - I simply think I'm getting what I'm entitled to considering how much I pay Comcast every month). Robyn
I'm typing this on an Acer Chromebook that I bought for travel and as a backup for my MacBook Pro.
Love the superfast startup, long battery time, that it's not all cluttered up with programs and is pretty much maintenance free.
But it doesn't stream media (Amazon Prime, UVerse, YouTube) well. Frequently stops and goes black screen when I'm streaming Prime and YouTube, and I have to reload the website and restart the video. It won't stream UVerse at all because a download is required and you can't download to a Chromebook. The inability to download is its main drawback. It's fine for general websurfing and email.
My husband did some research today - and told me his Chromebook (the cheap $200 flavor) doesn't work (or work well) with Chromecast - at least as of today. OTOH - we have 2 computers that would work well with Chromecast. On the third hand - Chromecast doesn't seem to want to "be friends" with Amazon just yet (or maybe Amazon doesn't want to "be friends" with Google ). With so many companies angling for market share both in terms of hardware and content - I don't think we're going to get any perfect inexpensive "one size fits all" solution in the near future. Robyn
You might consider returning the $28 HMDI cable. If you go to "Monoprice" on the Internet, a 3 foot HDMI cable is $2.52, a 6 foot HDMI cable is $3.54. The price decreases from that when you get more than one cable. I've purchased many items from Monoprice. They are a great resource for cables. Never buy cables from places like Walmart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, etc. Those stores make a huge markup on those cables!
The Roku 3 used to be about $94 at Sam's Club and about $99 at Walmart. Yesterday, I saw it was $74.86 at Sam's club. The Roku 1 and 2 aren't that much cheaper. The Roku 3 processor is five times the speed of the Roku 1 and 2. The performance is much better than other streamers we have used, like Blue ray players. The 'buffering' time is very short and we don't run into the problem where we run out of buffer like we used to. We used to start a movie, then pause it for 5 to 10 minutes to build up enough buffer to make it through a movie. We never have to do that with the Roku 3. Changing from screen to screen with the Roku 3 is noticeably faster than the streaming Blue ray players we have. I haven't ever used the Roku 1 or 2, but I'd rather spend a little more money for a device that gives me many hours of entertainment every month for years.
The Roku 3 is $98 at Walmart and $99 on Roku's web site now. Even if you didn't have a Sam's club membership, just the savings from two Roku 3's would pay for your 1 year membership at Sam's club.
I heard about a price change with Netflix streaming. For one stream $6.99 per month, two streams $7.99 per month, three streams $9.99 per month, and four streams $11.99 per month.
Davephan, lots of great advice. You're absolutely right about the HDMI cables -- I've bought a bunch of lower-priced ones on amazon and they work fine.
RE: the Roku 3, amazon has it for $98 too. That one only works with HDTVs (the earlier versions work with old-style tube TVs too). BTW the version I have is 2, and I rarely have any buffering problem -- it's only happened a few times in the past few months and always when I resume playing something. It typically lasts a few seconds and then the movie is fine again.
And RE: Netflix, I'd read that they were testing different pricing options. Just for clarification, "two streams" means 2 people streaming different content at the same time. Even when I have house guests we've never streamed different things at the same time, but I guess if you have several family members who want to watch different things, those multiple-streaming plans make sense. They still seem very inexpensive to me!
We were in Costco today - and the Roku 3 is $94 and change - including an HDMI cable and a set of ear bud headphones (don't know if those are normally part of the package). Robyn
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). We have 6 TVs. The one on the porch (really old CRT) is good to go only with a DTA box. The one in the guestroom (also really old - but flat screen) is also good to go only with a DTA box. Like others here - my husband and I sometimes sleep in the guest room - but we don't watch TV there. I have the new TV in my home office all set up. That pretty much leaves the MBR - the living room - and the kitchen/dining room.
