Cable for Broadband Only...Programing through ROKU

[masmdu]

I Ditched cable programing years ago.

I use cable for Broadband @ $35/month

I have a ROKU box http://www.roku.com for Programing. One time cost of $80 and monthly $9 for Netflix the rest of the programing is Free.

There is quite a bit to choose from. Roku box is a simple sollution short of a dedicated htpc (home theater PC with boxee)


I can watch Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Cnn, NSNBC, CNBC, CNN international, News Shows from NBC CBS, Maddow, Obermann, Hardball, Current TV, Nasa, CNET,ESPN,FOX, C-span,NPR,PRI,BBC African TV, Indian TV, Listen to all the Music on my computer, Listen to radio from around the world, Pandora, RSS feeds to read on TV, New Media and Podcast from Mediafly, BlipTV, Revision3, SUNIMI, Internet Archives (public domain), News from France-Russian-AlJazera-etc, TED talks, HubbleCast, PodCastTV, Education (lectures and classes) from Harvard, Stanford, MIT and more with CDNTwo, NASA, SpaceTV, Google VoiceMail, Picasa, Flicker, Kidlet, ProMedTV, Flixter Movie Trailers, Vimeo, Kahn Academy, Shoutcast, JustinTV, Comedy Central (though Playon), HGTV

And those are just the channels that I have added to my ROKU there are many others available.

[masmdu]

1. BTW, Additional channels from outside of ROKU are available at...

http://www.roku-channels.com

[RKP5637]

5. Thanks for posting this list!!! n/t

[masmdu]

21. Glad to help!

[eShirl]

33. +1

[hlthe2b]

2. who is your cable provider?

[masmdu]

6. TimeWarner in NC

[Le Taz Hot]

3. I have Roku and I didn't know any of this!

Man, thanks for the info.

[RKP5637]

4. Yep, Roku works beautifully!!! n/t

[Lance_Boyle]

7. The likely defeat of Net Neutrality will make our Rokus and other Netflix streaming devices

worthless. Enjoy it while you can.

One more bad outcome from Tuesday's massacre. Why would Comcast and friends let you continue to stream Netflix with the bandwidth you pay for when they can cripple that stream and prioritize their own streaming offering (at additional cost, mind you)?

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. Aw crap.

x(

[RKP5637]

13. At some point one just says F everything with this place and leaves for a

better country.

[masmdu]

14. Couldn't agree more...Canada is calling me

[Dappleganger]

30. Canada is broadband hell...

you may want to find a better place.

[StandingInLeftField]

9. I'm a little confused.

All I'm seeing on roku.com are packages starting at $59.00. What am I missing?

[Lance_Boyle]

10. those are devices, not packages.

You buy the Roku, and then you will need a Netflix subscription to be able to stream much that's worthwhile. Or you can stream videos from Amazon, but they charge $4 or $5 per rental - Netflix lets you stream unlimited "instant view" titles for as little as $9/month.

Honestly I have not found much of value outside of netflix with roku's offerings. The facebook pictures thing is nice when it works, but is incompatible with reasonable security on a facebook account. Hulu may or may not be worthwhile. It's an evolving service that has recently promised to charge for access as well as force commercials on viewers. That's a no-sale for me.

[StandingInLeftField]

18. Oh! Gotcha!

Thanks for the clarification. Basically the same as Apple TV.

[masmdu]

11. The $59 one is the cheapest device (not package) they go up to $99

Buy the device and programing is free over internet (broadband). There is no programing package or recurring fee.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

12. Yep!

I gave up cable for Roku too and I haven't regretted it for a second.

[Javaman]

15. I'm looking into Roku...

Aren't their additional fees for the "premium" channels via their actual source?

[masmdu]

16. For all the channels I listed I only pay one additional fee for NetFlix ($9)

[Javaman]

17. wow!

We have been talking about this since I checked out my sisters set up. I think you pushed me over the top. :) thanks for the info.

Cheers!

[eShirl]

25. yup; HuluPlus is going to be $10, and there are a few $2-3 channels

but I don't see any need for us to get them

[Ginto]

19. Does it come with a DVR? nt

[masmdu]

20. no but there are other choices besides ROKU but none with opensource channels created by 3rd parties

VUDU (DVR?) http://www.hometheatermag.com/mediaservers/508vudu/
AppleTV ($99)
Boxee Box ($200) http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DSM-380-Boxee-Box-by/dp/B0038JE07O
Sony Box ($130)http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SMP-N100-Network-Media-Player/dp/B0042SDDXM/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I2LA5Z71DZ37MP&colid=26Y0XVDESMWBK

ROKU is the cheapest choice and has 3rd party channel creation
My second choice would be Boxee Box which can get any video/stream available online

[Lance_Boyle]

22. You should be able to connect a Roku to a DVR, then out to TV.

Not so sure what use that would be since what you watch on the Roku is already on-demand. I guess you could stash movies or shows that way as Netflix rotates old ones out and new ones in. Might be a ToS violation for Netflix, though.

[Romulox]

23. HD Sports...

That's what keeps my cable sub. going.

[Ginto]

29. Yes, that is the problem. nt

[eShirl]

24. 99% of what we watch with Roku is either Netflix or Justin.TV

sometimes we listen to Stephanie Miller on the channel that carries radio stations, and sometimes I play Sudoku on that little games channel

[jillan]

26. Teach me! I have Roku but didn't know you could watch cable news on it.

How??? Link? This could be interesting!

[eShirl]

28. it's in the News category on the Justin.TV channel, which isn't in the channel store (link)

you can add it by clicking the link below

https://owner.roku.com/Account/ChannelCode/?code=JustinTV

[kenny blankenship]

31. Find Roku NewsCaster service in the Roku channels store

MSNBC shows like the "Rachel Maddow Show" are available along with alot of the usual crap on broadcast/cable news channels. Also, the Mediafly channel carries "Democracy Now". Mediafly is a separate channel and not part of Roku NewsCaster. Neither NC or MF charge for viewing.

[eShirl]

32. I removed NewsCaster because 1) it's not "live," and 2) it had a bug that stopped MSNBC shows

partway through. They may have since fixed the bug, I don't know, but I'd rather watch MSNBC live.

[masmdu]

34. MSNBC and CNN International are both available live via Justin.Tv channel on Roku

[krabigirl]

27. We have Roku also. I didn't know that you could get CNN International on there.