For all Roku owners!!!

[frnk55]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

When you add a series to your instant queue, it should automatically load all available seasons at the same time. In other words, it should already be on your instant play list.

Ahh, ok that's good to know. Thx Pilot!

[PilotMan]

I'm just going to blow my own horn here and say that my 3rd Roku is on the way following my lifetime subscription to Play On. For a family that doesn't use cable at all, just internet, the Roku players give us awesome freedom.

Getting MLB, MLS, ESPN 3 on the TV is just enough sports, and the movies and pretty much unlimited tv now it's hard to complain at all.

[terpkristin]

Hmmmm Epic Meals is streamed via Revision 3's channel.

I have watched way too many episodes and all of a sudden have a hankering for bacon. And I don't even like bacon.

/tk

[Yellow5]

I am using Roksbox to stream my own recorded movies from my PC to the Roku. Works like a champ and is an inexpensive channel.

http://roksbox.com/

Requires a web server setup on the PC that your movies reside on. It will also steam my own music and photo collection as well.

Never thought about using Play On but looking at it now and it makes a lot of sense to pay the $30 per year or the lifetime with a player. Been thinking about getting another player anyway as I have a first generation Roku. I can buy the lifetime Play On package and hook the old one up to my sons TV.

[RomaGoth]

Thinking about picking up a ROKU after doing a bit of research. Can anyone offer more insight into the benefits of it and how it works? We use the Wii for Netflix, and because of how busy we are, don't even have cable or satellite TV.

[frnk55]

I really wish they would get MLB going!

[Antmeister]

Originally Posted by RomaGoth

Thinking about picking up a ROKU after doing a bit of research. Can anyone offer more insight into the benefits of it and how it works? We use the Wii for Netflix, and because of how busy we are, don't even have cable or satellite TV.

Well I am going to assume the bit of research you did was pretty small if you do not already see the benefits.

Since you already have Netflix, you already know the benefits of on-demand viewing. No longer have to stick to a time slot for shows you want to watch etc.

With PlayOn and a subscription to Hulu Plus, you can have access to every show through Hulu (without PlayOn, you can only view shows on your Roku with the Hulu Plus symbol). If you currently use Amazon Prime, you can now watch a library of movies for free from Amazon (not as extensive as Netflix though). You can watch most of the major sports on this device (at an extra cost as well). Plus now the device can play a number of casual games. You Don't Know Jack, Angry Birds and Downhill Bowling seems to be the favorites in our household.

Now it works either through a ethernet cable or Wi-Fi connection through a router and an account with Roku so that the channels you add are attached to said account.

[frnk55]

I wonder how many people have ditched their cable provider for Playon or Hulu. I know I'm thinking about it. As long as I get the NFL games I might.

[PilotMan]

Well, Playon updated their service, and much to my wife's happiness, HGTV and DIY are now included without further scripts. They also added specific major broadcast channels (FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC) and some cartoon channels as well. It's a nice addition.

[Yellow5]

Yeah the new Playon scripts are great. The only issue I have with Playon is that it can be a little flaky with connecting to my Xbox 360. Other than that very happy with it.

[cougarfreak]

So with Playon, I see on their website, you get access to MLB TV, and HBOGO, CBS, etc. I'm assuming you have to have a login to get the MLB and HBO? Or is that included in the play on service?

[PilotMan]

Yeah, you have to have a subscription and login.

[cougarfreak]

Man, after looking through the play on list, if I could get my local FSN to watch the Reds, I'd drop Directv in a heartbeat.

[cougarfreak]

Damn, I got a trial for Playon this morning. It's really darn handy. With it, I can stream HBOGO to my TV (usually can't with a Directv subscription), and the ESPN 3 is awesome. If they bring back the offer for a free roku to go with a lifetime, I will definitely bite. Hell, I might anyway.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

Damn, I got a trial for Playon this morning. It's really darn handy. With it, I can stream HBOGO to my TV (usually can't with a Directv subscription), and the ESPN 3 is awesome. If they bring back the offer for a free roku to go with a lifetime, I will definitely bite. Hell, I might anyway.

You are sure about the HBO go? I have been looking for a runaround (since I have directv) for a while. Trying to stream from my computer via HDMI has horrible audio and for some reason the HBOGo moves to the left after a few minutes of viewing. I would definitely bite for 4.99 a month just to get the HBO library. I guess the free trial can't hurt even if it doesn't work.

[cougarfreak]

I'm sure, it's working with the trial. Try it and see, that was one of the big reasons I wanted to try it. Heck, I've thought about switching to Dish Network, just to have access to HBO go on the Roku, but with Dish about to drop AMC, I didn't go that route (yet). I have had good luck with the HDMI out from my computer with HBO go, but that's a big pain in the ass.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

I'm sure, it's working with the trial. Try it and see, that was one of the big reasons I wanted to try it. Heck, I've thought about switching to Dish Network, just to have access to HBO go on the Roku, but with Dish about to drop AMC, I didn't go that route (yet). I have had good luck with the HDMI out from my computer with HBO go, but that's a big pain in the ass.

Cool. Yeah you are right that I can't go wrong with a free trial. Is it a month long? So you didn't get the screen shift when you did the HDMI HBOGo? Interesting, Roku would still be better for rewinding and pausing with a remote but my main beef is the screen would shift to the left after a few minutes and I would have to go back to the computer to fix it about 5 times a show.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by panerd

Cool. Yeah you are right that I can't go wrong with a free trial. Is it a month long? So you didn't get the screen shift when you did the HDMI HBOGo? Interesting, Roku would still be better for rewinding and pausing with a remote but my main beef is the screen would shift to the left after a few minutes and I would have to go back to the computer to fix it about 5 times a show.

No, but I've only watched a few of the Band of Brothers via HDMI, I didn't have any kind of shift. I think the trial is only a week. But the service is only $4.99 a month, or $39.99 a year, or like $89.99 for life.

[Passacaglia]

I have dish, and a roku. What's HBO GO?

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I have dish, and a roku. What's HBO GO?

If you subscribe to HBO through Dish, you can get a hell of a lot of HBO content through your Roku, including every episode of every series they've made.

[panerd]

So I got around to downloading playon today and it seems to me to be no better than just streaming video from my laptop with an HDMI. The ability to fast forward and rewind seems non-existant and the buffering isn't very good. I would blame this on my cable connection but netflix streams fantastic through my Roku box. Are there any settings to allow for better buffering?

I can't really ger upset with Playon as they never promised anything more but am now even more pissed at Directv. Who died and made them the boss that says I can subscribe to HBO and watch HBO on my computer and phone but not on my Roku box? I swear if my girlfriend wasn't trapped in the midst of a 2-year deal with them I would tell them to go fuck off. (I used to be trapped by the NFL Sunday Ticket but my friend's cable red zone seems to be halfway decent and I don't think Andrew Sicilaino is worth ponying up $200 for anymore when it is free on cable)

[PilotMan]

It's seems to me that the pc that's running play on has everything to do with buffering. What are the specs of the rig running it? And yes, that's kind of the the service it offers. The ability to stream shows from a pc to the tv so you don't have to hook up a pc directly to do it, and the ability to go and grab shows or items from a hms and play those as well.

Are you sure it's really play on that your disappointed with and not just projecting your anger and disappointment with direct at them?

[stevew]

HBOGo is really good, although it will become less useful once I catch up with Game of Thrones and re-watch the Sopranos and the Wire.

After all, they only put 3 or 4 episodes of Real Sex up at a time. Where else am I supposed to get my fill of sexual food games.

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by panerd

So I got around to downloading playon today and it seems to me to be no better than just streaming video from my laptop with an HDMI. The ability to fast forward and rewind seems non-existant and the buffering isn't very good. I would blame this on my cable connection but netflix streams fantastic through my Roku box. Are there any settings to allow for better buffering?

I can't really ger upset with Playon as they never promised anything more but am now even more pissed at Directv. Who died and made them the boss that says I can subscribe to HBO and watch HBO on my computer and phone but not on my Roku box? I swear if my girlfriend wasn't trapped in the midst of a 2-year deal with them I would tell them to go fuck off. (I used to be trapped by the NFL Sunday Ticket but my friend's cable red zone seems to be halfway decent and I don't think Andrew Sicilaino is worth ponying up $200 for anymore when it is free on cable)

That's got me so pissed, that I've thought about switching to Dish. But, Dish is in a pissing match with AMC, and they are dropping it. And it looks like a serious pissing match, so I'm not so sure that this one is going to be a quick drop, and then it gets added like in 24 hrs either.

[stevew]

I think the streaming quality of HBOGo is really shitty too, panerd. It looks like something out of 2005.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by stevew

HBOGo is really good, although it will become less useful once I catch up with Game of Thrones and re-watch the Sopranos and the Wire.

After all, they only put 3 or 4 episodes of Real Sex up at a time. Where else am I supposed to get my fill of sexual food games.

Yeah I have been using it for quite some time on my laptop. Could never understand why they cut some shows like Real Sex and in my case Carnivale and Arliss out but keep comedy specials from like 1985 on there. Are these shows really taking up that much bandwidth? I love me some carnivale.

Originally Posted by stevew

I think the streaming quality of HBOGo is really shitty too, panerd. It looks like something out of 2005.

That's a good point. My only perspective (since directv blocks the roku) is using a 15" screen so maybe the Roku would be just as shitty as the playon is looking.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

It's seems to me that the pc that's running play on has everything to do with buffering. What are the specs of the rig running it? And yes, that's kind of the the service it offers. The ability to stream shows from a pc to the tv so you don't have to hook up a pc directly to do it, and the ability to go and grab shows or items from a hms and play those as well.

Are you sure it's really play on that your disappointed with and not just projecting your anger and disappointment with direct at them?

I think you hit the nail on the head. The laptop is pretty decent, it has an i5 intel processor with 2.5 GHz but I guess I don't know why I am expecting it to look any better than running an HDMI directly from the laptop would look. I am definitely not mad at playon just disappointed as I thought I had finally found a workaround.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

That's got me so pissed, that I've thought about switching to Dish. But, Dish is in a pissing match with AMC, and they are dropping it. And it looks like a serious pissing match, so I'm not so sure that this one is going to be a quick drop, and then it gets added like in 24 hrs either.

Yeah I had a scheme all worked out at one point where I was paying $30 a month for charter cable and streaming most of the shows I watch, watching some on netflix, and purchasing some from itunes and amazon that I couldn't get any other way. Then me and my girlfriend got serious and my plan didn't work for Real Housewifes and Cooking network type crap. Also live sports were a bit of a pain in the ass. But I am with you that all of the companies are shitty regardless of whether Dish or AMC is more to blame. Quit using the customers as pawns in your games.

[cougarfreak]

I've had great luck with streaming quality from HBO. What's your internet speed? I'm at 20 mbs.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by cougarfreak

I've had great luck with streaming quality from HBO. What's your internet speed? I'm at 20 mbs.

Pretty close to that. (Just ran a speed test and got 19.3) Yeah my problems are that it just gets choppy and digitized and I had rarely seen that with the Roku box using Netflix or Amazon's streaming. And off topic because playon does work on my normal televisions but I have a projector in my basement that the playon screen only comes up in the upper left quartile of the screen. I can't figure out what the deal is but it seems to have the same choppyness issues anyways even with the quarter sized picture. (Which is still close to 60" but it looks goofy )

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by panerd

Yeah I had a scheme all worked out at one point where I was paying $30 a month for charter cable and streaming most of the shows I watch, watching some on netflix, and purchasing some from itunes and amazon that I couldn't get any other way. Then me and my girlfriend got serious and my plan didn't work for Real Housewifes and Cooking network type crap. Also live sports were a bit of a pain in the ass. But I am with you that all of the companies are shitty regardless of whether Dish or AMC is more to blame. Quit using the customers as pawns in your games.

Now that I get MLB TV on the net, I was thinking seriously about goign back to cable. But shit, it's as expensive as satellite anymore.

[Antmeister]

I know the news is a week old now, but VUDU has finally come to the Roku. However this is only available now on all Roku 2 models, the current-generation Roku HD and Roku LT players. To me, VUDU has the best quality HD out of any streaming service and also has the best interface.

Since dropping cable television years back, the Roku has been the ultimate entertainment center for us. Now if they can somehow get the NFL on this, I will be a happy camper. They have, just about, every other sport I care about to some degree.