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Roku 3

MJ5150

MJ5150

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Staff member
Gold Supporting Member
Apr 12, 2001
17,407
35,656
Edinburg, Texas
#1
I bought one last night. I paid $90 plus tax. We have 30 days to return it if it doesn't work out.

I watch a lot of TV. Nothing in particular, just TV. Scrolling up and down the channels looking for something that interests me. I normally find something, and have a handful of favorite channels. I'm not much for movies.

After the first night, I am impressed with all the free content. We have Amazon Prime, so access to that free programming is cool too. I don't see us subscribing to Netflix or Hulu at this point. I think I can get by on what's free and on Amazon Prime. I found some of the private channels and added those. I was bummed when I added HGTV and Food Network only to find that the content was blocked anyway.

I haven't sorted out how I will get my live sports yet. I am thinking either an over the air HD antenna, or just stream from my tablet to the Roku. It probably won't be the same quality of HD streaming from a tablet, but hey, that's OK. For the first 35 or so years of my life I watched all kinds of sports without HD and I did just fine. Somewhere along the way, I let clever marketing campaigns convince me my life was incomplete without HD sports in it.

Two features that I love so far......streaming from my Win8.1 tablet to the Roku and the built-in headphone jack in the remote with the included headphones. I was just about to spend $80 on some wireless headphones.

The wife and I aren't looking for any major life change or reorganization of some inefficiencies in our life. This just looks like a way to save about $100 a month on cable and create some free time in our weekly schedules.

I saw some older threads on the Roku. Does anyone have tips/comments/tricks to share on theirs?

-Mike
 
#2
Sling tv is 20 a month but it does have hgtv, epsn 1 & 2, travel channel, adult swim and Cartoon Network (great for me king of the hill helps me sleep at night) it also has other channels and you can add more. I want to eventually cut cable, a lot of the roku channels require cable but sling does not I think it's worth the money ONE BIG ISSUE with sling. You cannot stream it to multiple devices like netflix only one at a time can watch or you need to buy another account but still another 20 cheaper than cable.
 
#3
I've had a Roku 3 for some time now and cut my cable TV service and added an antenna. Matter of fact, an antenna will have less of a compressed signal and look better. Just about everybody broadcast in HD.

You won't have to worry about watching sports in HD if you have both.

The antenna should bring in all your local stations in HD and sling will get you live ESPN. Sling is one of Roku's pay station. I *think* $20 will get you Sling and $25 will get you additional stations like ESPN and Food channel. (total $25.00)

Anyway, I liked it so much I cancelled my cable TV service.

One big difference is hard wiring your Roko to your router with an RJ45 cable. If that's convenient I recommend it highly. Unless you have a good router, preferably dual band or even AC for the best of the best in routers.
 
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#5
I have my Roku hard wired.

I'll look at Sling. I saw it as one of my channels, but haven't checked it out yet. Does Sling require anything on your PC? I was looking at playon, but it requires using a home PC to stream from.

How has your internet data usage been with the Roku?

-Mike
 
#6
Chunk-O-Funk said:
I've had a Roku 3 for some time now and cut my cable TV service and added an antenna. Matter of fact, an antenna will have less of a compressed signal and look better. Just about everybody broadcast in HD.

You won't have to worry about watching sports in HD if you have both.

The antenna should bring in all your local stations in HD and sling will get you live ESPN. Sling is one of Roku's pay station. I *think* $20 will get you Sling and $25 will get you additional stations like ESPN and Food channel. (total $25.00)

Anyway, I liked it so much I cancelled my cable TV service.

One big difference is hard wiring your Roko to your router with an RJ45 cable. If that's convenient I recommend it highly. Unless you have a good router, preferably dual band or even AC for the best of the best in routers.
Click to expand...

Really good stuff chunk o funk I will be doing this.
 
#10
MJ5150 said:
I'll look at Sling. I saw it as one of my channels, but haven't checked it out yet. Does Sling require anything on your PC? I was looking at playon, but it requires using a home PC to stream from.

How has your internet data usage been with the Roku?
Click to expand...
No, I relly don't think so. I don't have it myself but still I don't think it does require anything.

There is some free live content. Check out Huff for news. They have a live feed and there isn't anything extra required. I think Roku may be adding more and more live content to compete with cable.

Also, check out some of the media players. If you have music, video, pictures stored on your PC it may be worth it for you. Those require additional software on your PC so you can use your PC as a server.

Internet data usage with a Roku or any streaming device is considered intensive. I don't have to keep track of my usage because I don't share my network with anybody else. My guess is it will slow things down for other users. Maybe you'll get some buffering. With Netflix, you can control your video quality so there will be less buffering if you run into that problem.

Right now, I have a ridiculously fast internet connection. I pay for extra bandwidth and because of competition between ISP's my internet speed has been doubled. I have a 100Mb DL connection. Whaaaat!
 
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#12
I'm holding off on this stuff until I see what Apple comes up with. They've been trying for a long time to put together a "slim" package of broadcast networks plus certain cable channels. Supposedly this will happen later this year. ABC, CBS, and Fox are in. Hopefully AMC and Velocity. NBC is out though because of a rift between Comcast and Apple.

Also there's a new Apple TV device coming out that will have the same processor as the iPhone 6 and therefore be capable of streaming 4K content. It'll have Siri and some other stuff. Apple hasn't confirmed 4K yet but a new Apple TV without 4K would be a fail.

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#14
ImNotJoel said:
Really good stuff chunk o funk I will be doing this.
Click to expand...
Before you run out and buy an antenna. :)

First understand you will not get the channels or reception that cable has to offer. Also, if there is anything that will be missed by canceling cable I think an antenna will be a bad idea.

First check out a site like "disable my cable" [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Find out what stations are available in your area.
Things like hills, mountains, and other things like trees will affect your reception.

Second, find out what kind of antenna will be best for your situation. The best will be some kind of outside antenna that can rotate. If you live in a city/community check your building code to see if you are able to put an antenna outside. Next best thing would be an antenna you can put in your attic. If you're like me, an apartment dweller there are manny antenna's you can get. I have had good luck with a Moho Leaf.
Before you spend your hard-earned cash do a test like adding some coax cable, stripped on one end, attach it to your TV, change your TV (via the options menu) from cable to antenna and do a channel search to see if you can pick up anything.

Also, if you get an antenna. Where you place it means a lot. Experiment a little with it and where you can put it. One location you will get a lot of stations. Just a few feet away you will get better reception but less stations.

Good luck.
 
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#15
Chunk-O-Funk said:
I've had a Roku 3 for some time now and cut my cable TV service and added an antenna. Matter of fact, an antenna will have less of a compressed signal and look better. Just about everybody broadcast in HD.
Click to expand...
HD with my powered indoor antenna yields better HD than what the Cable Co. was delivering...I swear, they musta been feeding me 720 the whole time. What I am able to receive with antenna TV is a lot clearer.
...in one sense, it's like we're going back in time here.
 
#16
JimK said:
HD with my powered indoor antenna yields better HD than what the Cable Co. was delivering...I swear, they musta been feeding me 720 the whole time. What I am able to receive with antenna TV is a lot clearer.
...in one sense, it's like we're going back in time here.
Click to expand...
That's true. Companies that provide us with TV must compress the hell out of their signal. Antenna will pick up stations with very little compression. It's visible noticeable.
 
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#17
I solved my sports problem. I'll just watch the games at someone elses house. Watching games is always a big social event for us anyway, so we'll just do it at other places.

I really watch way less sports events from start to finish than I used to, so I doubt I'll miss it after a couple days.

-Mike
 
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#18
...you'll miss it.
The indoor antenna for Network sports + streaming the WatchESPN app keeps the jones at bay.
Your Roku device should have Apps (not free) for MLB, NHL, etc. I considered the baseball App until I was told the "local" teams would not be made available in this area.
 
#19
I tried an antenna tonight. One of those flat amplified ones. We got it from Costco. It sorted of picked up ION, QVC, and HSN. The rainy and windy weather probably contributed to that, but I think living in a neighborhood with lots of neighbors, WiFi, and so on around had something to do with it too. We get enough rainy and windy weather around these parts that I'll have tonight issues frequently enough to make this not worth it. I'm going to return the antenna tomorrow, that option is out the window.

-Mike
 

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