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Roku Streaming
We ordered a Roku box last week. If you don't know what that is, it's a little Internet connected box that lets you stream content to your TV. The funny thing about that is that if you had asked me if I wanted something like this two years ago, or five years ago, or indeed even twenty or forty years back, I would have said 'No". I would have even been mildly amused by the very idea of it because we hardly ever watched movies - so why would we want something that brought movies to our TV?
Oh, I don't mean we never watched a movie. Once in a great while we'd venture out to a movie theatre and from time to time we helped make the cable TV industry wealthier by subscribing the HBO and even though we only did that to watch The Sopranos, we'd watch a movie now and then. But we weren't "big on it". Not like my sister, for example, who seems to have seen just about anything and everything you ever heard of. Mention a movie and she has likely seen it. Mention the same movie to us and you might get a blank stare. We just aren't Movie People.
Introducing Hulu
I don't know when I first noticed Hulu - probably not very long back because, well, remember? We aren't Movie People. What brought me to Hulu was a TV show that we wanted to see but missed - I don't remember now what it was, but I found it there and we watched it. The experience wasn't great, a little choppy now and then and with sound lagging behind the video sometimes, but hey, we got to see the show. Better than nothing, right? Right.
The Lending Library
Yeah, I know: video stores have been around a long time. We had a VCR player and even rented a tape or two. But when we moved five years ago, we somehow misplaced or lost the VCR and didn't even notice that it was missing for more than a year - it was that unimportant to us.
We have a community library here. That's great, but the books are mostly fiction and we don't read fiction so that didn't attract our attention. However, there is also a community DVD and VCR tape library. There aren't many tapes (who uses VCR's today?) but just seeing them reminded us of that missing piece of equipment. Hmmm - what happened to that?
Who knows? We never did find it, but it got us thinking about all the community center DVD's sitting there free for the temporary taking. We looked through the shelves and saw a few movies we might want to watch. But - we had no DVD player.
Should we buy one? Given our movie watching habits, it didn't seem to make much sense. Sure, the darn things are dirt cheap now, but we'd probably only use it a few times a year. We hemmed and hawed a bit but finally decided it was cheap enough and I went out and bought one.
Of course we rushed right down and got a few movies, right? No - the player sat unused for a week or more before we picked out something to watch and we were in no rush to go get more movies when we were done. We still were not Movie People.
Netflix
The problem was that there's a limited selection here. A pretty large selection, but measured against a video store's stock, not much. We just weren't finding enough we wanted to watch.
We knew about Netflix. Our kids and my sister and probably everyone else we know have been long time subscribers. We were not, but then wasn't that because we hadn't owned a DVD player? And now we did own one, so..
So we signed up for Netflix - just the bottom tier, one DVD at a time plan. After all, we'e not Movie People.
But something funny happened. We found we really liked watching the Netflix stuff and that made us start getting more movies from the library here - we were slowly becoming Movie People.
Roku
It was getting harder to find movies we wanted to see. Our community adds new movies regularly, but we were watching them too quickly and while Netflix is quick, we started finding ourselves movieless. We couldn't have that, could we? I noticed the Roku link on Netfilx and saw the solution.
The box arrived yesterday. It took just a few minutes to hook it up, configure it to connect to my wireless router, activate it for Netfilx and minutes later we watched our first streamed video (we watched the first episode of "Soap", an ancient TV show we had enjoyed back in the 70's).
Roku doesn't download anything - this is streaming, but we saw no jitter and no video lag. Netflix doesn't have everything available for streaming, but they do have many thousands of movies and TV shows and you can stream as many as you want - none of that activity affects your normal Netflix subscription. You just access Netflix from your computer as you normally would and add movies to your "Instant" queue. Seconds later, they are available to your Roku box.
Roku does have some other "channels" available but we haven't looked into that yet. There's no extra subscription costs; you buy the Roku outright and that's the end of that.
I've been mentioning this to people we know who have Netflix and I have been surprised by how many have never heard of it. We think it's great and highly recommend it.
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Sat Mar 6 19:06:14 2010: BigDumbDinosaur
http://bcstechnology.net
Call me a stick in the mud, curmudgeonly old dinosaur, or worse, but I just can't see any value in watching most movies. I've have so many opportunities to do interesting stuff over the years, not to mention days past when I used to do potentially dangerous things with automobiles, I find so-called action films are about as interesting as last year's news. Love stories? I'm not into other people's drama -- real life isn't that complicated. Documentaries? Mostly someone's political viewpoint disguised as "information." Comedy? I can see plenty of that by watching what goes on in Washington DC. <Grin>
I don't need escapism, make-believe and vicarious thrills in my life, ergo I fail to see any value in subscribing to "premium" TV channels or other entertainment services, much less actually going to a theater and putting up with obnoxious movie-goers as they cough, sneeze, talk, and answer their cell phones. I have more than enough to occupy my time, and seriously doubt I will run out of things to do before Pac-Man finally takes me out -- assuming he gets me before something else does.
If I'm not busy in my office slapping around recalcitrant computers, I'm either in my electronics shop tinkering with some gadget (How about a scratch-designed single-board computer?), my metalworking shop tinkering with my large-scale locomotive, or at our large-scale model railroad club playing with trains and hauling passengers (kids love it, naturally), and enjoying the company of other railroad enthusiasts.
Little time here for staring at a "box with a window in it," as Howard Hughes was reportedly to have described a TV set the first time he saw one. In any case, watching TV is bad for you: you bulk up in the posterior due to eating too much junk food and sitting around doing nothing, muscle atrophy sets in everywhere except in the hand used to operate the remote, and your cranium gets contaminated with mostly useless drivel. <Grin>
Sat Mar 6 19:12:18 2010: TonyLawrence
Ayup. We used to feel the same way.
Maybe part of it is that I find it harder to read now. I had to give up contact lenses a few years back - I could see distance fine, but reading was very uncomfortable. Even with glasses, I now find I can't read for as many hours as I used to.
Maybe part of it that we're just getting old and tired. Just working is more than enough mental challenge - I like mindless escapism now :-)
Or.. who knows? It doesn't matter - we've become Netflix/Roku Movie People ad that's that!
Sat Mar 6 19:31:43 2010: MarkBelanger
http://nemasket.net
Roku seems to be very specific about what you are able to watch (netflix, other
Roku "channels"). I would like a device like this that would stream content fro
m my computer to the TV. Meaning I could play a DVD, a Hulu show, YouTube video
, any video file on the computer and stream it to the TV. Roku doesn't to that
right?
I've been looking at VGA to TV converters with the intent of rolling my own devi
ce for watching computer content on the TV using my laptop. Hook up the VGA->RC
A converter, fire up whatever in full screen mode and watch. No remote and a bi
t of a hassle but seems a reasonable avenue. A big advantage is that I wouldn't
have to record as much stuff on the DVR since so many shows are available on-li
ne these days. At $32.99, http://bit.ly/dxenWv this device is what I
'm considering.
Sat Mar 6 20:12:32 2010: TonyLawrence
It's not so much that Roku doesn't do it, it's that THEY don't do it.
Apparently it's very easy for anyone to add a Roku "channel", but so far very few have. It's odd, because as Netflix shows, nothing says it has to be free. Hulu could charge for giving you Roku access (and if you Google "Hulu Roku" you'll find that they have at least considered it).
Sat Mar 6 20:57:13 2010: TonyLawrence
Roku Development info is at http://www.roku.com/developer
Sun Mar 7 00:01:49 2010: BigDumbDinosaur
http://bcstechnology.net
Maybe part of it is that I find it harder to read now. I had to give up contact lenses a few years back - I could see distance fine, but reading was very uncomfortable. Even with glasses, I now find I can't read for as many hours as I used to.
Ditto here, although I've never worn contacts. Either the print is getting smaller in everything or my eyes are going south on me. Must be the former. <Grin>
Maybe part of it that we're just getting old and tired.
Ah, c'mon, Tony. You're not old -- not as old as me, anyhow. It's only a number...it is, isn't it?
Just working is more than enough mental challenge - I like mindless escapism now :-)
My playing with large-scale trains is as close to escapism as I get these days. Up until 1990, I was heavily involved in semi-professional drag racing, and careening down the track at 160+ MPH gave me all the escape I needed. Around then, increasing costs along with an increase in my workload, convinced me to park the car and find something else to do.
Mon Mar 8 18:07:42 2010: Unprivilegeduser
I helped set up Ruko March 5 for a customer with cable internet and a wireless router. Setup proceeded successfully. Customer wanted movie service from Amazon and Netflix. Both services appeared after entering the passwords on the respective web page on the customer's computer browser.
The Ruko remote's beam was very directional. I may have been to close the the Ruko box. Button pushes required that I point to the box and not to the TV. Learning how to input text to the setup was a learning experience.(up, down, down,enter, go next page or form...)
Customer wanted Amazon because she gets free shipping (I let that go. ;-)) and she liked the movie library selection. Her first movie cost $4.99 and she was happy. I was happy.
Me, I rent Netfix dvd's from a Redbox vending machine at our grocery store. $1 for a 24-hour period, more if you do not return it by 9 p.m. the next day. The Redbox is "dummy" proof.
Mon Mar 8 21:10:06 2010: MikeHostetler
http://squarepegsystems.com
We have a Wii, which fairly painlessly hooks to your wireless network. You can then download the "Internet Channel" and, with it's Opera browser, surf the web. It does a real good job with YouTube. Hulu doesn't without some hacking, because Adobe won't upgrade Flash on embedded browsers and Hulu requires a newer version. You can get some third-party Windows-only tools for that. For me, I'm waiting for it.
Soon you can do Netflix streaming on the Wii.
http://www.netflix.com/NRDInfo/Wii
You have to get a free DVD for it from Netflix -- that must be how they are getting around those dumb jerks at Adobe. We aren't planning on getting it, though -- we have a DVR.
Oh, and you can play games on the Wii -- did you know that? ;)
Mon Mar 8 21:33:30 2010: TonyLawrence
Oh, and you can play games on the Wii -- did you know that? ;)
:-)
Yes, I knew that. The only games we play are Scrabble and Poker :-)
Mon Mar 8 22:15:23 2010: TonyLawrence
If this is kept up to date, it could be very useful for Netflix subscribers: http://instantwatcher.com/
Mon Mar 8 23:03:39 2010: TonyLawrence
We've been watching old Columbo episodes from Netflix.
We have a bunch of movies picked out too, but we have yet to watch one :-)
Tue Mar 9 19:45:50 2010: TonyLawrence
Speaking of this kind of thing, http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/software/EyeConnect.en.html is software that lets you send stuff from your Mac to a UpNP media device (apparently Roku is not, btw).
They also have an inexpensive TV tuner Mac or PC http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/EyeTV-One/product1.en.html
Tue Mar 9 20:44:07 2010: TonyLawrence
Roku Channels also include Twit.tv which is Leo Laporte. Call me crazy, but I like Leo and am very happy to have this. Of course I can only watch it if my wife is doing something else :-)
Thu Mar 18 13:36:22 2010: Jeff
Be concerned about Roku. They have a history of creating great products, and then abondoning them and their customers. See Roku M500, Soundbridge, etc and the long liine of unhappy customers and consumer complaints. They even dropped their support number for these products, even though they can still be found for sale in the store.
Nexflix, on the other hand, is a great company, and the ultimate netflix viewing machine is a TiVo box. Wish netflix made all their movies availble for streaming, but understand the copyright restrictions. Along with netflix, and reagular TiVo you get Amazon movies, and youtube (plus a few other similar services that escapes me as I type). And TiVo has a history of product improvment, and great customer service. Send the Roku back and put the money toward a TiVo
Thu Mar 18 13:39:45 2010: Jeff
Almost forgot best part. You can rip and watch your DVD's, computer videos, and your video camera recordings over Tivo also.
Thu Mar 18 13:45:12 2010: TonyLawrence
Tivo is too much money.
If the Roku lasts a few years, I'm happy with it. I suspect we are on the edge of major changes in this whole space - I don't want to throw a lot of money into a volatile area like this.
Fri Mar 26 16:24:07 2010: GagetGuy
3-26-10
I'm the kind of guy that loves to watch movies old and new from drama to the clasics to slapstick comedy.
I have a very basic netflix account (one at a time) so when I found out you can stream some movies to my tv I had to go for it. Imagine watching movies as well as some of the old time tv shows, ones that I thought I would never see again right to my tv at any time. But if that wasn't enought along with the Roku and because I have a netflix account I am able to get Pandora.
Pandora is a music station that plays almost any kind of music or any group you choose; for me that was the clincher.
I for am glad I bought a Roku.
I can't wait until Hulu joins Roku......someday
Wed Apr 7 12:35:28 2010: TonyLawrence
It is all going to change, though. For example, see http://www.handlewithlinux.com/televison-runs-linux
Is your tv running Linux? (yet)
Sony is making TV's with Linux controlling them. Yes, you CAN login and do some pretty cool stuff, but as the author notes "It just makes you wonder why they don't make their tv's do this by default"
Tue Sep 21 20:50:30 2010: anonymous
The last post was April 7 and it's September now. Just got my Roku; luv it so far...BUT what I'd like to do is sit in my big brown chair with my laptop and find, say, ESPN 360 and stream it thru Roku to my big TV. Any word on that happening yet?
Tue Sep 21 21:40:51 2010: TonyLawrence
It's all coming to new TV soon enough..
Sat Oct 9 09:32:51 2010: TonyLawrence
I see the Roku is now $59.5 - no doubt because Netflix streaming (and more) is built into new TV's.
Hmmm. If Roku goes belly up, we'd be almost forced into buying a new TV because watching Netflix through Roku has become very important to us.
Fri Oct 15 15:05:42 2010: TonyLawrence
Hulu is coming to Roku: http://www.roku.com/hulu
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