I was recently given a Roku LT by a generous colleague (who reminded me that I was on my own for the HDMI cable, which I picked up Sunday). The price of these things has fallen so far that, yes, it's not all that off the chart; it was still a very nice thing for him to do.
If you're an Amazon Prime member -- and we of Roseholme most certainly are -- the sheer number of free (free!) films is staggering. (And per-episode TV shows are priced at e-book rates).
This thing may get me back to looking at TV on the big living-room screen more than casually and rarely. Video quality is as good as the source, and it tracks films in my Kindle Fire (Hogfather was already in "My Library" as soon as I had the Roku linked to my Amazon account and it asked if I wanted to start up where I'd left off! Totally trying to get Tam to sit down and watch it.) Setup isn't especially tricky, either.
You might remember this gadget for those hard-to-gift relatives; all they need is wi-fi and a little computer savvy. But be warned: it could be highly addictive!
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
12 comments:
Been Roku'ing for quite a while now. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Pandora member.... that's our total viewing and listening expense budget. Each of those does double/triple duty.
Oh... and just bought a HD antenna, for local channels.
Tam, listen to Roberta. Sit down and watch Hogfather. You will like the character of Death. He delivers one of the best morals of the story EVAR.
Also, when you get a chance, watch the newly released Going Postal. We're half way through it here and it's awesome.
I recently picked up a similar WD media player box for our televisor shrine. This thing is great! I haven't messed with the internet streaming yet, but slinging torrented TV shows and movies from the elf box onto the obscenely huge flatscreen has put the fun back into moving pictures for me. No more sitting though mind numbing commercials, and bits on the DVD that I PAID FOR that I can't fast forward through!
I finally get to watch WHAT I want WHEN I want, HOW I want, and every time I do so I feel like I'm poking the media conglomerate oligarchs with a pointy stick.
Sean, I've seen all three. They're wonderful!
Gave Apple TVs to parents and inlaws last year. BIG hit. Roku is better - more options. Definitely a great x-mas gift.
We have Amazon, Netflix and Hulu subscriptions. That is $90 less per month than the cable we cancelled! We're going to drop Hulu soon (commercials suck), and Netflix will be next on the chopping block as it is soon to be the same as Amazon.
And don't forget the TV shows
including TED Talks, NOVA and NOVA
Science Now. We're getting ready to
drop the cable. News? Al Jazeera and
AFP and some of the others do a
good job on international news.
And our town is too small to be
covered by any of the teewee
stations. Still need the local daily
for that.
Anon, Don
Have to join the pile and give the Roku a thumbs up! We've had one for about a year, and I'm considering dropping cable entirely due to the pittance of time we watch it instead of content on the Roku.
Third the recommendation for Hogfather. It was PERFECTLY cast, and their Susan pulled it off perfectly, as did their Ridcully. I like Color of Magic actually better than the book.
I'm less fond of Going Postal, I thought they softened Adora Belle Dearheart's character too much. I'm in the minority, though, Stingray liked it fine.
Dropped DirectTV months ago for Roku. We already had Netflix. Just got the Wife the Fire on Thursday, she's currently tying up the Internet trying to download her Music to the Amazon Cloud so she can load the Fire. As for the old Cable Lines, I put the Old School Antenna on the roof, got my angles from AntennaWeb.org, now I can watch the local news and weather, then switch over to the Roku and the Net for other stuff. Of course, none of this might have happened if DirectTV was only willing to give us, a Five Year Plus Subscriber the same deals as they were giving to the New guys. But since they decided to say "No,You WILL pay Twice as Much for Half the Service!", oh well, they weren't happy with our reply of "Bye-Bye!"
And I didn't even had to "Occupy" their Corporate Headquarters because I was being treated like Crap.
How much bandwidth do you have? I have just dsl at the moment, and I wonder if it streams smoothly or is choppy.
I've got just DSL. It hasn't been choppy at all -- doesn't mean it won't ever be but so far, so good.
cool. I love Hulu, but I don't want to sit and watch the spinning circle on my TV TOO.
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