Roku 3

[iamlowsound]

You watch lots of baseball, the MLB subscription is pretty good. Easy to get around blackouts too. Plus, you can easily share it with someone to split the cost.

lowsound

 

[MJ5150]

Update: We returned the X1 boxes to Comcast last night, and they gave us two digital converters. For $3 per month, we get about 20 channels. All the local and educational channels, HBO GO, and Discovery channel.

-Mike

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

That's a great idea. I wish Cox would have offered it to me.

 

[fjadams]

I'll leave this here:

ROKU Private Channels | 2015 Roku Channels Codes & List

EDIT:
Comcast-Time Warner Cable Deal May Be Bad News For Roku Owners

Somehow we're to believe that the two companies with the worst customer service will magically become the one company with the best customer service in the history of telecommunications.
I find the claim to be dubious, at best.

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Roku tipped to release two revised streaming boxes in April - SlashGear

NEW Roku 2 & 3, With Voice Search, Just Days Away

Looks like 4K won't be coming to a Roku box, only to smart TV's that have Roku.

 

[MJ5150]

I saw the TV with Roku built into it, the TCL. Costco has them. The Roku is only WiFi, so we decided to pass and keep our 'dumb' plasma from 2005.

Some of those rumors include no ethernet connection on the new Roku, and that is a big minus in my world. If that holds true, I will be keeping this Roku 3 I have.

-Mike

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Yeah, no 4K and no Ethernet. Why buy a new one? Speech search. I'll be keeping my 3.
Here's our chance to let them know what the new version should have.

FB Link

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

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[MJ5150]

Cool deal for Roku. Those are some cool features, if true, sure to catch a share of the market. I find customer support at Roku to be excellent as well. They even helped me with remote control issues on a refurb I bought from amazon.com. Cool products with leading edge features are nice and all, but if your customer support/service sucks, you won't get any of my money.

We still dig our Roku 3. I have the one with the plain remote, none of those shortcut buttons. I definitely have to have wired ethernet, the voice search isn't a big deal to me, and my plasma is from 2006 so the 4K stuff won't matter much to me.

In other news, I cancelled our Sling subscription, but we kept hulu plus. Now that my favorite TV show, Vikings, is over, I only turn the TV on one night per week. Monday from 6:45PM until about 8:15PM for a special program as part of our family night. Other than that, it stays off for me. The wife tunes in some cooking shows a couple times per week.

By way of a follow up after a couple months, I have found that we (the wife and I) do more purposeful TV watching. No more sitting down to see what's on then browse up and down the channels looking for something cool. The Roku has definitely allowed us to take back some time in our lives and watch the TV on our terms. I'd say the purchase of a Roku has been a life changing experience for me.

-Mike

 

[Haji]

Was it just a lack of use that caused you to cancel Sling, or was there something else you didn't like?

 

[MJ5150]

Was it just a lack of use that caused you to cancel Sling, or was there something else you didn't like?

Lack of use. The app always worked great for us and has a nice interface.

I was using it to watch Vikings, and that season is now over. Watching Vikings on the History app wasn't as good as through the TV broadcast on Sling.

We also watched Food Network, but I just stream their website content from my tablet to the TV now.

At $20 a month, Sling no longer made sense to us. But what I like about Sling is we can subscribe any time we want for as long or short as we want.

-Mike

 

[Haji]

Gotcha. Thanks!

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Cool deal for Roku. Those are some cool features, if true, sure to......

-Mike

I feel the same way about 4K. My 1080P Plasma is not going anywhere soon plus because I'm more into movies I'm looking at a new receiver and HDMI cables. I'll want a new 4K Blu-ray player too.

Netflix did an experiment (I heard of) streaming 4K House of Cards. Other than that there are no other 4K things to watch on TV.

My point, 4K will wait for me and I'll dive in when 4K becomes more common.

I like Sling but haven't gotten it yet. I like the channel line up too. I understand you can order certain channels packages for $5.00 a month. I have to check into that.

One tip.
If you have a Harmony or other style universal remote. Look into a Flirc.
Amazon.com: FLIRC USB Universal Remote Control Receiver for Media Centers: Cell Phones & Accessories

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I have an HTPC and a Roku. I now can control WMC and my RF controlled Roku with my Harmony remote.
One remote for everything. Maw ha ha!

 

[MJ5150]

I think you have to buy the $20 Sling package first, then the $5 ones are add ons.

-Mike

 

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I may wait until football season then. I like their channel lineup though. I haven't had cable for a year so I know I can wait.
Even football, I think ESPN has Monday night games. Missing a game from my favorite team is not a big deal to me. If it's an important game I still have access to ESPN.

 

[elgecko]

I'm in the process of cutting the cord and have picked a Roku Streaming Stick and subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu. I'm absolutely blown away at what these get me compared to DirecTV! My issue, and I don't know if it's my imagination, but the Roku search and follow features suck! For instance, it shows three pay channel options for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend but fails to show that current episodes are available for free on the CW channel. Another one is it shows Rock the Boat - Saving America's Wildest River on the Filmrise channel but not on Youtube.

Do you Roku users bother with the search and follow features or do you do your searches on the different channels?

It seems a lot of my favorite shows are on FX, FXX, and AMC. How are you guys accessing these networks on Roku?

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

It seems a lot of my favorite shows are on FX, FXX, and AMC. How are you guys accessing these networks on Roku?

SlingTV. It's an app you can install on Roku.
Basic service is $20/month.

 

[elgecko]

SlingTV. It's an app you can install on Roku.
Basic service is $20/month.

That seems to be the leading option based on my searches. If I did that, I'd still be WAY cheaper than what I'm paying for DirecTV. I recently realized that I rarely, if ever, watch live TV. It's almost always off the DVR.

 

[MJ5150]

I'm in the process of cutting the cord and have picked a Roku Streaming Stick and subscriptions to Netflix and Hulu. I'm absolutely blown away at what these get me compared to DirecTV! My issue, and I don't know if it's my imagination, but the Roku search and follow features suck! For instance, it shows three pay channel options for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend but fails to show that current episodes are available for free on the CW channel. Another one is it shows Rock the Boat - Saving America's Wildest River on the Filmrise channel but not on Youtube.

Do you Roku users bother with the search and follow features or do you do your searches on the different channels?

It seems a lot of my favorite shows are on FX, FXX, and AMC. How are you guys accessing these networks on Roku?

I don't watch those channels, but as @Bob Lee (QSC) mentioned, Sling is a good option.
We tried Sling, but it was too much like regular TV, what we were trying to get away from. After the free trial, we cancelled.

I don't search much on Roku, but the regular search does show me what I want.
I'll search in a channel too, which also yields me usable results.
I followed a couple shows, but that was useless to me so I stopped using that.

My goal in getting a Roku was to watch less TV, so I felt like tracking and following shows to be alerted about them would just keep me roped in to watching TV all the time.
The couple shows I watch, I now know when they make it to Hulu, so I'll turn it on to watch exactly that show. If time allows, I'll check out maybe another hour to 90 minutes of TV after that. But rarely do I sit in front of the TV that long anymore.

-Mike

 

[elgecko]

My goal in getting a Roku was to watch less TV

Not me!

I'm tired of the cable/satellite companies, their high prices, their long-term contracts, and their unwillingness to extend promotional pricing to existing customers.

**** them!