Roku TV the way to go?

[Fred Pabst]

Please school me on Roku. Is this THE wave of the future for television viewing? My only option for TV in my area is a satellite dish. We will have a wifi connection. The girlfriend wants netflix and stuff to be able to watch her series. I need to be able to watch my local sports. Personally I would like to kill my TV but there are certain definite requirements like CBS for Pats games and NESN for Red Sox, and golf tourney's. It looks like it is more al-a-carte but once all these channels are chosen, are you still looking at another $75 to $100 per month bill for this media?

I also keep hearing about Sling and Amazon Prime...wtf?

Thanks for any insight.

[grskier]

We have both a Roku and an Apple TV.
I like the Apple TV more b/c we have kids and have adopted the whole ecosystem (apple music, movies on the ipads for the kids, etc)...

Both work about the same, different options on each. As for CBS, you can pay $6 or so bucks a month for it on Apple TV, not sure if it's on Roku... Not sure where else to get NESN.

We pay for Hulu, Netflix, and HBO... it offers more good content then we can keep up with. We don't really watch too much live sports any more.

[Fred Pabst]

And what about a smartTV. Is something that is required for these systems like roku or appleTV?

[SkiLyft]

+1 for Apple TV - we ditched our cable and have not looked back!

[PNWbrit]

Roku.

Without hesitation. The least tied to content provider means most content availability ease of connecting to other products, software.

Best interface.

New Comcast/Xfinity Roku app allows me to access all the cable channels I get at home and access my DVR while at our cabin with with no cable connection there. Similarly we use plex media app on Roku to access our media on hard drive at home. HBOgo, netflix, Amazon prime, CNN, Sky news etc. etc. The Roku also seems to do very well at coping with slow connection speed at cabin and buffers less than other solutions I've tried.

And what about a smartTV. Is something that is required for these systems like roku or appleTV?

you can go with a little Roku box or thumb drive plugged into any modern TV or the Roku TVs with their software on board.

[doebedoe]

I like our Amazon Fire Stick. IMHO, whatever you buy make sure it has voice navigation / search options. Its so much better than typing stuff.

[Lindahl]

Chromecast is nice in that regard. Pause/play with the TV remote (wish it supported skip/ff/rwd, but just clicking where you want to skip to is awesome too). Select content with a native app or google assistant.

[RShea]

You need to start somewhere- and it also depends on what you think will be your short list of ways to watch TV with the streaming. There are services out there Roku, Sling, Direct TV Now, Hulu, HBO to Go, You Tube TV, PlayStation Vue, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and a few others probably that you can read about and find out there. Then there are devices to allow the service or app run- everything from Roku (with multiple models and purchase price points), Amazon Fire TV (and Stick), Apple TV, Andriod TV computers and stick devices, Chromecast, and again each has some advantages and disadvantages- depending on the service, the power of the device (CPU, system memory, outputs, etc.. You can choose a device first and then try some of the apps and services (most have a 7 day trial where you can evaluate the quality and programming/channel offerings at least a little bit before committing to the subscription. It also can depend on if you have a tablet, or cell phone that is based on the same offering (such as many Apple iPhone users go Apple TV, many Android phone or tablet users may pick Android TV boxes or start with Chromecast, etc.) Smart TV's will also have some of the same apps or services such as mentioned above in the apps or services. Some of the devices are just casting or mirroring of a phone/tablet screen or computer, others are stand alone computers that are connected to your internet (wired or wifi can be a decision too to look at), and even have advanced features like fast forward through commercials or DVD and storage to record to watch later.

Head over to Cordcutters News web site for the cord cutters 101 with added sections including content offerings charts and many of the stations listings (so you can pick the ones you are most interested in and make sure your areas of TV interest are on the subscription(s)- ie you have kids and want Disney and similar, or you have to have a favorite sports channel(s) or major sport, or movies or binge watching of a TV series like on Netflix or Amazon Prime, etc. Budget (without any special deals like maybe offering this coming weekend on Black Friday or Cyber Monday) will be anywhere from $25 to $30 up to about $200 for the device then the monthly subscription(s) of $30 to $50 or so a month ( Except for Amazon Prime and Netflix which is lower for their Originals content and of course some end up using more than 1 subscription to get everything they want to watch in TV. http://www.cordcuttersnews.com

[skimaxpower]

Can you get local TV stations through HDTV antenna? That gives a fair amount of sports access.
I use Apple TV + Netflix which provides ample entertainment options. But not much for live sports. HDTV antenna helps if you can get signal.

[RShea]

Can you get local TV stations through HDTV antenna? That gives a fair amount of sports access.
I use Apple TV + Netflix which provides ample entertainment options. But not much for live sports. HDTV antenna helps if you can get signal.

OTA via an antenna is going to be one of the cheapest ways but very dependent on where you live and distance to the broadcast signals and other factors. http://www.tvfool.com/ and similar are the starting point to find out the distance and some help as to if just an indoor or an outdoor or higher end antenna estimate of how many stations and if a omnidirectional or rotary motor will be required to pull in the most stations.

(and there really only marketing and nothing special about HDTV antennas- there are just TV antennas out there.)

[Garth Bimble]

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I ditched my satellite and am using both Roku and FireTV for the Playstation Vue streaming service (it has local channels). The FireTV is by far the better choice for this. Interface is way more user-friendly and it runs much more consistently with less buffering. That said, the 2 Roku's I use are older and that probably has an impact. In addition, while they both offer a ton of apps, Fire is Android based which allows it to run the KODI media server. I'm not going to go into detail about that here but if you do a little research you'll see that it is a gateway to anything you could ever want to watch on TV. There are other Android based streaming devices but they're usually more expensive than Fire. Best Buy is selling sticks on Black Friday for $25. That's hard to beat. I wouldn't recommend a smart tv. If you decide you want to watch something somewhere else they're not very portable.

[thebrucemac]

Roku.

Without hesitation. The least tied to content provider means most content availability ease of connecting to other products, software.

Best interface.

New Comcast/Xfinity Roku app allows me to access all the cable channels I get at home and access my DVR while at our cabin with with no cable connection there. Similarly we use plex media app on Roku to access our media on hard drive at home. HBOgo, netflix, Amazon prime, CNN, Sky news etc. etc. The Roku also seems to do very well at coping with slow connection speed at cabin and buffers less than other solutions I've tried.



you can go with a little Roku box or thumb drive plugged into any modern TV or the Roku TVs with their software on board.

Hey PNWbrit do you know if the Xfinity Roku "channel" works if you don't have the latest Xfinity boxes/OS in the rest of the house? We can't get it because we have fiber to our house for the interwebs, so we don't qualify, but have their old boxes and "premium" tv service otherwise. TIA

And to the OP, not sure what you're after or your budget, but I've been following a thread over on AVS forums for a budget 4K 55in Roku TV made by TCL. It can be had for about $650 and the picture and features are well reviewed. It has ROKU built-in, supports the latest HDR standards, is FALD, has good blacks and has low input lag for gaming if that's your thing. Perfect for a bedroom. Negatives are a fairly narrow viewing angle and the speakers are shit. I've been close to pulling the trigger a couple times, but it went up in price for a while after the initial release this summer. Best buy sells the exact same panel under part# 55P605, but it ships with an IR remote versus an RF (RF you don't have to point at the set).

[PNWbrit]

Hey PNWbrit do you know if the Xfinity Roku "channel" works if you don't have the latest Xfinity boxes/OS in the rest of the house? We can't get it because we have fiber to our house for the interwebs, so we don't qualify, but have their old boxes and "premium" tv service otherwise. TIA

I don't know. I have the newer Xfinty boxes myself. The app mirrors the appearance and functions of the X1 menu.

Did have to switch to a newer model Roku at cabin to get the Xfinity app to work there though.

And to the OP, not sure what you're after or your budget, but I've been following a thread over on AVS forums for a budget 4K 55in Roku TV made by TCL. It can be had for about $650 and the picture and features are well reviewed. It has ROKU built-in, supports the latest HDR standards, is FALD, has good blacks and has low input lag for gaming if that's your thing. Perfect for a bedroom. Negatives are a fairly narrow viewing angle and the speakers are shit. I've been close to pulling the trigger a couple times, but it went up in price for a while after the initial release this summer. Best buy sells the exact same panel under part# 55P605, but it ships with an IR remote versus an RF (RF you don't have to point at the set).

I have an LG Roku TV and it's fucking great. They just announced Panasonic as a partner too?

[grskier]

And what about a smartTV. Is something that is required for these systems like roku or appleTV?

Many Smart TVs would be an overlap with a Roku or Apple TV.

How do you manage your media now? Do you at all?

[LightRanger]

Hey PNWbrit do you know if the Xfinity Roku "channel" works if you don't have the latest Xfinity boxes/OS in the rest of the house? We can't get it because we have fiber to our house for the interwebs, so we don't qualify, but have their old boxes and "premium" tv service otherwise. TIA

And to the OP, not sure what you're after or your budget, but I've been following a thread over on AVS forums for a budget 4K 55in Roku TV made by TCL. It can be had for about $650 and the picture and features are well reviewed. It has ROKU built-in, supports the latest HDR standards, is FALD, has good blacks and has low input lag for gaming if that's your thing. Perfect for a bedroom. Negatives are a fairly narrow viewing angle and the speakers are shit. I've been close to pulling the trigger a couple times, but it went up in price for a while after the initial release this summer. Best buy sells the exact same panel under part# 55P605, but it ships with an IR remote versus an RF (RF you don't have to point at the set).

thewirecutter.com has that TCL as their #1 recommended set.

[thebrucemac]

thewirecutter.com has that TCL as their #1 recommended set.

Yup yup, and sorry I thought I included it in my post above, but the part# for the model with the RF remote is 55P607, the Best Buy model with IR remote is 55P605. Hoping to pick one up after the holidays.

[Name Redacted]

Many Smart TVs would be an overlap with a Roku or Apple TV.

How do you manage your media now? Do you at all?

I have two smart tvs, a smart DVD, and a Wii which will access all the same stuff. But I still use the Roku because it is much faster and more functional. TVs are a few years old though, maybe they are better now. Just got the Roku stick that plugs into the HDMI. Works great.

[TWINS]

Firestick with KODI downloaded on it.
Amazon Prime and Netflix add-ons.
Running through a Slingbox at home for our ski condo. Love watching our home stations while being away.
Great for those days when it's storming outside.

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